[ithacaartist]

Popular history tends to be re-written on a regular basis. There was a big revisionist movement in the 20's. Apparently the stuff about Geo. Washington and the cherry tree is a total myth, making its first appearance in recorded/written history at about that time. This is not entirely unlike how German text books were edited, post-war, to help their society deal with the extensive, collective guilt, shame, and consternation concerning their preceding political paradigm and the policies that were carried out. Basically, an entire nation had been duped, or baited and switched by a juggernaut of their own creation, however "well-meaning" it was presumed to be at its inception. And we haven't stopped there.
Robert Green Ingersoll (the Great Agnostic) was a lawyer for the railroads at the turn of the last century, and a very popular speaker on the subject of agnosticism, the bible, and belief. He was the highest paid public speaker in a time before media we take for granted nowadays--film, radio, TV--up to $2.500 per appearance, which in those days was the price of a couple of houses. He neglected to underwrite further efforts in this realm after his death, leaving none of his massive fortune to the cause because he presumed religiosity had been pretty well stamped out. But he was wrong. Myths continue to be created, most significantly one that had resurgence as little as about 20 years ago, that the United States is a Christian nation. This notion is a total fabrication perpetrated and maintained by those who would benefit from it. Its roots lie in thinking that is more like mob rule than democracy. Safeguards in the Constitution, (on paper, anyway) help prevent a majority from trampling the rights of a minority simply because there are , obviously, more people in the former. We have an undeniable Christian (whatever that is, broken into thousands of splits and offshoots) majority. The founding fathers deemed no religious view any more valid than any of the others, and tried to ensure that the basis for legislation NOT have its origins in ANY of them. If this were not the case, there would be an opportunity for a majority with a particular view to hijack the entire country. Religion has no place in politics and overall societal policy; otherwise someone's freedom is curtailed, never fear.