Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site spanky.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!gummo!whuxlb!pyuxll!eisx!npoiv!npois!hogpc!houxm!hocda!spanky!ka
From: ka@spanky.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: The Bible and our great Nation.
Message-ID: <450@spanky.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 19-Aug-83 15:45:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: spanky.450
Posted: Fri Aug 19 15:45:01 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 19-Aug-83 23:15:46 EDT
References: <184@teltone.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Labs, Holmdel, N. J.
Lines: 62

The resolution contains some truths, some half truths, and some falsities.

	Whereas the Bible, the Word of God, has made a  unique  contribu-
	tion  in  shaping  the United States as a distinctive and blessed
	nation and people;

The Bible certainly has had a major impact on the course of history.  When
attempting to understand the founding of our nation, you have to remember
that most of the people involved were Christians.  Without the Bible our
nation would have been different, but whether it would have been better or
worse is (I suspect) impossible to say.

			    Whereas  deeply  held  religious  convictions
	springing from the Holy Scriptures led to the early settlement of
	our nation;

Some settlers came for religious reasons; but others had different reasons.

		    Whereas Biblical teachings inspired concepts of civil
	government  that are contained in our Declaration of Independence
	and the Constitution of the United States;

I doubt it.  People invented the concepts, and then (because of the impor-
tance attatched to the Bible) tried to find a Biblical justificaton for
them.

						   Whereas  many  of  our
	great  national  leaders- among them Presidents Washington, Jack-
	son, Lincoln, and Wilson- paid tribute to the  surpassing  influ-
	ence  of  the Bible in our country's development, as in the words
	of President Jackson that the Bible is "the  rock  on  which  our
	Republic rests";

This doesn't prove anything.  It is theoretically possible for a politician
to stretch the truth, or even lie.  :-)

			 Whereas the history of our Nation clearly illus-
	trates the value of voluntarily applying  the  teachings  of  the
	Scriptures  in the lives of individuals, families, and societies;

The illustration is not clear to me.  I wonder where the Salem witch trials
fit into this view of history.

	Whereas this Nation now faces great  challenges  that  will  test
	this  Nation as it has never been tested before;

Good old fashioned retoric.  I suppose the Civil War was just a mild chal-
lenge by comparison.

							 and Whereas that
	renewing our knowledge of and faith in God through Holy Scripture
	can strengthen us as a nation and a people:

Now this is a flight of fancy.  I happen to believe that attempting to un-
derstand reality as it is can strengthen us as a nation even if it leads
to a rejection of the Bible.  Admittedly I hold this view largely on faith;
but it is certainly as defensible as the view put forth in the resolution.

    The Law speaks for it self.

It doesn't have very much to say.
						Kenneth Almquist