> It's often forgotten that the English Pilgrims, before taking a flyer
> on America, went to Holland in their search for religious freedom.
> They found it and then left for the same reason: they feared that amid
> the diversity of Holland their children would stray, and so opted to
> carve out an isolationist settlement in the New World" (Russell Shorto
> "The Un-Pilgrims,"
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/27/opinion/27SHOR.html>).
Exactly. The little potted history lesson we should be teaching America's youth about the Pilgrims (besides what they did to Squanto and his compatriots after they showed the palefaces how to bury fish under their corn) was that they were the original American religious bigots, whose only interest in "religious freedom" was to have the freedom to suppress everyone they disagreed with.
Any actual freedom of thought we enjoy today was won by bitter struggles by despised dissenters, and this continues to be true today.
Happy Turkey Day, everyone.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe. -- Attr. to Alfonso the Wise, King of Castile