God and Country

Recently my group of e-mail buddies (they the America hating liberals - me the Evil Facist) have been, shall we say, very active, and, um...passionate.

It goes without saying in such an exciting election season that our hearts would sometimes speak louder than our heads.

Still, things haven't gotten nasty, yet.

So in the spirit of cooling things down, I'll vent a bit here on the latest topic to fire my jets, lest I once again carelessly stomp on 30 year old friendships in the name of me always being right.

The current topic: Should we take "God" out of the pledge of allegiance and off of our money.

My belief, um...no.

Their view. A hearty yes.

I mentioned that we are a nation founded on the belief that all men are created equal, not by other men, but by a divine power.

Then I got this e-mail.

***
That may be true, however I find it telling that The Founders didn't
make a point of it when they wrote the most critical documents of this
nation's birth. The creation of this country is first and for most
about freedom from tyranny, equality, liberty, and property rights.

Interesting that the word God is used only once in the Declaration of
Independence. The words "in God we trust" or "one nation under God" do
not appear anywhere.

In the entirety of the eighty-five Federalist Papers the word God
appears twice... once in a reference to a Greek god and once as used
in the Declaration of Independence (nature's God).

Both the Constitution and Bill of Rights do not contain the word God.
There are two references to religion, both of those relate to
preventing the influence of religion in our daily lives.
****

I still haven't gotten across to them the difference between a belief in God (faith) and an adherence to Religion (an institution created by men).

Still, I was game to try.

My response:

You made my point perfectly.

You said:

***
The creation of this country is first and for most about freedom from tyranny, equality, liberty, and property rights.
***

And I would say, yes, because ALL men are entitled to it! Not because the government says so!

If we take God/creator/maker/head dude or lady off of our money, or out of our pledge, and obliterate every single oblique mention of Providence from our buildings, monuments, courtrooms, etc. - where does that leave us as far as all those amazing things you mention?

Freedom. Freedom from tyranny. Equality. Liberty. Property Rights. Happiness.

Who is going to deem that we have the right to these? Barak Obama? John McCain? Thomas Jefferson?

All of them can kiss my ass. I was BORN with these rights. A piece of paper didn't give it to me, no human being bestowed them.

Our founders were the first government EVER to recognize this.

Case in point; the reason we swear on the Bible, is NOT because we are worshipping Jesus, or Muhammad, or any other religion.

We do this because the very core of our country, and all branches of government including our justice system puts TRUST in a higher power - a FAITH in something greater than ourselves.

I believe our nation exists, because of this faith - no matter if it's called God or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

And I believe that this faith is why we are the greatest nation on earth, and the last best hope for peace in our time.

Just my opinion of course, but our nation's foundation in Faith, not religion, is right at the top of the list of why I love my country so much.