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Gandalf Grey
Guest
The "Founding Fathers" on Religion, and Crackpots - Part one: Franklin
By Bob Higgins
Created Jan 16 2008 - 12:16pm
"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented
myself from Christian assemblies."
[Benjamin Franklin, in _Toward The Mystery_]
I am sick to death of crackpots of every variety. Sick political crackpots
like Norman Podhoretz and his illicit spiritual love child William Kristol.
Sick, sick of the insipid giggling talking heads of network and cable news
and media crack pots of the Bill O'Reilly, Hannity, Glen Beck genre who have
turned the communication of fear and lies unwary and uncritical crack pots
of their audience into some kind of filthy, cynical and perverse modern art
form / marketing device.
Mostly though, I am sick, sick, sick of religious crackpots, of born again
snake oil salesmen, of piously preaching phonies of every religious variety,
from every tin hat sect and bat **** crazy cult who have crawled from the
wreckage of reason that our modern political process has become and invade
my airways and newspapers with their sanctimonious lying blather on a daily
basis.
Raw Story [1] ran a short piece yesterday reporting on remarks made to a
carefully assembled choir in Warren, Michigan Monday night by erstwhile
preacher and full time political office seeker Mike Huckabee. (Watch the
MSNBC Video [2])
"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the
Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe
it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the
word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the
Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's
standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."
Mike Huckabee, Warren, Michigan Mon. 1/14/08
Well, there you have it, God, or the Huckster's version of God (ie "the
living God") needs our Constitution amended to meet "His" standards which I
expect will be a supremely difficult task for mere mortals, lacking as we
do, such Godlike qualities as omniscience, omnipotence and the ability to
leap tall buildings with a single bound.
Break
"My parents had early given me religious impressions, and brought me
through my childhood piously in the dissenting [puritan]way. But I was
scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by turns of several points, as I found
them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation
itself. Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be
the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's lectures. [Robert Boyle
(1627-1691) was a British physicist who endowed the Boyle Lectures for
defense of Christianity.]It happened that they wrought an effect on me 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"
[Benjamin Franklin, "Autobiography,"p.66 as published in The American
Tradition in Literature, seventh edition (short), McGraw-Hill,p.180]
Who will define these Godly standards he neglects to mention, nor does he
explain who will take magic chisel in hand and carve, in granite no doubt, a
more suitable document. He could, I suppose, appoint a committee of noted
religious charlatans of his acquaintance from among the Kenneth Copeland,
Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar crowd, (provided they are not
actually serving time for tax fraud [3]) who will then step into the holy
prayer closet of their simple parsonage (36 rooms, 9 baths, ample parking
for the Bentley, in a very tony neighborhood) and kick out a constitution
New Covenant that will release us from what the Huckster sees as the hideous
bounds of the body of secular (Satanic?)law which has so retarded us as a
chosen people these last centuries.
What Huckabaloo doesn't seem to recognize is that, in the minds of many
citizens, some, of my acquaintance, is that the guys "founding fathers" who
wrote the Constitution the first time around got it right.
These were among the most accomplished, studious, politically and socially
sophisticated people of their time, yet they were no farther removed from
the long dark ages of man than we are historically distant from their
enlightened times, (as we prepare to establish a new and possibly darker age
of our own) yet they came together despite differing backgrounds, from a
variety of political, moral and economic philosophies, and with a wide
disparity of religious beliefs and hammered out a Constitution under which
all men could live in liberty and relative harmony.
They wrote a document which, I am certain, (although I am in no way a
religious person) made God (living or otherwise) smile a bit with amusement
and pride.
I think that God is no longer amused with us, and I suspect that his current
ill humor has nothing to do with amending our Constitution, but rather,
greatly to do with our refusal to honor the one that he commissioned of
those good men two centuries ago.
The "Founding Fathers" were supremely capable of speaking for themselves and
expressing their beliefs and private dreams for the liberty, freedom and
dignity of mankind and did so in the Constitution other official documents
of the time and hundreds perhaps thousands of Letters to friends colleagues
and detractors during their lifetimes.
I have sprinkled a few excerpts from these missives from Ben Franklin around
this post and at the end will offer a hyperlink to others. As most of you
know much of this great body of historical knowledge is readily available
through this wondrous system of tubes (thanks so much Al) known as the
internet.
It mystifies me that someone like Huck can rise to the level of Governor of
a State in this modern Union of ours without the knowledge of the published
writings of the greatest men of our shared history, or without the awareness
that misquoting or lying about the precedents that they labored so mightily
to establish would easily and instantly be exposed (those tubes again)for
the cynical flimflam that it is.
I'll let Ben finish this, he has a certain quaint flair for the language
which I sorely lack and a lovely sense of humor which I have misplaced
somewhere in my preoccupation with all these crack pots:
"You desire to know something of my religion. It is the first time I have
been questioned upon it. But I cannot take your curiosity amiss, and shall
endeavour in a few words to gratify it. Here is my creed. I believe in one
God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His providence. That He
ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable service we render Him is
doing good to His other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will
be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this.
These I take to be the fundamental principles of all sound religion, and I
regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.
"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I
think the system of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best
the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received
various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in
England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not
dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy
myself with it, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the Truth with
less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief
has the good consequence, as probably it has, of making his doctrines more
respected and better observed; especially as I do not perceive that the
Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in His government
of the world with any particular marks of His displeasure.
"I shall only add, respecting myself, that, having experienced the
goodness of that Being in conducting me prosperously through a long life, I
have no doubt of its continuance in the next, without the smallest conceit
of meriting it... I confide that you will not expose me to criticism and
censure by publishing any part of this communication to you. I have ever let
others enjoy their religious sentiments, without reflecting on them for
those that appeared to me unsupportable and even absurd. All sects here, and
we have a great variety, have experienced my good will in assisting them
with subscriptions for building their new places of worship; and, as I never
opposed any of their doctrines, I hope to go out of the world in peace with
them all."
[Benjamin Franklin, letter to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale, shortly
before his death; from "Benjamin Franklin" by Carl Van Doren, the October,
1938 Viking Press edition pages 777-778 Also see Alice J. Hall, "Philosopher
of Dissent: Benj. Franklin," National Geographic, Vol. 148, No. 1, July,
1975, p. 94]
Bob Higgins
Worldwide Sawdust [4]
Related stories and links:
Ben Franklin on religion and Christianity [5]
Related article at AlterNet What Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is
Doing to Our Democracy [6])
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
By Bob Higgins
Created Jan 16 2008 - 12:16pm
"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented
myself from Christian assemblies."
[Benjamin Franklin, in _Toward The Mystery_]
I am sick to death of crackpots of every variety. Sick political crackpots
like Norman Podhoretz and his illicit spiritual love child William Kristol.
Sick, sick of the insipid giggling talking heads of network and cable news
and media crack pots of the Bill O'Reilly, Hannity, Glen Beck genre who have
turned the communication of fear and lies unwary and uncritical crack pots
of their audience into some kind of filthy, cynical and perverse modern art
form / marketing device.
Mostly though, I am sick, sick, sick of religious crackpots, of born again
snake oil salesmen, of piously preaching phonies of every religious variety,
from every tin hat sect and bat **** crazy cult who have crawled from the
wreckage of reason that our modern political process has become and invade
my airways and newspapers with their sanctimonious lying blather on a daily
basis.
Raw Story [1] ran a short piece yesterday reporting on remarks made to a
carefully assembled choir in Warren, Michigan Monday night by erstwhile
preacher and full time political office seeker Mike Huckabee. (Watch the
MSNBC Video [2])
"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the
Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe
it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the
word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the
Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's
standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."
Mike Huckabee, Warren, Michigan Mon. 1/14/08
Well, there you have it, God, or the Huckster's version of God (ie "the
living God") needs our Constitution amended to meet "His" standards which I
expect will be a supremely difficult task for mere mortals, lacking as we
do, such Godlike qualities as omniscience, omnipotence and the ability to
leap tall buildings with a single bound.
Break
"My parents had early given me religious impressions, and brought me
through my childhood piously in the dissenting [puritan]way. But I was
scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by turns of several points, as I found
them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation
itself. Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be
the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's lectures. [Robert Boyle
(1627-1691) was a British physicist who endowed the Boyle Lectures for
defense of Christianity.]It happened that they wrought an effect on me 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"
[Benjamin Franklin, "Autobiography,"p.66 as published in The American
Tradition in Literature, seventh edition (short), McGraw-Hill,p.180]
Who will define these Godly standards he neglects to mention, nor does he
explain who will take magic chisel in hand and carve, in granite no doubt, a
more suitable document. He could, I suppose, appoint a committee of noted
religious charlatans of his acquaintance from among the Kenneth Copeland,
Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar crowd, (provided they are not
actually serving time for tax fraud [3]) who will then step into the holy
prayer closet of their simple parsonage (36 rooms, 9 baths, ample parking
for the Bentley, in a very tony neighborhood) and kick out a constitution
New Covenant that will release us from what the Huckster sees as the hideous
bounds of the body of secular (Satanic?)law which has so retarded us as a
chosen people these last centuries.
What Huckabaloo doesn't seem to recognize is that, in the minds of many
citizens, some, of my acquaintance, is that the guys "founding fathers" who
wrote the Constitution the first time around got it right.
These were among the most accomplished, studious, politically and socially
sophisticated people of their time, yet they were no farther removed from
the long dark ages of man than we are historically distant from their
enlightened times, (as we prepare to establish a new and possibly darker age
of our own) yet they came together despite differing backgrounds, from a
variety of political, moral and economic philosophies, and with a wide
disparity of religious beliefs and hammered out a Constitution under which
all men could live in liberty and relative harmony.
They wrote a document which, I am certain, (although I am in no way a
religious person) made God (living or otherwise) smile a bit with amusement
and pride.
I think that God is no longer amused with us, and I suspect that his current
ill humor has nothing to do with amending our Constitution, but rather,
greatly to do with our refusal to honor the one that he commissioned of
those good men two centuries ago.
The "Founding Fathers" were supremely capable of speaking for themselves and
expressing their beliefs and private dreams for the liberty, freedom and
dignity of mankind and did so in the Constitution other official documents
of the time and hundreds perhaps thousands of Letters to friends colleagues
and detractors during their lifetimes.
I have sprinkled a few excerpts from these missives from Ben Franklin around
this post and at the end will offer a hyperlink to others. As most of you
know much of this great body of historical knowledge is readily available
through this wondrous system of tubes (thanks so much Al) known as the
internet.
It mystifies me that someone like Huck can rise to the level of Governor of
a State in this modern Union of ours without the knowledge of the published
writings of the greatest men of our shared history, or without the awareness
that misquoting or lying about the precedents that they labored so mightily
to establish would easily and instantly be exposed (those tubes again)for
the cynical flimflam that it is.
I'll let Ben finish this, he has a certain quaint flair for the language
which I sorely lack and a lovely sense of humor which I have misplaced
somewhere in my preoccupation with all these crack pots:
"You desire to know something of my religion. It is the first time I have
been questioned upon it. But I cannot take your curiosity amiss, and shall
endeavour in a few words to gratify it. Here is my creed. I believe in one
God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His providence. That He
ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable service we render Him is
doing good to His other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will
be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this.
These I take to be the fundamental principles of all sound religion, and I
regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.
"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I
think the system of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best
the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received
various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in
England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not
dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy
myself with it, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the Truth with
less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief
has the good consequence, as probably it has, of making his doctrines more
respected and better observed; especially as I do not perceive that the
Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in His government
of the world with any particular marks of His displeasure.
"I shall only add, respecting myself, that, having experienced the
goodness of that Being in conducting me prosperously through a long life, I
have no doubt of its continuance in the next, without the smallest conceit
of meriting it... I confide that you will not expose me to criticism and
censure by publishing any part of this communication to you. I have ever let
others enjoy their religious sentiments, without reflecting on them for
those that appeared to me unsupportable and even absurd. All sects here, and
we have a great variety, have experienced my good will in assisting them
with subscriptions for building their new places of worship; and, as I never
opposed any of their doctrines, I hope to go out of the world in peace with
them all."
[Benjamin Franklin, letter to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale, shortly
before his death; from "Benjamin Franklin" by Carl Van Doren, the October,
1938 Viking Press edition pages 777-778 Also see Alice J. Hall, "Philosopher
of Dissent: Benj. Franklin," National Geographic, Vol. 148, No. 1, July,
1975, p. 94]
Bob Higgins
Worldwide Sawdust [4]
Related stories and links:
Ben Franklin on religion and Christianity [5]
Related article at AlterNet What Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is
Doing to Our Democracy [6])
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson