CSPAN: WJ - "Is America a Christian Nation?"

[MrScorpio]

Talk about opening up a can of worms

Here comes the nutjobs

[livvy]

1. On religion: Madison

James Madison
Nothwithstanding the general progress made within the two last centuries in favour of this branch of liberty, & the full establishment of it, in some parts of our Country, there remains in others a strong bias towards the old error, that without some sort of alliance or coalition between Gov' & Religion neither can be duly supported: Such indeed is the tendency to such a coalition, and such its corrupting influence on both the parties, that the danger cannot be too carefully guarded agst.. And in a Gov' of opinion, like ours, the only effectual guard must be found in the soundness and stability of the general opinion on the subject. Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance. And I have no doubt that every new example, will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Gov will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together; (James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822, The Writings of James Madison, Gaillard Hunt)



An alliance or coalition between Government and religion cannot be too carefully guarded against......Every new and successful example therefore of a PERFECT SEPARATION between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance........religion and government will exist in greater purity, without (rather) than with the aid of government. (James Madison in a letter to Livingston, 1822, from Leonard W. Levy- The Establishment Clause, Religion and the First Amlendment, pg 124)

On edit: More....
Freedom arises from the multiplicity of sects, which prevades America and which is the best and only security for religious liberty in any society. For where there is such a variety of sects, there cannot be a majority of any one sect to oppress and persecute the rest. (James Madison, spoken at the Virginia convention on ratifying the Constitution, June 1778)

Strongly guarded... is the separation between religion and government in the Constitution of the United States.

The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.





http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_JMadison.htm

[Vinca]

2. My favorite caller so far was the first one -

"Jews and Muslims are just visitors in this country." It's a wingnut-o-rama.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. damn I missed that. thanks for the ed's up. nt

[livvy]

4. I liked the lady who kept talking about "crimnils"...n/t

[KharmaTrain]

6. He Also Took A Shot At Catholics...

Ya know that pope thing doesn't go over that well in the bible belt.

Some people just can't live without a good case of hate...spreading the love. :rofl:

[ikojo]

15. Without the Russians to hate

many Americans have turned that vitriol inward or toward the Muslims.

[NMMNG]

13. So sayeth the visitor

:eyes:

[MrScorpio]

5. This guy, Land is slicker that a oil spill on an ice berg

This creep really knows how to dance around the language to support his fascist views

[KharmaTrain]

7. He's Driving That Wedge Deeper

He's definitely no Rudy fan and appears to be doing the "wink wink, hint hint" bit to the RNC to push Rudy under the bus. It's more splintering of this corrupt party into its raw components...the ones who vote for power and greed vs. the fundies who finally have woken up to how they've been used by the GOOP all these years. They've had the chance to all but make abortion illegal, but the issue has won them elections and made them money...now the road has split...which Repugnican party is is? Making Money or being a Morality Police.

I have long predicted there'd be a third party or "reform" candiate come out of the GOOP...and here it is. Rudy's got a lot of problems...consider this a final intervention.

Cheers...

[MrScorpio]

9. On Health Care, this "Christian"...

You wouldn't think that he would so willfully violate the Ninth Commandment

You know the one about "Bearing false witness"

Shows how selective he is about his Bible

[KharmaTrain]

10. He Kept Invoking MLK

Also references to slavery. The subtle language of racism at work.

He simplifies these issues as simply being moral. The civil war was as much an economic/class war as it was one fought on "morals"...as the South didn't want to lose its cheap labor and the North didn't like the competition from the South using that cheap labor.

And gotta love his defense of boooosh's policy of protecting Big Pharma...me thinks they've been big supporters of his PACs and backdoor money operations.

Cheers...

[Skidmore]

8. In the olden days, he would have been known

as a snake oil salesman...an itinerary preacher who went from town to town and sold his gimmick and impregnated mesmerized young women.

[tom_paine]

11. The Old American Republic wasn't, but Imperial Amerika is.

We are some medeval BushChristian motherfuckers, just like the witch-burners of old, when Bushevism ruled EVERYTHING in it's most primitive form...feudal monarchy.

Medeval, and capable of terrible evil.

[malaise]

12. Loved that call from the Canadian re health care n/t

[spanone]

14. we're a nation of phony christianity....love thy brother, torture thy enemy

[muffin1]

16. And only love thy brother

if he is Anglo, heterosexual, and Christian.x(