Apparently the Fox folks and other right wingers are attacking Obama for saying that America is not a Christian nation. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth repeating. Here is Article 11 of the 1796 Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Tripoli, negotiated by Connecticut’s own, and too much neglected Joel Barlow:
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 tranquility 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 treaty passed with not a murmur about Article 11.
How far we have fallen.
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