So your little abridged historical story pretty much buttresses what I was thinking: In general, we are a tolerant accepting culture founded upon Christian principles and tenets, and accepting of all who want to be a part and parcel of this society.
You should probably read your little abridged historical story, it would be a good thing. On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 1:30 PM, plainolamerican <[email protected]> wrote: > America's True History of Religious ToleranceThe idea that the United > States has always been a bastion of religious freedom is reassuring—and > utterly at odds with the historical record. > > > In the storybook version most of us learned in school, the Pilgrims came > to America aboard the *Mayflower* in search of religious freedom in 1620. > The Puritans soon followed, for the same reason. Ever since these religious > dissidents arrived at their shining “city upon a hill,” as their governor > John Winthrop called it, millions from around the world have done the same, > coming to an America where they found a welcome melting pot in which > everyone was free to practice his or her own faith. > > The problem is that this tidy narrative is an American myth. The real > story of religion in America’s past is an often awkward, frequently > embarrassing and occasionally bloody tale that most civics books and > high-school texts either paper over or shunt to the side. And much of the > recent conversation about America’s ideal of religious freedom has paid lip > service to this comforting tableau. > > > From the earliest arrival of Europeans on America’s shores, religion has > often been a cudgel, used to discriminate, suppress and even kill the > foreign, the “heretic” and the “unbeliever”—including the “heathen” natives > already here. Moreover, while it is true that the vast majority of > early-generation Americans were Christian, the pitched battles between > various Protestant sects and, more explosively, between Protestants and > Catholics, present an unavoidable contradiction to the widely held notion > that America is a “Christian nation.” > > First, a little overlooked history: the initial encounter between > Europeans in the future United States came with the establishment of a > Huguenot (French Protestant) colony in 1564 at Fort Caroline (near modern > Jacksonville, Florida). More than half a century before the *Mayflower* set > sail, French pilgrims had come to America in search of religious freedom. > > The Spanish had other ideas. In 1565, they established a forward operating > base at St. Augustine and proceeded to wipe out the Fort Caroline colony. > The Spanish commander, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, wrote to the Spanish King > Philip II that he had “hanged all those we had found in [Fort Caroline] > because...they were scattering the odious Lutheran doctrine in these > Provinces.” When hundreds of survivors of a shipwrecked French fleet washed > up on the beaches of Florida, they were put to the sword, beside a river > the Spanish called Matanzas (“slaughters”). In other words, the first > encounter between European Christians in America ended in a blood bath. > > The much-ballyhooed arrival of the Pilgrims and Puritans in New England in > the early 1600s was indeed a response to persecution that these religious > dissenters had experienced in England. But the Puritan fathers of the > Massachusetts Bay Colony did not countenance tolerance of opposing > religious views. Their “city upon a hill” was a theocracy that brooked no > dissent, religious or political. > > > The most famous dissidents within the Puritan community, Roger Williams > and Anne Hutchinson, were banished following disagreements over theology > and policy. From Puritan Boston’s earliest days, Catholics (“Papists”) were > anathema and were banned from the colonies, along with other non-Puritans. > Four Quakers were hanged in Boston between 1659 and 1661 for persistently > returning to the city to stand up for their beliefs. > > Throughout the colonial era, Anglo-American antipathy toward > Catholics—especially French and Spanish Catholics—was pronounced and often > reflected in the sermons of such famous clerics as Cotton Mather and in > statutes that discriminated against Catholics in matters of property and > voting. Anti-Catholic feelings even contributed to the revolutionary mood > in America after King George III extended an olive branch to French > Catholics in Canada with the Quebec Act of 1774, which recognized their > religion. > > When George Washington dispatched Benedict Arnold on a mission to court > French Canadians’ support for the American Revolution in 1775, he cautioned > Arnold not to let their religion get in the way. “Prudence, policy and a > true Christian Spirit,” Washington advised, “will lead us to look with > compassion upon their errors, without insulting them.” (After Arnold > betrayed the American cause, he publicly cited America’s alliance with > Catholic France as one of his reasons for doing so.) > > In newly independent America, there was a crazy quilt of state laws > regarding religion. In Massachusetts, only Christians were allowed to hold > public office, and Catholics were allowed to do so only after renouncing > papal authority. In 1777, New York State’s constitution banned Catholics > from public office (and would do so until 1806). In Maryland, Catholics had > full civil rights, but Jews did not. Delaware required an oath affirming > belief in the Trinity. Several states, including Massachusetts and South > Carolina, had official, state-supported churches. > > In 1779, as Virginia’s governor, Thomas Jefferson had drafted a bill that > guaranteed legal equality for citizens of all religions—including those of > no religion—in the state. It was around then that Jefferson famously wrote, > “But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or > no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” But Jefferson’s plan > did not advance—until after Patrick (“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”) > Henry introduced a bill in 1784 calling for state support for “teachers of > the Christian religion.” > > Future President James Madison stepped into the breach. In a carefully > argued essay titled “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious > Assessments,” the soon-to-be father of the Constitution eloquently laid out > reasons why the state had no business supporting Christian instruction. > Signed by some 2,000 Virginians, Madison’s argument became a fundamental > piece of American political philosophy, a ringing endorsement of the > secular state that “should be as familiar to students of American history > as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,” as Susan Jacoby > has written in *Freethinkers*, her excellent history of American > secularism. > > Among Madison’s 15 points was his declaration that “the Religion then of > every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every...man to > exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an > inalienable right.” > > Madison also made a point that any believer of any religion should > understand: that the government sanction of a religion was, in essence, a > threat to religion. “Who does not see,” he wrote, “that the same authority > which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may > establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in > exclusion of all other Sects?” Madison was writing from his memory of > Baptist ministers being arrested in his native Virginia. > > As a Christian, Madison also noted that Christianity had spread in the > face of persecution from worldly powers, not with their help. Christianity, > he contended, “disavows a dependence on the powers of this world...for it > is known that this Religion both existed and flourished, not only without > the support of human laws, but in spite of every opposition from them.” > > Recognizing the idea of America as a refuge for the protester or rebel, > Madison also argued that Henry’s proposal was “a departure from that > generous policy, which offering an Asylum to the persecuted and oppressed > of every Nation and Religion, promised a lustre to our country.” > > After long debate, Patrick Henry’s bill was defeated, with the opposition > outnumbering supporters 12 to 1. Instead, the Virginia legislature took up > Jefferson’s plan for the separation of church and state. In 1786, the > Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, modified somewhat from > Jefferson’s original draft, became law. The act is one of three > accomplishments Jefferson included on his tombstone, along with writing the > Declaration and founding the University of Virginia. (He omitted his > presidency of the United States.) After the bill was passed, Jefferson > proudly wrote that the law “meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its > protection, the Jew, the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the > Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination.” > > Madison wanted Jefferson’s view to become the law of the land when he went > to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. And as framed in > Philadelphia that year, the U.S. Constitution clearly stated in Article VI > that federal elective and appointed officials “shall be bound by Oath or > Affirmation, to support this Constitution, but no religious Test shall ever > be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the > United States.” > > This passage—along with the facts that the Constitution does not mention > God or a deity (except for a pro forma “year of our Lord” date) and that > its very first amendment forbids Congress from making laws that would > infringe of the free exercise of religion—attests to the founders’ resolve > that America be a secular republic. The men who fought the Revolution may > have thanked Providence and attended church regularly—or not. But they also > fought a war against a country in which the head of state was the head of > the church. Knowing well the history of religious warfare that led to > America’s settlement, they clearly understood both the dangers of that > system and of sectarian conflict. > > It was the recognition of that divisive past by the founders—notably > Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Madison—that secured America as a secular > republic. As president, Washington wrote in 1790: “All possess alike > liberty of conscience and immunity of citizenship. ...For happily the > Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to > persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its > protection should demean themselves as good citizens.” > > He was addressing the members of America’s oldest synagogue, the Touro > Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island (where his letter is read aloud every > August). In closing, he wrote specifically to the Jews a phrase that > applies to Muslims as well: “May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who > dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other > inhabitants, while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and > figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.” > > As for Adams and Jefferson, they would disagree vehemently over policy, > but on the question of religious freedom they were united. “In their > seventies,” Jacoby writes, “with a friendship that had survived serious > political conflicts, Adams and Jefferson could look back with satisfaction > on what they both considered their greatest achievement—their role in > establishing a secular government whose legislators would never be > required, or permitted, to rule on the legality of theological views.” > > Late in his life, James Madison wrote a letter summarizing his views: “And > I have no doubt that every new example, will succeed, as every past one has > done, in shewing that religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, > the less they are mixed together.” > > While some of America’s early leaders were models of virtuous tolerance, > American attitudes were slow to change. The anti-Catholicism of America’s > Calvinist past found new voice in the 19th century. The belief widely held > and preached by some of the most prominent ministers in America was that > Catholics would, if permitted, turn America over to the pope. Anti-Catholic > venom was part of the typical American school day, along with Bible > readings. In Massachusetts, a convent—coincidentally near the site of the > Bunker Hill Monument—was burned to the ground in 1834 by an anti-Catholic > mob incited by reports that young women were being abused in the convent > school. In Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, anti-Catholic > sentiment, combined with the country’s anti-immigrant mood, fueled the > Bible Riots of 1844, in which houses were torched, two Catholic churches > were destroyed and at least 20 people were killed. > > At about the same time, Joseph Smith founded a new American religion—and > soon met with the wrath of the mainstream Protestant majority. In 1832, a > mob tarred and feathered him, marking the beginning of a long battle > between Christian America and Smith’s Mormonism. In October 1838, after a > series of conflicts over land and religious tension, Missouri Governor > Lilburn Boggs ordered that all Mormons be expelled from his state. Three > days later, rogue militiamen massacred 17 church members, including > children, at the Mormon settlement of Haun’s Mill. In 1844, a mob murdered > Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum while they were jailed in Carthage, > Illinois. No one was ever convicted of the crime. > > Even as late as 1960, Catholic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy felt > compelled to make a major speech declaring that his loyalty was to America, > not the pope. (And as recently as the 2008 Republican primary campaign, > Mormon candidate Mitt Romney felt compelled to address the suspicions still > directed toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) Of > course, America’s anti-Semitism was practiced institutionally as well as > socially for decades. With the great threat of “godless” Communism looming > in the 1950s, the country’s fear of atheism also reached new heights. > > America can still be, as Madison perceived the nation in 1785, “an Asylum > to the persecuted and oppressed of every Nation and Religion.” But > recognizing that deep religious discord has been part of America’s social > DNA is a healthy and necessary step. When we acknowledge that dark past, > perhaps the nation will return to that “promised...lustre” of which Madison > so grandiloquently wrote. > > *Kenneth C. Davis* is the author of *Don’t Know Much About History* and *A > Nation Rising*, among other books. > > > > Read more: > http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-true-history-of-religious-tolerance-61312684/#70lZu2DqhQhfYm66.99 > Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv > Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter > > On Monday, February 22, 2016 at 12:21:51 PM UTC-6, KeithInTampa wrote: >> >> I will probably regret asking this, but who is it that you are alleging >> are, "They", and when did this allegedly happen? >> >> >> >> On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 12:49 PM, plainolamerican <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> but we do remember when they persecuted everyone with different >>> religious beliefs (or no beliefs at all). >>> >>> On Monday, February 22, 2016 at 10:41:28 AM UTC-6, Travis wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> [image: KrisAnne Hall's photo.] >>>> <https://www.facebook.com/krisanne.hall/photos/a.115319045185787.25319.100736243310734/1069370753113940/?type=3> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> __._,_.___ >>>> ------------------------------ >>>> Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected]> >>>> ------------------------------ >>>> >>>> >>>> Visit Your Group >>>> <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmOWJvZ3JjBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NTYxNTYwNzI-> >>>> >>>> >>>> [image: Yahoo! 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