GOP Whip Eric Cantor: U.S. Middle East Policy Should Reflect "Judeo-Christian Tradition"

Todd practices what he "preaches"--he is rewriting history to suit his own preferences. Unfortunately, for his view, the facts do not support his view.

The Bible was around for many centuries before the emergence of democratic freedom in the modern world. There were many influences on the development of the idea of a republican form of government as opposed to a theocracy or a monarchy. One of them was the British common law (based on the ancient laws of the pre-Christian British); another was the rediscovery of the Ciceronian natural law political philosophy (from the 1st century BCE); another was the protestant restiveness under repressive monarchs--like those described in the Bible; a lengthy string of continental and British political philosophers--such as Hooker, Grotius, Milton, Locke, Montesquieu, Hume, etc. made significant contributions to the formation of the political beliefs of our founding fathers.

For all of its sharp criticisms of the imperial power of Egypt and of Rome, the Bible nowhere advocates democratic freedom.

It is true that some of the colonists who immigrated to North America were primarily seeking religious freedom--for those who shared their own particular brand of Separatist Anglican faith, but for no one of any other religious persuasion.

Those "true Christians" in the Mass. Bay Colony were so "loving" they executed several persons who criticized their colonial theocracy or refused to fully cooperate with it. Roger Williams fled the colony in order to save his life over exactly that issue. He later wrote (1641) a powerful book "The Bloody Tenent of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience" against those loving Christian leaders in Mass. Bay Colony. Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which was the first colony to explicity practice, as a matter of law, religious toleration of Christians and Jews.

Most of the colonies were organized and conducted for purely economic reasons.

Religious freedom and toleration was very slow to come to the colonies. It did not even characterize all of the original states of the union after the Constitution was adapted.

Asinus Gravis of TX 3:42PM July 24, 2009