On 01-10-98, KEITH KNAPP declared to ROBERT PLETT:
KK>RP>Not an establishment, Keith, simply a recognition of this nation's
KK>RP>Judeo/Christian heritage.  Such a display is NOT the making of any law,
KK>The US was and is populated mainly by Christians.  That does not mean
KK>that our federal government is or should be officially Christian.
Not in the sense you evidently mean it, no, but our founders most
certainly intended that it be Christian in its nature and character and
favor it above all others.

KK>It's not hard to find quotes from the founding fathers and others
KK>stating these things.  Jefferson and other deists had other opinions,
KK>though I don't have those quotes anymore.
Calling him a deist does him a disservice.  He denied such assertions
himself, and claimed to be a Christian:
   On his personal religious views: "They are the result of a life of
   inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian
   system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions.  To
   the corruption of Christianity, I am, indeed opposed; but not to the
   genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian ..."
    - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803
As noted previously, it's a mistake, most often deliberate, to think
criticisms they leveled at church authorities means they weren't
Christians.

KK>RP>That opinion was backed by one of the most extensive research efforts
KK>RP>ever undertaken on the question and was further backed by 87 precedents
KK>RP>that it cited.  The massive proofs they accumulated, both official and
KK>RP>what it called "unofficial declarations" led the Court to further 
ate:
KK>RP>   "These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume 
f
KK>RP>   unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this
KK>RP>   is a Christian nation."
KK>Note the word 'unofficial.'  I do not recall any passage in the
I also noted the first sentence:
  "Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and must
  embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind."
KK>Constitution stating that Christianity is the official religion
KK>of this country.
No, they just made a deliberate point of declaring the date the "year of
our Lord" is all, something they did not do in the Declaration which
speaks of God directly anyway.  And please don't try to argue they did
that out of convention, which the Declaration disputes, unless you wish
to contend that they put things in the Constitution they didn't mean, in
which case it'd be real interesting to see your criteria for picking and
choosing.
KK>One would think that given the importance of
KK>religion in everyone's lives, such a declaration would have been
KK>entered as plainly as possible.  Yet the only instruction the
KK>legislative branch is given on this point is not to use federal
KK>power to favor any establishment of religion.
KK>RP>The Supreme Court itself has the Ten Commandments displayed, and
KK>RP>Congress has the office of Chaplain, established at the very beginning
KK>RP>of this nation's history under the Constitution.  The buildings and
KK>RP>monuments in Washington D.C. have this nation's original reliance on 
he
KK>RP>God of the Bible written on them in stone, and as I've noted many times
KK>RP>before in this forum, the Constitution itself closes by declaring the
KK>RP>founders' belief in Christ as Lord.  One of the first Congress' 
arliest
KK>RP>acts was to import 20,000 Bibles (the Handbook of The Patriots) at the
KK>RP>government's expense, and those legislators included many of the very
KK>RP>same men who were involved in drafting and ratifying the Bill of 
ghts.
KK>Christianity was a basic part of the milieu of the time, certainly.
KK>I also notice they didn't make it official.
Yeah, right - all they did was weave it into the very fabric of the
nation's government and public life.
   The debate over whether America was founded as a religious nation is
   not an academic one.  "To destroy a people you must first sever their
   roots," the great Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn once wrote.
   Those who would undermine America and turn it into an egalitarian
   Utopia know they have to first chip away at the faith of Americans,
   at their very spiritual foundations.....
   .....William O. Douglas, one of the most liberal justices ever to sit
   on the Supreme Court, once wrote that, "we are a religious people
   whose institutions presuppose a supreme being."  It's time we
   reminded ourselves and our children of that, and returned religion to
   its honored place in the life of this nation.
   - Rush Limbaugh, The Way Things Ought To Be, pp 281
Bob     /\-/\   - proud Ilk   homebody@galstar.com
C.A.T. ( o o ) Chapter Ilks
       == ^ ==
Green Country - Oklahoma      http://www.galstar.com/~homebody/
 * SLMR 2.1a * "In God we trust" was originally more than just words.
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