Founding Fathers and Religion?

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. These words were written, by Thomas Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independence; a document that was meant to show our grievances against a tyrant king and parliament who was taxing us without representation. That document was not part of the Constitution, nor is there anything within it that is binding law of this nation. Yet, the actual Constitution does not mention God anywhere within its articles. There are a growing number of people who are using this statement and others to try and revise history and intimate that the founding fathers were all extremely religious men and they meant for our laws to be biblically based and our country to be a "Christian Nation;" Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there were many of the faithful who often regarded our early presidents as insufficiently pious.

There are many on the right who would like to see this nation brought under biblical law. In 1773, the Rev. Isaac Backus , the most prominent Baptist minister in New England, observed that when "church and state are separate, the effects are happy, and they do not at all interfere with each other: but where they have been confounded together, no tongue nor pen can fully describe the mischiefs that have ensued." Don't these idiots get it? We can see all around in the Middle East and other places where religion is mixed with government, people have almost no civil rights; the state does such things as execute people for adultery and homosexuality. These things happen on a daily basis in Iran which is run by Clerics of the Islamic faith. Even in Turkey, which is not totally Islamic ruled yet, I read of a family being upset that their daughter had talked with a boy and they buried her alive!

Of course, the people who espouse these beliefs believe that if Christianity were the religion of choice for our people and government enforced this choice, the results would be totally different than in Islamic ruled nations. The truth is much darker. One can read through history, when Christianity was the religion of choice forced upon the people by governments of the time, the result was horrific. The same things that happen in Islamic run nations of today happened in those nations where Christianity was enforced. People were stoned to death, hanged, racked and other horrible, tortuous acts all in the name of God. So, in my opinion we do not need biblical law in this country, nor did the founders intend that we should.