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 does anyone agree with me? 
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does anyone think it is a little ironic that this country was founded on the idea of religious freedom, yet we live in such an anglo-saxon protestant dominated country?

this country was not founded on christian ideals, and shouldnt be operated by them either.

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rebecca brown

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Tue Mar 28, 2006 6:31 pm
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does anyone think it is a little ironic that this country was founded on the idea of religious freedom, yet we live in such an anglo-saxon protestant dominated country?

Ironic? Maybe. But people are free to choose what religion they want. The founding fathers were only insistent on religious freedom based on where they came from. It just so happened that the majority of the county chooses to be protestant. Just because people have the option to choose differently doesn't mean they will, but they do have the choice.

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this country was not founded on christian ideals

I disagree, and I think this is where your irony comes into play. I assume you've seen our currency, or heard our pledge of alligence, or read the declaration of independence, or had a day off of school for Easter. Afterall, if this country wasn't founded on Christian ideals, then why is there such a huge movement to change all of those things :wink:

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Danny Jugan

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Tue Mar 28, 2006 7:50 pm
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I am going to have to agree with Danny. America was actually founded on Christian ideals. Danny is right when he refers to the Pledge, the Delclaration, etc being connected to Christianity. ("In God we trust" on our $$) The majority of our founding fathers were strong believers in christian values and beliefs. Maybe our country shouldn't be operated on by all Christian beliefs since there are so many religions in America now, but of course there are always going to be Christian values in American society because it is our history.

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Jordan Will


Tue Mar 28, 2006 10:34 pm
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I agree with Danny and Jordan. Yes, America is filled with various religions and we do express the right to practice what we choose. However, our nation was founded on Christian ideals. Our currency and pledge both acknowledge that, the religious freedom comes into play because our founding fathers didn't add "one nation under god" and "in god we trust" to imply expectation of Christian religious beliefs.

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Lauren Shook


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Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:19 pm
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what separates christianity from other religions: Jesus Christ. and He is not mentioned in any of those things; dec, pledge, dollar...so yeah, the words "God" and "Creator" are mentioned in a lot of those things...but there is nothing that says it's the Christian God.

oh yeah and the dollar bill and coins and stuff were designed and made a long time after this country became this country.

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rebecca brown

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Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:05 am
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I think it's completely unsurprising that "we live in such an anglo-saxon protestant dominated country", based on the fact that most of the original settlers were British Protestants. Most didn't come here to found a country of religious freedom; if they came for religious reasons, it was to get away from the Church of England and practice their own brand of Protestantism.

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Wed Mar 29, 2006 1:14 pm
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many of the founders of this country were protestants, but currency was not created for a long time after the foundation was laid. and i am pretty sure that "under God" was put into the pledge in the mid 20th Century by president Eisenhower. The christian religion is dominant because it is the majority religion in this country and first in the world, but here everyone can still practice anything, that was a big part of what the founding fathers wanted was to have a life free of religious persecution.

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Teresa Holden


Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:30 pm
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thank you teresa!

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rebecca brown

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Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:48 pm
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Here's my take on it. The original settlers of America were escaping religious persecution and set up this land as protestant. But the actual founding fathers of the United States, our nation, were largely not Christian. Some quotes from the men themselves.
"The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind ... to filch wealth and power to themselves. [They], in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ." - Thomas Jefferson

"...I beg you be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution." -George Washington, to United Baptists Churches of Virginia, May, 1789 from The Washington papers edited by Saul Padover

As far as American money goes, "In God we Trust" wasn't added until 1908, I believe. And the "under God" part of our pledge was added sometime in the 20th century following either WWI or WWII.

Just to reiterate, our fouding fathers did not add these Christian things to the money, pledge, etc. The references to God in the Declaration, to my knowledge, refer to a Deistic God. The "clock-maker" God who created the universe and stepped back.

Our nation was not exactly founded on Christian ideals, but it became that way.

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Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:59 pm
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