By Jon Meacham
Washington Post, July 2, 2006
(Some excerpts:)
Whatever they (the USA's Founding Fathers) were, they were united against an established national church. They wanted religion to be one factor in our public life, but not the dominant one. "Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess and observe the religion which we believe to be of divine origin," Madison wrote, "we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us."
The key Founders were committed to the idea of religious liberty in part because they knew history. The conflicts of the Old World had often been ignited or exacerbated by theological considerations, particularly during the 16th and 17th centuries in England. The colonial experience in their own land also had little to recommend it....There was a religious case for religious freedom, too. If God himself did not compel obedience from his creatures, then who were men to try?
As we face more such battles in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, we ought to bear our legacy of religious freedom in mind. In many parts of the Islamic world, of course, there is little distinction between secular and religious authority. Theocracy and tyranny have a tragic tendency to go hand in hand, and it is difficult to imagine that many mullahs will be moved by American homilies on the virtues of religious liberty.
But we should still try. As we know from our own past, history is full of surprising turns. What seemed unthinkable in one generation can become commonplace in the next. While it is naive to think that simply talking about freedom of conscience will change the world, it can do no harm, and may just do some good, for us to tell our own story -- how we, too, once lived in a world in which our civil rights were dictated by religious affiliation, and how we came to see that the causes of God and of country would be best served if they were connected but not chained to one another.
For entire article go here.
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6 comments:
Is this to the US & United Nations?
Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations rage, And the peoples meditate a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against Jehovah, and against his anointed, saying,
3 Let us break their bonds asunder, And cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh: The Lord will have them in derision.
5 Then will he speak unto them in his wrath, And vex them in his sore displeasure:
6 Yet I have set my king Upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will tell of the decree: Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my son; This day have I begotten thee.
8 Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10 Now therefore be wise, O ye kings: Be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
11 Serve Jehovah with fear, And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way, For his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all they that take refuge in him.
caucazhin,
[[Is this to the US & United Nations?]]
Yes.
If only the nations would listen to the Son, the one who came as the Prince of Peace.
But they do not, the nations rage, The kings of the earth prepare for battle, plotting against each other and against the Peaceable Kingdom of Christ.
There will come a time when all nations (especially powerful ones like the USA) will have to account for their actions.
"The first-century church pointed out Herod, Pilate, the Romans, and even the Jews as rebels against the Anointed when they conspired together to take Jesus' life (Acts 4:25-28). The prophets, the Lord Jesus, and the apostles all witness that the nations will rise up against God and his Messiah as long as the messianic era awaits its fullness (Zech 12:1-9; 14:1-11; Matt 24:7; Luke 21:10; 2 Thess 2:3-4, 8-12; Rev 17:14; 19:14-21)." - VanGemeren
My question was tongue in cheek.
;-)
I know!!!
Thanks!
The religious right and the liberal left,both arms of todays pHAROH,sATAN himself??
And what did pHAROH say to Moses when Moses said "Let my people go".pHAROH said "who will do the work".In other words who will build my empire of self willed, self glorifying,self centered, self worship and vanity?
"Vanity of vanities all is vanity".
Our political parties have become nothing more than the "RIGHT" and "LEFT" arms of the pHAROH(AKA sATAN).Here is a picture of Americas golden calf worshipped by the powers that be,has anything really changed?? I think not!
http://www.d.umn.edu/~gbabiuk/
images/WallStBull.jpg
"GODS Kingdom is not of this world"
Nice pic of the Wallstreet Bull...
...that certainly is America's golden calf!!
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