“At the risk of oversimplification, the unifying theme of the Hebrew scripture is one of forging a national identity connected to God through a covenant. God remains an active, though an increasingly distant, agent in this creation of Jewish identity,… — Steven K. Green Copy Share Image
“Jefferson then distilled and enunciated these “essentials” in several personal works he shared with friends, his “Syllabus,” and two extracts from the Bible: “The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth,” and “The Life and Morals of Jesus,” sometimes called the “Jefferson Bible.” In these works Jefferson disputed core Christian doctrines while he omitted references to miracles and Jesus’ resurrection. Although his… — Steven K. Green Copy Share
“Cotton’s code was never enacted, but in 1641 the General Court adopted the Body of Liberties, written by lawyer and pastor Nathaniel Ward, the author of The Simple Cobler of Aggawam. Like Cotton’s proposed code, the Body of Liberties relied heavily on the Old Testament, with various provisions containing biblical phrases and scriptural cross references. One capital offense provided that… — Steven K. Green Copy Share
“Religious imagery and symbolism were the common idioms that all speakers employed when making rhetorical points. Rather than indicating a level of personal piety, the frequency of religious discourse indicates the high degree of biblical literacy and the common use of popular idioms. That one can find references to God or scripture in the political writings of the era is… — Steven K. Green Copy Share
“Whether it was celebrated or lamented, the Constitution was universally seen as a secular document establishing a civil frame of government. In essence, few in the first generation would have viewed America as a “Christian nation,” insofar as that term implied that the government was specially ordained by God or founded on Christian principles. That perspective would shortly change.98” — Steven K. Green Copy Share
“The myth of America’s religious founding thus provided an explanation for those who needed to sanctify the past before they could go forward with… — Steven K. Green Copy Share Image
“The haphazard unfolding of religious toleration described above occurred chiefly by default (and in New York, to enhance a commercial environment), not to promote… — Steven K. Green Copy Share Image
“Because Americans lack a common ethnicity or extensive heritage, our founding myth is more important than it is for most other peoples. Unlike other peoples and nations that can rely on centuries of gradual development, Americans must rely on their founding as a nation for their identity. And because the United States, unlike most other nations, can point to a… — Steven K. Green Copy Share
“In both instances of Franklin and Jefferson, revisionist writers have emphasized those aspects of their beliefs that are consistent with Christian faith, while discounting… — Steven K. Green Copy Share Image
“At the risk of oversimplification, the unifying theme of the Hebrew scripture is one of forging a national identity connected to God through a… — Steven K. Green Copy Share Image
“All in all, Christian nation proponents commit several errors in their claims about the religious beliefs of the Founders. Their claims isolate the religious… — Steven K. Green Copy Share Image
“With religious nonconformists outnumbering Anglicans after 1700, and economic motives eclipsing any sense of a religious mission, the colony adopted a moderate religious stance… — Steven K. Green Copy Share Image
“Colonial America was not settled out of a search for religious liberty, but it stumbled onto that principle just in time.” — Steven K. Green Copy Share Image
