The Founding Fathers and Islam

[Toucano]

http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0205/tolerance.html

I found this article very informative and would like to share it.

That ordinary citizens shared these positive views is demonstrated by a petition of a group of citizens of Chesterfield County, Va., to the state assembly, Nov. 14, 1785: "Let Jews, Mehometans and Christians of every denomination enjoy religious liberty…thrust them not out now by establishing the Christian religion lest thereby we become our own enemys and weaken this infant state. It is mens labour in our Manufactories, their services by sea and land that aggrandize our Country and not their creeds. Chain your citizens to the state by their Interest. Let Jews, Mehometans, and Christians of every denomination find their advantage in living under your laws."
The Founders of this nation explicitly included Islam in their vision of the future of the republic. Freedom of religion, as they conceived it, encompassed it. Adherents of the faith were, with some exceptions, regarded as men and women who would make law-abiding, productive citizens. Far from fearing Islam, the Founders would have incorporated it into the fabric of American life.

[BolivarianHero]

1. But everyone knows the America is a Christian Nation...

I mean, look at this obscure Bible passage Thomas Jefferson cited in a recently unearthed letter to his second niece once-removed. </fundie logic>

[madrchsod]

2. the first nation to recognize the usa was.....Islamic Morocco!

read what our last two presidents had to say....

http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/usa/morocco_first.htm

[Toucano]

3. Nice!

I was unaware of that, too.

Thanks.