Jesus Spams

I seem to be the victim in recent times of receiving emails with unsolicited religious links and forwards from a number of my correspondents. Most of these have as either an explicit or underlying message that the United States is a "Christian" nation and various maladies that we observe today are the direct result of some subset of the population either violating Christian principles or, gasp, supporting the separation of Church and State. For evidence, these emails point out references to God, the Ten Commandments, or other religious stuff posted in public places. Or they give a rundown of various founding fathers and their religious beliefs. (I really wonder where some of this info comes from though as, for example, Thomas Jefferson was a Deist. Also, check out Thomas Paine's book, "The Age of Reason". Other interesting counterpoints are discussed here.)

I found it interesting that this Tuesday, in the context of talking about US tsunami aid, Secretary of State Colin Powell said: "America is not an anti-Islamic, anti-Muslim nation. America is a diverse society. We respect all religions'." So, does this mean that the US government respects other belief systems only as long as they stay outside of our borders? Sounds too much like "separate but equal" to me. I suspect that is not what Mr. Powell meant to imply.

In my copy of the Constitution, there's a little something in there toward the end called "Amendment I" that states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Hmm... doesn't sound to me like we have an official religion. Sounds like I can believe what I wish without government interference. That's what I learned in school anyway.

I'm not even sure what these folks really mean by "Christian." Simply belief that someone named Jesus once existed? That one must accept Him as personal Lord and Savior? Or else what, exactly? Do Catholics count?

Numerous sources (CIA, adherents.com, etc.) document a relatively (and increasingly) diverse population. We are, and have always been, a melting pot after all. I'm not aware of any religious restrictions affecting immigration. So, you can believe anything you want if you already live in the US, and you can get in without regard to your religious beliefs, so what leads anyone to think that we are a "Christian" nation?

I try to be open-minded, but I have to admit that I am a bigot when it comes to bigots. There are so many different beliefs out there, and most think they are exclusively right. What are the odds that any one of them is actually right? As Dire Straits once said, "Two men say they're Jesus, one of them must be wrong."