The concept "separation of Church and State" is in no U.S. document of government. It is a creation in the 20th century, from a phrase Jefferson wrote in a personal letter.
It is NOT in any of Jefferson's books. But technically, it is in one of his writings. It is one phrase by Jefferson, not something he repeatedly or strenuously argued for.
As whomod already pointed out, it is in an official treaty. Second, Jefferson had more right than you do to intrepret the intention of the founders and of the constitution.
But in any case, the role of Christianity in forming the principles of American democracy is clear.
yes, it is a very minor part. "American Democracy" is basically just following in tradition of the British system put in place shortly before America's founding. It is also the culmination of many different cultures and ideas over the years. None of which was really christian. In fact looking at some of the christian actions in America around that time (Salem witch trials for one) it's a good thing the christians didn't have a lot of influence.
And equally clear, the desire of its creators that Christian principles would continue to be an enduring part of that democracy, as long as American democracy continues to exist.
then why doesn't it say that in the constitution. It makes a vague reference to god and then says clearly there is no official church. There is no reference to jesus or a trinity.
Again, I consider Christian concepts to be vastly different from those of Islam.
then you're very ignorant of your own faith. i'm not surprised. you've already demonstrated that you prefer the myths to thefact. i bet you sincerely believe George Washington chopped down a cherry tree.
The ideas of a personal God (-vs- an unknowable God in Islam), of free will (-vs- a more fatalist mindset of Islam), and other ideas of human rights and dignity. That arguably have largely not reached the Islamic world even 200 years after the birth of democracy in the U.S. and Europe.
it's the same damn god. The Jews spawned the christians and the muslims. While the christians are the only one with the trinity concept (and there are christians who don't believe in that) the idea of a trinity was conceived during the time of the ancient greeks. In fact many of the core concepts of modern abrahamic faiths were constructed slowly during ancient times. The Jewish faith evolved slowly. Then the christians evolved from them over disagreement regarding jesus' divinity. And then muhammed came along awhile later and wrote the scriptures for the muslims.
But really it's all the same faith just with different branches, some branches diverge more than others but really it is all the same.
And most of the "evil" beliefs you put on them is just the same type of shit you go for just twisted around. technically islam forbids harming of innocents. so people like bin laden twist what they consider the definition of innocent (not unlike the christian bush changing the definition of torture).
christians put just as much into their "holy wars" as muslims do. in fact anyone who is really religious has the capacity for great violence and evil as long as they believe god wants them to kill and that it is justified (see abortion doctor murders, witch trials, inquisition, KKK, etc).
The reason for terrorism is much more complex than "they hate us for our freedom." If that were the case they would attack the closer countries that have way more freedom than we have (see: Netherlands with drugs and prostitution and less crime). They attack us because we have a history of fucking about in their homes. We basically empowered Saddam with support and weapons, trained bin Laden's people, sold weapons to Iran, mucked about with Iran's political system and allowed oppressive governments to remain as long as they were loyal to us, became buddies with the Saudis who are the worst power in the region, and have generally been a source of their chaos. When we bomb their village, innocent little kids who lose their dad grow up hating us (like Batman but with more sand). They see us as evil, they see us as killers who threaten their families. And the problem is that we keep doing the things that help that view of us. We don't do things diplomatically there, we just bomb them. So when someone like Bush says "I won't debate Saddam i'm just going to attack" and then his invasion kills several hundred thousand Iraqis, then the people start to really hate us. Not for our freedom but for our actions. John Kerry wanted to run the war on terror as a police action, which is what it really is. he understood that this wasn't some enemy that can be attacked with an army in nice flashy fox news graphic sequences. but bush likes those nice photo-ops. standing on a battle carrier or on some 9/11 rubble.
So anyway, the point is that they're human and we're human and we all pretty much want the same thing out of life. They see us like we see them and often judge each other based on the worst elements of our respective societies.
of course i'd be willing to bet money that you'll respond how my typical liberal mindset is destroying america and i hate christians and blah blah blah.
