Jefferson and the Christian superstition
February 27, 2005 by Bill
When John Kennedy was President, he gave a banquet in the White House that was without precedent. The banquet was for every living American Nobel Prize winner, with about 150 present. At the beginning of the evening, President Kennedy stood and announced he would make a toast. He said: “Never has so much talent…and so much genius…been assembled in one room…since Thomas Jefferson dined…alone.”
The author of the Declaration of Independence, brilliant philosopher, theologian, architect, linguist, scholar, statesman, scientist, musician, horticulturist, agronomist, humanist, deist and master of the civilized arts wrote this:
“I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstitions of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites, to support roguery and error all over the earth.”
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Founding presidents not Christian
February 20, 2005 by Bill
One of my favorite times of the year is the Presidents month of February. Why? Because it gives me an annual opportunity to make a dent in the historical and religious ignorance of the political and Christian knee jerk right wingers. They spend almost full time in perverting American history claiming that the bible and Christianity were at the foundation of this nation. What total hogwash. Once a year I get to bring a few undisputed facts to their attention.
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, 1968, vol.2, p.420, quote:
“One of the embarrassing problems for the nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was the fact that NOT ONE of the first six presidents of the United States was a Christian. They were Deists.”
In Deism there is no personal God, only an impersonal “force” or “energy” or “natures God” or “providence”. In Deism, the bible is nothing but literature, and bad literature at that. Jefferson and Paine both called it “a dunghill” Others of our founders used the same language. In Deism, Jesus was nothing more than a nomadic teacher. I will now let these men speak for themselves:
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Amor and Eros: a celebration
February 13, 2005 by Bill
Valentine week is here with a celebration of eros and amor. I am writing this on one of those days so breathtaking, with sky and breeze, flowers and sun, doves and quail, that surely the earth must stand in amazement at its own beauty.
The biblical Song of Solomon (Song of Songs) raptured over love on such a day. “O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth! For your love is better than wine. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time for singing has come, and the voice of the dove is heard in our land. O queenly maiden! Your thighs are like jewels and your breasts like two fawns. O loved one, delectable maiden, I will give you my love…”
This Old Testament book is the only literature in the entire bible where Eros and Amor are celebrated and praised. To me, this omission is one of the great failures of biblical literature.
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