OT: Historically Inaccurate and Rather Trivial

by RDH

August 05 2004

Mr. Terpstra wrote:

"There was structure and order in the old world. Foundation priorities expressed in older literature held that foremost in priority is the Supreme Being who endows us with inalienable rights and to whom total subservience is due. The Constitution of the United States of America reflects such ideals. To such as held this view, second in priority is one's own family, and third in importance is one's fellow man out of which emerges a great social responsibility."

The Constitution of The United States reflects no such views as claimed above. The vast majority of the Founding Fathers were deists believing a Supreme Being was a distant and detached creator. This country was not founded on a set of religious beliefs: it was founded on the concept that there is an explicit and implicit social contract that exists between the people and the government. Please remember the phrase: "...[D]eriving its {ed.: the goverment's} just powers from the consent of the governed." The desire to insert a greater sense of importance for religion in the civic arena, especially Christianity (and this is not entirely a slam), is wholly eroneous and in contradiction of historical fact. The Founding Fathers would have shuddered at the mere thought.

Anyay, the issue with patents and copyrights is that it now threatens the social contract instead of upholding it. These are now being used as a means to squelch the common good by intefering with innovation. The dead, white males who gave rise to this country would groan at the use of copyrights and patents for such a purpose. It is almost entirely the exact opposite of what they intended.

- RDH
"Question authority since it is always in question."

12:48 PM EDT


OT: Historically Inaccurate and Rather Trivial

by PJ

August 05 2004

I think you are forgetting something. Most of our forefathers arrived here because of religious persecution. People who thought God didn't much matter wouldn't have needed to move across an ocean to get relief.

That's why the Declaration of Independence puts it this way:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

I think Mr. Terpstra has it right, even though it may not be a popular idea nowadays, that a belief in a Creator was the norm and considered very important, which is why freedom of religion was one important element of the Consitution. That's why they came here, to get that freedom to worship the way they wanted.

01:54 PM EDT


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