Why Religious Freedom is One of the Cornerstones of Our Society

Freedom of religion is protected by the United States Constitution. Yet religious affiliation remains a means of discrimination and even persecution for many Americans today. The three most prominent religions in today's society are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. However, there are many other faiths that exist and thrive in this country and they are all protected by the Constitution as well. Since the freedom to worship as each individual chooses is defined by the Constitution as an inalienable right, why does the Christian population believe that they are the only ones who really have this right and the opportunity to exercise it? There are claims made by some Christians that the founders of our country intended that Christianity be the norm for Americans, the only one true faith, for our newly created society. I disagree, and so do many others. In order to effectively present my position, I must give a historical background about the founders themselves, their social statuses, and what social influences helped them to act on their intentions when creating the documents that define our government to this day. These documents are used by the Christian population to prove their ideals; I will use those same documents and some other historical facts and figure to disprove the same ideals they proclaim so vehemently.

To discover the origins from which the American Government was created, designed, and implemented, there are 2 statements that must be proven as absolute fact:

1.
The documents, symbols, and mottoes of the founding government do not contain any direct reference to Christian, Jewish or Islamic faith, since these are the dominant religions both then and now.
2.
The documents, symbols, and mottoes of the founding government describe or represent Pagan deities and concepts.
Today's society, where science and technology has developed socially to the point of near isolation from each other and we communicate more by the internet and other technological advances rather than communing with one another in a social environment, is dissolving into chaos. We no longer have the morals, values or ideals that once made us uniquely different from all the other countries of the world. The Christians are using this situation to advance their agenda, and citing the founding government's words and actions as their right to do so. Our government, especially the judicial system, has never punished or restricted the rights of the many over the actions of the few. Proclaiming that our country was founded on Christian beliefs and principles is a distortion of historical facts.

Here are some historical facts that are used to justify the Christian perspective on the socio-religious foundation of this country.
1.
The original colonists came to this land to escape RELIGIOUS persecution in Great Britain and Europe. Their intent was to establish a community of free worship, mainly Christianity of Puritan faith. The original colonists
were Puritans, only Puritans were on the Mayflower. They wanted to be free to worship without retaliation from the government.
2.
The original colonists named the Indians "Savages" because they did not share their religious beliefs, and therefore were "Heathens" and uncivilized. Once the Puritans realized that the Indians were resistant to resocialization and that methods of total institutionalization were ineffective, they began to deprive them of land, food, and opportunities to live within or near the colony.
3.
The colony of Massachusetts, within 2 decades of its creation, began to ostracize those of their own people, like Roger Williams who founded the colony of Providence R.I., who did not conform to the norms of the community. These individuals, depending on their social status, were forced to relocate themselves to other colonies like Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania where they quickly became a haven for those who feared the Puritans even more than the King.
4.
The colony of Massachusetts and the government of the Puritans, passed laws dictating what were acceptable religious practices and worship in accordance with Puritan beliefs. Once those laws were in place, the punishment for deviating from them was considered Heresy and punishable by death.

5.
The Salem Witch Trials, or Burning Times as they are known in Pagan faiths, were the result of mass hysteria generated by the Puritans to restrain rebellious ideas and gossip among the people who had no power or authority within the colony. Puritan doctrine was based on the King James Bible in it's literal text, and the phrase "Though shall not suffer a Witch to Live" , was used to incite the uneducated to persecute those who were not even actual Witches, yet 20 people were killed in the name of the Christian God because they had been accused of being witches by the Puritans. There is no evidence to date that any of these people were witches either in faith or practice.
6.
In 1700, after a series of horrific acts by the Puritans to control the colonists through religion, the Roman Catholics were ordered to leave the colony or face imprisonment, possibly execution. Roman Catholics had faced persecution in Great Britain since the time of Queen Elizabeth I, she being of the Protestant Church of England created by her father, King Henry. Massachusetts and New York colonies both ratified these laws.
7.
Early in the 18th Century, the Anglican Church, also known as the Church of England, was established as the official church of the colonies of Massachusetts, New York, Maryland and South Carolina to name a few.

All of the events listed above took place prior to the idea of revolution. The actions of the revolutionaries, those peoples seeking independence from England, had little to do with religion and more to do with secular concerns and the need to change the social stratification of the colonists. The founding fathers and many others realized that the English were treating them as little more than slaves, taking their entire livelihood in taxes and not granting them the opportunity to own property or increase their social position within the colony or the homeland. These actions are primarily what led the colonists to rebellion. The founders created a document that declared to the world they would no longer allow the monarchy or any religious group to impede their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Though this document was unlawful at the time of its drafting, it remains one of our most treasured documents and a symbol of freedom for all Americans. It was written by a Pagan Deist, Thomas Jefferson, who was a member of the Freemasons Society.

While the Declaration of Independence does mention God, it does NOT specifically refer to the Christian God. Here is an excerpt verbatim:

"When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." (Jefferson, T., 1776)

Regardless of whether or not a person believes Nature's God to be supernatural or natural, the identification of a Natural Deity clearly contradicts the Biblical descriptions of God and his absolute authority over mankind. The Bible, Old Testament and New, both declare God to be not of this world, and the New Testament declares that Jesus was not of this world, though he was born of man, he was not the son of man; he was the son of God. In order to ensure that this theology, and any religion that prescribes to this theology, not corrupt the ideals the founders were willing to fight and die for, the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution both guarantee the natural rights of all people, regardless of faith. It is of interest to note that the American Revolution was won in large part due to the lessons learned fighting the Indians, a new kind of warfare learned from Pagans. These actions so confused the British, whose military leaders were not freethinkers and simply fought as they had fought every other war, by rote and in a "civilized" fashion, they lost.

While considering how to construct a new government, the founding fathers began with Enlightened thought, which is the practice of a Deist. A deist is a person with a firm belief in God without the restraints of organized religions like Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. They succeeded. They created a great Republic, a "more perfect union", ( ) with all the best of other republics like Rome, Greece and Anglo-Saxon societies, and none of the pitfalls that led to the destruction of those civilizations. All of these societies were polytheistic in faith and theology, so they

were pagan in their practices. The Founders did not create a democracy, though our government is democratic in structure and practices. The United States of America has the first Secular Government in the world, thanks to the enlightened thought of our founding fathers. The United States is the only country in the world that guarantees all freedoms given to man by birth alone, not by faith, color, gender or social status.

Now that I have presented a historical foundation for Enlightenment and Pagan influences in the construction of our government, here are some examples of Pagan influences that exist in our government. Please keep in mind that there is a difference between practical influences and spirituality or faith.
1.
The Statue of Freedom that sits atop of the dome on the United States capital Building. Twelve stars surround the headdress of the Statue of Freedom which represents the Zodiac, an ancient Pagan astrological concept.
2.
At the entrance to the Capital Building, there is a Statue of the Roman God Mars, the God of War and Agriculture.
3.
All depictions of Lady Justice are likenesses of the Roman Goddess Justitia, and the Greek Goddess Themis. She is the Goddess of Justice and representing the fair and equal distribution of the law, without corruption, avarice, prejudice, or favor in Roman terms. Justitia is the Goddess of Divine Justice. The Greeks named her Themis, the Goddess of communal affairs of humans, particularly assemblies. She has another name as well, Ma'at, the Egyptian Goddess who assisted the God Osiris in the judgment of the dead by weighing their hearts.

4.
United States currency has always had Pagan symbols or Gods imprinted on them, the first coins minted were imprinted with the words, "mind your business," (Franklin, B. quote). The other side of these coins had a sundial similar to the Egyptian style of sundials. When an image of Deity was added to the design, it was no other than Lady Liberty, otherwise known as the Roman Goddess Libertas.
While I could produce pages of examples such as these, that is not the purpose of this paper. The purpose of this paper is to share the knowledge that our social structure was designed by men with a far more enlightened vision than is presented by the modern day "Religious right." Since our origins are not in fact Christian, it is unwise of the Christian community to continue to distort data and facts to support their position that their God is the one and only God, the Jewish and Moslem communities behave in a similar manner, though out of the three, the Jewish community prefers to isolate and insulate themselves from the general population rather than discriminate, persecute, and take offensive actions against those who make other choices.
Freedom is key to our society, all freedom for all people, not just a select social group. To deny or impede these freedoms from the few, the persecutors will cause the destruction of our entire society. Hopefully, we will relearn the lessons of the founders before that happens.

Works Cited or Referenced
Pagan, J., The United States: A Country founded on Paganism, 2005,
http://www.nobeliefs.com/pagan.htm
http://www.gospelhall.org/bible/bible.php?passage=Exodus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiccan
Doob, C., Sociology, an Introduction 6th Ed., 2000, Harcourt Brace Co.
Jefferson, T., The Declaration of Independence; July 4th, 1776
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry