"Blue" wrote in message ...

"John Watson" wrote in message
news:nfKEc.7736$%_6.7019@attbi_s01...

"Bill Oliver" wrote in message
...
Why are Christians always so arrogant, cocky and just plain nasty to
people
who don't accept their fairy tale as fact?

We all seek confirmation of our supernatural beliefs (or lack of) from
others, it is just human nature. Some just lack the strength to coexist
with others who believe they are wrong. The problem gets exquisite when
one
raises his children to "believe" and either he or they changes their mind
about that belief.

The cockiness comes from the fact that this is a biblical country, no one
else is even allowed into federal power, so we are literally enveloped in
"confirmation."

I agree with most of your post but not that "this is a biblical country".

The founding fathers were for the most part Deists.

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of
the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting
"Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus
Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the
great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of
its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the
Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination.

-Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, in reference to the Virginia Act for
Religious Freedom

It is between fifty and sixty years since I read it [the Apocalypse], and I
then considered it merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor
capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to General Alexander Smyth, Jan. 17, 1825

James Madison:

What influence in fact have Christian ecclesiastical establishments had on
civil society? In many instances they have been upholding the thrones of
political tyranny. In no instance have they been seen as the guardians of
the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty
have found in the clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government,
instituted to secure and perpetuate liberty, does not need the clergy.
John