I recently visited Salem, Massachusetts, and was reminded of the Salem Witch trials of 1692, where over 20 Puritans were falsely accused, and murdered, for not being ‘Christian’ enough.
This inspired me to enlighten fellow Republicans who wrongly claim that the U.S.A. was founded as a Christian nation. We were founded as a secular nation. Tolerant, so atrocities like Salem never happened again. Thomas Jefferson stated, “It does me no injury for my neighbor to believe in twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
If the founders had not made their position clear in our Constitution, by omitting any mention of God, the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli, clears things up. It was ratified unanimously by the Senate, many members prior signers of the Constitution. The treaty states “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” In the U.S.A. you’re free to believe or not, thank God.
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Joshua Reilly
North side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
