Godless? Christian? What?

I've always had a problem when people say that we need to put G'd into our public life. Given the diversity of our population, are we talking about the G'd of the Hebrew Bible, the G'd of the Christian Testament, The G'd of the Koran, or the Multifaceted Hindu G'd? The fact is that any of the holy writings can be used to justify almost anything we want. All we need is to pick and choose.
When some claim that the US is a Christian nation, again, we have to ask: what kind of Christian? There are old line churches such as the Episcopal or Presbyterian churches, the new line fundamentalist churches, and of course the oldest churches: the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox. They all interpret Jesus' teaching in a different way.
It appears that those who want religion in government are really saying that they want their religion in government. Just look what is happening at the Air Force Academy. Do we really want the USA to be as narrow minded and prejudiced as those academy bigots?

A Change in direction

When I started this BLOG I had intended to keep all of my comments in the economic realm. However, as I survey the political landscape and the social changes that are being proposed for the USA, I believe that I must speak out in the name of reason. As a result, I wrote the "Ask the Framers" piece. From time to time, I will also be writing other pieces which have nothing to do with economics, but everything to do with social justice. Please bear with me and if you agree or disagree, post your comments so that I can respond.

Ask the Framers

On a recent trip to Washington, my wife and I were fortunate enough to stop at the Jefferson Memorial. While reading the writings etched into the walls I realized that the answer to the arguments regarding the strict construction of the constitution based upon the intent of the framers was written by the framers. We only need to read what they said and wrote. For example: When the strict construction people say that the constitution needs to be interpreted according to the 18th century standards that existed when it was written, we can reply with Jefferson’s statement “…laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. …institutions must advance to keep pace with the times… [or] …we might as well require…civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” When the it is pointed out that the constitution does not use the phrase separation of “church and state” and school prayer should be allowed, we only need to look to Jefferson for guidance. He wrote: “No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship…” We progressives can go back to the basics by framing our own moral arguments using the words and intent of the framers of the constitution.