[Vision2020] Historic Precedence

[DonaldH675 at aol.com]

Visionaries:

Dale C. argues:

"...there was no sense that preaching about political matters from the pulpit 
was a violation of church and state. Second, they had the belief that "all 
human activities fall under the jurisdiction of God's Word". The pietists would 
have us believe that only what happens between our two ears is what should be 
influencing us from the pulpit. Finally, the most politically and socially 
important members of the community processed to church and listened carefully to 
what the preacher said.  Now, lest someone accuse me of trying to have all of 
Moscow's City Counsel march to a local congregation, that's not my point at 
all. My point is -- there's a historical precedent in American history for 
churches to have election day sermons; and to have political input and influence.  
Anything less is historical revisionism -- which our Intolerants are oh-so 
good at." http://right-mind.us/

 I (dimly) recall that a logical construction which relies on intellectual 
precedence may be a fallacy of authority (help me out here, Wayne) i.e. because 
someone thought or did something a certain way in the past does not 
necessarily justify presence actions or thoughts. It is hardly necessary to point out 
that during the same time period that Dale refers to, other activities in 
America were taking place that would probably not be invoked to justify continued 
application: slavery, debtor's prison, witch trials, genocide of Native 
Americans. All these unhappy activities, and frankly, in my opinion, sinful behaviors, 
were endorsed from the pulpit by the same folks who gave election day 
sermons.  

No trained historian would deny that these sermons (and other behaviors I 
listed) occurred.  So where does the revisionism come in?  

Sorry, Dale.  Poor argument, false conclusions, and gratuitous insults.

Rose

"One cannot level one's moral lance at every evil in the universe. There are 
just too many of them. But you can do something, and the difference between 
doing something and doing nothing is everything." Daniel Berrigan
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