I found this website today. It has a great breakout of how the country was founded and why there is seperation of church and state. I am a diest and am very scared of what is happening to this country. I would think that others would be too, whether christian, jewish or whatever. We need to stop this movement of the right wing! Remember the Salem witch trials!
here's a snip:
In 1565, the first European colony in North America got founded at St. Augustine (in Florida) by the Spanish. In 1607 the Jamestown colony got founded by the London Company. In 1620 the Mayflower ship lands at Cape Cod, Massachusetts and its colonists formed the Mayflower Compact (a true Christian document) to establish a form of local government. But these early Christian colonies (the Puritans) became so religiously intolerant that a few of the colonists began to rebel. In 1636 Roger Williams founded Providence and Rhode Island because his fellow Christians banished him from Massachusetts. Why? Because of his "new and dangerous opinions" calling for religious and political freedoms, including separation of church and state. Providence then became a haven for many other colonists fleeing religious intolerance. Just a few years later in 1646, the Massachusetts general court approved a law that made religious heresy punishable by death! In 1692 hysteria grips Salem, Massachusetts as suspects accused of witchcraft get arrested and imprisoned. One-hundred-fifty people got accused, and 20 of them executed. In 1700, Massachusetts passes a law ordering all Roman Catholic priests to leave the colony within three months upon penalty of life imprisonment or execution (New York passes a similar law). In 1702 in Maryland, the Anglican Church gets established as the official church. In 1706 South Carolina also established the Anglican Church as its official church.
These early European Americans began to feel very suspicious of the growing encroachment of Christianity upon government and personal freedoms. By the mid 1750s, a few of the colonists began to introduce heretical ideas. Benjamin Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanac, and he begins to question Christian principles. More and more Americans become wary of religious and political impositions on their life. In January of 1776, Thomas Paine publishes "Common Sense" in Philadelphia which criticized King George III's allegiance to Monarchy, and argues for American independence. It becomes an instant best-seller. Paine, a Pagan deist would later write "Age of Reason" where he rejected Judeo-Christian tenets and scriptures.
Things had come to a head. The most influential American colonists rebelled against Great Britain and their taxes, institutional churches, and desired to form an independent government free from religion and Monarchies. On July 4, 1776, The Declaration of Independence (written by a deist) announced their independence to the world.
...
" ~ my country is the world, and my religion is to do good ~ "
Rights of Man, part 2, 1792
As a Deist and freethinker, clearly Paine's life and death reflects a legacy of freethought Paganism.
http://www.nobeliefs.com/pagan.htm
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
