I take a look at the controversy over this basic statement of belief for Christians and beg people to not give in to the hatemongers who twist it's meaning.
Good to see you are going down the rational debate line. Your discussion of the Christ is King non controversy is correct. With the rights coming from God stuff you are wrong. When Queen Isabella took over the throne of Castile she reasoned that she was given that role by God the creator of the Universe. Her job was to be a good Christian and to reign as a Christian. To that end she started a war with the Muslim province of Granada to take control of the area to spread and protect Christianity in that area. When she won she gave the Jewish and Muslim inhabitants of the are the choice of converting or leaving. She did not want them to leave but felt that it was her obligation as a Christian. After the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims she set up an Inquisition. The aim being to ensure that of those who converted none would be backsliders. Now let us fast forward to the foundation of America. Power did not come from God it came from the people. The aim the country was the pursuit of happiness not to do God's work. The Bill of rights banned cruel and unusual punishments. It also prevented tests for office. In Great Britain an Anglican country there were religious tests for office. You could not be a member of parliament if you were a Catholic or a Jew. The King was the head of the Anglican Church and he had to be an Anglican. America is a country in which religious people decided that rather than government enforcing a particular doctrine of Christianity it would do something different. People were free to practice their faith but they could not enforce their own faith on others as happened in Europe
Thanks for the comment. If my message was interpreted as saying, all rights come from God, that was not my intention. As the founding fathers said, CERTAIN unalienable rights, among those being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There are many examples throughout history of men (and women) using their faith to try to impose their will on others. However, if we say that these people give us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, then these people can also take away those rights. I also don’t believe that the aim of the country was to do God‘s work, I agree with you that the founding fathers wanted to keep separate their faith from the government. That’s one of the reasons that it bothers me when certain segments of our society try to conflate my faith with government. I think those in government would do well to remember that there are just certain things we don’t want to accept from them, those being infringement on our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
