How dare I?
Calm down, Mike. Really, I promise it ain't
that bad.
The founding fathers, out of deference to the deists and atheists among them, made sure to NOT establish Christianity as a state-sponsored religion, but certain principles were adopted which clearly find their origin in the Christian religion.
About the only argument one has is that Christianity was a statistical majority. You ought to read some Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin.
Ever since the beginning of the government, debates raged about slavery
Yep. And it was about money and politics. Ever hear of the Three-Fifths Rule? It was written into the Constitution that slaves equaled 3/5 of a real person. The problem was that they weren't worth anything in terms of civil rights, but that they did count as part of the population and therefore the government wanted to account for them in terms of apportionment and taxation.
Everyone knew that one day slavery would cost the US dearly. And it did. In the ensuing conflict that eventually resulted in the abolishment of slavery, 620,000 people were killed
And yet they still went forward, leaving it for other people to suffer and figure out. Very ... uh ... Christian?
But don't think for a minute that slavery was something the USA got away with. If you think that, you're dead wrong
It's pretty hard to miss a war. Too bad they didn't just live up to the rhetoric and avoid the war in the first place, such as your next point:
It was precisely the concept of "all men are created equal" that spurred on the anti-slavery movement.
Funny how after that was written the founders went on to write the Three-Fifths Rule. Equal, indeed.
What's the folk tale? "Don't forget the women ...."?
Oh, right. All
men are created equal.
Are you sure Christian principles really
want to be held responsible for that?
By the way, HOW DARE YOU condemn the Christians in the USA for slavery. It was the CHRISTIANS which ran the underground railroad, and led the anti-slavery movement!!
Given that some preached it "un-Christian" to teach slaves to read (reading the news would trouble their simpleton minds too much), what am I supposed to say? I remember reading in fifth grade the journal of a slave captain asking forgiveness of God for what he did. But then again, economic necessity, right?
If they knew it was wrong, why, oh why did they go forward anyway? What does this say about the Biblical foundations of the US that you allege?
And as a humorous side note, have you ever seen the Charleston danced? It's a peculiar-looking dance that originated among the slaves. Essentially, the problem was this: some Christians who happened to own slaves also attended sects that prohibited dancing. Hence, the masters would prohibit the slaves from dancing. However, in African culture, it seems dancing was rather important. The Charleston evolved in South Carolina as a result; technically, because the feet and knees do not cross, it could not be considered dancing according to the rules prescribed at the time.
(A Quaker of past association once said to me, while waiting in line at a Carman concert, of all things, "Quakers don't dance. We rhythm.")
I would say that in similar fashion, slaves don't dance, they rhythm. And
that thanks to Christian principles.
Thats a joke, right? Ha ha.
No.
Try
this link:
"Great family fortunes were made from the opium trade. Their names read very much like a who's who in America: the Cushings, the Cabot family, Delano, as in Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Perkins, as in the Perkins Hall at Harvard."
Or
this one:
__Many distinguished early Americans grew Papaver somniferum. Rightly or wrongly, they would today be treated as felons. Thomas Jefferson cultivated opium poppies at his garden in Monticello. The seeds from its plants, including the poppies, were sold at the gift-shop of Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants until 1991 - when a drug-bust at the nearby University of Virginia panicked the Board of Directors into ripping up the plants and burning the seeds. The cultivation of Papaver somniferum is banned in the USA under the Opium Poppy Control Act of 1942. Amateur horticulturists, however, continue to value the beautiful red, yellow and white flowers as adornments to their gardens.
If you would like to trace the drug war at all in terms of American history, I recommend that you start with the Harrison Act of 1914. When Congress got around to making marijuana a crime with the Marihuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937, the AMA protested the new measure, reasoning that the Harrison Act was sufficient. Incidentally, since we've been discussing our founding fathers, wasn't it Tax Stamps that pissed them off so much? Especially since less than a decade later the US government would be appealing to farmers to grow "hemp for victory". Drugs have an amazing history in the US. If I could contain "drugs" in a single character, it would make a fascinating epic story, and quite the humorous one at that. Hmmm ... maybe I'll give it a whirl. The Hindu had soma, so why not make a myth out of drugs? Hey, I smell a best-seller. Wait. That's just vanilla hash in the next room.
That's one thing I like about you Tiassa... your fantastic sense of humor.
To be honest, I like to think I have a great sense of humor, but I've learned that it's far more subtle than most people at Sciforums enjoy.
That and your smoker's cough.
He who hacks last dies last. Er ... something like that. At any rate, cigarettes are most responsible for my smoker's cough. In fact, pot, properly applied, helps clear my chest. But I don't regularly maintain such expensive equipment as that; the better the bong the better I break it. Oh, well.
I do believe I hear a hash joint screaming my name.
thanx,
Tiassa