For college, I have to write an argumentative paper. After engaging in many political debates, as I support the Occupy movement, I didn't really feel like writing more on it, as the research for a paper at this point would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. The Occupy movement is still in full swing, and I don't agree with every commonly used demand, nor folks quitting their jobs to protest, but I do feel the rich should pay taxes equal or more than the poor man OR invest in business. Business expenditures need to be looked at closer. Fancy dinners, vacations, and expensive golf outings should not be tax deductible. Common sense needs to prevail; Uncle Sam needs to but out including giving money to Bank of America and other corporations who are buying out the little guy. Let capitalism work.
On Facebook, there was a graphic that stated our country was not founded on Christianity. I was curious as my entire life has taught me different. So, I went digging and found out it was indeed true. Thomas Paine, the writer of Common Sense, was actually an Atheist. So, that is only the beginning, but it’s a solid beginning since Thomas Paine little booklet was such a large motivator in the US gaining freedom from Britain. I am not an Atheist, but I can respect his ideas and support the separation of Church and State. I am glad our founding Fathers saw to make it this way. And thus, I opted to write on the idea that America was not founded on Christianity, but that Christianity was merely part of the culture back then. It was the accepted spiritual guidance of the day, but there were other competing thoughts, as well as room to grow, and that's why we are a nation with elements of Christian culture, but were founded on Greek and Roman thought. The Greeks brought the world democracy, and the Romans brought us military tactics as well as how to govern very large spaces of land.
Further, many of the first British colonists were debt prisoners, those with differing political thoughts who were imprisoned, and then there were those that opposed the Church of England. The founding Fathers chose to include in the Constitution that there was to be no religious requirement for political leaders. The Spanish were Catholics, and then there were Protestants, Quakers, those of the Enlightenment, as well as the Native Americans. Not to mention the early Middle Eastern immigrants and Jews. We were a melting pot from the beginning. True, some of the colonies, like Plymouth, were founded on a specific religious requirement, but that changed with time, and it was one group of people. Right and wrong, morality, and a general respect for life were characteristics of all the early faiths that have survived through modern times, and hopefully into the future.
When a specific religion gains a foot hold, bad things have historically happened. Look at Israel, the three Abrahamic religions have been fighting over a small piece of land in the name of religion. The Crusades, and the Church of England that at one time, allowed people to buy pardons for their sins. I am not calling a specific religion bad, or a specific group bad, but the facts remain that man, when one group becomes anonymous and the conditions are right, will become savages. So, that's the basis of my paper, and I attend a private Christian college. I will include some early Christian leaders as well, and attempt to balance it out, but this is my blog, so I get to point out how I see it. The paper will reflect both sides and show both room for Christians and respect for the early 10 Commandments on courthouses, the Bible in oaths, and so forth as a respectable aspect of the early American culture that should be preserved as much as an Indian burial mound or old building. But as a nation, we are a welcoming melting pot of each to many cultures, religions, ideas, food, and architecture, and in order to do that, we have to keep religion and politics on separate grounds, to allow for everyone to have a chance at the American dream.
On Facebook, there was a graphic that stated our country was not founded on Christianity. I was curious as my entire life has taught me different. So, I went digging and found out it was indeed true. Thomas Paine, the writer of Common Sense, was actually an Atheist. So, that is only the beginning, but it’s a solid beginning since Thomas Paine little booklet was such a large motivator in the US gaining freedom from Britain. I am not an Atheist, but I can respect his ideas and support the separation of Church and State. I am glad our founding Fathers saw to make it this way. And thus, I opted to write on the idea that America was not founded on Christianity, but that Christianity was merely part of the culture back then. It was the accepted spiritual guidance of the day, but there were other competing thoughts, as well as room to grow, and that's why we are a nation with elements of Christian culture, but were founded on Greek and Roman thought. The Greeks brought the world democracy, and the Romans brought us military tactics as well as how to govern very large spaces of land.
Further, many of the first British colonists were debt prisoners, those with differing political thoughts who were imprisoned, and then there were those that opposed the Church of England. The founding Fathers chose to include in the Constitution that there was to be no religious requirement for political leaders. The Spanish were Catholics, and then there were Protestants, Quakers, those of the Enlightenment, as well as the Native Americans. Not to mention the early Middle Eastern immigrants and Jews. We were a melting pot from the beginning. True, some of the colonies, like Plymouth, were founded on a specific religious requirement, but that changed with time, and it was one group of people. Right and wrong, morality, and a general respect for life were characteristics of all the early faiths that have survived through modern times, and hopefully into the future.
When a specific religion gains a foot hold, bad things have historically happened. Look at Israel, the three Abrahamic religions have been fighting over a small piece of land in the name of religion. The Crusades, and the Church of England that at one time, allowed people to buy pardons for their sins. I am not calling a specific religion bad, or a specific group bad, but the facts remain that man, when one group becomes anonymous and the conditions are right, will become savages. So, that's the basis of my paper, and I attend a private Christian college. I will include some early Christian leaders as well, and attempt to balance it out, but this is my blog, so I get to point out how I see it. The paper will reflect both sides and show both room for Christians and respect for the early 10 Commandments on courthouses, the Bible in oaths, and so forth as a respectable aspect of the early American culture that should be preserved as much as an Indian burial mound or old building. But as a nation, we are a welcoming melting pot of each to many cultures, religions, ideas, food, and architecture, and in order to do that, we have to keep religion and politics on separate grounds, to allow for everyone to have a chance at the American dream.
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