Nice Post Trav! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]
very appropriate.
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George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted' for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d dy of October, A.D. 1789.
(signed) G. Washington
Nice Post Trav! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]
very appropriate.
[img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]cool.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]
It's a fine post indeed. Let's all be glad ]we don't live in Maryland.
I know, I know... There are people who aren't Christian. But I think that Jews and Hindus and whatever can read it and make it "their" God.
The fact that the FFs were Christian is fact. All the whiners should just get over it.
It's all written that way. All the founding fathers documents are.
I'm not religious, and it doesnt bother me.
Other than a wedding or something, I probably havent been to mass in at least 15 years.
[img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]cool.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]
It is a fine post.
The boys and I saw National Treasure yesterday, and it was great - a lot of history mixed in with a lot of imagination/action/mystery. I decided that we should go to DC for vacation next summer.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree that the FFs were believers in the Almighty, were deist, and some were Christian. I disagree that all of them were.Originally posted by gae:
The fact that the FFs were Christian is fact. All the whiners should just get over it.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors.
-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823
I wonder how modern fundamentalists would evaluate the Christianity of President Thomas Jefferson who re-wrote the Gospels to exclude all supernatural influences, leaving only the ethical system. Yeah, he'd get a lot of votes today...
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today, Jefferson couldn?t get elected as Dog Catcher.Originally posted by LanDroid:
I wonder how modern fundamentalists would evaluate the Christianity of President Thomas Jefferson who re-wrote the Gospels to exclude all supernatural influences, leaving only the ethical system. Yeah, he'd get a lot of votes today...
The only place I can find the moral and ethical values that Jefferson (and Franklin also) believed is in the Christian Right (CR). I put up with their bible thumping because of my sense of morality.
Some questions:
Why, if one believes the killing unborn children is wrong does that person have to side with the CR.
Why, if one believes in personal responsibility does that person have to side with the CR.
Why, if one believes in states rights does that person have to side with the CR.
Why, if one believes that the UN is a place for lesser countries to gang up on the US does that person have to side with the CR.
The answer to those and a number of similar questions is that there is no alternative.
In my mind, these are the fundamental issues as to why Bush won re-election.
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