"Including none at all" 16 Jan 2010 Just when I start to get cynical about Obama’s agenda, he proclaims this: Long before our Nation’s independence, weary settlers sought refuge on our shores to escape religious persecution on other continents. Recognizing their strife and toil, it was the genius of America’s forefathers to protect our freedom of religion, including the freedom to practice none at all. And then he proclaims this “a critical foundation for [America’s] liberty”. God bless him. Or is it a cynical move to appeal to the light and dark skinned black community? Politics Race and politics Religion
Epistemology You and me, baby, ain't nothing but mammals 7 Apr 2010 The song of the title of this post is a catchy and highly amusing piece that suggests that if we’re just mammals we should have sex. It’s sort of a low brow version of Andrew Marvell’s To his coy mistress. Instead of Time’s wingéd chariot, we should do what mammals… Read More
Epistemology Spirits and Souls 18 Jun 201122 Jun 2018 Does Calamities of Nature read this blog? Or just Sean Carroll? Read More
Administrative Australian internet filter dead in water 6 Aug 2010 Forners may not be aware of an extremely boring federal election in Australia right now. Indeed, few Australians seem aware of this. This is as it should be. Elections that are Interesting usually turn out to be Dangerous. But there is one good that has come out of this. The… Read More
Long before our Nation’s independence, weary settlers sought refuge on our shores to escape religious persecution on other continents. There may have been some early settlers who fled religious persecution but not many. That’s a great myth. One set of my ancestors were Dutch settlers in the Hudson valley. They were members of the Dutch Reform Church – the same church they belonged to in the Netherlands. Another set were “Puritans” who settled in Connecticut. They belonged to the same Protestant churches that they left in England and the relatives they left behind suffered no obvious persecution – indeed, they took over the government during the civil war! As far as I can tell, my “Puritan” ancestors were more interested in setting up their own system of religious persecution in the new world than in fleeing persecution in England. Settlers in other parts of the 13 colonies included large numbers of Catholics from England and Protestants from Germany and I don’t think it’s fair to claim that they were motivated to emigrate because of religious persecution.
Could you explain your last question? How is it a “cynical move to appeal to the light and dark skinned black community”?