Religion is largely an abstract, a subjective thing. It is not capable of
measurement as is railroad mileage, agricultural production, or the
incidence of taxes ; it is not, in the popular mind, so easily subjected to
analysis as is a political platform, or to the empiric tests of a doctor's
prescription. It is possible to chronicle the organizing of churches, list
creeds, describe revivals, outline government and organization, portray
individual churchmen, and estimate the relative numerical strength of
denominations; but only in exceptional cases is it possible even
approximately to calculate the relative importance of religion as a
cultural force or to determine the exact part it has played in the lives
and thoughts of the people.
To take the churchman's word on the relative importance of religion at face
value might lead as wide of the mark as to accept his estimate of the
morality of the pioneer, whom he often criticized as an ignorant,
anti-Christian, Sabbath-violating, whiskey-drinking, depraved, gambling set
of heathen hell bent on greased wheels, and destined to burn in the next
world while making the most of the present. Or, to believe that pioneer
society agreed when a churchman said that wine-, beer-, and cider-drinking
persons were its deadliest foes, and that the sin most to be feared-was
that of wealth and luxuryl might be as erroneous as to accept a
SOURCE: The Old Northwest, Pioneer Period, 1815-1840 By R. Carlye Buley,
Vol 2, Indiana University Press , Indiana Historical Society (1950) p. 418
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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 · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the US and a couple from overseas as well]
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.. . . 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)
.. . .
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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.
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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