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January 9 - September 19, 2021
Researchers
Project Blitz has resulted in more than seventy proposed bills nationwide.39
Council for National Policy
Politicians are some of the most vocal Christian nationalists.
“American exceptionalism is grounded on the Judeo-Christian ethic, which is really based upon the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were the foundation for our law.”
Louie Gohmert, Doug Lamborn, and Steve King
“The Supreme Court looked at all of the evidence and declared in an opinion that the United States was founded as, and is, a Christian nation.” He added to this gross misstatement by insisting that “the only way any people can truly have freedom of religion is if they have a constitution that is founded on Judeo-Christian principles.”64 The opposite is true.
(the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation and Wallbuilders, respectively) leading the Christian nationalist push discussed earlier, Project Blitz.
“the great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears…. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”89
The free men of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle.90
“avoided referring to Jesus Christ in his letters, attended religious services irregularly, did not kneel during prayer, and often dodged out of church before communion,” according to Lengel.21
Washington
The Constitution severed religion’s power from the government to limit the danger it would pose; separates church and state;36 prohibits a religious test for public office;37 and, as Alexander Hamilton put it, gives the president “no particle of spiritual jurisdiction.”38 The
Pulitzer
eleven major English versions of bibles
Bibles versions
Rights are asserted, not given.
Agency
Congress relied on “divine Providence,” they did so to make a pledge. But they did not pledge to that god—they pledged to each other.
Closing appeal to George III
under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves,
Jefferson
John Mason, the Puritan militia commander,
Puritan murder
Religion at its heart is a claim to hold the ultimate truth. Christianity holds that truth to the exclusion of all others, with an eternal reward if you accept the truth, and eternal punishment if you do not.
Religion by def is ultimate truth
Christianity, [who] have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.”
Theocracy never meets its purpose
abolished religious tests for public office.
Tests for office abolished
bible] is a book that has been read more, and examined less, than any book that ever existed.” — Thomas Paine, in a letter to Lord Thomas Erskine, 1797
Paine and the bible
biblically mandated obedience is the story in which the all-powerful god commands Abraham to murder his son,
Mandated obedience to kill
The place of torment is mentioned 162 times in the New Testament and not once in the Old Testament.
Eternal torment
The Congregationalist minister and president of Yale, Ezra Stiles, smugly recorded Ethan Allen’s death in his diary: “Died in Vermont the profane and impious Deist Gen Ethan Allen, Author of the Oracles of Reason [sic], a Book replete with scurrilous Reflexions on Revelation.—
Ezra Styles condemns Ethan Alen the deist
Thomas Paine was correct when he wrote, “Of all the tyrannies that afflict mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst. Every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in, but this attempts a stride beyond the grave and seeks to pursue us into eternity.”
The American justice system rejects a presumption of guilt in favor of its opposite, the presumption of innocence.
“Oh, illustrious Caesar! if it is sufficient to deny, what hereafter will become of the guilty?” to which Julian replied, “If it suffices to accuse, what will become of the innocent?”16
“better for a hundred guilty persons to escape than for one innocent person to suffer.”
Ben F
the Judeo-Christian god intentionally harms innocents to punish the guilty.
And vicarious redemption, the defining Christian principle, repudiates personal responsibility, upon which all American law, society, and government
Vicarikus redemptiokn
Religious faith is, as Professor Peter Boghossian observes, “pretending to know things you don’t know.”6
Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, called reason “the Devil’s greatest whore.”8 Many
them. It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”
Reason and experiment dispel error; faith propagates
Venn diagram
Redeem” in this context means substituting one sacrificial victim for another, such as a goat for a human
Redemption
I might horrify them, so that they might know that I am the Lord,”
God horrifies his followers
These differing interpretations split Christendom in the eighth and ninth centuries during the Byzantine Iconoclasm or Iconoclastic controversy.
Seemingly small differences are magnified because religion claims to possess ultimate
Catholic Canon Law puts it, “a religious submission of the intellect and will.”
Mosaic Law actually encompasses some 613 commandments
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law.”
Mitzvot and Jesus
“In the minority, Calvin advocated toleration—in the majority, he practised murder.”
In the United States, the people are supreme, not god. Article VI of the Constitution reads: “This Constitution…shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”
Authority
Benjamin Franklin thought that “in free Governments the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors.”
In Article III, the Constitution explicitly forbids punishing children for the crimes of their parents, even for crimes as serious as treason: “No Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.”
Constitution forbids blood oath punishment
Jesus dying for our sins is the most prominent example. He was innocent, but somehow his punishment absolves others of wrongdoing.
It is terrorism by an all-powerful being.
A gang of men come to Lot’s door to rape the angels.
Lot
