njlauren
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The Washington quote was general, though he didn't write it, it was passed by Congress and signed by Washington. It was not unanimous, more then a few were troubled by the forced nature of this and the religious language. One of the things that come to mind was this was not a paen to God directly, it was not a general thanskgiving for God, it was for the blessings they believe God gave the US, including winning the revolution and the then new Constitution that had resulted in Washington being elected the year before (he took office in March, 1789).It was more gratitude that the revolutionists had perservered, rather then a homily to God.
And now to the portion the religious droolers don't want to mention:
"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 tranquility, of Mussulmen [Muslims],—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan [Mohammedan] 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."
Treaty of Tripoli, 1797, signed by John Adams (who thought not at the convention, was a prime shaper and influencer of the Constitution and government), and passed by congress, many of whom were what we refer to as 'the founding fathers' today, people who shaped the revolution and the Constitution.
As far as the text about Israel, this is part of the gobbledygook of the religious right with their freakshow visions of revelations. The religious right, that took over the GOP, has this belief that the second coming can't happen unless Israel exists, including supporting Israel to its so called 'traditional borders" (which is idiotic, a single Israel hasn't existed for almost 3000 years; at the time of Christ, it had been two Kingdoms, a southern and Northern one, for many hundreds of years). Unfortunately, if I was Jewish I would be skeptical, because said support is also tinged with a belief, that is outright expressed by the Southern Baptists, that for the second coming to happen the Jews have to be converted to accept Christ as the savior/messiah, otherwise, well, you figure it out.....support based on their own twisted ideology like this isn't doing Israel any favors, and Jewish groups who welcome the support of evangelicals may want to look a little deeper at the trojan horse they are being given.
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