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Debate: Did the Founding Fathers intend to apply their personal faith to the nation "As an institution"? (view source)
Revision as of 18:41, September 13, 2008
, 18:41, September 13, 2008→No, they did not intend to establish the U.S.A. as "One nation under God"
:::No, you did not win, unless we are to read those sites based in atheistic "freethinking". This website [http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=125] thoroughly researched the issue, and contains this pro-Christian statement from John Adams: ''The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were. . . . the general principles of Christianity. . . . I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature.'' [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 22:56, 11 September 2008 (EDT)
:::No, you did not win, unless we are to read those sites based in atheistic "freethinking". This website [http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=125] thoroughly researched the issue, and contains this pro-Christian statement from John Adams: ''The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were. . . . the general principles of Christianity. . . . I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature.'' [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 22:56, 11 September 2008 (EDT)
::::That refutation doesn't hold up for two reasons. First, the quote used from Adams is from a private letter to Jefferson, not an official government document. No one is debating the religious views of any specific founder, or that they expressed those views openly as individuals. Second, the defense that the U.S denied it's Christian nature for the sake of negotiating with Muslims states is not an effective one. No other official documents defining the government of the U.S. define it as a Christian nation, so if anything this is an affirmation of the nature of the U.S. government, not a denial for the sake of convenience. Also, we would be a poor example of a "Christian Nation" if it was the policy of that nation to deny its Christian nature when it was convenient, instead of standing up for it on principle. --[[User:DinsdaleP|DinsdaleP]] 14:41, 13 September 2008 (EDT)