Religious zealotry a 20th century concept in the US

[oklib1971]

The 20th century in the USA brought the religious into government. They sought to change the way things were from the time of our independence. One of the first acts of these zealots was to push for ban on alcohol. We know how well that went. In the 50's every preacher got a tent to preach the so called "gospel of Christ". So the US congress passed 2 laws that honored the religious. First it was to ratify the pledge of allegiance and put the words :under God" into it, secondly they made "in God we trust" the national motto. Now around 50 years later we have people believing that these things were there from the start. "Our nation was founded on Christian principles" are the cries from the faithful. The founding fathers did not intend for it to be that way. Remember we had a large number of people who came to the USA to escape religious persecution by the Catholic church who controlled almost every government in Europe. We are almost under that same siege in the US today. The framers intended the Church to stay out of government. I am okay with saying merry Christmas as an atheist. But I do not want my government to be promoting it. It is okay if someone wants to live the principles of the 10 commandments just as long as my governments court houses does not display it. You can have all the manger scenes you want just as long as it is not on property owned by the people:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/state&id=8470992

I do not fight religion, I fight for my right as an American citizen to have my views protected as much as the others.

[iris27]

1. Actually, one of the first acts of the zealots was to ban abortion.

It was legal in the United States from the time the earliest settlers arrived. At the time the Constitution was adopted, abortions before "quickening" were openly advertised and commonly performed. States began passing laws to make abortion illegal in the mid-to-late 1800s.

But yeah, it would surprise most religous zealots today to learn just how little religious influence was had on government practice and policy in the early decades of the nation. However, most of them couldn't care less about history except to twist the intentions of the founders to support their current arguments.