06-13-2003, 10:24 PM
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#123 (permalink)
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Loser
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Since we bring up the Founding Fathers here are a few quotes.
Thomas Jefferson
Quote:
"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition [Christianity] one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies." (Letter to Dr. Woods)
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity." (Notes on Virginia)
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John Adams
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As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?
Indeed, Mr. Jefferson, what could be invented to debase the ancient Christian which Greeks, Romans, Hebrews and Christian factions, above all the Catholics, have not fraudulently imposed upon the public? Miracles after miracles have rolled down in torrents.
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Ben Franklin
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I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies.
Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.
If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish Church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. These found it wrong in the bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here and in New England.
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Not a founding father but a great president
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Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
The 16th President of the United States (1861-1865)
My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them.
The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession.
Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not that we be not judged.
It is an established maxim and moral that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false is guilty of falsehood, and the accidental truth of the assertion does not justify or excuse him.
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James Madison
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Every new & successful example of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance.
The civil government ... functions with complete success ... by the total separation of the Church from the State.
The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.
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Stop me before I quote again.
The basic deal is that we will slowly but surely have to start recognizing same sex marriages as people move from countries where they are legal to the United States.
When one state makes it legal then all the others will have to eventually follow despite the bigotry. |
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