Ed Babinski: See also these two recent books...
The Civil War as a Theological Crisis (The Steven and Janice Brose Lectures in the Civil War Era) by Mark A. Noll
Upon the Altar of the Nation : A Moral History of the Civil War by Harry S. Stout
Sharon: After reading what Robert G. Ingersoll said about the Declaration of Independence and a King (a fool on a throne) and, how the people were robbed by the Kings and Priests... and "power to the people" was a strange concept -- this book addresses that at the very opening:
"This book has been written in the cause of Truth. It has not been the object of the writer to defend any particular party or faction, but solely to vindicate democratic and republican institutions."
"There have, in all ages, been really but two parties in politics. One, that did not believe in the people, but wanted a strong government to control or rule them. The other, that believed in the people, was for retaining power in their hands to control or rule the government. The former is the Monarchical or Strong Government party. Its members were called Tories in the Revolution of 1776. The latter is the Democratic party."
At that time in history, it makes perfect sense. These people probably wanted their alpha-males (the Priest, the Church, the King) to rule over them... not understanding anything about freedom or democracy.
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With that in mind, that's exactly what the Extreme Religious Right is trying to do today...
America was founded as a "Democracy"... and they are trying to turn our Democracy, into a Monarchy.
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Jefferson Davis, in a speech in the United States Senate, June 27th, 1850, said" If I have a superstition, sir, which governs my mind and holds it captive, it is a superstitious reverence for the Union. If one can inherit a sentiment, I may be said to have inherited this from my revolutionary father."
curses and anathemas were liberally hurled from the pulpit
Edward Babinski: Interesting. But no political changes make everyone happy. Speaking of the Revolutionary War, 1/3 of the colonists were AGAINST independence (pro-Britain), 1/3 were neutral, 1/3 were in favor of independence. Also when it came to drawing up a national constitution to unite the colonies, some folks boycotted the Constitutional Convention, like Patrick Henry, perhaps for religious reasons since he wanted only the most orthodox Trinitarian believing Christians to be allowed to govern the new nation. And there was an uprising ten years after the new nation of America was formed, trying to overthrow the government, apparently over the government's failure to pay the military for their service or to grant them any kind of payment at a time when banks were taking over the farms of men who had fought in the Revolutionary War. I think it was called Shay's Rebellion.
Jefferson Davis was the guy who walked away from Washington, D.C. after Lincoln said slavery would be forbidden in the far western territories that American had newly acquired. Before acquiring those territories a compromise had been reached in which a line was drawn horizontally across the U.S. states and all the states above the line were "free" states while all beneath the line were "slave" states. Jefferson and other southern states wanted the line extended following the acquisition of the far western territories by the U.S., and Lincoln vowed the line would not be extended, but that all of the western territories, high and low would remain free states. That was in fact that platform upon which Lincoln had been elected. Jefferson left Washington for good after that encounter with Lincoln and the South began to aggitate for secession.
But if you want to know more about Jefferson Davis I'd Wiki him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis
Wiki on Jefferson Davis and "the union"
"Though an opponent of secession in principle, Davis upheld it in practice on January 10, 1861. On January 21, 1861, he announced the secession of Mississippi, delivered a farewell address, and resigned from the Senate."
In meetings of his own Mississippi legislature, Davis had argued against secession; but when a majority of the delegates opposed him, he gave in.
- Wikipedia
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Sharon: Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, declared that "Sharp's rifles were better than
Bibles,"
I understand they were against slavery though, ...
How strange. In the South, Slavery was condoned by means of the Bible, and the clergy up North declare Rifles "better than Bibles".
"The churches of New England were very active in this business, and the abolition clergy all over were zealous workers in inciting to bloodshed. One minister, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, declared that "Sharp's rifles were better than Bibles," and "that it was a crime to shoot at a slaveholder and not hit him." All over the North, but mainly in New England, this insanity was prevalent. Ministers of the Gospel distributed guns and rifles for the work of bloodshed. The North was being slowly educated for the great war that followed."
... about the founders of America, and the good number opposed to break from English rule. It's an interesting piece of history... it explains why a Deist (like myself), Thomas Paine had the wit and wisdom to draw up the Declaration of Independence... and many Christians were in fact, opposed to it.
On the contrary, Religion, is what tore America apart during the Civil War,
yes? Ironic.
Something I just read about freethinkers, Civil War, slavery ...
Ed Babinski: "Freethinking German Immigrants came to Missouri in 1848 and settled in Hermann, Missouri and other places in the US. They were the critical force in keeping Missouri in the Union during the Civil War in the States."
That reminds me, Kurt Vonnegut, the famous author of Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, Slaughter House Five, etc., came from Freethinking German Immigrants, as he admits below:
About belief or lack of belief in an afterlife: Some of you may know that I am neither Christian nor Jewish nor Buddhist, nor a conventionally religious person of any sort. I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I’m dead. My German-American ancestors, the earliest of whom settled in our Middle West about the time of our Civil War, called themselves “Freethinkers,” which is the same sort of thing. My great grandfather Clemens Vonnegut, wrote, for example, “If what Jesus said was good, what can it matter whether he was God or not?” I myself have written, “If it weren’t from the message of mercy and pity in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, I wouldn’t want to be a human being. I would just as soon be a rattlesnake.”
Humanism is an ideal so Earthbound and unmajestic that I never capitalize it (unless it begins a sentence). I use “humanism” as a handy synonym for “good citizenship and common decency.” Humanists, having received no credible information about any sort of God, are content to serve as well as they can, the only abstraction with which they have some familiarity: their communities. Neither do they have to join the American Humanist Association to be one.
Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless you Dr. Kevorkian
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