The Morality of Ages (pt.2)

   Fact: the pledge of allegiance never had the phrase: "one nation under God". The Pledge was written in 1892 by a man named Francis Bellamy a baptist minister who believed in equality, justice and liberty for all men. In truth, the Pledge never included the United States of America. Understand that at the time of this nation's founding America was made up of many different nationalities and it was this fact that prevented Francis from making a specific reference to a country. This is a look at how the Pledge changed over time:
In its original form it read:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

In 1923, the words, "the Flag of the United States of America" were added. At this time it read:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," creating the 31-word pledge we say today. Bellamy's daughter objected to this alteration. Today it reads:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

    According to John W. Baer who wrote "The Pledge of Allegiance A Short Story" Francis wanted to include the words equality but didn't because slaves and women were denied the rights given to white men. "His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. [ * 'to' added in October, 1892. ]"
   And yet, as we see plainly the pledge as it was originally created and evidence of why the pledge omitted key languages that we have now included, there are still groups in this country who claim that America was founded on Christianity. That it's founders were likewise Christian and created this nation on biblical precepts. Truth or myth?
   "There was a religious element to the American Revolution, which was so pronounced that you could just as well view the event in religious as in political terms. Many of the founders, especially the Southerners, were rebelling simultaneously against state-church oppression and English rule. The Connecticut Baptists saw Jefferson — an anti-Federalist who was bitterly opposed to the idea of establishment churches — as a friend. “Our constitution of government,” they wrote, “is not specific” with regard to a guarantee of religious freedoms that would protect them. Might the president offer some thoughts that, “like the radiant beams of the sun,” would shed light on the intent of the framers? In his reply, Jefferson said it was not the place of the president to involve himself in religion, and he expressed his belief that the First Amendment’s clauses — that the government must not establish a state religion (the so-called establishment clause) but also that it must ensure the free exercise of religion (what became known as the free-exercise clause) — meant, as far as he was concerned, that there was “a wall of separation between Church & State.” " -New York Times Feb 14 2010
  
   In February 1756, Adams wrote in his diary about a discussion he had had with a conservative Christian named Major Greene. The two argued over the divinity of Jesus and the Trinity. Questioned on the matter of Jesus' divinity, Greene fell back on an old standby: some matters of theology are too complex and mysterious for we puny humans to understand.
Adams was not impressed. In his diary he wrote, "Thus mystery is made a convenient cover for absurdity."
As president, Adams signed the famous Treaty of Tripoli, which boldly stated, "The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion ..."
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/five-founders-who-were-skeptical-of-organized-Christianity-and-couldn't-be-elected-today-218705/#ixzz26oggGmP1
   I am not suggesting that this nation and its founders did not believe in God. But the evidence points to a Deist approach to God as opposed to a christian one. A tolerant religious view as opposed to exclusivity. And who can blame them? After all they were creating a nation in which its citizens, and themselves included, had sought refuge from the religious sponsored state rule of Europe. So why then do many people today insist that America was built on Christianity? It is the widely held view of many conservatives that America's decline is because we have drifted from the christian principles on which this country was founded. My question is a simple one. What christian principles? The genocide of the indigenous people of this land? The pillaging of a "dark continent" stripping it of natural resources and enslaving their people? The slaughter of those people as they forced them to adapt to a new land for free labor? How exactly are these atrocities- at the foundation of this nation's inception- consistent with the widely held view that America was founded on christian principles? How is it that a nation which rose to prominence on immorality now claims by a religious select, that it's decline is because of an abandonment of those same values it never had?
   I will not deny that there has been a drastic change in the barometer of immoral behavior in the U.S. the facts are clear that there has been as clearly outline by this blog's previous posting. But I suggest in this blog not that immorality is a false concept but that immorality gains traction the more pervasive intolerance becomes. For it is intolerance that foreshadows the fall of world powers, not immorality for it is intolerance that obscures truth and abuses power.
  
   Constantine the Great. Much is made of this man in religious history. He is the man who united Rome from certain ruin by defeating Maxentius from the west after he saw a large cross in the sky. The story goes on to say that Constantine drew courage from this sign, drawing it on that of his troops and road divinely to victory, disposing of the pagan Maxentius and his blasphemous legions. But let us examine the story more carefully. There were 10 emperors of Rome who carried out systematic persecutions of the early church: "Many people have heard of Nero throwing Christians to the lions, but Nero isn't the only emperor who is accused of having persecuted the early Christians. The following are the emperors under whose rule you find the 10 major persecutions of Christians during the Roman Empire.

1. Nero (64 A.D.)
2. Domitian (c.90-96)
3. Trajan (98-117)
4. Hadrian (117-138)
5. Marcus Aurelius (161-181)
6. Septimus Severus (202-211)
7. Maximus the Thracian (235-251)
8. Decius (249-251)
9. Valerian (257-260)
10. Diocletian / Galerius (303-311"

-(by N.S. Gill ancienthistory.about.com)

   Under each persecution the faith only grew in number, influence and power, spreading from the common ranks of society to the affluent and wealthy. Could it be that unlike his predecessors, Constantine realized that he could be the first emperor to reign supreme under a unified Rome since Theodosius I? After all it was Theodosius who legalized Christianity and made Christianity Rome's official religion. Could it be that Constantine saw this move, radical from all the other emperors in Rome's history, as politically gainful and decided to follow suit? If so, why is it that Rome endured after Theodosius but met its demise under Constantine? What was different about these two men and their religious beliefs? If you look closely you will find that both men were politicians as well as generals and that gaining popularity with a religious group of power and influence would in turn make their position stronger but I suggest that Constantine erred in taking it too far. For while Theodosius established Christianity as the religion of the state, Constantine began to persecute the pagans. "Constantine gave one great boon to the Christians--he legalized their religion. From then on it rapidly gained more followers and began edging out the pagan cults. Soon it was the pagans being persecuted. Rioting monks trashed temples and killed pagan philosophers like Hypatia. In 382 the Altar of Victory was removed from its centuries-old home in the Senate. In 391 paganism was outlawed and temples shut all over the Empire. The old cults hung on for a few generations in rural areas, but Christianity was now the dominant power."-The death of paganism: how the Roman Empire converted to Christianity

by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) on Sep 21st 2010.

   Perhaps you are not familiar with the religion of Mithraism. A pagan religion that had numbers almost as vast as Christianity's at the time of Constantine's rule. It is a curious thing indeed that the birth of Jesus had no known celebration before Constantine but during his reign it became celebrated on the same date as the Mithraism deity. As one author put it: "Whether or not they were rivals, it is certainly possible that these two contemporary communities had some influence on each other. In at least one area, it is clear that Christianity adopted an aspect of Mithraism - the celebration of the birth of Christ on December 25, a tradition that began in the 4th century. A Christian writer admitted this in 320 AD, explaining:We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it.²December 25 was also the birthday of the more popular Roman god known as the "Unconquered Sun" (with whom Constantine identified himself before his conversion to Christianity), who was closely associated with Mithras". -(religionfact.com)

   I point to the Catholic ritual of praying to saints and confessing to the priest our sins, waiting faithfully for pardon that we have paid for with penance yet the bible clearly states "there is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." - 1Timothy 2:5. We are led to believe that Constantine united Rome because of Christianity but the picture is one vastly different. A divided Rome, east and west. Pagans in the west and Christians in the east. Constantine sees a cross in the sky and converts to Christianity at the approval of his eastern soldiers and marches to conquer the eastern pagans, fusing key pagan rituals and celebrations with his version of Christianity and in so doing unites all of Europe one final time. Then he persecutes any pagan dissenters, muting the truth of what he had actually done. And so a new religion began. As Christianity grew from Judaism, so Catholicism grew from Christianity. A christian religion that keeps pagan traditions alive; the Roman Catholic Empire was born and the great Roman empire fell.

   Rome was not great because it was founded on christian principles. It was great because even as it conquered nations, it preserved the freedom of those people, religiously, economically and socially. When Rome escaped this ideology Rome's problems began. The people revolted against intolerance and abuse of power much like Constantine's empire fell after he died. The difference between the pagan's persecution of the Christians and the Christian's persecution of the pagans is a subtle one but important. The pagans never coalesced around one God therefore under pagan ruled Rome there was never a state sponsored religion. There were persecutions of other religions, mainly Christianity but there was never one single religion that was a political tool for power and influence.That all changed under Constantine and the empire fell as a result because when a nation or power takes religion and uses it for political leverage it invites corruption to destroy the very thing that gives it power; the confidence of the people. And I contend that the US was formed no more on biblical truths than Rome was. I have no idea what the founding fathers believed but it wasn't the God of the bible, otherwise, slavery and genocide would have never taken root on our soil. America was founded on secular principles of tolerance that included a vast number of religious people as citizens and America needs to understand that the more intolerant we as a nation become, the more tyrannical we allow our government to become in turn and it is already happening. Wiretapping, video surveillance through our digital touch screens, drones patrolling the sky, radical gun laws, Police powers increasing and the separation of church and state gets weaker by the moment. Immoral behavior will never go away but it can be held in check by the truth and the truth can only manifest itself by way of competing forces. There would be no day if there were no night. In this way, the notion of religion is a creation of humanity's need to protect its various beliefs. Not all of them are correct but unfortunately, in an imperfect world such as ours, they may just be necessary.