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Reply to "Home Town Proud!"

Originally Posted by INVICTUS:
 

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!"
-- Patrick Henry


"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."
-- George Washington


"Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise. In this sense and to this extent, our civilizations and our institutions are emphatically Christian."
-- Holy Trinity v. U. S. (Supreme Court case)


"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves ... according to the Ten Commandments of God."
-- James Madison


"Whosoever shall introduce into the public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world."
-- Benjamin Franklin


"The principles of all genuine liberty, and of wise laws and administrations are to be drown from the Bible and sustained by its authority. The man therefore who weakens or destroys the divine authority of that book may be assessory to all the public disorders which society is doomed to suffer."
-- Noah Webster


"There are two powers only which are sufficient to control men, and secure the rights of individuals and a peaceable administration; these are the combined force of religion and law, and the force or fear of the bayonet."
-- Noah Webster


"The only assurance of our nation's safety is to lay our foundation in morality and religion."
-- Abraham Lincoln


"The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next."

-- Abraham Lincoln


"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or eternal invader."
-- Samuel Adams
[this can be found in Harry Alonzo Cushing, ed., The Writings of Samuel Adams (1908), Vol. 4, p. 124 -- Cliff Walker, May 1, 2002]


"I have always said and always will say that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make us better citizens."
-- Thomas Jefferson


"America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great."
-- Alexis de Tocqueville

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What a great list, A list to live by, these men knew what they were talking

about and they got it right.

 

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NOT a "great list," but a discredited list of quotes pandered around by the despicable Christian Nationalist and lying weasel, David Barton, whose organization (Wallbuilders) has now been forced by the truth of the matter to acknowledge that Barton has circulated spurious or, at best, dubious quotes.

 

If you had read the link provided in DarkAngel's post, you would not have so rhapsodically   praised these discredited quotes.

 

Lest  you try to shrug this off or otherwise dissemble in some frantic scramble to rescue yourself from the embarrassment you deserve, I am providing a quote from the link you apparently ignored, so that you, Barmy Bill,  and others can have the truth in this matter instead of relying on Barton and his bogus quotes to sustain your own theocratic fantasies.  Here is the quote, for your much-needed correction and continued education:

 

 

<<<<<<"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

 

So said James Madison, architect of the Constitution, defender of religious freedom and fourth president of theUnited States, according to the Religious Right.

 

But to church-state separationists and historians of the post-colonial period, something about this Madison quote has never felt quite right. It seemed unlikely that the same Madison who advocated "total separation of the church from the state" and battled to disestablish the Anglican Church in Virginia would say it. The sentiment appeared to clash with his well-known advocacy of a healthy distance between religion and government.

 

A few years ago, with the quote popping up increasingly in the mass media (including Rush Limbaugh's daily radio show), Robert S. Alley, professor emeritus at the Universityof Richmond and author of James Madison on Religious Liberty, undertook a dogged effort to track it down. Enlisting the help of the editors of The Papers of James Madison at theUniversity ofVirginia, Alley scoured reams of documents, books and writings. After coming up empty-handed, the Madison scholar concluded that the quote was probably fictional.

 

Now the major purveyor of the quote, Texas-based Religious Right propagandist David Barton, has admitted it's bogus. Last year Barton's group, WallBuilders' issued a one-page document titled "Questionable Quotes," a list of 12 statements allegedly uttered by Founding Fathers and other prominent historical figures, that are now considered to be suspect or outright false. Madison's alleged comment about the Ten Commandments is number four on the list and is flatly declared by Barton to be "false." (See [below] for a full list of the bogus quotes.)

Advocates of separation of church and state were left breathless over Barton's audacity. For nearly 10 years, theTexas propagandist has traveled the country, putting on programs about America's alleged "Christian heritage" at fundamentalist churches and other venues. During these events, Barton argued that the separation of church and state is a myth foisted on the country by the Supreme Court 50 years ago. The United States, he insisted, was founded by Christians and was intended to be a fundamentalist-style "Christian nation."

 

What was Barton's proof for these claims? Many of the quotations he now admits are groundless! At least nine of the 12 were included in Barton's 1989 book, The Myth of Separation, and appeared in the video version, "America's Godly Heritage." Barton was so enamored of one quote supposedly uttered by Benjamin Franklin ("Whosoever shall introduce into the public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.") that it was included on a biographical sketch WallBuilders distributes about Barton, saying it "fully sums up what David believes and teachers." Barton now admits the quote is "questionable" and recommends people don't use it.>>>>>

 

In Barton's later revision of his book, he has omitted the bogus quotes in The Myth of Separation.

 

 

Last edited by Contendah

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