Faith of Our (Founding) Fathers
OPS_admin | Dec 16, 2009 | Comments 0
In his excellent book, Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America, Steven Waldman clears away myths and misconceptions to reveal the true and dramatic story of how Americans came to worship freely. Neither conservatives nor liberals have the story straight, Waldman argues: America was not founded neither as a strictly “Christian nation,” but nor were the Founding Fathers strict secularists or Deists bent on cleaving church and state by way of the First Amendment. Rather, the architects of the nation hit upon a novel formula that promoted faith by, precisely, leaving it alone.
Among the many gifts of the book are Waldman’s descriptions of the religious development of five Founders — Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Benjamin Franklin: the origins of their views, how they developed, and how they shaped each man’s particular contribution to the founding of the nation. Herewith, a quick guide to the faith of our (Founding) Fathers.
Full Story PBC Blog » Faith of Our (Founding) Fathers.
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If we don't change our ways soon...
A new report by the Royal Society, chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston warns that world population must be stabilized and consumption in wealthy nations must be reduced or the entire planet is in big trouble. As the report reads: "The number of people living on the planet has never been higher, their levels of consumption are unprecedented and vast changes are taking place in the environment. We can choose to rebalance the use of resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption... or we can choose to do nothing and to drift into a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future."This is the same warning that President Jimmy Carter gave Americans back in the 1970's - but it was ignored when Ronald Reagan came to power with a "more positive" message basically telling Americans we can do whatever we want. And then after 9/11 - Bush told us all we should go shopping and consume ever more.And now with corporations calling the shots in Washington - long-term sustainability of the planet takes a back seat to short-term profits. If we don't change our ways soon - and embrace clean, alternative energy and educate women around the plant - then we all could be headed for a rough century.-Thom(Is there any chance we will learn in time? Tell us here.) -
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" We the corporations" On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. __________
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The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. 
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