martillo@mit-athena.ARPA (Joaquim Martillo) (08/08/84)
>I do not know if they considered Zoroastrianism, but at least some of >the founding fathers did have the INTENT to protect certain >non-Christian belief systems, particurally Judaism. To assert that the >founding fathers, as a group, wished to guard only Christian belief >systems is erroneous. > David Rubin > {allegra|astrovax|princeton}!fisher!david I am not sure David Rubin is correct here. While George Washington seems to have been well disposed toward Jews, I am not sure any of the writers of the constitution ever expressed an intention to protect Judaism. I believe several states did not give Jews voting rights until the early 19th century. Maryland sticks in my mind as the prime offender. Yaqim Martillo An Equal Opportunity Offender
smb@ulysses.UUCP (Steven Bellovin) (08/10/84)
Martillo is right about the mixed attitude towards freedom of religion among the framers of the Constitution. They were a mixed bag, with opinions all over the spectrum. Jefferson, for example, had said many nasty things about Christianity in his youth, and was an ardent defender of full religious freedom. Most of the other prominent Virginians were with him on that issue. But the New Englanders still had state-paid clerics, which Virginia had abolished quite some time before. And yes, some states did restrict the franchise well into the 19th century -- Maryland and Delaware come to mind, though I'm not certain about that.
david@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin) (08/10/84)
I did not say ALL the founding fathers were tolerant of Judaism. What
I said was that SOME (in fact many) were, thus putting to lie the
contention that the founding fathers as a group were concerned with
protecting Christian beliefs only.
David Rubin
{allegra|astrovax|princeton}!fisher!davidmartillo@mit-athena.UUCP (08/12/84)
Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83 based; site houxm.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mit-athena.ARPA Message-ID: <244@mit-athena.ARPA> Date: Sun, 12-Aug-84 01:04:59 EDT Date-Received: Sun, 12-Aug-84 13:44:15 EDT d public life: texas Organization: MIT, Project Athena, Cambridge, Ma. Lines: 7 My point was that while some of the founding fathers were sympathetic to Jews as individuals, there is no evidence that any of the founding fathers were interested in protecting Judaism as a belief system (unless you include Haim Solomon [sefardi 'abal ben `anusim] and in his case we are discussing self-interest). Yaqim Martillo