[fight_truth_decay]

Thought this might be of interest to some here; but what I found interesting is within this site of rare newspapers; one can read the reaction to important events in history-Revolutionary War, Civil War etc.

I thought a peruse of some of these newspapers (the above recently required) might hold some "feeling" of the time in which these historical events took place. Interesting papers for a parallel news read.

Old news, but still timely.

[fight_truth_decay]

http://www.rarenewspapers.com/ HOME INDEX LINK

[Mark Felton]

Don't ever let anyone tell you that jefferson was a deist, or atheist. He was a Christian Unitarian who prayed to God for divine intervention in daily life.

It should also be understood that Baptists led the charge for religious freedom and the Bill of Rights.

[Publius6961]

Why can't Free Republic, in the "unanimous" mode (per Jorge Louis Borges definition) acquire this old newspaper?

I'm in for $10.

We can make a fascimile for sale to enthusiasts and recover most of the investment.

[Whispering Smith]

Note that Jefferson did not contemplate "hate" crimes. Acts not opinions. I wonder if the ACLU will pursue that one very far?

[holdonnow]

Jefferson's letter is just that, a letter. He was not involved in the constitutional convention, and had nothing to do with the Bill of Rights -- being in France on both occasions. His letter was written 14 years after the Bill of Rights were adopted. And several of the states ratifying the Bill of Rights actually had official state religions. I am not obviously not arguing for a return to that, but the point is that if today's "separation of church and state" viewpoint existed back then, the Bill of Rights never would have been ratified by the states, including the states that had official religions. And a few days after writing this letter, Jefferson went to the House of Representatives for morning prayer, as he did frequently as president. But this is, nonetheless, a fascinating link.

[nosofar]

...that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions,...

Except 'hate crimes' of course. /sarc

[Jim W N]

Very timely, very relevant, and will probably be very misunderstood or misused. It's clear that the founding fathers includinbg Jefferson included Christianity and God in just about every political thing they did. The issue in their minds was never that church or relgion is a threat to the state but state was a clear threat to freedom of religious expression, hence the 1st Amendment. The liberals will always wrest the intended meaning of this.

[wizardoz]

hat the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions,

Unless, of course, you commit a "hate" crime.

[lepton]

bookmark bump

[Congressman Billybob]

You might be interested to know that the Madison Building of the Library of Congress has an extensive collection of colonial and revolutionary newspapers on microfilm. I've read about half that collection, and published excerpts from them in articles. Bottom line -- those newspapers were bold, brassy and opinionated. They were more like the tabloids today, than any other type of current newspapers.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: "Say It Isn't So, Dickie Boy"

[MosesKnows]

Thought this might be of interest to some here

You thought correctly and thank you for posting this. It contains not one bit of information that I did not already know. However, to see what I know validated by the original document gives me a very comforting feeling, and a few shivers. I once visited St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia where the Second Virginia Convention convened on 20 March 1775. I stood on the exact spot on the very same wooden floor timbers that Patrick Henry had stood on 23 March 1775 when he delivered that famous speech. That also gave me shivers.

[ChadGore]

So the MSM is taking statements from the MSM of 100 years ago and calling it constitutional ?

I can only hope that future Americans, 100 years hence, don't start quoting Dick Turbin or John McCain.

[rcocean]

Why can't understand that all Jefferson was against was an "Established church". He wanted to get away from the British system, i.e. the CHURCH OF ENGLAND, whereby one church got funding from the state and all others were against the law or discriminated against.

He was also against the idea that you had to be a member of the established church to vote or hold office.

Thats it. He wasn't against prayer in school, or reading the bible in school, or any of the other unchristian crap the ACLU and the SCOTUS have thought of in the last 50 years.

Massachusetts had an established church - which was given money by the state government - until 1845.

[little jeremiah]

later pingout for sure.