brohammas - "This is a Christian nation..."Really?
Maybe it was intended as such. But we have been moving further and further away from Christianity since the removal of the Ten Commandments from our schools and institutions. People have been losing faith in institutions ever since. (Or maybe before.)
With the sex scandals at Catholic churches and the ultra conservative ministers getting caught with hookers, girlfriends and men or mishandling money - many parishioners have lost faith in their church leaders. (And then the church organizations themselves.)
Banks (and those entrusted to run them) are failing. The government seems inept (Katrina, FEMA, MediCare, et al.) in it's ability to respond to problems. Our financial systems are corrupt and built on the false notion that we can live forever on it's current model. Our schools have failed to adapt to changing demographics and expectations. Our military has been used to bully instead of to protect. Many have lost faith in the very institutions set up to take the place of an "Ultimate Authoritative Leader".
I'm not sure that we are as "Christian" as many would hope. IMO - we are hoping to be more "Christian", while largely failing to act in such a manner.
5 comments:
We were never a Christian nation. There were never any good old days where morality guided this country to its current greatness. The founding fathers new the dangers that came from theocratic rule, so while drawing heavily from Judeo-Christian doctrine in creating the American concept of justice and rule of law, they never intended for Christianity to be the end all be all of what our country is supposed to represent .
To be honest, I think that quite a few of the founding fathers were about as religious as many of our current politicians are, meaning that they invoked God only when it was politically expedient (Benjamin Franklin comes to mind). Indeed, it appears based on how they framed the constitution that they acknowledge the Christian background but wanted to promote secular thought. I believe that’s how they wanted the nation to be as well (a secular nation with Judeo-Christian roots).
As an example, "Under God" was something added to the pledge of allegiance in the 1950’s (during the McCarthy era I believe) as opposed to 1770’s. So, when people say that America is losing touch with its Christian roots, they really mean that America is no longer the way it was in the late 1940's-50's, which wasn't the Christian ideal either, but was much more pleasant (in their minds, not mine) than America is now.
The founding fathers were psuedo christians. They held slaves and preached freedom and liberty. They were like the same people that would go to church in the 50's and 60's and put on a klan robe at night to scare/kill black folks. Our "Western" view of christianity has always been skewed.
@ Mr Noface - Oh, I know. But there was a time when we WERE more influenced by it.
@ Ojo - Yeah... I wonder what the Vatican is hidding or what Eastern Orthodox Christians think or the knowledge lost in the fires of Alexandria.
What bothers me is not whether or not our foundation was/is Christian - but all the folks talking about being Christians and living to the contrary. A Christian is suppose to live by the commandment "love thy neighbor as thy self" and frankly I don't see much of this going on.
The founding fathers were psuedo christians. They held slaves and preached freedom and liberty. They were like the same people that would go to church in the 50's and 60's and put on a klan robe at night to scare/kill black folks. Our "Western" view of christianity has always been skewed.
You are engaged in presentism here. Slaves were property, and hence, not applicable to that dilemma of colonial man. Outside of the Quakers and a some New Lights, few thought of slaves as whole people.
The western view of Christianity is not skewed.
You should carefully read the Bible to get a sense of the massive cruelty that it often sanctioned. And what of the churches of Christianity? Long before America we had the Inquisition, witch trials, hunts for heretics, and the crusades: All in the name of Christianity.
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