Ben Franklin left Boston when he was a teenager and he felt that people in Boston were horrified by the fact that he was an atheist.
Thomas Paine believed that every religion is believes they are the one true way and everybody else if wrong. But Paine boldly came out and basically said, "You're all wrong." He also said that if someone hears the voice of God, then God's voice is only relevant to them and they have no evidence that they really heard God's voice and that the people that they tell are not obligated to believe it. If someone were to come up to you and tell you that a fairy floated by, sprinkled fairy dust on him and now he can fly, you would not believe it because you are not obligated to believe him. However if he really was flying and was able to produce evidence of the fairy itself, then you are obligated to believe him...that's really good evidence.
Thomas Jefferson mentioned that Plato's philosophy was the core for Christianity. In Doubt is reads, "Jefferson here scolds Plato for inventing an unintelligible mystical idea that had since been made into a god by the so-called Christians, who found that their crazy made-up stuff was well supported by Plato's."
Jefferson also believed in the pursuit of happiness, which in many instances is the same basis that the Epicureans live. He was also such a doubter that he concluded belief was insane.
John Adams was a Unitarian. He believed there is a God, but there is no dogma. He also signed the Treaty of Tripoli which states that the American government was not founded upon Christian religion and that America is not a Christian nation (If you believe in gay marriage like I do, keep this in mind for every close-minded, Santorum-loving asshole who says gays can't get married in this country...they obviously don't know their history.)
Questions:
When did Jefferson and Adams die? Ironically, the same year on the Fourth of July.
Thomas Paine talks about how no religion has pin-pointed the one true way. What's your take on that? Is he right?
Thomas Paine is so right. No religion is correct and if you don't believe how they do, you are going to hell. It's such bullshit. I am non-denominational but I only put myself into that religion because even though I am a Christian, my way of worship is so unorganized and I don't go to church. To me, I can make church wherever I am. School, work, home, even driving down the road singing Christian music is worship. Worship is church. I should not have to go to church to prove I am a good Christian. I grew up with several what I like to call hypo-christians. These people were the epitome of wild and crazy. Party all night, sleep all day, do every drug and every girl or guy and just cause a lot of problems and mischief. But come Sunday, they were in the front row of church, never late and acted like little angels until night fall. Made no sense at all.
ReplyDeleteAlso the fact that I was ridiculed throughout high school for being Catholic made me realize that no religion has pin-pointed it. I mean, are you really going to pick on me just because I don't go to your church? It's the same God right? STFU.
I think I agree with the general direction Paine's thinking was in. I don't necessarily believe in no religion all together, but I do agree that no religion should be imposed. If it is imposed and forced upon you, what is the point in believing in it? The point of life is to question, to discover on your own. I think that religion prevents a lot of people from doing this, i.e. exploring the meaning of life outside the box they have been raised in. All it takes is a little awareness, though, and a little passion to learn more. I definitely believe that Paine had the idea, and his direction of thinking could be the answer to many problems in today's society like hypocritical ridicule that Eryn mentioned above.
ReplyDelete(American Enlightenment):
What inevitably was inspired by the wide spread event/ time of American Enlightenment? The American Revolution.... Declaration of Independence....
Do you think our government still upholds the key ideas that arose from the American Enlightenment ? (such as conservatism, liberalism, and republicanism?) Do you think the key "thinkers" in the American Enlightenment would be proud/satisfied with where their movement has gotten us today?
I definitely agree with everything eryn said. Nobody has God figured out. No one knows what the truth is and that's really where I think religion goes wrong. They act like they're belief system is the right one. We would all be able to get along so much better if we would just establish that we don't know and that there is just as much chance of there not being God as there is of one
ReplyDelete1. what belief system did Jefferson and Franklin believe? (deism)
2. Can there be more than one right belief? Why or not