2008-08-21 09:30
nightrythm
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Dear Family,
I am afraid, that unlike my father not going to ignore the original message. I am going to request that in the future, I not be included in any of this type of single world view emails.
I do not agree with the premise of the email and I cannot simply ignore it. I believe that if we do not educate ourselves and simply buy into the jingoistic world view that is sold to us by preachers everywhere, that we fail to be loving Christians. We cannot continue to try to force this country to be Christian, it never has been and never will be. Jesus taught by example, let us too be exemplary. As the song says "They will know we are Christians by our love."
Our founding fathers were for the most part Deists. Thomas Paine said in his pamphlet The Age of Reason that he did not follow the beliefs of any church. George Washington never declared himself a Christian in any of his writings. In fact, he supported the naming of John Murray as chaplain in his army. John Murray was a Universalist who denied the existence of hell. Benjamin Franklin himself voiced the following opinion on the subject:
"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion...has received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his Divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the Truth with less trouble."
The original motto of the United States never mentioned God. The great seal of the United States is inscribed "E Pluribus Unum". Which is Latin meaning "One from many" or "One from many parts." It refers to the welding of a single federal state from the many individual states.
The use of "In God We Trust" as a motto for this country has been under debate since the words were first put on coins in 1863. This was a political tactic to remind everyone that the Union forces had God on their side during the Civil War. "In God We Trust" became the country's motto in 1956, during the height of the cold war, because Communism promoted Atheism.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. You all have my love and wishes for your good health.
I am afraid, that unlike my father not going to ignore the original message. I am going to request that in the future, I not be included in any of this type of single world view emails.
I do not agree with the premise of the email and I cannot simply ignore it. I believe that if we do not educate ourselves and simply buy into the jingoistic world view that is sold to us by preachers everywhere, that we fail to be loving Christians. We cannot continue to try to force this country to be Christian, it never has been and never will be. Jesus taught by example, let us too be exemplary. As the song says "They will know we are Christians by our love."
Our founding fathers were for the most part Deists. Thomas Paine said in his pamphlet The Age of Reason that he did not follow the beliefs of any church. George Washington never declared himself a Christian in any of his writings. In fact, he supported the naming of John Murray as chaplain in his army. John Murray was a Universalist who denied the existence of hell. Benjamin Franklin himself voiced the following opinion on the subject:
"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion...has received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his Divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the Truth with less trouble."
The original motto of the United States never mentioned God. The great seal of the United States is inscribed "E Pluribus Unum". Which is Latin meaning "One from many" or "One from many parts." It refers to the welding of a single federal state from the many individual states.
The use of "In God We Trust" as a motto for this country has been under debate since the words were first put on coins in 1863. This was a political tactic to remind everyone that the Union forces had God on their side during the Civil War. "In God We Trust" became the country's motto in 1956, during the height of the cold war, because Communism promoted Atheism.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. You all have my love and wishes for your good health.
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This is Ashley by the by, hope you don't mind that I friended you.
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I'm making an effort to respond to spam similarly. In the past, I'd get forwards saying "sign this petition to save a 3 legged dog with polio in India" and I'd just respond with the snopes link to show people how foolish they were being. Then recently, I was inspired to stop for a moment, and see the heart in what they were trying to do. The person sending it was trying to give me the opportunity to make a difference, however misguided. So I've decided to take those opportunities by replying with not only information on how to detect false petitions and the like, but information on how you can actually accomplish your goals - writing letters to congress, links that will actually result in funds donated to the causes in question, and so on. And to encourage people to pass that information back to the people that sent them the forward in the first place. Be the change you want to see in the world, right? Thanks for being a voice!
*Love!*
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Maybe you can ask