A Moral Vision
http://www.libertymagazine.org/article/articleview/609/1/94/
[excerpt]
A Moral Vision
One of the great puzzles to foreign observers of the U.S. political and
religious scene is how an overtly religious political movement can flourish
in a country, which, more than any other Western nation, has maintained
clear blue water between church and state and has an unequivocal, even
dogmatic, attachment to the principle of religious liberty. The two
tendencies seem incompatible—seem like they shouldn’t both emerge from the
same society. Part of the explanation is to be found by examining
seventeenth-century England and the policies of the great Puritan general
and statesman, Oliver Cromwell.
Part I of this article explored Cromwell’s intervention in foreign nations’
domestic affairs to preserve the liberties of Protestant minorities, and
his role in allowing Jews to live in England after four centuries during
which their presence had been illegal. However, as we will see, his
commitment to religious liberty was combined with an inclination toward
social repression. These two apparently contradictory impulses could
flourish within the same man because they emerged from the same worldview;
and that Cromwellian worldview was eventually transmitted to influential
groups in North America, by whom it was preserved—and has been revived in
some forms today.
So often history provides important insights into current issues. But there
are important differences, too, between Cromwell and the leaders of the
modern U.S. Religious Right; were they to embrace more fully their
Cromwellian legacy, it might modify their aims and make them more
libertarian.
[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 · 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
****************************************************************
.
|
