Your Jitterbug July 4th thought for the day, fitting for any day is:
Always be yourself–be your independence–and don’t let anyone–any group, any political party, any media take your mind.
But as for this day, be thankful a million times over if you’re an American.
And have a happy and safe and blessed 4th, America–I love you and miss you!
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I would like to wish you a Happy 4th of July as well, my friend. It seems that the older I get, the more meaningful this day becomes for me. It is a day when I enjoy reading the writings of the Father of our Constitution, James Madison and his good friend Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. Madison took that very statute and used it as a guide for the First Amendment to our Constitution and more importantly, the “Separation Clause” of that Amendment. Of course, this was in the days when the “Separation Clause” was a friend of religion and religious freedom instead of an enemy as interpreted by David Barton of Wallbuilders, to suit his own confused point of view. He has re-written history to make the 1st Amendment an enemy and who is he anyway? What are his credentials? Is he a self-appointed historian? Is he a self-appointed Religious Scholar? All of those things asked are Mr. Barton, in my opinion. He is certainly not a personal hero of mine like Jefferson and Madison, who with warts and all, had such incredible foresight.
Barton is a piece of work and leave it to Fox News to invest him with credibility that no other historian in the world gives him. Apparently he never heard of Roger Williams, the founder of the Baptist Church in American, whose passionate fight for “separation of church and state” influenced and inspired Jefferson and Madison.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_(theologian)
You are so right. Heading over to read about Roger Williams. I know some of his history but was not aware of his influence on my heroes. Thanks for the link.
Double thanks. That link is very compelling and quite a story indeed. It also provided me with a laugh at the term “Particular Baptists.” My maternal grandmother was Baptist and when asked a question like “what would you like to eat?” her reply was often “oh, I’m not particular!” You would have had to know her to see the humor because at a very young age, she ran off and married a traveling musician and she became a “flapper-type chorus girl” on the Miss. River paddle-wheel boats. She was quite a lady indeed.
Roger Williams was a fascinating individual. That a man who lived in 17th century America would be an advocate for fair dealing with Indians is astounding in and of itself. And, of course, he was so much more.
Amen, Boll. It’s always seemed a bit of a travesty to me that his place and importance in American history gets scant notice. And bizarre that so many Baptists (usually the Southern denomination since there are moderate and quite liberal Baptist denominations) even today feel threatened by what he stood for and fought for. He was a brave American individualist and courageous Christian if ever there was one.
If ever an early American represented the individuality and tolerance that America is said to stand for, Williams was it. He wasn’t perfect – no one is, of course – but he was a man of principle and one that we could all stand to learn a bit more from and about.