Washington, DC – The Romans. They persecuted the followers of Jesus because they didn’t like folks disagreeing with the established religions. The clerics who ran the temples of the various gods had a lot of clout. So, lions got fed. Later, during the jolly time of the Inquisition, the established religion persecuted folks who disagreed with the established religion because the clerics who ran those churches had a lot of clout.
The Protestant Revolution came, and all of Europe engaged in internecine conflicts for several centuries. During that time, lots of people were killed, but not by lions; at least, I never read that lions were involved. Columbus convinced the Spanish court to bankroll a boondoggle involving trying to sail to China by going west. Everyone knew China was east, but since the world had miraculously become round after being flat for so long, it was posited that by going west, one would likely eventually bump into China.
Those of you who have had some accurate history lessons know that, actually, there was a whole other rather large land mass to the west. Figuring they could make a killing by killing anyone who thought they had a right to continuing to live on that land mass and taking their stuff, naturally, folks built a bunch of ships and came forth to take whatever they wanted.
A little later, there being much angst regarding which group of clerics was the most right, various congregations hopped ships after getting one king or another to grant them the right to some piece of real estate, which the kings had simply decided was theirs. Lots of misery ensued. This being an entirely vacant place, except when it wasn’t, the nice European folks proceeded to take as much as they could. It is noteworthy that the possession of guns and gunpowder made the taking way easier, thus establishing that guns were good, and if one had none, then God didn’t care what happened to them. The old, outdated notion that one should do to others only those nice things you want others to do for you was apparently void if you chose not to consider that other guy human. This argument was also important in supporting the notion that some people who had different skin color were also not worthy of being treated as human, and so it was just fine to kidnap them, sell them, and work them until they died.
Our founding fathers got together and, after voiding their relationship with the King of England through copious use of guns and gunpowder, decided that white men who owned property were the ones who knew what was best for everyone else.
Recalling the past several millennia in Europe with all that nastiness regarding which version of Christianity was the best, they chose to put a little note in the document they were creating that said that there would be no established religion. One should note here that the original land grants were given to folks who had differing views as to which version was correct, so since the men in Philadelphia knew there would be no agreement on that score, they just punted and said there would be no decision then or in the future.
Fast forward to today. There remains today the same disagreement as to which clerics are the best and about who is going to hell or not. But, there is a growing movement to establish this as a Christian country. Apparently, according to this alternative history, the founding fathers didn’t really mean that there should be no state religion. They really meant that this would be a Christian country. Their version of belief being the best one should, of course, be established. It is useful to point out that there is far from being agreement even among Christians, so one wonders how to decide which tenets of the faith should be held true.
Forgetting the past dooms one to relive it, and the current contretemps look very much like the past ones. I don’t expect there will be lions, but you never know.
