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Comment by jimmy1 | Hacker News Reader

Might be tangibly related -- and honestly I have no dog in this fight -- but it seems that a certain sect of our political parties really are trying to eliminate or counter the narrative that America was founded on Judeo-Christian values must have complete blinders on when it comes to history of this country, and just flipping through some posters from the 50's and 60s made it very apparent that it was the prevailing value in this country. Say what you want for bigotry, the patriarchy, or whathaveyounot, but you cannot deny the impact, and the unifying value system this country used to all share which is yet another reason, among many, for the large divisions in our society today.

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I probably shouldn't bother, but-

America was founded by a bunch of Christians, and some of the country's construction surely was influenced by that.

However America was NOT founded as a Christian state.

Where the left & right butt heads over this is usually when, for example, pro-lifers say "God clearly forbids abortion and America is a Christian state so our laws must follow the Bible", and pro-choicers say "Uh, no, this is not a Christian state, the Bible does not set our laws".

And this is NOT what I am saying, I said it was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.

Then, I guess I have to ask you to be more specific about who is trying to erase that from history. I don't think many people dispute the faith of our founders.

It was founded on Enlightenment principles, some of which are deliberately conflated with Judeo-Christian principles, but are actually quite distinct.

This "fight" over what separation of Church and State means has been ongoing since before the very beginning. Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Statute_for_Religious...) was actually quite controversial, even long after it was (barely) adopted by the Virginia legislature.

The fight has never been about the political and religious history; it's been about the meaning and implication of that history. Does the fact that Christianity played such an important historical role in European and American political history mean that it should therefore be given special legal status? For example, is it therefore okay for the government to display the 10 Commandments but refuse to display Buddhists' 5 Precepts? Where do you draw the line between historical homage and preferential treatment? Can such a line even be drawn? The anecdotes and contours of the debate have changed over the centuries but not the fundamental conflicts and tensions.

I don't see that at all. I think everyone tacitly and explicitly acknowledges that the US was founded, primarily by Christians, on primarily Judeo-Christian values, while enshrining freedom of religion in the Constitution.

It's when you get a large number of people in public office explicitly fighting to bring their religion into the public space, to force prayer on schools, to question and be suspicious of anyone with different religions, that we get a problem.

The pushback you're seeing is the pushback against a majority trying to impose its faith on all Americans.

It's a huge stretch for you to take propaganda posters from the 50s and 60s, during the Red Scare against atheist communists, and project that upon the entire country's 200+ year history, and to assert that the POSITIVE IMPACT of that religion cannot be denied.

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