Tennessee Attorney General: Bible can’t be official state book

The Golden Age was never the present age. -Benjamin Franklin

First, I wrote my response to describe a position, not advocate for one. In fact, calling it an "imagined past" subtly advocates against it.

Second, personally, I have learned to avoid ascribing viewpoints to "the Founders." They held a variety of beliefs. Hugh Williamson was a physician and scientist. Abraham Baldwin was a minister. Hugh and Abe certainly had different approaches to religion and its role in their lives.

Third, sodomy in one form or another was illegal in all 50 states up until the 1950s. Fornication was illegal in a handful of states. Let that sink in. If you had sex with someone outside of marriage, it was a crime. Bigamy is still illegal today. You can't be married to more than one person. Now whether you call that that morals, customs of the community or religion, I don't see a big difference. Whether I agree with the views or disagree with them doesn't matter. Religious views were translated into law in many cases in the U.S. So, in a sense, those who believe the U.S. was more "Christian" in the past are right.

Finally, asking what advancements has religion given us ask it to speak the language of science and amounts to non-sense. It is the equivalent question of "How many souls has quantum physics saved?" You, however, want an advancement, ok. Books and the reading amongst the common folk undoubtedly got a boost from Protestants wanting to read their bibles. Absent that and we aren't where we are today.

/r/politics Thread Parent Link - religionnews.com