Colloquy

I’ve always liked him. How could I not? When I was in the Navy, one of the first things we learned about (and the most important I might add) during ‘Basic Training’ was damage control and fire fighting.
We were all shown a video of John McCain’s plane BLOWING UP with him still inside. Later I learned about his 5 years as a POW. He’s always been a ‘moderate’ – fiscally conservative and socially liberal.
My kind of guy.

What I don’t understand, is how he can possibly believe what he is saying here! Given his time and experience in the military and as a senator – you would think that he would understand what it means to protect and defend the Constitution of the US.

He’s either lying, and just pandering to the religious fundamentalists in this country – OR – he truly believes what he is saying, in which case, he has never done his homework.

Either way, it’s enough to make me vote for Obama this year.

From the Treaty Of Tripoli …

“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”

The preliminary treaty began with a signing on 4 November, 1796 (the end of George Washington’s last term as president). Joel Barlow, the American diplomat served as counsel to Algiers and held responsibility for the treaty negotiations. Barlow had once served under Washington as a chaplain in the revolutionary army. He became good friends with Paine, Jefferson, and read Enlightenment literature. Later he abandoned Christian orthodoxy for rationalism and became an advocate of secular government. Barlow, along with his associate, Captain Richard O’Brien, et al, translated and modified the Arabic version of the treaty into English. From this came the added Amendment 11. Barlow forwarded the treaty to U.S. legislators for approval in 1797. Timothy Pickering, the secretary of state, endorsed it and John Adams concurred (now during his presidency), sending the document on to the Senate. The Senate approved the treaty on June 7, 1797, and officially ratified by the Senate with John Adams signature on 10 June, 1797. All during this multi-review process, the wording of Article 11 never raised the slightest concern. The treaty even became public through its publication in The Philadelphia Gazette on 17 June 1797.

So here we have a clear admission by the United States that our government did not found itself upon Christianity. Unlike the Declaration of Independence, this treaty represented U.S. law as all treaties do according to the Constitution (see Article VI, Sect. 2) . Source