Why John Ashcroft should read M&D

[Doug Millison]

"John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States, recently repeated an
old chestnut about America being a Christian nation whose founders were
Christian gentlemen.

The claim is common among the country's fundamentalist Christians, but it
is so ignorant of actual history one wonders whether it should not be taken
as another serious indictment of American public education. Some readers
may not be aware that Mr. Ashcroft's background includes familiarity with
such arcane subjects as speaking in tongues. As for Mr. Bush, who touched
the same theme in China, perhaps no comment on his grasp of history is
required.

The late eighteenth century, following on the Enlightenment and waves of
reaction to the violent excesses of the Reformation and counter-Reformation
over the previous two centuries, was perhaps the lowest point for Christian
influence ever. Virtually all educated people in Europe were deists and
many were open skeptics. [...]"

continues at
http://www.counterpunch.org/chuckmanashcroft.html