Bobby Jindal's Big Night and the Future of Religious Conservatives in the GOP
By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
For those of you wondering whether the Christian right has a place anymore in the Republican Party of John McCain and Michael Steele, consider for a moment the Republican governors who are poised to be the next leaders in the national party.
There's Alaska's Sarah Palin, darling of the GOP's evangelical base. There's Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty, a proud evangelical conservative. And Mark Sanford, whom the Christian right tried to draft into the 2008 presidential primaries because the movement was so distraught over the Republican field.
And then there's Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, who will give the response to President Obama's prime-time address to Congress tomorrow night. Though he talks about it less than faith-based candidates like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Jindal, a conservative Roman Catholic, is a well-known cultural conservative and good friend of "pro family" groups like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council.
As Politico notes in its curtain raiser on Jindal's big night:
Jindal is a cultural as well as a fiscal conservative, and his traditional Catholic views—including an article he wrote in 1994 about an exorcism he witnessed—have drawn fire from some Democrats. But he also has a personal narrative that's drawn comparisons to that of Barack Hussein Obama.
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (he's called himself and been known as Bobby since he was a young boy), the son of Punjabi Indian immigrants, converted from Hinduism to Catholicism before graduating from Brown with degrees in biology and public policy and then earning a master's in political science from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes scholar.
Religious conservatism in the GOP ain't dead. Far from it. The real story is that it has been reborn in younger, more sophisticated, and less divisive politicians like Jindal.
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But let's continue...
Religious Affiliation of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence:
Religious Affiliation # of signers / % of signers
Episcopalian/Anglican 32/57.1%
Congregationalist 13/23.2%
Presbyterian 12/21.4%
Quaker 2/3.6%
Unitarian or Universalist 2/3.6%
Catholic 1/1.8%
TOTAL 56 100%
Wow! Pretty Chock full O' Christians!!
Break Down:
Signer, State Represented, Religion.
Charles Carroll Maryland Catholic
Samuel Huntington Connecticut Congregationalist
Roger Sherman Connecticut Congregationalist
William Williams Connecticut Congregationalist
Oliver Wolcott Connecticut Congregationalist
Lyman Hall Georgia Congregationalist
Samuel Adams Massachusetts Congregationalist
John Hancock Massachusetts Congregationalist
Josiah Bartlett New Hampshire Congregationalist
William Whipple New Hampshire Congregationalist
William Ellery Rhode Island Congregationalist
John Adams Massachusetts Congregationalist; Unitarian
Robert Treat Paine Massachusetts Congregationalist; Unitarian
George Walton Georgia Episcopalian
John Penn North Carolina Episcopalian
George Ross Pennsylvania Episcopalian
Thomas Heyward Jr. South Carolina Episcopalian
Thomas Lynch Jr. South Carolina Episcopalian
Arthur Middleton South Carolina Episcopalian
Edward Rutledge South Carolina Episcopalian
Francis Lightfoot Lee Virginia Episcopalian
Richard Henry Lee Virginia Episcopalian
George Read Delaware Episcopalian
Caesar Rodney Delaware Episcopalian
Samuel Chase Maryland Episcopalian
William Paca Maryland Episcopalian
Thomas Stone Maryland Episcopalian
Elbridge Gerry Massachusetts Episcopalian
Francis Hopkinson New Jersey Episcopalian
Francis Lewis New York Episcopalian
Lewis Morris New York Episcopalian
William Hooper North Carolina Episcopalian
Robert Morris Pennsylvania Episcopalian
John Morton Pennsylvania Episcopalian
Stephen Hopkins Rhode Island Episcopalian
Carter Braxton Virginia Episcopalian
Benjamin Harrison Virginia Episcopalian
Thomas Nelson Jr. Virginia Episcopalian
George Wythe Virginia Episcopalian
Thomas Jefferson Virginia Episcopalian (Deist)
Benjamin Franklin Pennsylvania Episcopalian (Deist)
Button Gwinnett Georgia Episcopalian; Congregationalist
James Wilson Pennsylvania Episcopalian; Presbyterian
Joseph Hewes North Carolina Quaker, Episcopalian
George Clymer Pennsylvania Quaker, Episcopalian
Thomas McKean Delaware Presbyterian
Matthew Thornton New Hampshire Presbyterian
Abraham Clark New Jersey Presbyterian
John Hart New Jersey Presbyterian
Richard Stockton New Jersey Presbyterian
John Witherspoon New Jersey Presbyterian
William Floyd New York Presbyterian
Philip Livingston New York Presbyterian
James Smith Pennsylvania Presbyterian
George Taylor Pennsylvania Presbyterian
Benjamin Rush Pennsylvania Presbyterian
Hmm, STILL overwhelmingly "traditional" Christian.
DOC
Jim...
Hate to do this to YOU, Bro.
Ennumerating the Founding Fathers:
The three major foundational documents of the United States of America are the Declaration of Independence (July 1776), the Articles of Confederation (drafted 1777, ratified 1781) and the Constitution of the United States of America (1789). There are a total of 143 signatures on these documents, representing 118 different signers. (Some signed more than one document.)
There were 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. There were 48 signers of the Articles of Confederation. All 55 delegates who participated in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 are regarded as Founding Fathers, in fact, they are often regarded as the Founding Fathers because it is this group that actually debated, drafted and signed the U.S. Constitution, which is the basis for the country's political and legal system. Only 39 delegates actually signed the document, however, meaning there were 16 non-signing delegates - individuals who were Constitutional Convention delegates but were not signers of the Constitution.
There were 95 Senators and Representatives in the First Federal Congress. If one combines the total number of signatures on the Declaration, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution with the non-signing Constitutional Convention delegates, and then adds to that sum the number of congressmen in the First Federal Congress, one obtains a total of 238 "slots" or "positions" in these groups which one can classify as "Founding Fathers" of the United States. Because 40 individuals had multiple roles (they signed multiple documents and/or also served in the First Federal Congress), there are 204 unique individuals in this group of "Founding Fathers." These are the people who did one or more of the following:
- signed the Declaration of Independence
- signed the Articles of Confederation
- attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787
- signed the Constitution of the United States of America
- served as Senators in the First Federal Congress (1789-1791)
- served as U.S. Representatives in the First Federal Congress
The religious affiliations of these individuals are summarized below. Obviously this is a very restrictive set of names, and does not include everyone who could be considered an "American Founding Father." But most of the major figures that people generally think of in this context are included using these criteria, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Hancock, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and more.
Religious Affiliation of U.S. Founding Fathers:
Episcopalian/Anglican 88 54.7%
Presbyterian 30 18.6%
Congregationalist 27 16.8%
Quaker 7 4.3%
Dutch/German Reformed 6 3.7%
Lutheran 5 3.1%
Catholic 3 1.9%
Huguenot 3 1.9%
Unitarian 3 1.9%
Methodist 2 1.2%
Calvinist 1 0.6%
TOTAL: 204
So, there you go. Quotes aside, the VAST majority were Christians.
DOC
Doc
Sorry to do this to you,amigo but outside of England, the US Constitution didnt have a lot of Western European authors. I do agree with you about the left legislating morality to fit the ideology, which is why I chose to say "government" and not one side or the other. I have yet to meet one Democrat or Republican that backs their party's views on everything 100%, for example, I own guns and will be damned if I give them up. My best friend is about as far to the right as it goes, so I have had this respectful debate before. I will leave you with a few quotes from the founding fathers to ponder.
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT., Jan. 1, 1802
"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it." - John Adams
"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies."
--Thomas Jefferson
To the United Baptist Churches in Virginia in May, 1789, Washington said that every man "ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience."
After Washington's death, Dr. Abercrombie, a friend of his, replied to a Dr. Wilson, who had interrogated him about Washington's religion replied, "Sir, Washington was a Deist."
Called the father of the Constitution, Madison had no conventional sense of Christianity. In 1785, Madison wrote in his Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments:
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."
May the God of your Choice Bless You,
Jim
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