And using non-typical christians (unitarian, deists, etc.) that were involved in the history of this country to propagate how less christian this country is has a flipside as it could infer that christian majority is more tolerant that portrayed when dealing with non-typical canidates whose values all ultimately come from a christian background. To answer a couple of things said, “Thomas Jefferson was critized for his religious tolerance”, strange enough it was the Baptist denomination that asked him to ensure separation of church and state, yes those same baptists involved in the evangelical movements that seem so vilified by the “tolerant” people in this group. Bernard Lewis in his books on Islam states that this idea of separation between Church and State is a uniquely christian quality as was seen as such by islamic civilizations. A couple of fallacies were mentioned in the anti-christian discussions: Judah Benjamin did not convert but remained Jewish while in the employ of the Confederacy as the secretary of state and was the highest ranking government official till recently of Jewish descent, ironically in the slave owning racist CSA, go figure. Race might of been more important to them than religious affiliation.

Btw christian abolitionists fought and abolished the race based slave trade ending its few hundred year history, juxtapose that against the 5000 year old caste system, which despite the valiant attempts of numerous movements such as the caste rejecting buddhists, and the syncretic faith Sikhs, ending (officially at least) only after the enligtenment of the christian values of a colonizing country.

A lot of wrongs happened in the west, but no religious grounds could be found for any of the wrongs (Jesus said turn the other cheek, not hang your neighbor, Jesus said there is no Jew or Gentile no Man or Woman, all are one, ala spiritually equal) All the great advancements of human freedom were through judeo christian values directly or indirectly as even Gandhi found his inspiration from christianity, influenced particularly by christian anarchist Tolstoy and later applied jain (not hindu as mistakenly portrary) concepts to interpert them (turn the other cheek, non-violence found its expression in the Jain philosophy of Ahisma)

Christianity unfortunately is too easy of a target as its true followers are very sensitive to any wrong against others, but unfortunately others who enjoy the freedoms of a christian values country, frequently feel they can get away with bashing the faith behind those values.

Religions like Christianity are yet to shake their anti-science attitudes and are thus anti-modern. So, I don’t blame Americans for requiring a person of atheist background for public office.

Don’t be silly– of course she’s flaunting her faith. That’s the M.O. of American politics right now, and that’s why it’s on her campaign site.

That doesn’t mean it’s not genuine. She also mentions her family– you can love your kids and at the same time, trot them out for photo ops.

Ha, I just saw this, who’da thunk it, TWICE in one evening, the man gets an appearance on Sepia…

Anna: is thatenough English minor-y goodness for you? (though alas the great Bloom has strayed far from his marriage-of-deconstruction-and-Kabbalah roots over the last decade or two)…

• they were scared that “christianity” was just going to be interpreted as the anglican church, which until recently had been the established church of much of the south.

sure. in fact, jefferson was criticized for his religious tolerance in 1800*.

I was read in Christopher Hitchen’s biography of Jefferson that he strongly opposed the substituting (through an amendment) of “Jesus Christ” for “Almighty God” in the Virginia Constitution. When his side won, he said that the legislators vote was “proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahommedan, the Hindoo, and the Infidel of every denomination.”

sure. in fact, jefferson was criticized for his religious tolerance in 1800*. there were speculations about lincoln. i am suggesting that organized evangelicalism simply didn’t have veto power. otherwise, you wouldn’t have had unitarians like millard filmore or william howard taft be plausible presidents, and lincoln’s somewhoat heterodox views and activities were well known (these post-date the second great awakening).

• “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” -Thomas Jefferson

You cant get elected dog-catcher in the United States if you are an atheist.

In case anyone is interested, the guy who said this is Harold Bloom, the famous American literary critic (author of the Western Canon). He recently said that the whole idea of a Judeo-Christian “tradition” is a myth, the product of American theologians and political thinkers.