Los Angeles' literary landscape
Ghetta Life
ghetta_outta at hotmail.com
Wed May 3 15:19:54 CDT 2006
And most of these fundies would be SHOCKED to learn that the author of the
Declaration of Independence (could there be any document more rightly
labeled "founding" for this country?) produced the Jefferson Bible? For
fundies, this is true blasphemy.
"Thomas Jefferson believed that the ethical system of Jesus was the finest
the world has ever seen. In compiling what has come to be called "The
Jefferson Bible," he sought to separate those ethical teachings from the
religious dogma and other supernatural elements that are intermixed in the
account provided by the four Gospels. He presented these teachings, along
with the essential events of the life of Jesus, in one continuous
narrative."
http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/
Also, no other founder so clearly wished to keep religion separate from all
forms of public coersion:
"In June 1779 the introduction of Jefferson's bill on religious liberty
touched off a quarrel that caused turmoil in Virginia for 8 years. The bill
was significant as no other state--indeed, no other nation--provided for
complete religious liberty at that time. Jefferson's bill stated "that all
men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions on
matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge,
or affect their civil capacities." Many Virginians regarded the bill as an
attack upon Christianity. It did not pass until 1786, and then mainly
through the perseverance of James Madison. Jefferson, by then in France,
congratulated Madison, adding that "it is honorable for us to have produced
the first legislature who had the courage to declare that the reason of man
may be trusted with the formation of his own opinions."
http://sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/tjefferson.html
Ghetta
>From: "Joe Allonby" <joeallonby at gmail.com>>
>
>I liked some of the quotes about the other cross and what "America was
>founded on". Have any of these people actually READ the Constitution, Bill
>of Rights, Declaration of Independence, or any of the Federalist papers?
_________________________________________________________________
Don't just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search!
http://search.msn.com/
More information about the Pynchon-l
mailing list