Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-19 Thread John Hayes



homey [h#601;#650;mi:]Aadjective1 homelike, homely, homey, homy
having a feeling of home; cozy and comfortable; the homely everyday atmosphere; a 
homey little inn

Appal Energy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Homey doesn't buy this either.


Don't know about Todd's age and TV viewing habits, but this may or may 
not be a variant of the circa 1990 pop culture phrase Homey don't play 
dat.


Homey the Clown was a disaffected ex-con turned children's clown played 
by Damon Wayans on the sketch comedy show In Living Color. Homey's 
typical response to pretty much everything was I don't think so...Homie 
don't play dat!


This ends today's lesson in Americana. Now back to the religious war 
already in progress.


jh
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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-19 Thread Appal Energy



Remember duck and cover?

and TV viewing habits,

I don't. Haven't for fifteen years. Didn't much before that.

- Original Message - 
From: John Hayes [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 9:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution



Michael Redler wrote:

homey [h#601;#650;mi:]Aadjective1 homelike, homely, homey, homy
having a feeling of home; cozy and comfortable; the homely everyday 
atmosphere; a homey little inn


Appal Energy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Homey doesn't buy this either.


Don't know about Todd's age and TV viewing habits, but this may or may not 
be a variant of the circa 1990 pop culture phrase Homey don't play dat.


Homey the Clown was a disaffected ex-con turned children's clown played by 
Damon Wayans on the sketch comedy show In Living Color. Homey's typical 
response to pretty much everything was I don't think so...Homie don't 
play dat!


This ends today's lesson in Americana. Now back to the religious war 
already in progress.


jh
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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution -- Thanks John

2005-02-19 Thread Michael Redler

LOL
 
Thanks John :-)
 
John Hayes [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Michael Redler wrote:
 homey [h#601;#650;mi:]Aadjective1 homelike, homely, homey, homy
 having a feeling of home; cozy and comfortable; the homely everyday 
 atmosphere; a homey little inn
 
 Appal Energy wrote:
 
 Homey doesn't buy this either.

Don't know about Todd's age and TV viewing habits, but this may or may 
not be a variant of the circa 1990 pop culture phrase Homey don't play 
dat.

Homey the Clown was a disaffected ex-con turned children's clown played 
by Damon Wayans on the sketch comedy show In Living Color. Homey's 
typical response to pretty much everything was I don't think so...Homie 
don't play dat!

This ends today's lesson in Americana. Now back to the religious war 
already in progress.

jh
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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-18 Thread Walt Patrick



Jesse,

I hadn't even heard of it.  I'm so glad you brought it up.

I'm hoping that it was recorded by someone at some time.  As you know,
there were and are some efforts to record native traditions and
languages before they are all lost.  These efforts are not nearly as
timely or vigorous as I would like.


The efforts to record this information were rigorous indeed since 
lives and fortunes depended on it.


Some background:

1)  In the first half of the 18th century, the copyright laws were an 
effective way to control the proliferation of those seditious devices 
otherwise known as printing presses. By restricting the printing of 
material to only those presses which were licensed by the author, the Crown 
was able to limit the number of them. One side effect was that this placed 
a premium on new content, since popular works could only be printed by 
shops in contract with the author.


2)  In the first half of the 18th century, the largest army on the 
continent belonged to the Iroquois Confederacy which just happened to be 
situated smack in between the French settlements on the Great Lakes, and 
the British Colonies along the Atlantic seaboard. The fate of the colonies, 
British and French alike, hinged on whether the Confederacy decided to 
remain neutral, or come in on one side or the other.


3)  The British colonial delegates had to learn the customs and 
procedures of the Confederacy in order to be able to argue their case 
effectively. When success is a matter of life or death, one tends to pay 
very close attention indeed.


4)  The colonials were very interested in the proceedings of the 
Confederate conclaves because the Confederacy was the primary buffer 
between them and the French, but it also went far beyond that - there was 
also a tremendous interest in the raw fact that such an organization could 
even exist as a voluntary association without a king. It wasn't the 
democratic aspects of the Confederacy that fascinated the colonials, but 
rather the fact that it was non-aristocratic - that it's prestigious men 
were recognized by virtue of their demonstrated merit rather than by their 
bloodline.


5)  This was the age of Rousseau and the dream of the noble savage 
unspoiled by tyrannical kings and predatory aristocrats. The fact that 
savages had manifestly created a system of governance that had been 
stable for centuries was very heady stuff to Europeans eager for any lever 
they could use to topple the towers of aristocratic privilege.


6)  The clerks who attended the delegates sent to fourteen of the 
Confederate conclaves took full and careful notes, which upon their return 
were snapped up by an eager young printer in Philadelphia who cranked out 
hundreds and hundreds of copies that were immediate best sellers - high 
priced volumes which sold out as soon as they hit the docks of Europe. 
Indeed, it was the incredible financial success reaped by his aggressive 
printer which allowed him to later indulge his interests in science and 
politics.


7)  Two other points for those interested in the behind the scenes 
details. The first is that the Confederacy was too eager to confine its 
power to the six tribes, and by refusing to allow others to join into the 
Confederacy, they weakened themselves and set the stage for thedivide and 
conquer end game that worked out the only way it could.


8)  And second, while it is true that the Constitution and the Bill of 
Rights are littered with Confederate principles, it shouldn't be forgot 
that the founders also leaned heavily on the history of the Republic of 
Venice, a powerful and independent entity which, while lacking the 
leadership of a King, still was able to dominated European affairs for 
almost a thousand years. It later fell to Napoleon's cannons, but back when 
the founders were founding, it's history as an independent republic made it 
the envy of libertarians everywhere.


Walt


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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-18 Thread Walt Patrick



Walt,

I am confused, are you suggesting that documents could not be
written before 1200 to 1500 and are you suggesting that manual
production of documents (books) were not done?


That's the generally accepted understanding, that the only groups 
capable of making a written record prior to 1500 were down in central 
America. None of the Six Nations had a system of written records, at least 
not that I've heard tell of.



 In fact, what are
you trying to tell us? I can not figure out what you mean.


Keith seems to have the same problem ;-)


Are you
sure that Six Nations had no way to document things, or that it
had not been documented by someone else at the time.


If so, I'd love to hear about it.

Walt  


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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-18 Thread robert luis rabello


Homey don't buy this one Robert, at least not hook, line and sinker like 
the author would prefer.


	The whole point of posting the article was to stimulate discussion. 
I'm not asking you to accept it.  My eldest sister sent me the article 
in rebuttal to the Brooke Adams essay.  I thought that it was typical 
of a conservative response.




Second, the author slightly oversteps reality in the last half of the very
first paragraph, when he states that there is no question about [the
states] being founded on Christian principles.

Uh...did the author just conveniently forget that most of the colonies
(they weren't really calling them states until the mid-1770's)
were founded on principles of economic investment and return? Do you think
that he could spell Massachusetts Bay Company, or the numerous other
ongoing concerns? Surely he's not saying that pursuit of monetary gain is a
Christian principle. Or is he? That would be slightly contradictory to the
vignette of the money changers in the temple, now wouldn't it?


	Excellent point, Todd.  However, we cannot overlook the fact that 
many of the original colonists came to North America to rid themselves 
of religious intolerance.  This principle informs the decision making 
process of the founding fathers, who strictly divided the realm of 
government from that of religion.  I've not read the individual state 
constitutions from whence the author derives his thesis that several 
states were founded on Christian principles, so it would be unfair for 
me to comment further.


	My view in this matter is that the United States government has never 
behaved in a manner consistent with Christian principles.  The claim 
that our founders were God fearing men does nothing to influence the 
policies our nation has espoused since its inception.  I strenuously 
object to the concept that because our money has the motto In God We 
Trust inscribed thereon, or the fact that our Masonic founding 
fathers accepted the existence of God, we have somehow managed to 
transcend the foibles common to humanity and the attendant, messy 
business of governing people.




Third, the author interprets Year of our Lord according to his own fancy.
The term lord is rather all encompassing in the bible, not to mention
general societal references, whether contemporary or historical, social or
spiritual. To attribute the term to but one leaf of the triune clover is a
bit deceptive. While it may work for the author, it would be contextually
inaccurate with great frequency.


	The use of a culturally accepted figure of speech does not 
necessarily indicate an espousal of divine eminence.  That comment 
raised my eyebrows, too.



So what of this?


The French revolutionaries reconstructed the seven-day biblical week and
turned it into a ten-day metric week in hopes of ridding the nation of
every vestige of Christianity. Nothing like this was done in America.



Might the refrain on the part of the founding fathers have had something to
do with lunar rhythms (seven days) instead of lunacy (abandonment of 
natural

cycles)? Or might it have something to do with a founding principle of
inclusion, rather than exclusion? DeMar seems to think, or at least wish
others to think, that anything which rubs against a horse must necessarily
be a horse.


Another good point, Todd.


Then, wonder of wonders, DeMar further jumps the tracks with the body of 
the paragraph that starts, The U. S. Constitutions lack of a Christian

designation had little to do with a radical secular agenda. Rather than
addressing the individual beliefs of the founding fathers as Allen did, he
not only creates a strawman on which to focus, but completely sidesteps 
that part of the Allen's thesis and brings in 'evidence to the contrary' which

has essentially nothing to do with their personal holdings.

And the reader is expected to continue reading in this thick haze of
intentionally layed smoke and obfuscation?


	There were some problems with the Brooke Adams essay, especially in 
her contention that the Constitution writers did not personally 
espouse religious beliefs.  However, I believe she was trying to 
address the current fantasy among many Americans that the Constitution 
is divinely inspired to the same degree that Christians maintain for 
the scriptures, and that this level of inspiration could ONLY have 
derived from men who were deeply committed to Jesus Christ.  This 
problem is widespread, it's patently false, and the defensive reaction 
characteristic of Mr. DeMar's rebuttal is an excellent example of what 
motivates my concern.  He's written a number of statements that 
indicate he is projecting a modern, evangelical view upon the 
Constitution writers; including the blatantly ridiculous claim that 
giving the president Sunday off when counting the days before a bill 
must be signed was done in deference to the fourth commandment.  (The 
fourth commandment specifies the seventh day as Sabbath, 

Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-17 Thread Doug Younker


- Original Message - 
From: Legal Eagle [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 4:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution


: G'day Ken;
: Nice of you to denigrate CHRISTians like that . We are not X anything
: thank you very much. Either learn some respect or please keep your crap to
: yourself. You don't have to agree, but you don't get to denigrate either.
: Someone had a whack at sacred cows a while back, you should have learned
: from that.
: Luc
*
Ah Luc? Respectfully, don't be so quick to feel disrespected by a centuries
old practice and the modern day adaptation of that practice. X, XP and P
super-imposed over X is understood to represent the word and the man Christ.
The P super-imposed over the X is a symbol found in many church buildings.
See http://landru.i-link-2.net/shnyves/Christian_Symbolism.html [
http://tinyurl.com/4lxr9 ] and  http://landru.i-link-2.net/shnyves/xp.gif
[ http://tinyurl.com/6saa7 ]
Doug, N0LKK
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
E Pluribus Unum
Motto of the USA since 1776

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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-17 Thread Doug Younker


- Original Message - 
From: robert luis rabello [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 9:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution
:
: Allens article is filled with so many half truths that it would take
: a book to deal with them adequately. For those of you who are new to
: the work of American Vision, there are numerous books on the subject
: that easily refute Allens assertions.

The words that where attributed to the founding brothers in the article are
accurate as are the words of the same founding brothers that, morally
ambiguous moral majority use to make their case.  The problem is that the
body of the recorded words of the founding brothers is like, the Bible and
would seem the Koran as well.  By picking and choosing one can find support/
justification for most everything.  Many of the first Christians coming to
the Americas came fleeing religious oppression only to become the oppressors
themselves here in the Americas.  IMO opinion they are still at it.  To call
the USA Christian is to insult  God become man and his teachings, still
IMO.
Doug

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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-17 Thread Keith Addison




Of course it wasn't then a written document but an oral tradition and a
model of a working democracy from which the founding fathers drew more
than heavily


Rather than facts and substance, the prejudice (which is all it 
amounts to) against oral traditions and oral history, dating from the 
colonial era, has been shown to be without much basis. No doubt there 
are exceptions but generally, oral peoples with no written language 
were and are most rigorous in maintaining the veracity and accuracy 
of what enters their traditions. African historians have shown that 
on many occasions the oral histories have been more accurate than the 
written ones were, such as for instance Lord Lugard's much-hailed 
establishment of indirect rule in Nigeria a hundred years ago, 
admired at the time and long afterwards, even now, as a shining 
example of colonial liberalism. In fact it was intended to 
destabilise, divide and conquer and was established at the barrel of 
a Gatling gun with widespead loss of life - but Lord Lugard's wife 
was foreign editor of The Times, don't you know, and a different 
story thus entered the history books, as intended. The African oral 
histories told the truth of it, since proven and corroborated, and 
were consistent, furthermore, more so than written historians tend 
be. It's not a safe assumption that print and literacy are 
necessarily superior. If it's just an automatic assumption and not 
based on the facts of the case, it's quite likely to be not only 
wrong but arrogant.


Best wishes

Keith



Jess

 From: Walt Patrick [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 10:41:04 -0800
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

 At 10:57 AM 2/15/2005, you wrote:
 Has anyone else ever seen a copy of the Six Nations Constitution?

 It's hard to imagine that any such document could exist. The
 agreement was formulated sometime between 1200 and 1500, long before the
 Six Nations had a way to write such an agreement down. Any document
 prepared in modern times would be analogous to a modern copy of the works
 of Homer; i.e. the product of a long oral tradition separating the author
 from the present age.

 Walt


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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-17 Thread Doug Younker


- Original Message - 
From: Kirk McLoren [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
: Noahide or Noachide law is actually Jewish although
: some Christians apparently want to practice Judaism.
:
: I'm afraid it will only get worse at least for a time.
:
: Kirk
*
Well there is no profit in following Christ's instructions.  But then after
following the link provided I'm confused way my Congress and President
would, declare as the law of the land, law they routinely and habitually
break or ignore.  I agree it will only get worse and I hope you are correct
in least for a time.
Doug

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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-17 Thread Hakan Falk


Walt,

I am confused, are you suggesting that documents could not be
written before 1200 to 1500 and are you suggesting that manual
production of documents (books) were not done? In fact, what are
you trying to tell us? I can not figure out what you mean. Are you
sure that Six Nations had no way to document things, or that it
had not been documented by someone else at the time.

Democracy by itself is an old Greek definition and since then there
are many variations that had been tried. It is very hard to find any
variation that not been tried and documented, even before the
Americas was discovered. The founding fathers did not create
anything new and had a very large and documented knowledge
base to draw from. What is it that is new in the US constitution
or unique in the US version of democracy? It might be that the
US corporations have extended rights, compared to the people
and in reality the US in a Corpracy not a Democracy. LOL

I have no idea, but if it was something called democracy in US
before its discovery, it is a quite remarkable discovery.

Hakan

At 12:42 AM 2/17/2005, you wrote:

Of course it wasn't then a written document but an oral tradition and a
model of a working democracy from which the founding fathers drew more
than heavily
Jess

 From: Walt Patrick [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 10:41:04 -0800
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

 At 10:57 AM 2/15/2005, you wrote:
 Has anyone else ever seen a copy of the Six Nations Constitution?

 It's hard to imagine that any such document could exist. The
 agreement was formulated sometime between 1200 and 1500, long before the
 Six Nations had a way to write such an agreement down. Any document
 prepared in modern times would be analogous to a modern copy of the works
 of Homer; i.e. the product of a long oral tradition separating the author
 from the present age.

 Walt



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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-17 Thread robert luis rabello




Hallo Dave,

No,  Allen  specifically  states  that the founders were not religious
men.  I quoted that in my first mail to Todd and that was my only beef
with  the  article.   It  is  patently false.  Where he is right he is
right  and  where  he  is  wrong  he is wrong and he was wrong in that
statement.  


	Sorry to butt into your discussion, Gustl, but the author was a 
woman.  Brooke Allen has an axe to grind, and you're right about her 
errors.  However, she does make some excellent points.  The 
contemporary tendency to view America's founding fathers as 
evangelical, dispensationalist believing, born again Bible thumpers 
is the perspective she tried to counter.



robert luis rabello
The Edge of Justice
Adventure for Your Mind
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=9782

Ranger Supercharger Project Page
http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/


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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread B. Nostrand

i suppose you have a problem with christmas being spelled with an X as well.
you know XMAS! i never thought it was intended as any form of denegration.
seems we're awfully sensitive here...rbury
- Original Message -
From: Legal Eagle [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 2:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution


 G'day Ken;
 Nice of you to denigrate CHRISTians like that . We are not X anything
 thank you very much. Either learn some respect or please keep your crap to
 yourself. You don't have to agree, but you don't get to denigrate either.
 Someone had a whack at sacred cows a while back, you should have learned
 from that.
 Luc
 - Original Message -
 From: Ken Provost [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 11:34 PM
 Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution


  on 2/14/05 6:38 PM, knoton at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 
  Our Godless Constitution
  by BROOKE ALLEN
  [from the February 21, 2005 issue]
 
 
 
  http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050221s=allen
 
 
 
 
  A breath of fresh air -- thanks! Having been an
  unabashed atheist for 90% of my long life, it's
  great to know that my hero Tom Jefferson wasn't
  even a real Deist (as I've always been taught),
  much less an X-tian like our rulers would have you
  believe. 'Course Tom has almost been drummed out
  of the Founding Father's Klub already, and our
  Revolution has been renamed the War of Independ-
  ence for decades now..
 
  -K
 
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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread Legal Eagle






- Original Message - 
From: Hakan Falk [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 6:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution




Luc,

Sorry but my earlier reply was sent by itself and without following 
comment.


You are right, but I think that many Christians also should learn respect 
or please keep their crap for them self. It is numerous times that I met 
representatives for the Christian religion, that in an abusive way promote 
their religion and demand respect for it, without them self having any 
respect for what others belive in. This I say, even because my 
denomination would officially and by birth be Christian protestant.


I am sorry, but I fail to see in what way Ken did not show respect, he 
declared what be belive and did a general comment about religious variant 
in general. In mathematics X stand for unknown denomination


And were we speaking of mathematics I would agree.


and I think that in this case it was meant as such.


You can believe that if you want to,however anyone who has been around 
confirmed atheists for any amount of time knows more than well that the X 
is a lot more than a generic symbol. It is meant the way it was used. Like 
Xmas is.


Why are you so upset by not being especially mentioned, was it the lack of 
attention to your specific case?


I am sorry to disappoint you but I do not suffer from adolescent temper 
tantrumus (my word).


Luc - pinning for attention.ha!


Hakan
X-tian or whatever.




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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread Ken Provost

on 2/15/05 5:24 PM, knoton at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:



 You can google the same same criteria {dominionism and christian
 reconstructionism} as mentioned earlier, but specify death penalty
 and see what they intend to do with that ~both by expanding the list of
 crimes eligible, and the METHODs of execution to be employed.



Yup, it's clear that they're CRAZY (i.e., CERTIFIABLE). It's enuf to
make any good Christian disavow the term, 'till the insanity blows
over... Meanwhile, we (poor Amerikan schmucks) have to figger out
how to survive this assault -- more later.  -K

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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread robert luis rabello






A breath of fresh air -- thanks! Having been an
unabashed atheist for 90% of my long life, it's
great to know that my hero Tom Jefferson wasn't
even a real Deist (as I've always been taught),
much less an X-tian like our rulers would have you
believe. 'Course Tom has almost been drummed out
of the Founding Father's Klub already, and our
Revolution has been renamed the War of Independ-
ence for decades now..


	While I agree in substance with much of the article Brooke Allen 
composed, here is a rebuttal that my eldest sister (the one who is 
happy to stay in Oakland, where she lives) sent for my perusal:


http://www.americanvision.org/articlearchive/02-09-05.asp

Did George Bush Lie About America Being Founded on Christian Principles?
By Gary DeMar

The lesson the President has learned bestand certainly the one that 
has been the most useful to himis the axiom that if you repeat a lie 
often enough, people will believe it. One of his Administrations 
current favorites is the whopper about America having been founded on 
Christian principles. Our nation was founded not on Christian 
principles but on Enlightenment ones. God only entered the picture as 
a very minor player, and Jesus Christ was conspicuously absent. Thus 
begins an article by Brooke Allen that was posted on the website of 
The Nation on February 3, 2005.1 Its obvious that Allen has not 
done a thorough study of American history as it relates to its 
founding documents. There is much more to Americas founding than the 
Constitution. America was not born in 1877 or even in 1776. The 
Constitution did not create America, America created the Constitution. 
More specifically, the states created the national government. The 
states (colonial governments) were a reality long before the 
Constitution was conceived, and there is no question about their being 
founded on Christian principles.


Allens article is filled with so many half truths that it would take 
a book to deal with them adequately. For those of you who are new to 
the work of American Vision, there are numerous books on the subject 
that easily refute Allens assertions.


* Americas Christian History: The Untold Story by Gary DeMar (1995).
* Americas Christian Heritage by Gary DeMar (2003).
* The United States: A Christian Nation by Supreme Court Justice 
David J. Brewer (1905).
* The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of 
the United States Developed in the Official and Historical Annals of 
the Republic by B. F. Morris (1864).
* Christianity and the American Commonwealth by Charles B. 
Galloway (1898).2


Here is Allens first assertion: Our Constitution makes no mention 
whatever of God. No mention whatever is pretty absolute.  Given 
this bold claim, then how does she explain that the Constitution ends 
with DONE in the year of our Lord? Our Lord is a reference to 
Jesus Christ. This phrase appears just above the signature of George 
Washington, the same George Washington who took the presidential oath 
of office with his hand on an open Bible, the same George Washington 
who was called upon by Congress, after the drafting of the First 
Amendment, to proclaim a national day of prayer and thanksgiving. The 
resolution read as follows:


That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon 
the President of the United States to request that he would recommend 
to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and 
prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the 
many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an 
opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution for their safety and 
happiness.


It seems rather odd that the constitutional framers would thank God 
for allowing them to draft a Constitution that excluded Him from the 
Constitution and the civil affairs of government.


Allen is correct that there were a number of Enlightenment principles 
floating around the colonies in the late eighteenth century as well as 
anti-clericalism. And there is no doubt that some of these principles 
made their way into the Constitution, although its hard to tell where 
when compared to the obvious Enlightenment principles inherent in the 
French Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789). But we should be 
reminded of Allens absolutist claim of a complete dissolution of 
religion from political considerations in the Constitution. She has 
set the evaluative standard. If she is correct, then why didnt the 
framers presage the French revolutionaries by starting the national 
calendar with a new Year One? Why did the Constitutional framers set 
aside Sundaythe Fourth Commandment of the Decalogueas a day of rest 
for the President (Art. 1, sec. 7) if it was their desire to 
secularize the nation as Allen suggests? The French revolutionaries 
reconstructed the seven-day biblical week and turned it into a ten-day 
metric week in hopes of ridding the nation of every vestige of 

Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread Kirk McLoren

It is worse than that
See
http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/7laws.html
The U.S. Congress officially recognized the Noahide
Laws in legislation which was passed by both houses.
Congress and the President of the United States,
George Bush, indicated in Public Law 102-14, 102nd
Congress, that the United States of America was
founded upon the Seven Universal Laws of Noah, and
that these Laws have been the bedrock of society from
the dawn of civilization. They also acknowledged that
the Seven Laws of Noah are the foundation upon which
civilization stands and that recent weakening of these
principles threaten the fabric of civilized society,
and that justified preoccupation in educating the
Citizens of the United States of America and future
generations is needed. For this purpose, this Public
Law designated March 26, 1991 as Education Day, U.S.A.


Noahide or Noachide law is actually Jewish although
some Christians apparently want to practice Judaism.

I'm afraid it will only get worse at least for a time.

Kirk



--- knoton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Dave,
 
 Bingo!  That's my read on it.  To be more specific,
 they want THEIR
 god's law (that god of Judaism and Christianity) to
 be the law of the
 land.
 
 You can google the same same criteria {dominionism
 and christian
 reconstructionism} as mentioned earlier, but
 specify death penalty
 and see what they intend to do with that ~both by
 expanding the list of
 crimes eligible, and the METHODs of execution to be
 employed.  The
 Constitution Restoration Act will PROHIBIT judicial
 review of these
 extremist goals.  Not even the U.S. Supreme Court
 will have
 jurisdiction.
 
 Try googling by specifying Pat Robertson to the
 before mentioned
 search criteria and see what you learn. 
 Presbyterian yields some
 interesting background, too.  Poke around enough and
 you'll find several
 people and orgs that you recognize.
 
 Where the Constitution Restoration Act may be
 specific to the United
 States, you'll soon learn that they do not intend to
 stop with just the
 United States.
 
 Demian
 ==
 DHAJOGLO at smumn.edu
 I found the text of this act and some things about
 it.  Am I right in
 thinking that they are trying to make god's law
 part of our
 constitutional law? 
 -dave
 
 Knoton, 
 Try googling the following: 
  
 Constitution Restoration Act 
  
 which was introduced in both houses of the U.S.
 Congress one year ago 
 this month.
 
  [1]kcom.gif
 
 
 
 References
 
1. http://www.knoton.com/
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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread Keith Addison




G'day Hakan;

- Original Message - From: Hakan Falk [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 6:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution


Luc,

Sorry but my earlier reply was sent by itself and without following comment.

You are right, but I think that many Christians also should learn 
respect or please keep their crap for them self. It is numerous 
times that I met representatives for the Christian religion, that 
in an abusive way promote their religion and demand respect for it, 
without them self having any respect for what others belive in. 
This I say, even because my denomination would officially and by 
birth be Christian protestant.


I am sorry, but I fail to see in what way Ken did not show respect, 
he declared what be belive and did a general comment about 
religious variant in general. In mathematics X stand for unknown 
denomination


And were we speaking of mathematics I would agree.


and I think that in this case it was meant as such.


You can believe that if you want to,however anyone who has been 
around confirmed atheists for any amount of time knows more than 
well that the X is a lot more than a generic symbol. It is meant 
the way it was used. Like Xmas is.


There's some kind of denigration implicit in Xmas? It's just 
informal, short for Christmas. Hakan's meaning for X is the second 
one listed, a symbol for an unknown or variable factor; 6th is the 
symbol for Christ, Christian, from the form of the Greek letter khi, 
X, first letter of Khristos, Christ. I read X-tian in this case as 
a mix of #6 and #2. I didn't see any lack of respect in it.


I think I'd not be alone in that, when someone says they're a 
Christian, I'd want to know what kind of Christian - an unknown, 
variable factor indeed. If I didn't know that, X-tian might be 
rather apt. He's religious, he says he's a Christian.


Ken said: ... much less an X-tian like our rulers would have you 
believe. What those particular rulers would definitely have you 
believe is that that would be *their* version of a Christian. Many 
Christians here, and many others too, don't accept that that is a 
genuine Christian at all. I don't think you accept it either, do you? 
Rightwing so-called fundamentalist allegedly Christian 
dispensationalists who are utterly intolerant and seem to know 
nothing of God is love or the Sermon on the Mount but rather crave 
the destruction of all life and make it soon? Have these people even 
read the Gospels? There's not much evidence of it. I've called them 
an evil cult before this. Christians? I don't think so.


I was brought up as Hakan was but I'm neither a Christian nor an 
atheist. I've had much experience of both, and though there've been 
many exceptions on both sides, in general I've seen more intolerance 
in Christians than in atheists. Whatever they might have believed, as 
far as the way they behaved was concerned, some of the atheists were 
better Christians than some of the Christians were.


Christians even joke about their intolerance, like this one: A man 
was walking across a bridge one day, and he saw a man standing on the 
edge about to jump off. He said, I ran over to him and, said Stop; 
don't do it'. Why shouldn't I? the man said. I said, Well there is 
so much to live for. He said, Like what? I said, Well are you 
religious or atheist? He said, Religious. I said, Me too. Are you 
Christian or Buddhist? He said, Christian. I said, Me too! Are 
you Catholic or Protestant? He said, Protestant. I said, You 
are?!? Wow, I said, so am I! Are you Protestant Church of God, or 
Protestant Church of God the Lord? He said, Protestant Church of 
God. I said in my excitement, My brother, me too! Are you original 
Protestant Church of God, or Reformed Church of God? He said, 
Reformed Church of God. I could hardly contain myself. My brother, 
me too! Are you Reformed Protestant Church of God of 1879, or are you 
Reformed Protestant Church of God Reformed 1915? He said, Reformed 
Protestant Church of God Reformation of 1915. I shouted, Die 
heretic, and pushed him off the bridge.


You can find that story in several different church sermons on the 
web, with quite a wide variety of lessons drawn from it, according to 
the type of church.


I don't think the sacred cow case is a good comparison, or any 
comparison. That was a case of a disparaging colonial-era usage 
surviving in common parlance well past its use-by date, everybody 
accepted Pan's objection as valid, some valuable lessons came from it 
and we found a resolution (false sacred cow). I don't see that it 
has anythng in common with this.


Regards

Keith


Why are you so upset by not being especially mentioned, was it the 
lack of attention to your specific case?


I am sorry to disappoint you but I do not suffer from adolescent 
temper tantrumus (my word).


Luc - pinning for attention.ha!


Hakan
X-tian or whatever

Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread stephan torak


with your truly excellent discourse on the American heritage. I am a 
naturalized citizen, from Austria, and I studied things American in 
great quantity  at our University in Vienna before I finally came over 
here in the hand luggage of a liberal  school teacher from California. I 
became a US citizen as one of those who are willing to pick up the 
luggage and carry it, too.
Funny, how this discourse on the authors of the constitution and their 
religious angles and beliefs just couldn't be happening in Europe (well 
Austria, anyway) because we know they were all  practicing Catholics. 
But for Europeans of today to try to write ones' religious beliefs and 
Dogma into the constitution, no way, or to argue whether the 
constitution is following Christian principles, or for a presidential 
candidate to announce that he is or is not a practicing whatever, so who 
would listen to that? And who would vote for someone who puts so much 
emphasis on this issue?  After a recent visit I vividly remember a bunch 
of kids sitting in the subway in Vienna discussing robotics projects and 
micro controllers and the girl, maybe 12  ys old saying that she hoped 
her parents wouldn't make her go to the Mosque again  next weekend, 
speaking  without any accent. I don't know my friends, it just drives 
home to me the need to set aside this self righteousness that plagues 
America and to concentrate on furthering the peace (now that sounds like 
a Christian principle, doesn't it) and to talk of some REAL ISSUES, and 
I believe this is exactly what we are doing most of the time. . So, I 
have no intention to move back to Europe, but I do want to make BD and I 
discussed with my son (14) your article on the constitution just to 
instill some healthy scepticism in the boy. Thank you immensly for your 
work, Gentlemen.!  Regards, Stephan



Ken Provost wrote:




A breath of fresh air -- thanks! Having been an
unabashed atheist for 90% of my long life, it's
great to know that my hero Tom Jefferson wasn't
even a real Deist (as I've always been taught),
much less an X-tian like our rulers would have you
believe. 'Course Tom has almost been drummed out
of the Founding Father's Klub already, and our
Revolution has been renamed the War of Independ-
ence for decades now..



While I agree in substance with much of the article Brooke Allen 
composed, here is a rebuttal that my eldest sister (the one who is 
happy to stay in Oakland, where she lives) sent for my perusal:


http://www.americanvision.org/articlearchive/02-09-05.asp

Did George Bush Lie About America Being Founded on Christian Principles?
By Gary DeMar

The lesson the President has learned bestand certainly the one that 
has been the most useful to himis the axiom that if you repeat a lie 
often enough, people will believe it. One of his Administrations 
current favorites is the whopper about America having been founded on 
Christian principles. Our nation was founded not on Christian 
principles but on Enlightenment ones. God only entered the picture as 
a very minor player, and Jesus Christ was conspicuously absent. Thus 
begins an article by Brooke Allen that was posted on the website of 
The Nation on February 3, 2005.1 Its obvious that Allen has not 
done a thorough study of American history as it relates to its 
founding documents. There is much more to Americas founding than the 
Constitution. America was not born in 1877 or even in 1776. The 
Constitution did not create America, America created the Constitution. 
More specifically, the states created the national government. The 
states (colonial governments) were a reality long before the 
Constitution was conceived, and there is no question about their being 
founded on Christian principles.


Allens article is filled with so many half truths that it would take 
a book to deal with them adequately. For those of you who are new to 
the work of American Vision, there are numerous books on the subject 
that easily refute Allens assertions.


* Americas Christian History: The Untold Story by Gary DeMar (1995).
* Americas Christian Heritage by Gary DeMar (2003).
* The United States: A Christian Nation by Supreme Court Justice 
David J. Brewer (1905).
* The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of 
the United States Developed in the Official and Historical Annals of 
the Republic by B. F. Morris (1864).
* Christianity and the American Commonwealth by Charles B. 
Galloway (1898).2


Here is Allens first assertion: Our Constitution makes no mention 
whatever of God. No mention whatever is pretty absolute.  Given 
this bold claim, then how does she explain that the Constitution ends 
with DONE in the year of our Lord? Our Lord is a reference to 
Jesus Christ. This phrase appears just above the signature of George 
Washington, the same George Washington who took the presidential oath 
of office with his hand on an open Bible, the same George Washington 
who was called upon by 

Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread Ken Provost

on 2/15/05 11:04 PM, Keith Addison at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


 
 I think I'd not be alone in that, when someone says they're a
 Christian, I'd want to know what kind of Christian - an unknown,
 variable factor indeed. If I didn't know that, X-tian might be
 rather apt. He's religious, he says he's a Christian.
 

  Rightwing so-called fundamentalist allegedly Christian
 dispensationalists who are utterly intolerant and seem to know
 nothing of God is love or the Sermon on the Mount but rather crave
 the destruction of all life and make it soon? Have these people even
 read the Gospels? There's not much evidence of it. I've called them
 an evil cult before this. Christians? I don't think so.



Here's an idea -- if you believe that Jesus is gonna come back
on a cloud and pull all the true believers (you and your friends)
out of their clothes, that God talks to Bush, that gays and
socialists are gonna burn in hell for all eternity, etc, etc,
you should continue to use the word Christian to describe yourself.

If OTOH, you believe that your personal calling in life is to
attempt to live according to the teachings of one Yeshua bin Pantera
(or possibly Yeshua bin Yusef) as (hopefully) recorded in a particular
body of writings called the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then you call
yourself a Yeshuite.

In other words, when a word gets co-opted by the opposition, you
pick a different word, to avoid being confused with them.  Easy.

-K




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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread DHAJOGLO

http://www.americanvision.org/articlearchive/02-09-05.asp

Did George Bush Lie About America Being Founded on Christian Principles?
By Gary DeMar


Its interesting to note that this article makes the very foolish leap from god 
to jesus.  God is referenced several times but jesus is only refernced 3 times 
and the author claims that the words lord and god really mean jesus.

Further, the bulk of christian principles are also reflected in every other 
major (and minor) religon.  So, while the country was founded by primarily 
christians, and such principles were present, I read the message authors like 
DeMar are sending as, We should emulate the Bible and as such persecute those 
who don't endorse it.

Last I checked, my country (USA) was founded on principles that stood in 
defiance of just such persecutions.




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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread robert luis rabello




Its interesting to note that this article makes the very foolish leap from god 
to jesus.


	There are problems with the article my sister sent to me, as there 
were with Brooke Allen's essay, but from the perspective of a 
mainstream Christian, equating Jesus with God would not be among them. 
 There seems to be a great concern in the United States that we have 
somehow departed from the deeply religious beliefs of our founding 
fathers.  Brooke Adams was right to point out, however, that the 
religious views of early American leadership were profoundly 
influenced by Enlightenment ideals; much more so than many of us 
understand or care to admit.  Many of these men were Masons, a 
perspective which has left an indelible mark on the symbols used to 
represent America.  They were NOT Christians in the same sense that my 
evangelical brethren like to make them.


	Equating fundamentalist Christianity (as it is now practiced in the 
United States) with men like Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, 
Benjamin Franklin and George Washington removes their clearly 
articulated thinking from the context in which it should be placed. 
This historical sublimation (I can't think of another way to express 
this, and I hope I'll not be misunderstood!) of modern ideas 
represents a dangerous trend: one that equates righteousness with 
assent and evil with dissent.  From what I have read of early 
American political and religious thought, our leadership remained 
consistently opposed to the idea that the government should become 
involved in the realm of religion.  The Constitution gives clear 
counsel on this matter.




Further, the bulk of christian principles are also reflected in every other major (and 
minor) religon.  So, while the country was founded by primarily christians, and such 
principles were present, I read the message authors like DeMar are sending as, We 
should emulate the Bible and as such persecute those who don't endorse it.


	The people who founded the United States were Christians, but let me 
pose some questions:  Do national policies reflect Christian 
principles?  (Indeed, have they ever?)  Do our courts interpret law in 
light of Jesus' gospel teaching?  Does our leadership espouse the 
servitude and humility of Jesus Christ?


Silly questions?  Indeed!

	I can argue, from a completely secular perspective, that my nation 
does not, has not, and has NEVER espoused Christianity.


Last I checked, my country (USA) was founded on principles that stood in 
defiance of just such persecutions.


Can I say Amen to that?

robert luis rabello
The Edge of Justice
Adventure for Your Mind
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=9782

Ranger Supercharger Project Page
http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/


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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread Keith Addison




Did George Bush Lie About America Being Founded on Christian Principles?
By Gary DeMar


Its interesting to note that this article makes the very foolish 
leap from god to jesus.  God is referenced several times but jesus 
is only refernced 3 times and the author claims that the words lord 
and god really mean jesus.


Further, the bulk of christian principles are also reflected in 
every other major (and minor) religon.  So, while the country was 
founded by primarily christians, and such principles were present, I 
read the message authors like DeMar are sending as, We should 
emulate the Bible and as such persecute those who don't endorse it.


Last I checked, my country (USA) was founded on principles that 
stood in defiance of just such persecutions.


Aarghhh! I can't stand it! I just got to do this...

From previous:


I don't think we can casually dismiss
these folks as a minor fruitcake fringe anymore.


Only now???

Let's go back 23.5 years, to...

Frank Zappa, September 1981

Dumb All Over
http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/You_Are_What_You_Is.html#Dumb

Whoever we are
Wherever we're from
We shoulda noticed by now
Our behavior is dumb
And if our chances
Expect to improve
It's gonna take a lot more
Than tryin' to remove
The other race
Or the other whatever
From the face
Of the planet altogether

They call it THE EARTH
Which is a dumb kinda name
But they named it right
'Cause we behave the same . . .
We are dumb all over
Dumb all over,
Yes we are
Dumb all over,
Near 'n far
Dumb all over,
Black 'n white
People, we is not wrapped tight

Nurds on the left
Nurds on the right
Religious fanatics
On the air every night
Sayin' the Bible
Tells the story
'N makes the details
Sound real gory
'Bout what to do
If the geeks over there
Don't believe in the book
We got over here

You can't run a race
Without no feet
'N pretty soon
There won't be no street
For dummies to jog on
Or doggies to dog on
Religious fanatics
Can make it be all gone
(I mean it won't blow up
'N disappear
It'll just look ugly
For a thousand years . . . )

You can't run a country
By a book of religion
Not by a heap
Or a lump or a smidgeon
Of foolish rules
Of ancient date
Designed to make
You all feel great
While you fold, spindle
And mutilate
Those unbelievers
From a neighboring state

TO ARMS! TO ARMS!
Hooray! That's great
Two legs ain't bad
Unless there's a crate
They ship the parts
To mama in
For souvenirs: two ears (Get Down!)
Not his, not hers (but what the hey?)
The Good Book says:
It gotta be that way!
But their book says:
REVENGE THE CRUSADES . . .
With whips 'n chains
'N hand grenades . . . 
TWO ARMS? TWO ARMS?
Have another and another
Our God says:
There ain't no other!
Our God says
It's all okay!
Our God says
This is the way!

It says in the book:
Burn 'n destroy . . .
'N repent, 'n redeem
'N revenge, 'n deploy
'N rumble thee forth
To the land of the unbelieving scum on the other side
'Cause they don't go for what's in the book
'N that makes 'em BAD
So verily we must choppeth them up
And stompeth them down
Or rent a nice French bomb
To poof them out of existance
While leaving their real estate just where we need it
To use again
For temples in which to praise
OUR GOD
(Cause he can really take care of business!)

And when his humble TV servant
With humble white hair
And humble glasses
And a nice brown suit
And maybe a blonde wife who takes phone calls
Tells us our God says
It's okay to do this stuff
Then we gotta do it,
'Cause if we don't do it,
We ain't gwine up to hebbin!
(Depending on which book you're using at the time . . . Can't use 
theirs . . . it don't work . . . it's all lies . . . Gotta use mine . 
. . )

Ain't that right?
That's what they say
Every night . . .
Every day . . .
Hey, we can't really be dumb
If we're just following God's Orders
Hey, Let's get serious . . .
God knows what he's doin' . . .
He wrote this book here
An' the book says:
He made us all to be just like Him, so . . .
If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little ugly on the side)

DUMB ALL OVER
A LITTLE UGLY ON THE SIDE

More...

http://www.getlyrical.com/lyrics.html?Type=SongId=44016
Lyrics for ZAPPA FRANK
THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT NOTHING

http://www.getlyrical.com/lyrics.html?Type=SongId=44019
Lyrics for ZAPPA FRANK
HEAVENLY BANK ACCOUNT

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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread Fred Finch

Keith et. al.,

When you quote Frank Zappa from the first Frank Zappa album I ever
purchased and listened to from beginning to end (rinse, repeat,)  it
reminds me that when folks start publically espouse their faith, keep
one hand on your wallet and the other on your wife (or husband.)  They
want something from you and they will do anything to get it.

When they start bringing it into politics they are more determined to
take it rather than ask.  Become a member of the flock or you will
not get your government funds for insert program here.

Religion and politics bring out the absolute worst in people!!  
Perhaps that is why it should be avoided by people as a general rule.
(And no, I am not an Athiest.)

fred


On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 02:42:40 +0900, Keith Addison
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  http://www.americanvision.org/articlearchive/02-09-05.asp
  
  Did George Bush Lie About America Being Founded on Christian Principles?
  By Gary DeMar
  
 
 Its interesting to note that this article makes the very foolish
 leap from god to jesus.  God is referenced several times but jesus
 is only refernced 3 times and the author claims that the words lord
 and god really mean jesus.
 
 Further, the bulk of christian principles are also reflected in
 every other major (and minor) religon.  So, while the country was
 founded by primarily christians, and such principles were present, I
 read the message authors like DeMar are sending as, We should
 emulate the Bible and as such persecute those who don't endorse it.
 
 Last I checked, my country (USA) was founded on principles that
 stood in defiance of just such persecutions.
 
 Aarghhh! I can't stand it! I just got to do this...
 
  From previous:
 
 I don't think we can casually dismiss
 these folks as a minor fruitcake fringe anymore.
 
 Only now???
 
 Let's go back 23.5 years, to...
 
 Frank Zappa, September 1981
 
 Dumb All Over
 http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/You_Are_What_You_Is.html#Dumb
 
 Whoever we are
 Wherever we're from
 We shoulda noticed by now
 Our behavior is dumb
 And if our chances
 Expect to improve
 It's gonna take a lot more
 Than tryin' to remove
 The other race
 Or the other whatever
  From the face
 Of the planet altogether
 
 They call it THE EARTH
 Which is a dumb kinda name
 But they named it right
 'Cause we behave the same . . .
 We are dumb all over
 Dumb all over,
 Yes we are
 Dumb all over,
 Near 'n far
 Dumb all over,
 Black 'n white
 People, we is not wrapped tight
 
 Nurds on the left
 Nurds on the right
 Religious fanatics
 On the air every night
 Sayin' the Bible
 Tells the story
 'N makes the details
 Sound real gory
 'Bout what to do
 If the geeks over there
 Don't believe in the book
 We got over here
 
 You can't run a race
 Without no feet
 'N pretty soon
 There won't be no street
 For dummies to jog on
 Or doggies to dog on
 Religious fanatics
 Can make it be all gone
 (I mean it won't blow up
 'N disappear
 It'll just look ugly
 For a thousand years . . . )
 
 You can't run a country
 By a book of religion
 Not by a heap
 Or a lump or a smidgeon
 Of foolish rules
 Of ancient date
 Designed to make
 You all feel great
 While you fold, spindle
 And mutilate
 Those unbelievers
  From a neighboring state
 
 TO ARMS! TO ARMS!
 Hooray! That's great
 Two legs ain't bad
 Unless there's a crate
 They ship the parts
 To mama in
 For souvenirs: two ears (Get Down!)
 Not his, not hers (but what the hey?)
 The Good Book says:
 It gotta be that way!
 But their book says:
 REVENGE THE CRUSADES . . .
 With whips 'n chains
 'N hand grenades . . . 
 TWO ARMS? TWO ARMS?
 Have another and another
 Our God says:
 There ain't no other!
 Our God says
 It's all okay!
 Our God says
 This is the way!
 
 It says in the book:
 Burn 'n destroy . . .
 'N repent, 'n redeem
 'N revenge, 'n deploy
 'N rumble thee forth
 To the land of the unbelieving scum on the other side
 'Cause they don't go for what's in the book
 'N that makes 'em BAD
 So verily we must choppeth them up
 And stompeth them down
 Or rent a nice French bomb
 To poof them out of existance
 While leaving their real estate just where we need it
 To use again
 For temples in which to praise
 OUR GOD
 (Cause he can really take care of business!)
 
 And when his humble TV servant
 With humble white hair
 And humble glasses
 And a nice brown suit
 And maybe a blonde wife who takes phone calls
 Tells us our God says
 It's okay to do this stuff
 Then we gotta do it,
 'Cause if we don't do it,
 We ain't gwine up to hebbin!
 (Depending on which book you're using at the time . . . Can't use
 theirs . . . it don't work . . . it's all lies . . . Gotta use mine .
 . . )
 Ain't that right?
 That's what they say
 Every night . . .
 Every day . . .
 Hey, we can't really be dumb
 If we're just following God's Orders
 Hey, Let's get serious . . .
 God knows what he's doin' . . .
 He wrote this book here
 An' the book says:
 He made us all to be just like Him, so . . .
 If we're dumb . . .
 Then God is 

Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread Michael Redler

Hi Stephan,
 
Gruss Gott 
 
I concur. I can also relate to what you are saying. Christian symbols in 
government (like in Bavaria) are everywhere. I happened to be in Vienna on Ash 
Wednesday a few years ago. I counted the percentage of people who have been to 
mass that day (easy to do on Ash Wednesday). It was more than 1/3. Despite all 
that, governments appear to be more secular than in the United States. It seems 
as though generations of former Europeans growing up in the US have forgotten 
the atrocities done in the name of religion.
 
** Strictly my opinion **
Religion is an exercise in faith. Everyone has an interpretation but there is 
no evidence that everyone can use (or see) that causes them to agree on a 
particular set of beliefs. So, in my opinion, religion can be the motivation to 
both help and hurt people, depending on one's interpretation. Based on at least 
one interpretation, even the bible shows both sides of the same coin. Teach a 
man to fish and he can become healthy enough to stone his wife.
 
Mike

stephan torak [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Dear fellow enthusiasts, please forgive me, again, for interfering 
with your truly excellent discourse on the American heritage. I am a 
naturalized citizen, from Austria, and I studied things American in 
great quantity at our University in Vienna before I finally came over 
here in the hand luggage of a liberal school teacher from California. I 
became a US citizen as one of those who are willing to pick up the 
luggage and carry it, too.
Funny, how this discourse on the authors of the constitution and their 
religious angles and beliefs just couldn't be happening in Europe (well 
Austria, anyway) because we know they were all practicing Catholics. 
But for Europeans of today to try to write ones' religious beliefs and 
Dogma into the constitution, no way, or to argue whether the 
constitution is following Christian principles, or for a presidential 
candidate to announce that he is or is not a practicing whatever, so who 
would listen to that? And who would vote for someone who puts so much 
emphasis on this issue? After a recent visit I vividly remember a bunch 
of kids sitting in the subway in Vienna discussing robotics projects and 
micro controllers and the girl, maybe 12 ys old saying that she hoped 
her parents wouldn't make her go to the Mosque again next weekend, 
speaking without any accent. I don't know my friends, it just drives 
home to me the need to set aside this self righteousness that plagues 
America and to concentrate on furthering the peace (now that sounds like 
a Christian principle, doesn't it) and to talk of some REAL ISSUES, and 
I believe this is exactly what we are doing most of the time. . So, I 
have no intention to move back to Europe, but I do want to make BD and I 
discussed with my son (14) your article on the constitution just to 
instill some healthy scepticism in the boy. Thank you immensly for your 
work, Gentlemen.! Regards, Stephan

 Ken Provost wrote:



 A breath of fresh air -- thanks! Having been an
 unabashed atheist for 90% of my long life, it's
 great to know that my hero Tom Jefferson wasn't
 even a real Deist (as I've always been taught),
 much less an X-tian like our rulers would have you
 believe. 'Course Tom has almost been drummed out
 of the Founding Father's Klub already, and our
 Revolution has been renamed the War of Independ-
 ence for decades now..


 While I agree in substance with much of the article Brooke Allen 
 composed, here is a rebuttal that my eldest sister (the one who is 
 happy to stay in Oakland, where she lives) sent for my perusal:

 http://www.americanvision.org/articlearchive/02-09-05.asp

 Did George Bush Lie About America Being Founded on Christian Principles?
 By Gary DeMar

 “The lesson the President has learned best—and certainly the one that 
 has been the most useful to him—is the axiom that if you repeat a lie 
 often enough, people will believe it. One of his Administration’s 
 current favorites is the whopper about America having been founded on 
 Christian principles. Our nation was founded not on Christian 
 principles but on Enlightenment ones. God only entered the picture as 
 a very minor player, and Jesus Christ was conspicuously absent.” Thus 
 begins an article by Brooke Allen that was posted on the website of 
 “The Nation” on February 3, 2005.1 It’s obvious that Allen has not 
 done a thorough study of American history as it relates to its 
 founding documents. There is much more to America’s founding than the 
 Constitution. America was not born in 1877 or even in 1776. The 
 Constitution did not create America, America created the Constitution. 
 More specifically, the states created the national government. The 
 states (colonial governments) were a reality long before the 
 Constitution was conceived, and there is no question about their being 
 founded on Christian principles.

 Allen’s article is filled with so many half truths that it 

Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread Walt Patrick



Has anyone else ever seen a copy of the Six Nations Constitution?


It's hard to imagine that any such document could exist. The 
agreement was formulated sometime between 1200 and 1500, long before the 
Six Nations had a way to write such an agreement down. Any document 
prepared in modern times would be analogous to a modern copy of the works 
of Homer; i.e. the product of a long oral tradition separating the author 
from the present age.


Walt


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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread Appal Energy


author would prefer.

First, if the author is going to give references, how about not giving an
entire littany of books. And notice the source of the littany no less.
No bias or bent there, eh?

Generally page and paragraph are sufficient. Leave it to those who would
like to further indoctrinate others in their peculiar perceptions to force
them to weed through multiple volumes of mental briars, brambles, doctrine
and manipulations to find the frisbee.

Second, the author slightly oversteps reality in the last half of the very
first paragraph, when he states that there is no question about [the
states] being founded on Christian principles.

Uh...did the author just conveniently forget that most of the colonies
(they weren't really calling them states until the mid-1770's)
were founded on principles of economic investment and return? Do you think
that he could spell Massachusetts Bay Company, or the numerous other
ongoing concerns? Surely he's not saying that pursuit of monetary gain is a
Christian principle. Or is he? That would be slightly contradictory to the
vignette of the money changers in the temple, now wouldn't it?

And with that minor oversight he has the gall to accuse the author of the
article he's attempting
to discredit of not [having] done a thorough study of American history as
it relates to its founding documents? It would appear that he's the one that
hasn't researched too many founding charters.

Third, the author interprets Year of our Lord according to his own fancy.
The term lord is rather all encompassing in the bible, not to mention
general societal references, whether contemporary or historical, social or
spiritual. To attribute the term to but one leaf of the triune clover is a
bit deceptive. While it may work for the author, it would be contextually
inaccurate with great frequency.

And then DeMar chooses to largely forego what was actually written by Brooke
Allen, not to mention the very words of the founders whom he's attempting to
enlist in his convoluted attempt at persuasion.

So what of this?


The French revolutionaries reconstructed the seven-day biblical week and
turned it into a ten-day metric week in hopes of ridding the nation of
every vestige of Christianity. Nothing like this was done in America.


Might the refrain on the part of the founding fathers have had something to
do with lunar rhythms (seven days) instead of lunacy (abandonment of natural
cycles)? Or might it have something to do with a founding principle of
inclusion, rather than exclusion? DeMar seems to think, or at least wish
others to think, that anything which rubs against a horse must necessarily
be a horse.

Then, wonder of wonders, DeMar further jumps the tracks with the body of the
paragraph that starts, The U. S. Constitutions lack of a Christian
designation had little to do with a radical secular agenda. Rather than
addressing the individual beliefs of the founding fathers as Allen did, he
not only creates a strawman on which to focus, but completely sidesteps that
part of the Allen's thesis and brings in 'evidence to the contrary' which
has essentially nothing to do with their personal holdings.

And the reader is expected to continue reading in this thick haze of
intentionally layed smoke and obfuscation?

Apparently Mr. DeMar is so accustomed to preaching to the choir that he must
think that everyone else is simply going to nod their heads accordingly
rather than exercising a prudent measure of discernment.

Thank you no. Humans aren't sheep and this nation was founded upon on a good
bit more than one way principles.

Todd Swearingen

- Original Message - 
From: robert luis rabello [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 10:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution



Ken Provost wrote:




A breath of fresh air -- thanks! Having been an
unabashed atheist for 90% of my long life, it's
great to know that my hero Tom Jefferson wasn't
even a real Deist (as I've always been taught),
much less an X-tian like our rulers would have you
believe. 'Course Tom has almost been drummed out
of the Founding Father's Klub already, and our
Revolution has been renamed the War of Independ-
ence for decades now..


While I agree in substance with much of the article Brooke Allen composed,
here is a rebuttal that my eldest sister (the one who is happy to stay in
Oakland, where she lives) sent for my perusal:

http://www.americanvision.org/articlearchive/02-09-05.asp

Did George Bush Lie About America Being Founded on Christian Principles?
By Gary DeMar

The lesson the President has learned bestand certainly the one that has
been the most useful to himis the axiom that if you repeat a lie often
enough, people will believe it. One of his Administrations current
favorites is the whopper about America having been founded on Christian
principles. Our nation was founded not on Christian principles but on
Enlightenment ones. God only entered the picture

Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-16 Thread mark manchester

Of course it wasn't then a written document but an oral tradition and a
model of a working democracy from which the founding fathers drew more
than heavily
Jess

 From: Walt Patrick [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 10:41:04 -0800
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution
 
 At 10:57 AM 2/15/2005, you wrote:
 Has anyone else ever seen a copy of the Six Nations Constitution?
 
 It's hard to imagine that any such document could exist. The
 agreement was formulated sometime between 1200 and 1500, long before the
 Six Nations had a way to write such an agreement down. Any document
 prepared in modern times would be analogous to a modern copy of the works
 of Homer; i.e. the product of a long oral tradition separating the author
 from the present age.
 
 Walt
 
 
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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-15 Thread Ken Provost

on 2/14/05 6:38 PM, knoton at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Our Godless Constitution
 by BROOKE ALLEN
 [from the February 21, 2005 issue]


 
 http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050221s=allen
 



A breath of fresh air -- thanks! Having been an
unabashed atheist for 90% of my long life, it's
great to know that my hero Tom Jefferson wasn't
even a real Deist (as I've always been taught),
much less an X-tian like our rulers would have you
believe. 'Course Tom has almost been drummed out
of the Founding Father's Klub already, and our
Revolution has been renamed the War of Independ-
ence for decades now..

-K

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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-15 Thread Appal Energy




Our Godless Constitution
by BROOKE ALLEN
[from the February 21, 2005 issue]


- Original Message - 
From: knoton [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 9:38 PM
Subject: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution



Our Godless Constitution
by BROOKE ALLEN
[from the February 21, 2005 issue]

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050221s=allen

It is hard to believe that George Bush has ever read the works of George
Orwell, but he seems, somehow, to have grasped a few Orwellian precepts.
The lesson the President has learned best--and certainly the one that
has been the most useful to him--is the axiom that if you repeat a lie
often enough, people will believe it. One of his Administration's
current favorites is the whopper about America having been founded on
Christian principles. Our nation was founded not on Christian principles
but on Enlightenment ones. God only entered the picture as a very minor
player, and Jesus Christ was conspicuously absent.

Our Constitution makes no mention whatever of God. The omission was too
obvious to have been anything but deliberate, in spite of Alexander
Hamilton's flippant responses when asked about it: According to one
account, he said that the new nation was not in need of foreign aid;
according to another, he simply said we forgot. But as Hamilton's
biographer Ron Chernow points out, Hamilton never forgot anything
important.

In the eighty-five essays that make up The Federalist, God is mentioned
only twice (both times by Madison, who uses the word, as Gore Vidal has
remarked, in the only Heaven knows sense). In the Declaration of
Independence, He gets two brief nods: a reference to the Laws of Nature
and Nature's God, and the famous line about men being endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights. More blatant official
references to a deity date from long after the founding period: In God
We Trust did not appear on our coinage until the Civil War, and
under God was introduced into the Pledge of Allegiance during the
McCarthy hysteria in 1954 [see Elisabeth Sifton, The Battle Over the
Pledge, April 5, 2004].

In 1797 our government concluded a Treaty of Peace and Friendship
between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of
Tripoli, or Barbary, now known simply as the Treaty of Tripoli. Article
11 of the treaty contains these words:

As the Government of the United States...is not in any sense founded on
the Christian religion--as it has in itself no character of enmity
against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of Musselmen--and as the
said States never have
entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation,
it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious
opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing
between the two countries.

This document was endorsed by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and
President John Adams. It was then sent to the Senate for ratification;
the vote was unanimous. It is worth pointing out that although this was
the 339th time a recorded vote had been required by the Senate, it was
only the third unanimous vote in the Senate's history. There is no
record of debate or dissent. The text of the treaty was printed in full
in the Philadelphia Gazette and in two New York papers, but there were
no screams of outrage, as one might expect today.

The Founding Fathers were not religious men, and they fought hard to
erect, in Thomas Jefferson's words, a wall of separation between church
and state. John Adams opined that if they were not restrained by legal
measures, Puritans--the fundamentalists of their day--would whip and
crop, and pillory and roast. The historical epoch had afforded these
men ample opportunity to observe the
corruption to which established priesthoods were liable, as well as the
impious
presumption of legislators and rulers, as Jefferson wrote, civil as
well as
ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men,
have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own
opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as
such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and
maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and
through all time.

If we define a Christian as a person who believes in the divinity of
Jesus Christ, then it is safe to say that some of the key Founding
Fathers were not Christians at all. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson
and Tom Paine were deists--that is, they believed in one Supreme Being
but rejected revelation and all the supernatural elements of the
Christian Church; the word of the Creator, they believed, could best be
read in Nature. John Adams was a professed liberal Unitarian, but he,
too, in his private correspondence seems more deist than
Christian.

George Washington and James Madison also leaned toward deism, although
neither took much interest in religious matters. Madison believed that

Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-15 Thread gustl

On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 18:38:52 -0800
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (knoton) wrote:
 Our Godless Constitution
 by BROOKE ALLEN
 [from the February 21, 2005 issue]
 
 The Founding Fathers were not religious men, 

This bit is absolutely false.  What our founding fathers
were were religious men who knew the importance of not
letting sectarian predilicition intefere with the rights
they were espousing and the government they were
establishing.  They were giving the people the right to
choose their religion or to choose to not have any
religion, a purely private decision.  Unfortunately the
modern state has instituted radical and mindless
patriotism as the state religion.  A sad situation.

Happy Happy,

Gustl
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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-15 Thread Appal Energy



I don't think you'd find it as false a claim as you might think if you apply 
the generally accepted, contemporary, rough translation of religion and 
religious to the matter. Even if you strictly applied the definitions 
found in Websters, you would quickly see that they don't stick very well to 
those who don't adhere to the extremes of worship and systemized ritual.


Their beliefs were by-and-large all encompassing, incorporating 
fundamental tenants found in almost all religions, not specifically the 
tenants and doctrines of any one religion.


When you combine their almost unanimous acknowledgements of diety with their 
discord for organized religion, its constructs and decripitudes, you would 
probably come up with a more precise akin to 'The founding fathers were 
deists, not men of religion,' which the author does go to great lengths to 
verify.


All in all his statement is to a very large degree correct. And, as you may 
have noticed, it certainly gets the dander up for some, eh?


:-)

Quite the nicely written and well thought out piece of work - far more 
accurate than the habitual abuse of historic fact for the purpose of 
idealogical gain being rendered by the self-appointed elitists of the day.


Todd Swearingen

- Original Message - 
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution



On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 18:38:52 -0800
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (knoton) wrote:

Our Godless Constitution
by BROOKE ALLEN
[from the February 21, 2005 issue]

The Founding Fathers were not religious men,


This bit is absolutely false.  What our founding fathers
were were religious men who knew the importance of not
letting sectarian predilicition intefere with the rights
they were espousing and the government they were
establishing.  They were giving the people the right to
choose their religion or to choose to not have any
religion, a purely private decision.  Unfortunately the
modern state has instituted radical and mindless
patriotism as the state religion.  A sad situation.

Happy Happy,

Gustl
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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-15 Thread Anti-Fossil

Hello Gustl,

I agree with this,

 This bit is absolutely false.
  The Founding Fathers were not religious men,

However, I am sure that you know a hook when you see one.  Reading through
this article, one becomes aware that, while it meanders through more
distant, and sometimes obscure historic details, it's focal point, and
yours, are basically the same, the absolute necessity for the separation of
church and state.

Personally, I see another separation even higher on the nation's priority
list at the present time, that of Bush and state.


AntiFossil
Mike Krafka  USA


- Original Message - 
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 9:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution


 On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 18:38:52 -0800
  [EMAIL PROTECTED] (knoton) wrote:
  Our Godless Constitution
  by BROOKE ALLEN
  [from the February 21, 2005 issue]
 
  The Founding Fathers were not religious men,

 This bit is absolutely false.  What our founding fathers
 were were religious men who knew the importance of not
 letting sectarian predilicition intefere with the rights
 they were espousing and the government they were
 establishing.  They were giving the people the right to
 choose their religion or to choose to not have any
 religion, a purely private decision.  Unfortunately the
 modern state has instituted radical and mindless
 patriotism as the state religion.  A sad situation.

 Happy Happy,

 Gustl
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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-15 Thread mark manchester

Has anyone else ever seen a copy of the Six Nations Constitution?

There weren't many other democracies at hand in the mid 1700's, and
apparently this quite venerable Native document was very useful.

It gives a context to the Godless document.
Jesse

 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (knoton)
 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 18:38:52 -0800
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution
 
 Our Godless Constitution
 by BROOKE ALLEN
 [from the February 21, 2005 issue]
 
 http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050221s=allen
 
 It is hard to believe that George Bush has ever read the works of George
 Orwell, but he seems, somehow, to have grasped a few Orwellian precepts.
 The lesson the President has learned best--and certainly the one that
 has been the most useful to him--is the axiom that if you repeat a lie
 often enough, people will believe it. One of his Administration's
 current favorites is the whopper about America having been founded on
 Christian principles. Our nation was founded not on Christian principles
 but on Enlightenment ones. God only entered the picture as a very minor
 player, and Jesus Christ was conspicuously absent.
 
 Our Constitution makes no mention whatever of God. The omission was too
 obvious to have been anything but deliberate, in spite of Alexander
 Hamilton's flippant responses when asked about it: According to one
 account, he said that the new nation was not in need of foreign aid;
 according to another, he simply said we forgot. But as Hamilton's
 biographer Ron Chernow points out, Hamilton never forgot anything
 important.
 
 In the eighty-five essays that make up The Federalist, God is mentioned
 only twice (both times by Madison, who uses the word, as Gore Vidal has
 remarked, in the only Heaven knows sense). In the Declaration of
 Independence, He gets two brief nods: a reference to the Laws of Nature
 and Nature's God, and the famous line about men being endowed by their
 Creator with certain inalienable rights. More blatant official
 references to a deity date from long after the founding period: In God
 We Trust did not appear on our coinage until the Civil War, and
 under God was introduced into the Pledge of Allegiance during the
 McCarthy hysteria in 1954 [see Elisabeth Sifton, The Battle Over the
 Pledge, April 5, 2004].
 
 In 1797 our government concluded a Treaty of Peace and Friendship
 between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of
 Tripoli, or Barbary, now known simply as the Treaty of Tripoli. Article
 11 of the treaty contains these words:
 
 As the Government of the United States...is not in any sense founded on
 the Christian religion--as it has in itself no character of enmity
 against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of Musselmen--and as the
 said States never have
 entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation,
 it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious
 opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing
 between the two countries.
 
 This document was endorsed by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and
 President John Adams. It was then sent to the Senate for ratification;
 the vote was unanimous. It is worth pointing out that although this was
 the 339th time a recorded vote had been required by the Senate, it was
 only the third unanimous vote in the Senate's history. There is no
 record of debate or dissent. The text of the treaty was printed in full
 in the Philadelphia Gazette and in two New York papers, but there were
 no screams of outrage, as one might expect today.
 
 The Founding Fathers were not religious men, and they fought hard to
 erect, in Thomas Jefferson's words, a wall of separation between church
 and state. John Adams opined that if they were not restrained by legal
 measures, Puritans--the fundamentalists of their day--would whip and
 crop, and pillory and roast. The historical epoch had afforded these
 men ample opportunity to observe the
 corruption to which established priesthoods were liable, as well as the
 impious
 presumption of legislators and rulers, as Jefferson wrote, civil as
 well as
 ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men,
 have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own
 opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as
 such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and
 maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and
 through all time.
 
 If we define a Christian as a person who believes in the divinity of
 Jesus Christ, then it is safe to say that some of the key Founding
 Fathers were not Christians at all. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson
 and Tom Paine were deists--that is, they believed in one Supreme Being
 but rejected revelation and all the supernatural elements of the
 Christian Church; the word of the Creator, they believed, could best be
 read in Nature. John Adams was a 

re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-15 Thread DHAJOGLO

Knoton,

Try googling the following:

Constitution Restoration Act

which was introduced in both houses of the U.S. Congress one year ago
this month.

I found the text of this act and some things about it.  Am I right in thinking 
that they are trying to make god's law part of our constitutional law?

-dave




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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-15 Thread Legal Eagle


Nice of you to denigrate CHRISTians like that . We are not X anything 
thank you very much. Either learn some respect or please keep your crap to 
yourself. You don't have to agree, but you don't get to denigrate either. 
Someone had a whack at sacred cows a while back, you should have learned 
from that.

Luc
- Original Message - 
From: Ken Provost [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 11:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution



on 2/14/05 6:38 PM, knoton at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


Our Godless Constitution
by BROOKE ALLEN
[from the February 21, 2005 issue]





http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050221s=allen





A breath of fresh air -- thanks! Having been an
unabashed atheist for 90% of my long life, it's
great to know that my hero Tom Jefferson wasn't
even a real Deist (as I've always been taught),
much less an X-tian like our rulers would have you
believe. 'Course Tom has almost been drummed out
of the Founding Father's Klub already, and our
Revolution has been renamed the War of Independ-
ence for decades now..

-K

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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-15 Thread Hakan Falk



G'day Ken;
Nice of you to denigrate CHRISTians like that . We are not X anything 
thank you very much. Either learn some respect or please keep your crap to 
yourself. You don't have to agree, but you don't get to denigrate either. 
Someone had a whack at sacred cows a while back, you should have learned 
from that.

Luc
- Original Message - From: Ken Provost [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 11:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution



on 2/14/05 6:38 PM, knoton at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


Our Godless Constitution
by BROOKE ALLEN
[from the February 21, 2005 issue]





http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050221s=allen




A breath of fresh air -- thanks! Having been an
unabashed atheist for 90% of my long life, it's
great to know that my hero Tom Jefferson wasn't
even a real Deist (as I've always been taught),
much less an X-tian like our rulers would have you
believe. 'Course Tom has almost been drummed out
of the Founding Father's Klub already, and our
Revolution has been renamed the War of Independ-
ence for decades now..

-K



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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-15 Thread Hakan Falk


Luc,

Sorry but my earlier reply was sent by itself and without following comment.

You are right, but I think that many Christians also should learn respect 
or please keep their crap for them self. It is numerous times that I met 
representatives for the Christian religion, that in an abusive way promote 
their religion and demand respect for it, without them self having any 
respect for what others belive in. This I say, even because my denomination 
would officially and by birth be Christian protestant.


I am sorry, but I fail to see in what way Ken did not show respect, he 
declared what be belive and did a general comment about religious variant 
in general. In mathematics X stand for unknown denomination and I think 
that in this case it was meant as such.


Why are you so upset by not being especially mentioned, was it the lack of 
attention to your specific case?


Hakan
X-tian or whatever.


At 11:07 PM 2/15/2005, you wrote:

G'day Ken;
Nice of you to denigrate CHRISTians like that . We are not X anything 
thank you very much. Either learn some respect or please keep your crap to 
yourself. You don't have to agree, but you don't get to denigrate either. 
Someone had a whack at sacred cows a while back, you should have learned 
from that.

Luc
- Original Message - From: Ken Provost [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 11:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution



on 2/14/05 6:38 PM, knoton at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


Our Godless Constitution
by BROOKE ALLEN
[from the February 21, 2005 issue]





http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050221s=allen




A breath of fresh air -- thanks! Having been an
unabashed atheist for 90% of my long life, it's
great to know that my hero Tom Jefferson wasn't
even a real Deist (as I've always been taught),
much less an X-tian like our rulers would have you
believe. 'Course Tom has almost been drummed out
of the Founding Father's Klub already, and our
Revolution has been renamed the War of Independ-
ence for decades now..

-K



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Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution

2005-02-15 Thread Appal Energy



I find your response rather amusing but all too much a double standard..

First of all, if the archives are any indicator, you spend a great deal of 
time bashing your favorite sects du jour.


Second of all, Ken Provost didn't bash christians. He did make note of the 
type of christians who choose to misappropriate the power of public office 
in pursuit of enforcing their theological ideology upon others.


From this vantage point it is an apology owed by you for jumping to sweeping 
conclusions. How you came to them one can only hazard to guess, probably 
with a fair degree of accuracy. You expect or demand respect but don't 
exactly reciprocate. Should others presume that this too is a tenant of your 
religion of choice?


What? A person is allowed to have their opinioin but they aren't allowed to 
express it? What is it about such a double standard that sounds oh so 
Bushwellian? You can hold your opinion, express it, but others are to be 
denegrated for their opinion and expected to remain silent?


If such truly is the case, then someone should take a moment to point out 
your extreme form of hypocrisy.


Why this should even have to be said is beyond me...almost.

Todd Swearingen

- Original Message - 
From: Legal Eagle [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 5:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution



G'day Ken;
Nice of you to denigrate CHRISTians like that . We are not X anything 
thank you very much. Either learn some respect or please keep your crap to 
yourself. You don't have to agree, but you don't get to denigrate either. 
Someone had a whack at sacred cows a while back, you should have learned 
from that.

Luc
- Original Message - 
From: Ken Provost [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 11:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Our Godless Constitution



on 2/14/05 6:38 PM, knoton at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


Our Godless Constitution
by BROOKE ALLEN
[from the February 21, 2005 issue]





http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050221s=allen





A breath of fresh air -- thanks! Having been an
unabashed atheist for 90% of my long life, it's
great to know that my hero Tom Jefferson wasn't
even a real Deist (as I've always been taught),
much less an X-tian like our rulers would have you
believe. 'Course Tom has almost been drummed out
of the Founding Father's Klub already, and our
Revolution has been renamed the War of Independ-
ence for decades now..

-K

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