----- Original Message ----
> From: Matthias Wasser <matthias.wasser at gmail.com>
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Sent: Thu, March 18, 2010 9:15:53 PM
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Texas school board drops Jefferson, adds Calvin
>
> On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 6:56 PM, Joseph Catron <> ymailto="mailto:jncatron at gmail.com"
> href="mailto:jncatron at gmail.com">jncatron at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 6:42 PM, Mr. X <> ymailto="mailto:from_alamut at yahoo.com"
> href="mailto:from_alamut at yahoo.com">from_alamut at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> One of the first treaties was the Treaty of tripoli which
> stated
> > definitively to a muslim government that the USA was not a
> Christian
> Nation.
>
>
> That's a bit of a stretch. It
> stated that "the Government of the United
> States of America is not, in
> any sense, founded on the Christian religion,"
> which is obviously true,
> but does not speak to the religious
> characteristics
> of the
> states, nor to the degrees to which their citizens considered
> themselves
> part of any such thing as a "nation" (which was still a bit
> innovative
> in 1797).
When people (like, say, those on the Texas School Board)
> approvingly say
that the United States is a "Christian Nation," they don't
> mean that most of
its citizens are Christian or that the particular states
> are whatever. They
literally mean that the Government of the United States of
> America is
founded on the Christian religion. That's the whole point of
> teaching
Aquinas as some sort of proto-liberal
> philosopher.
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