July 10, 2007

Another dose of heritage...

Ran across this great article in my reading today. It is so important that we all understand from whence came most of the principles of freedom we enjoy in this nation. Many question the relevance of Christianity in our society when, in fact, Christianity had and continues to have an undeniable positive influence on our daily lives. Without courageous Christians who stood for those "unalienable rights" bestowed by our Creator our world would look very different indeed.

Atheist, agnostic, pagan, eastern religion practitioner, and Islamist all have Christians to thank for the ability they have to freely practice and believe according to their consciences. Those who would squelch the voice of Christians in our nation are doing so at their own peril. It will be the Christians who will continue to stand for the rights of people to believe as they will. Your time to read and remember those who have gone before us will be well spent.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen. Understanding our past is vital to going forward

Lucy Arin said...

I agree that all those mentioned and more have the Puritans to thank for the freedoms that we currently enjoy.

Where I diverge from your point of view is that Christianity is the only "right" answer, and that Christians will be the only ones to continue to have the right answer. I hate to quote advertising slogans just on principle, but here's one that I think applies here. "Many voices, one song." That song, of course, in my ever-so-humble, being about the freedom to choose (or not) a particular faith, with no "right" or "wrong."

I'd say "just my $0.02," but this is long enough to count as $0.04, right?

John said...

Mike and Lucy, as always thanks for the honor of your time as you dropped by the blog. Lucy, I love the fact that we can agreeably disagree and I so enjoy our ongoing conversation. However, I must take you to task on this point of "right" and "wrong". Though the notion of "Many voices, one song" sounds nice it just won't float.

While I will agree that many religions pursue "the betterment of mankind" they are not all equally true. That statement just will not hold logical water. Something cannot be "A" and "Not A" at the same time. It is either one or the other. (See my posts on Mormonism for a vivid example of this). While I will readily affirm the right of others to believe as they will, I cannot equally affirm that the path they pursue is the true path.

I will again posit my oversimplified summation of the difference between Christianity and EVERY other religious system in the world. In all other religious systems man has to do certain things in order to get to God. In Christianity God has done everything to bring us to Him. The difference is grace.


John