The Christian Democracy Myth

looky

Good summary of the religious beliefs of the framers of the Constitution,
and of the gradual erosion of the early separation of the Church and State.

I have noticed in rival sites’ efforts to make the framers of the Constitution into Fundamentalist Christians, they (intentionally?) confuse the notion of “Deist.” The argument usually goes:

  1. People say the founding fathers were Deists

  2. This dictionary here has “Deist” and “Agnostic” as synonyms (maybe this is evidence that the site authors don’t want to admit they don’t know what Deism is).
  3. Look, most of these guys went to church! That doesn’t sound like an Agnostic to me!
  4. The founding fathers must not have been Deists
  5. The founding fathers went to church, so they must have been Christians

My response to the fundie revisionists: maybe you guys should read a book that is not the Bible once in a while. A Deist is someone who believes in the role of God in creation, but not the interference- they believe in crazy notions like “personal responsibility” and that you can’t write of the cause of everything as “God’s Will.” What a bunch of lunatics!

I personally think it’s possible to be both a Deist and a Christian (someone who believes in the divinity of Jesus Christ) at the same time.

Contrast this with the opposing view to Deism, which the fundamentalists advocate: The idea that the Supreme Being, the creator of the world, etc etc, is still actively involved with the affairs of the material world we live in. This philosophy is called Theism. Although you generally won’t hear the fundamentalists use that phrase, because it implies there is another valid philosophy besides theirs!

A bonus feature of this site: my friend Sam hates Andrew Jackson with a passion. Now he has yet another reason!
Web link of note: The Christian Democracy Myth
(At http://monotheism.us/)

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