Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006 | 12:30 p.m.
In reference to Timothy R. Carroll's Feb. 15 letter, he must be living in dreamland to think our Constitution was based on Christianity. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution do not contain a single word about Christianity, the Bible or Jesus Christ; nor is there any mention of the Ten Commandments, heaven or hell - not a single word.
Thomas Paine, the man who sparked the American Revolution, stated, "All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no more than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." He was a deist, as were many of our founding fathers, believing in a god that had nothing to do with the Christian god. I'm sure most of the people of that time believed in some form of god or another, as to claim to be an atheist would probably have been hazardous to your health.
In 1797, the Treaty of Tripoli, negotiated by George Washington and signed by John Adams, declared "the government of the United States is not in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
Many of our states had and still do have antiquated laws on their books, such as it's unlawful to own a sex toy, adultery, etc. All of the religious requirements, for office, were declared unconstitutional by the very Constitution Mr. Carroll is stating was based on Christianity.
Mr. Carroll should go study some U.S. history.
Frederick H. Spoerl, Las Vegas
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