Monday, March 17, 2014

Republicans do believe it but most Americans know God did not Create America: part 7


The lie:  Most Americans Believe God Created America, Claims Mike Huckabee (Video): 

Our continued explanation of the truth about what and why Americans believe how America was made and by who:

The Churches had only themselves to blame for this defiance. Since for centuries they had burdened the faithful with an overwhelming amount of doctrine. Voltaire did argue however, that faith in one God was more natural and rational to humanity. Voltaire’s problem of course, was not God but the doctrines about him which offended the standard of reason.

German Philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn, (1729-1786), who opened the way for Jews to enter Modern Europe had this to say. The universal Religion of reason should lead to a respect for other ways of approaching God.

 Of course, it would be including Judaism, which the churches of Europe had persecuted for centuries.

Jews were less influenced by Mendelssohn than they were by another German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, (1724-1804). Kant has described the Enlightenment as man's exodus from his self imposed reliance on external authority.

He felt the only way to God led through the independent realm of moral conscience. He called this practical reason. He dismissed many of the trappings of Religion such as the dogmatic authority of the churches. He dismissed prayer and ritual.

These things all prevented people from relying on their own powers.It encouraged them to depend upon church doctrine. He was not opposed to the idea of God. However, he argued that the traditional arguments for the existence of God were useless.

This was primarily because our minds could only understand things that exist in space or time. He believed that man’s mind was not competent to consider realities that are beyond this category.

He allowed that man had a natural tendency to go beyond these limits. He believed we would seek a principle of unity. He felt that would give us a vision of reality as a believable whole.

 This was the idea of God. It was not possible to prove the existence of God logically. It wasn’t possible to disprove it either. The idea of God was essential to us.

 It represented the ideal limit that allowed us to achieve a comprehensive idea of the world. Therefore for Kant,God was merely a convenience.


James M Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com 

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