Sarah Levin: The Evangelical Right

Capt Gregory Prickett - I disagree...our constitution, our nation, and our laws are based on the Holy Bible...let's say the Ten Commandments!!! And our laws work pretty well. As far as Evangelicals being radicals, Atheist like Madalyn Murray O'Hair and her group were and still are pretty radical in thier belief as well trying to change Constitution etc. There are some evangelicals that are radical as well but we don't own a monopoly on being "radical" . Whatever side of the belief you are on is where you see radicalism. IMHO.

Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth - That's not what the Founding Fathers thought. "The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." Treaty of Tripoli, ratified unanimously by the Senate in 1797.

Second, most Christians at the time were against ratification of the Constitution, specifically because it was not based on the Bible or the Ten Commandments. For example, "[The Antifederalists] criticized the Constitution for its failure to provide a Protestant test oath for federal office. Most scholars conclude that these Antifederalists were motivated by intolerance, not tolerance. . . ." Morton Borden, Federalists, Antifederalists, and Religious Freedom, 21 J. CHURCH & ST. 469, 469-70 (1979).

You shall not murder...you shal not commit adultery...you shal not steal...you shall not bear false witness...Sounds to me like that is exactly what they had in mind.

How about the Atheist radicals as mentioned above. Again, both sides have radicals.

Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth - Well, lets look at the Commandments, and see if they are applicable under our Constitution:

1 - You shall have no other Gods but me.
Not in the Constitution, and the government is expressly prohibited by the First Amendment from enforcing this.

2 - You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it.
Same as above.

3 - You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
Ditto.

4 - You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy.
Nope, not this one either.

5 - Respect your father and mother.
While a good idea, this also isn't enforced by the government.

6 - You must not commit murder.
Not a federal issue for ages, it was mainly a state crime. I'll point out that when President Kennedy was assassinated, Lee Harvey Oswald did not face any federal criminal charges, the only charges he faced were state charges for murder. That led to change in federal law, but it also demonstrates that it wasn't part of the structure of the original Constitution.

7 - You must not commit adultery.
Perhaps, but this isn't even a crime in most states anymore.

8 - You must not steal.
OK, but theft has been a crime in every society, not just Judeo-Christian society.

9 - You must not give false evidence against your neighbor.
Same here, lying (perjury) has always been prohibited.

10 - You must not be envious of your neighbour's goods. You shall not be envious of his house nor his wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour.
This is a thought crime, and we don't punish people for what they think, but only for what they do.

"It might stem the tide of Islam and Mormonism."
And why would that be a good thing?

They are the two largest cults in the world and they want to force their beliefs on the rest of the world. MSG Stan Hutchison

SCPO Morris Ramsey - actually the two largest cults are Christianity and Islam, with Mormonism being a sub-set of Christianity.

SCPO Morris Ramsey - Christianity has been sending people all around the world for centauries trying to do the same.

What is the atheist worldview? Atheism is the answer to a single question, is there a god or gods. Secular humanist may be atheists, as are most Buddhists, but their worldviews are very different.

Capt Gregory Prickett - you beat me to it greg.

1SG (Join to see) - I get such a kick out of the people who think that atheism is a "worldview." They are projecting their own view on others, and typically, with Christians, it's very binary. That's not how the world works, and it has never worked that way. The world is a continuum, not a binary option.