| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
27 Mar 2007 07:39:55 AM |
| Object: |
Boller, Lillback, George Washington & Religion: #2 |
Boller, Lillback, George Washington & Religion:
http://jonrowe.blogspot.com/2007/01/boller-lillback-george-washington-that.html
[excerpt]
Here is one of Lillback's articles which I've read. Let me deal with some
of it.
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=501857
This article shows that Lillback engages in what is commonly termed "law
office" scholarship; focus only on those facts which seem to support your
side and ignore or otherwise come forth with clever ways of explaining away
what contradicts your case.
First, towards the very end, Lillback reveals why it's important to prove
Washington was Christian not Deist and thus shows his level of
"objectivity": "Where a nation begins largely determines the course it
treads. If our Founding Father was a deist, we should certainly be
secularists today."
Next: What Washington called himself. Lillback correctly notes that
Washington never called himself a "deist" (neither did Jefferson, Adams, or
Madison). Washington, as far as we knew, never called himself a "Christian
either." But Lillback apparently finds a letter where Washington signs it
"on my honor and the faith of a Christian."
The problem: This letter, if genuine (I haven't been able to locate it in
Washington's papers, which are archived online), is the only instance of
the kind. One must examine in overall context, systematic behavior. And
Washington systematically did not refer to himself as a "Christian" (or a
Deist). More often, he talked of Christians in the third person, as though
he weren't part of that group.
The following statement of his is typical: "I am disposed to indulge the
professors of Christianity in the church, that road to Heaven, which to
them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest, and least liable to
exception."
Or: "I was in hopes, that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has
marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every
denomination so far, that we should never again see their [my emphasis]
religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of
Society."
And, I might add, both Adams and Jefferson commonly referred to themselves
as "Christian." My thesis is that Washington believed in the same system
they did -- which Adams termed "liberal unitarian Christianity," but
arguably, because it rejects all of the tenets of orthodox Christianity,
isn't Christianity at all.
Regarding Washington's refusal to take communion, Lillback writes:
When he finished his oath of office at his first inaugural, he added
the words, "So help me God," and bent down to kiss the Bible. Then he led
the crowd across the street to St. Paul's Chapel for a two-hour service.
Alexander Hamilton's wife said she was at Washington's side when he took
Communion that day.
[Note: Whether Washington ever said "so help me God," is uncertain, and
kissing the Bible is a Freemasonic ritual; indeed the Bible he kissed was a
Masonic Bible].
Now, apparently in one letter written in old age, Eliza Hamilton
"remembers" taking communion with Washington (elsewhere Lillback offers
testimony of an instance of Washington communing in a
non-Episcopal-Anglican Church). Contrast that with testimony from three of
Washington's own ministers, who observed his behavior for YEARS, and
testified that Washington never communed. Likewise Washington's
step-granddaughter, in a letter trying to defend his Christianity,
testified that while Martha communed, George didn't. From an "overall"
perspective that puts things in context, the weight of the evidence
overwhelmingly indicates that Washington never communed.
I have also heard it said that Washington didn't commune because we were at
war with Great Britain and the Anglican Church was too connected against
whom America rebelled. That absolutely fails to explain why Washington
didn't commune his entire adult life, even after the Revolution was over
and the Anglican Church became the Protestant Episcopalian Church.
The relevance of his not being a communicant? As his own minister, Dr.
Abercrombie said: "I cannot consider any man as a real Christian who
uniformly disregards an ordinance so solemnly enjoined by the divine Author
of our holy religion, and considered as a channel of divine grace."
[end excerpt]
***************************************************************
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
****************************************************************
USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************
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