5 top myths about America

[The Count]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/26169/Top-5-myths-about-america

Some (like "liberal media" way past the need for debunking, but all well documented:

MYTH 1: The US was founded on Christian principles.



TRUTH:



This is incorrect.

The Constitution never once mentions a deity, because the Founding Fathers wanted to keep their new country "religion-neutral." Our Founding Fathers were an eclectic collection of Atheists, Deists, Christians, Freemasons and Agnostics. more
MYTH 4. The US doesn’t need improvement compared to other countries; it is the greatest country in the world.



TRUTH:

Wrong again. I'll only cite the statistics here.



USA Ranking on Adult Literacy Scale: #9

(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- OECD



USA Ranking on Healthcare Quality Index: #37

(#1 France and #2 Italy)- World Health Organization 2003



USA Ranking of Student Reading Ability: #12

(#1 Finland and #2 South Korea)- OECD PISA 2003

[BOSSHOG]

1. If we were founded on Christian Principles

We would have ovens for homosexuals and sabbath workers would routinely be stoned to death. And hate would reign supreme from sea to shining sea and we all would be forced to go to the same church. Let me go out on a limb, that's not what the founding fathers had in mind for the land of the FREE!

[shain from kane]

2. "...in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven..."

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

[Warpy]

3. The non Christian world had not yet adopted

the Gregorian calender as "Common (or Current) Era." They simply had no other way of expressing a day in time.

Don't read too much into it, hon. They were still mostly Deists, not Christian by a long shot.

[Nikki Stone1]

4. "In the year of our Lord" is the literal translation of Anno Domini (AD)

Convention, not belief system.

[shain from kane]

7. I've just given you the means to win a few bets.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Art. 11, Treaty of Tripoli

"As the Government of the United States of America 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 Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan 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."

[no_hypocrisy]

5. #6: This is the GREATEST country on the face of this earth.

[indepat]

6. Where America comes up short, you can bet it is because the far right has set

the national agenda for more that fifty years, first because so many were afraid of being labeled soft on communism, national defense, crime, drugs and whatever else you want to throw in and now the far right completely controls the national agenda with its destruction of the fiscal integrity of the government, the environment, and international treaties, organizations, and law, and has instituted perpetual pre-emptive war while, in the meantime, our infrastructure rots and a national health care crisis looms.

[TahitiNut]

9. Well, our students would be better able to read ...

... if they learned Finnish or Korean. :evilgrin:

[Zywiec]

10. What country doesn't have problems?

[slowry]

12. What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? n/t

[Zywiec]

13. It actually has nothing to do with the price of tea in China

but if one of the myths is The US doesn’t need improvement compared to other countries; I believe every country has problems and could use improvement. Is that not true?

Myth: slowry feels no other country needs improvement compared to the US.

[slowry]

14. Same question. n/t

[Squatch]

11. Myth 1a

Freemasonry is a religion.

Truth.

Freemasonry is a fraternal organization that does not require that a member be religious, rather that its members acknowledge some form of higher being.