the rix mix

American Religious Freedom: 4 essential documents gathered

Disclosure, While I was raised in the United Presbyterian Church during the civil rights era, the emphasis was on the words of Jesus not the irrational belief system of St Paul [my italics]. I was lost forever to religion in 3rd grade when I read Roy Chapman Andrews book on the 1920s Gobi Desert expedition, where he first discovered dinosaur eggs, and learned the basis of evolution. I believe everything we have is of man's invention with no supernatural help, including our concepts of God. Deism and it's rational basis is the only religion I would claim for my own and I truly admire our Founders for establishing these religious rights for all, universally. Unlike many I am not a "fallen believer" but a never believer.

An example of how so many KOS diaries go terribly wrong. Very instructive, informative, & well-researched, it should be a convincing argument against American Theocracy. But first the diarist adds a gratuitous remark about St. Paul, thus alienating all the creedal Christians (Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, etc.) who might otherwise appreciate the diary, by saying, "I'm not an idiot like them." Then the diarist claims that learning about dinosaur eggs in the third grade convinced him "everything we have is of man's invention."   Heck, in the era before plate tectonics was defined  I used to look  at the globe & like thousands of other kids was convinced the east coast of South America & west coast of Africa had once been stuck together & someone ought to figure out how they broke apart. Since I wasn't raised as a literalist or fundamentalist, certain powers & properties of God were just not to be fully understood, but science elevated the glory of God by expanding the realm & our comprehension of the universe. When plate tectonics finally arrived in the science books, I thought they were marvelous! If God created  them, they must have been  planned in the first nanosecond of the Big Bang.

Taking an unnecessary swipe at  your own mild childhood faith also will not endear you to people of other faiths.

Deism doesn't get you any cred with atheists, &  a God with no "stake" in creation isn't worth bothering with at all, since we cannot interact with it.

Oh, the trauma of mainline protestant sunday school in the Sixties: The Life of Jesus coloring books; the donuts  & apple juice at Halloween; all those terrible Christmas songs & garish decorations & chrysanthemums & absurd good cheer; the midwinter smorgasbord where they make you pig out on Swedish meatballs & apple crumb cake; The Easter Egg Hunt. Terrible!