| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
28 May 2006 10:35:12 AM |
| Object: |
T Jefferson & J Leland |
Thomas Jefferson & Rev John Leland
Rev John Leland
http://candst.tripod.com/tnppage/qleland.htm
Government has no more to do with the religious opinions of men than
it has with the principles of mathematics (from The Yankee Spy, John
Leland writing under the pen name of Jack Nipps, Boston, 1794).
==========================================
Thomas Jefferson
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:e0gpjWG-1KoJ:religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.\edu/sacred/vaact.html+that+our+civil+rights+have+no+dependence+on+our+religious+\opinions&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2
http://makeashorterlink.com/?W14B42D2D
; . . . that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious
opinions, more than our opinions in physics or geometry;
The Virginia Act For Establishing Religious Freedom
Thomas Jefferson, 1786
===========================================
John Leland
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/leland5.htm
Guard against those men who make a great noise about religion, when
choosing your representatives"
John Leland (1754-1841) was a Baptist preacher whose life involved
writing about and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and about the
proper relationship between religion and government. In the latter
passion, Leland agreed with the position of Thomas Jefferson and James
Madison, both of whom he knew personally. Leland spent approximately
14 years in Virginia from 1776 to 1790-91. He was a major leader of
the Baptists in Virginia. He helped Madison by rounding up support for
the defeat of the assessment bill in Virginia in 1784-86, and by
supporting the ratification of the new constitution (only after being
assured that Madison did favor the addition of a bill of rights), He
worked to get Madison elected (over Patrick Henry's hand-picked James
Monroe) to the House of Representatives of the First Federal Congress.
He returned to his home state of Massachusetts in the winter of
1790-91, where he remained an active minister and champion of
separation of church and state and disestablishment till his death in
1841. He wrote articles against establishment while in Massachusetts
and testified before the Massachusetts legislature on at least one
occasion.
Research by Jim Allison
Excerpt from July 4th Oration by John Leland, July 5, 1802.
[emphasis added]
.. . . Disdain mean suspicion, but cherish manly jealousy; be always
jealous of your liberty, your rights. Nip the first bud of intrusion
on your constitution. Be not devoted to men; let measures be your
object, and estimate men according to the measures they pursue. Never
promote men who seek after a state-established religion; it is
spiritual tyranny--the worst of despotism. It is turnpiking the way to
heaven by human law, in order to establish ministerial gates to
collect toll. It converts religion into a principle of state policy,
and the gospel into merchandise. Heaven forbids the bans of marriage
between church and state; their embraces therefore, must be unlawful.
Guard against those men who make a great noise about religion, in
choosing representatives. It is electioneering. If they knew the
nature and worth of religion, they would not debauch it to such
shameful purposes. If pure religion is the criterion to denominate
candidates, those who make a noise about it must be rejected; for
their wrangle about it, proves that they are void of it. Let honesty,
talents and quick despatch, characterise the men of your choice. Such
men will have a sympathy with their constituents, and will be willing
to come to the light, that their deeds may be examined. . . .
Source of Information:
Excerpt from "July 4th Oration by John Leland, July 5, 1802". The
Writings of John Leland, Edited by L.F. Greene, Arno Press & The New
York Times New York (1969) pp.260-270) Originally published as: The
Writings Of The Late Elder John Leland Including Some Events In His
Life, Written By Himself, With Additional Sketches &c. By Miss L.F.
Greene, Lanesboro, Mass. Printed By G.W. Wood, 29 Gold Street, New
York 1845.
===============================================
Thomas Jefferson
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions40.html
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 towards uniformity. What has been the
effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other
half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth. Let
us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions of people. That
these profess probably a thousand different systems of religion. That
ours is but one of that thousand. That if there be but one right, and
ours that one, we should wish to see the 999 wandering sects gathered
into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect
this by force.
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 17, 157--61
1784
***************************************************************
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]
***************************************************************
.. . . 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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