the public school system(s) are provided with America's historical background, --- and who writes the historical background they are provided with?
which was founded upon Christian principles and tenets --- and the founding xian principles were cruel and evil as they were used to justify slavery, burning witches, the torture and killing of non- xian adherents, including catholics, jews and mormons, and led to an imperialist US foreign policy. 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. Tens of thousands of people were executed for witchcraft in Europe and the American colonies. Although it is not possible to ascertain the exact number, modern scholars estimate around 40–50,000. Common methods of execution for convicted witches were hanging, drowning and burning. Burning was often favoured, particularly in Europe, as it was considered a more painful way to die. Prosecutors in the American colonies generally preferred hanging in cases of witchcraft. 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 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 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?” 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. 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.” When the elected assembly, the House of Burgesses, was established in 1619, it enacted religious laws that made Virginia a bastion of Anglicanism. It passed a law in 1632 requiring that there be a "uniformitie throughout this colony both in substance and circumstance to the cannons and constitution of the Church of England." Once in control in New England, the Puritans sought to break "the very neck of Schism and vile opinions." The "business" of the first settlers, a Puritan minister recalled in 1681, "was not Toleration, but [they] were professed enemies of it." Puritans expelled dissenters from their colonies, a fate that in 1636 befell Roger Williams and in 1638 Anne Hutchinson, America's first major female religious leader. By 1780 the percentage of adult colonists who adhered to a church was between 10-30%, not counting slaves or Native Americans. North Carolina had the lowest percentage at about 4%, while New Hampshire and South Carolina were tied for the highest, at about 16% The American Revolution inflicted deeper wounds on the Church of England in America than on any other denomination because the English monarch was the head of the church. Church of England priests, at their ordination, swore allegiance to the British crown. The Book of Common Prayer offered prayers for the monarch, beseeching God "to be his defender and keeper, giving him victory over all his enemies," who in 1776 were American soldiers as well as friends and neighbors of American parishioners of the Church of England. Loyalty to the church and to its head could be construed as treason to the American cause. Patriotic American members of the Church of England, loathing to discard so fundamental a component of their faith as The Book of Common Prayer, revised it to conform to the political realities. After the Treaty of Paris (1783) documenting British recognition of American independence, the church split and the Anglican Communion created, allowing a separated Episcopal Church of the United States to replace, in the United States, and be in communion with the Church of England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_religion_in_the_United_States On Jun 6, 9:22 am, Keith In Tampa <[email protected]> wrote: > Michael wrote: > > *"Religion permeates the Government's schools." > * > How so? If you mean that students within the public school system(s) are > provided with America's historical background, which was founded upon > Christian principles and tenets, then yes, I understand. If you mean > something differently, then I am interested to hear your thoughts. > > > > > > > > On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 10:06 AM, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Religion permeates the Government's schools. > > > Regard$, > > --MJ > > > Education is the most powerful ally of Humanism, and every American public > > school is a school of Humanism. What can the theistic Sunday Schools, > > meeting for an hour once a week, and teaching only a fraction of the > > children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching? > > -- Charles Francis Potter, a leading Humanist, in his book, Humanism: A > > New Religion. > > > At 10:02 AM 6/6/2013, you wrote: > > > What’s wrong with this picture? > > --- > > they are allowing religion into public schools ... it must end. > > > it's ok for xian and jewish students to hand out invitations to > > prayers, but not teachers or staff > > and it's ok for muzzies to be allowed to pray at noon. They can use > > time granted as an extracurricular activity. > > > when it comes to evangelism, public schools must be safe zones. > > no religious prayer times, indoctrination, classes, demonstrations or > > explanation of why the US interventionist policy is rooted in a > > combination of imperialism and religion. Keep them ignorant and > > convince them to kill and die on command for America. Yeah! > > > On Jun 6, 7:39 am, Travis <[email protected]> wrote: > > > ** > > > BareNakedIslam posted: "How is the terror-linked Muslim Brotherhood > > > proxy CAIR (Council on Anti-AmericanIslamic Relations) bending public > > > school policy to ignore separation of church mosque and state? Two > > stories > > > from Michigan tell the tale. Townhall (h/t TROP) From a CAIR press" > > > New post on *BARE NAKED ISLAM* > > > <http://www.barenakedislam.com/?author=1> CAIR demands public schools > > make > > > special accommodation for Muslim prayer during school > > > hours<http://www.barenakedislam.com/2013/06/06/cair-demands-public-schools-...> > > > by > > > BareNakedIslam <http://www.barenakedislam.com/?author=1> > > > > How is the terror-linked Muslim Brotherhood proxy CAIR (Council on > > > Anti-AmericanIslamic Relations) bending public school policy to ignore > > > separation of church mosque and state? Two stories from Michigan tell the > > > tale. Townhall (h/t TROP) From a CAIR press release: The Michigan chapter > > > of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) said today that a > > > Detroit-area school district has apologized for […] > > > > Read more of this > > > post<http://www.barenakedislam.com/2013/06/06/cair-demands-public-schools-...> > > > *BareNakedIslam <http://www.barenakedislam.com/?author=1>* | June 6, > > 2013 > > > at 3:41 am | Categories: CAIR > > > Nazis<http://www.barenakedislam.com/?taxonomy=category&term=cair-nazis>| > > > URL:http://wp.me/p276zM-UmM<http://wp.me/p276zM-UmM> > > > > > > > Comment<http://www.barenakedislam.com/2013/06/06/cair-demands-public-schools-...> > > > See all > > > comments<http://www.barenakedislam.com/2013/06/06/cair-demands-public-schools-...> > > > > Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage > > > Subscriptions<https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=80d8873ee52adffe4e178d01c25562cf...>. > > > > *Trouble clicking?* Copy and paste this URL into your > > > browser:http://www.barenakedislam.com/2013/06/06/cair-demands-public-schools-... > > > -- > > -- > > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > > For options & help seehttp://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > > * Visit our other community > > athttp://www.PoliticalForum.com/<http://www.politicalforum.com/> > > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > > > --- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "PoliticalForum" group. > > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > > email to [email protected]. > > For more options, visithttps://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- > > -- > > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > > For options & help seehttp://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > > * Visit our other community athttp://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > > * It's active and moderated. 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