Regardless of your stance, all facts are verifiable.  And I do suggest everyone look up facts rather than take someone’s word for it.  Knowledge is power, ignorance is slavery; not bliss.
 

Enjoy the reads and hope it sparks thought,

Oly

THE PRESENT DAY -----DOES NOT COMPUTE

DID YOU KNOW?

As you walk up the steps to the building which houses the U.S.  Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a 
row of the world's law givers and each one is facing one in the middle who is facing forward with a full frontal view - it is 
Moses and he is holding the Ten Commandments! 

DID YOU KNOW? 

As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each 
lower portion of each door. 

DID YOU KNOW? 

As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall, right above where the Supreme Court judges sit, a display of the 
Ten Commandments!

DID YOU KNOW? 

There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington, D.C. 

DID YOU KNOW? 

James Madison, the fourth president, known as "The Father of Our Constitution" made the following statement 
"We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for  self-government, 
upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according 
to the Ten Commandments of God."

DID YOU KNOW?

Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country said, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly 
or too often that this great  nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on 
the Gospel of Jesus Christ".

DID YOU KNOW? 

Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.

DID YOU KNOW?

Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of  the established orthodox churches in the colonies. 

DID YOU KNOW? 

Thomas Jefferson worried that the Courts would overstep their authority and instead of interpreting the law would begin 
making law....an oligarchy....the rule of few over many. 

DID YOU KNOW? 

The very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said, "Americans  should select and prefer Christians as their rulers."
 

How, then, have we gotten to the point that everything we have done for 220 years in this country is now suddenly 
wrong and unconstitutional?

Please forward this to everyone you can. Lets put it around the  world and let the world see and remember what this great 
country was built.
 

Thank you!!

My response to the above email.

The Laws of Hamarabi are written on the walls of the Supreme Court, right along with the 10 Commandments?

The Constitution reflects our founders’ views of a secular government, protecting the freedom of any belief or unbelief. The historian, Robert Middlekauff, observed, "the idea that the Constitution expressed a oral view seems absurd. There were no genuine evangelicals in the convention, and there were no heated declarations of Christian piety."

Some fundamentalists attempt to convince us to return to the Christianity of early America, yet according to the historian, Robert T. Handy, "No more than 10 percent-- probably less-- of Americans in 1800 were members of congregations."

The Founding Fathers, also, rarely practiced Christian orthodoxy. Although they supported the free exercise of any religion, they understood the dangers of religion. Most of them believed in deism and attended Freemasonry lodges. According to John J. Robinson, "Freemasonry had been a powerful force for religious freedom." Freemasons took seriously the principle that men should worship according to their own conscious. Masonry welcomed anyone from any religion or non-religion, as long as they believed in a Supreme Being. Washington, Franklin, Hancock, Hamilton, Lafayette, and many others accepted Freemasonry.

Benjamin Franklin wrote: "If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. These found it wrong in the Bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here [England] and in New England."

Dr. Priestley, an intimate friend of Franklin, wrote of him: "It is much to be lamented that a man of Franklin's general good character and great influence should have been an unbeliever in Christianity, and also have done as much as he did to make others unbelievers" (Priestley's Autobiography)

Thomas Paine wrote, "Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity. "

Much of the myth of Washington's alleged Christianity came from Mason Weems influential book, "Life of Washington." The story of the cherry tree comes from this book and it has no historical basis. Weems, a Christian minister portrayed Washington as a devout Christian, yet Washington's own diaries show that he rarely attended Church.

Washington revealed almost nothing to indicate his spiritual frame of mind, hardly a mark of a devout Christian. In his thousands of letters, the name of Jesus Christ never appears. He rarely spoke about his religion, but his Freemasonry experience points to a belief in deism. Washington's initiation occurred at the Fredericksburg Lodge on 4 November 1752, later becoming a Master mason in 1799, and remained a freemason until he died.

To the United Baptist Churches in Virginia in May 1789, Washington said that every man "ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience."

After Washington's death, Dr. Abercrombie, a friend of his, replied to a Dr. Wilson, who had interrogated him about Washington's religion replied, "Sir, Washington was a Deist."

Thomas Jefferson tore pages out of his Bible that he considered "offensive".  What remained was his personal Bible.

Most Christians do not consider Jefferson a Christian. In many of his letters, he denounced the superstitions of Christianity. He did not believe in spiritual souls, angels or godly miracles. Although Jefferson did admire the morality of Jesus, Jefferson did not think him divine, nor did he believe in the Trinity or the miracles of Jesus. In a letter to Peter Carr, 10 August 1787, he wrote, "Question with boldness even the existence of a god."

Jefferson was a man of the school of ‘reason’.  He believed in materialism and science. He professed his own religion and never admitted to any organized other. In a letter to Ezra Stiles Ely, 25 June 1819, he wrote, "You say you are a Calvinist. I am not. I am of a sect by myself, as far as I know."

Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Autobiography, in reference to the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom: "Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."

John Adams was a known Unitarian.  He utterly denied the doctrine of eternal damnation. In a letter to Thomas Jefferson, he wrote: "I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved -- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"

John Adams also wrote, ". . . Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind."

James Madison, rightly called the "Father of the Constitution" wrote, ""During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."

James Madison also wrote, "What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people.  Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."

If the delegations and creators of the US Constitution had intended to establish a Christian republic, it would seem highly unlikely that they would have forgotten to leave out their Christian intentions in the Supreme law of the land.  Nowhere in the Constitution do we have a single mention of Christianity, God, Jesus, or any Supreme Being. There occurs only two references to religion and they both use exclusionary wording. The 1st Amendment's says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. . ." and in Article VI, Section 3, ". . . no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

An obscure legal document written in the late 1700s sheds some interesting light about the US mind set regarding religion and the US government.  It explicitly reveals the secular nature of the United States to a foreign nation. Officially called the "Treaty of peace and friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli, of Barbary," most refer to it as simply the Treaty of Tripoli. In Article 11, it states: "As the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

With all of this (and more), how is it in 200+ years some Christian fundamentalists are STILL trying to rewrite what constitutes being Constitutional where religion is concerned?
 
 

November 26, 2003

 James Towey the White House Deputy Assistant to the President and Director, Office of Faith-Based and 
Community Initiatives hosted a Q and A session on Whitehouse.gov web site today, and amazingly answered 
a thoughtful question for a PUC staffer, with this idiotic bigoted reply:
 ------------Quoted from www.whitehouse.gov 11/26/2003---

 Colby, from Centralia MO writes:
 Do you feel that Pagan faith based groups should be given the same considerations as any other group that 
seeks aid? Jim Towey I haven't run into a pagan faith-based group yet, much less a pagan group that cares 
for the poor! Once you make it clear to any applicant that public money must go to public purposes and can't 
be used to promote ideology, the fringe groups lose interest. Helping the poor is tough work and only those 
with loving hearts seem drawn to it.
 

I have gotten this letter several times over the last week.  Up till now I have held my tongue and merely shook 
my head at the rallying attempt to post flaming messages on sites (that Towey will not be reading so the point to it is?) 
and to flood his email with Yule cards.  (Every witch calls it or celebrates Yule?)

I am going to state a position that I am sure will be unpopular though not intended to offend anyone.  Merely and 
simply my opinion... group that cares for the poor! Once you make it clear to any applicant that public money must 
go to public purposes and can't be used to promote ideology, the fringe groups lose interest. Helping the poor is 
tough work and only those with loving hearts seem drawn to it.
 

I have gotten this letter several times over the last week.  Up till now I have held my tongue and merely shook my 
head at the rallying attempt to post flaming messages on sites (that Towey will not be reading so the point to it is?) 
and to flood his email with Yule cards.  (Every witch calls it or celebrates Yule?)

I am going to state a position that I am sure will be unpopular though not intended to offend anyone.  Merely and 
simply my opinion...

Mr. Towey did not say any pagan org or group had been denied.  He said none had applied.  Perhaps a lesson from 
the other "faith-based' religions is in order.  When deeds are done for whomever, there is media, there are articles 
in papers and newsletters.  The general public is informed.  When was the last time a pagan "group" or organization 
donated to the poor with publicity?  Perhaps the time has come we do.

I don't see this overly circulated letter as necessarily a slam to pagans that we don't care about the poor, anyone 
else or as being cold hearted.  I see it more as a challenge to get off our asses, get organized (something pagans 
seem to abhore for post-hippie reasons) and work on a larger level than the preferred quiet and perhaps anonymous 
donations.  Get the media involved.  Write letters to the editors, invite the press and media to cover a story.  Show 
how we are involved.

Not only would be it helpful to remind people that we are around and involved (thus perhaps making the general 
public re-think their fear based paranoia) it also alerts the rabid clerics and those in government that we are on 
the rise, political and vocal.

And the pagan answer?
The Pagan Community needs to make the administration aware that not only do members of minority faiths have 
"loving hearts" But that we in fact DON'T EVER try to promote ideology like the Christian faiths who base their 
whole religions on 'saving' others. We also need to snow under this man's office with introductions of the varied 
andnumerous Pagan faith-based groups that of course "care for the poor."
 

Humor me by allowing me a few ideas for your consideration...

PUC encourages all Pagans to send Mr.Towey Yule cards this Yuletide season, along with PUC. Together we shall 
try to educate this man who is suppose to be a religious expert for the current administration, about the various 
Faiths who have followers in Lady Liberty's land!!!

No, pagans as a rule don't promote their ideology.  They don't promote much of anything as a matter of fact for 
public consumption.  And flooding him with Yule cards is education?  A plethora of angry and rude email as shown 
at the site below is educating?
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/678059077?ts=1070304142&sign[partnerID]=1&sign[memberID]=
248864251&sign[partner_userID]=248864251

We also need to snow under this man's office with introductions of the varied and numerous Pagan faith-based groups that of course "care for the poor." Better idea, let these groups come forth and apply for the federal monies and meet the criteria as other groups have done.  I don't know of any large groups myself that I can name off the top of my head...come out, come out wherever you are!

PUC encourages all Pagans to send Mr.Towey Yule cards this Yuletide season, along with PUC. Together we shall try to educate this man who is suppose to be a religious expert for the current administration, about the various Faiths who have followers in Lady Liberty's land!!!
If you'all will recall, most of what authorities hear about the "pagan community" is how they are bringing in the ACLU for a teen who can't wear their jewlery to school, 3 teens accused of murder and one owned a BoS, Halloween complete with scary looking Goths and real blood drinking vampires claiming to be part of the Pagan community, and the ever popular animal mutilations to Satan.  They know pagans will fight for their rights and/or take issue on a small scale.  They know we can bloody well organize quickly locally, and be very vocal...at least for a short time and on a single issue.  And if they have done any research at all, they know pagans are notorious about not going tackling larger issues or seeking national recognition since pagans usually can't agree on anything beyond an impassioned, knee jerk reaction.

Want the government's attention and money?  Get organized, get recognized and get out there.  A writing campaign shows that individual pagans will send emails, faxes, stamp letters and maybe even spend the money for a phone call.  None of which has answered the challenge.  The gauntlet is thrown...let's pick it up.

Share around as you will....or not.
Blessings,
Oly