washington (George), religion & reason



"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen, and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

- George Washington (1732-1799) Founding Father, 1st US President, 'Father of the Country' Source: ARTICLE 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli, 1796, 1806, signed in the last part of Washington's presidency.

--> True, times have changed, but it is important to realise that the 'founding fathers' (patriarchal & colonialist, but we continue) were attempting to establish a society not based in religion. Two hundred odd years later, and the US is, by all accounts, ruled by a fundamentalist theocracy. Yet, was there any difference between a society based in the 'religion' of 'rationalism' and the (white) 'individual' and the 'Christian Religion'? Perhaps the two are closer than we realise; and now we bear witness to the incest. Bush, bastard son of the two, between what was negated, repressed, and what has come to pass, the movement of the two locked, like the battle of Good and Evil, in its own dialectic.

posted. Wed - March 24, 2004 @ 07:42 PM           |

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