The Christian Nation Myth

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 03:18:30 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Whenever the Supreme Court makes a decision that in any way restricts the intrusion of religion into the affairs of government, a flood of editorials, articles, and letters protesting the ruling is sure to appear in the newspapers. Many protesters decry these decisions on the grounds that they conflict with the wishes and intents of the "founding fathers."

Such a view of American history is completely contrary to known facts. The primary leaders of the so-called founding fathers of our nation were not Bible-believing Christians; they were deists. Deism was a philosophical belief that was widely accepted by the colonial intelligentsia at the time of the American Revolution. Its major tenets included belief in human reason as a reliable means of solving social and political problems and belief in a supreme deity who created the universe to operate solely by natural laws. The supreme God of the Deists removed himself entirely from the universe after creating it. They believed that he assumed no control over it, exerted no influence on natural phenomena, and gave no supernatural revelation to man. A necessary consequence of these beliefs was a rejection of many doctrines central to the Christian religion. Deists did not believe in the virgin birth, divinity, or resurrection of Jesus, the efficacy of prayer, the miracles of the Bible, or even the divine inspiration of the Bible.

Tags: christian, christianity, christian nation, myth, deist, founding fathers, united states

Flowers and Death

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 01:24:43 GMT

clipped by: clipette

Clip Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Theme: death

The transience of flowers links them with mortality, especially when they are picked in honour and memory of the dead.

The early church, knowing this custom derived from pre-Christian religions and having failed to suppress it, embraced it.

Some Italian Renaissance paintings of the sarcophagus of the Virgin showed scattered roses, and the message of death and resurrection was implicit in paintings of the Virgin and Child surrounded by flowers. When these were red the colour was linked with Christ's sacrificial blood.

The traditional meanings, reinforced by the biblical quotations like 'man's days are as grass' and 'vanity of vanities, all is vanity', lived on in 17th Century flower paintings. This 'vanitas' element included memento mori such as timepieces, skulls, flies and other insects, so there can be little doubt that the gaudy tulips and full-petalled roses contained the message that beauty passes.

Lilies have strong funereal associations, but only became linked with untimely death by the Romantic movement in the 19th Century.

Even Van Gogh's sunflowers, at first glance vibrant with life and sunshine, on closer inspection are nearly dead.

Tags: flowers, mortality, death, art

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The Christian Nation Myth

Flowers and Death