I wish you wouldn't force your beliefs on me!

[Oregonian]

70. Not only several, but probably MOST

were deists. Certainly more than 1. Certainly you agree Jefferson was one:

"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology."

And Franklin was another:

". . . Some books against Deism fell into my hands. . . It happened that they wrought an effect on my quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist." -B. Franklin.

Then there's Thomas Paine:

"Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies."

"The study of theology, as it stands in the Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authority; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion."

And even John Adams was certainly not as devout as you'd like:

"The question before the human race is, whether the God of Nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles?"


And you can keep repeating that the First Amendment sought only to refrain from "establishing" a state religion, but that makes it anything but true. Hell, your own words, agreeing with the Supreme Court's "entanglement" language is defeating your own argument.