Judeo Christian Nation

			Do you want to know?
		

			Everybody watch the show shows without him to the last lawmaking piece be on two very, very exciting
show today, a very, very important topic was America founded as a Christian nation, some people
might have you believe that it was, in actuality it wasn't. And we're gonna be talking to a
Christian scholar from the Harvard Divinity School. Dr. Gerald Dirks, when we come back here on a D
show, don't go nowhere. He
		

			is His Messenger.
		

			One, Jesus was his messenger.
		

			Why did that maybe, maybe it's just to break the ice. Salaam Alaikum. Peace be with you, and peace
with you, brother. I greet you with the greetings of Jesus. Moses in the last and final messages of
the man kind of problem hung peace be upon him. And all of them, all of them? Yes. And they are
greeted with this this greeting piece. Yeah, it's in the Bible, isn't it? Oh, yes. Yeah. And in
fact, you know, we look at the Jews, they still say Shalom, Shalom, which is peace. Yeah. And we say
Salaam, which is peace, which derives it's in Islam. And so we're striving to have peace with our
greater peace with ourselves and peace with humanity. Correct. And that's why we're here doing this
		

			program, because Sharing is caring. Absolutely. And we're trying to share and there is a lot of
misinformation. So unless we sit with people of knowledge, such as yourself, we're not going to
learn. So the million dollar question now, was America actually founded as a Christian state? No,
it's not. But But before we get into that, let me go back to your introduction a little bit ago, I
took my master's degree in divinity from Harvard Divinity School, I'm not affiliated with Harvard
Divinity School. Yeah, at the current time.
		

			No, United States was not founded as a Christian nation. And we can demonstrate this in several
different ways. First of all, we can look at the religious beliefs of the majority common folk of
America at the time of this country's founding. Secondly, we can look at the religious beliefs of
the founding fathers of America. Thirdly, we can look at the official documents of the various
states and of the United States in particular. But let's start with the religious beliefs of the
American public at large at the time this country was founded. Now, those people who would say
America was founded as a Christian nation would have you believe, you know that there was a great
		

			majority of Christians in this country at the beginning. In fact, if we look, during the colonial
period, the most optimistic estimates are that only 15%, that's one 515 percent of the majority
white population had membership in a Christian church, only only 15% 2%. during the colonial period,
we can break it down more specifically,
		

			in New England, about 15%, and membership at a Christian church, in the middle colonies that fell
down to around 7%. And then the south, that percentage was even lower. Now, bear in mind that we're
talking only about church membership of the majority white population, if we include in our
population figures, African American and African slaves, and American Indians at that time period,
those percentages would go down even further, because those are only for the white majority adult
population at that time.
		

			So what was the typical belief system? What was it? Yes, okay. Basically, it was a primitive
animism, it was a mixture of superstition and sort of primitive magical beliefs, in which people
practiced and believed in divination. VSC are stones and divining rods, fortune telling palmistry,
astrology, incantations, and spells a great deal of belief in terms of spirits who hid treasures of
various mountains and hills and guarded them and needed all sorts of magical incantations to locate
the treasure etc. So it was a primitive form of animism basically, and superstition that was common
among the majority population. Now among the intellectual
		

			leap, we run into something very different. Among the intellectual elite, we confront deism.
		

			Now, deism was a religious belief that grew out of the European enlightenment.
		

			They believe that there was an M personal Creator God, who basically established the rational
universe and then left it. Your hands off from that point. Yeah. So yeah, one God, but a god that
was totally impersonal and didn't interact with creation. Is that figured out on your own? Figure it
out on your own? This is illogical. This isn't make sense. Yeah. So there's an impersonal God, they
typically believe that there was life after death, and rewards and punishments would be distributed
according to one's deeds and works on Earth.
		

			Certainly, they denied the Trinity, they deny the divinity of Jesus. And usually they denied any any
revelation from God. And what point was this about in history what, again, this was very popular
movement among the intellectual elite from the time of the European enlightenment on into the early
19th century here in America. Okay, so you're at a you said 15%, in the rest are believing these
beliefs, either primitive animism, that'd be the majority of the common folk. And among the
intellectual elite, deism was flourishing.
		

			And we can see that particularly in terms of the founding fathers of America, because by and large,
they were representing the intellectual elite.
		

			You know, in our last presidential election, one of the candidates made a comment and said, You
know, I don't think I could have vote for anyone for president who wasn't a Christian. Yes. It's
interesting to note for whom this person would not have voted, tell us, because none, none of our
first seven presidents belong to a church upon becoming president of this country. None of them the
first seven, none of the first seven, and none of the first six were Orthodox Christian. So let's so
the first seven, what starting with George Washington, George Washington was a deist was a deist. He
was a deist. He wasn't a Christian. No, he denied the resurrection and divinity of Jesus, George
		

			Washington. George was president. Yes. And people can check this up and verify Oh, yeah. Now the
second one, I know that let's stick with Washington to show you how far it goes. Tell him now
Washington's wife did go to church, she she was a Christian. And Washington being a good husband
occasionally accompany his wife to church. But we have recorded in the history, that when they
started to do Holy Communion, or the Eucharist, as it's called, and Christian worship service,
Washington would get up from his Pew and walk out of the church. He walked out, walk out and wait
for his wife outside because he courted document. Yes, he refused to participate in it. Yeah. So
		

			that's George Washington. Let's look at our second president, john adams. Yes. john adams was an
early Unitarian. He denied the Trinity deny the divinity of Jesus. That's the same everything that
we as Muslims do. Yeah. Now, he unfortunately went further. And he denied that there was such a
thing as eternal damnation.
		

			He denied the concept of original sin. And he denied the concept of vicarious atonement for sin.
Yeah. So this is hardly an Orthodox Christian. He sounds more like in tune with what Islam is about.
Absolutely. Some
		

			eternal damnation. Yeah, with the exception. Absolutely. Absolutely. And in fact, Adams had some
rather negative comments to make about American Bible Societies. And let me read a quote to you
please tell it from from Adams.
		

			And I'm quoting word for word here. This is from a letter he wrote to Stephen school in May on May
30 18 22nd, president of the united second President of the United States, Bible Societies have been
invented by deeper politicians still, to divert mankind from the study in pursuit of their natural
rights.
		

			I wish societies were formed in India, China, and Turkey, to send us dropped us translations of
their sacred books.
		

			Here's a second precedent, a few types of states Wow. saying, you know, I wish those Muslims over
there in Turkey, when send us some free translations of the Quran, the second President of the
United States. Now someone's like, hold up, hold up this guy just making this stuff up. What do you
got to say about that? We could check it out. There's a book that I would recommend people get if
they question this. It's called Faith of our father's religion and the new nation, published by
Harper and row in 1987 s by s gostar. So the information is there. It's in the public domain.
		

			Okay, let's take a break there. And we're gonna be back with more here with Dr. Gerald Dirks, right
back. He is.
		

			Coming to the truth requires two things. It requires deep thinking that you've already done, but it
requires another step. And that's courage. If you have the truth, but you don't have courage, you
won't stand up for the truth. And that's as good as standing up for falsehood.
		

			I would say this thing that you just told me, it's not in the Scripture, and they would say a
marginal note added by a scribe. Yeah, okay. We know that. And I'd be thinking, if you know, this is
not the Bible. Why are you preaching it as if it's gospel truth?
		

			I am not afraid to say
		

			I am not afraid.
		

			I'm not afraid.
		

			I'm not afraid.
		

			I'm not afraid.
		

			I'm not afraid.
		

			millions of innocent men, women and children since the introduction of Christianity have been
burned, tortured, fined and imprisoned. Yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What
has been the effect of coercion to make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites,
Thomas Jefferson, founding father, during almost 15 centuries has the legal establishment of
Christianity been on trial? What has been its fruits more or less in all places, pride and
indulgence in the clergy, ignorance and civility in the laity? In both superstition, bigotry, and
persecution. James Madison, I have found Christian dogma unintelligible early in life I absented
		

			myself from Christian assemblies. lighthouses are more helpful than churches. Benjamin Franklin, the
government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion,
john adams. Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous the batteries, the cruel and
torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled,
it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than we call it the Word of God.
It is a history of wickedness that is served to corrupt and brutalized mankind. Back here on the
deen show, we love our brothers in humanity. And we care. That's why we share and we're reaching out
		

			to all of the people all around the globe. And one of the myths is that America was founded as a
Christian state. And that is a myth. Absolutely. So now, it's a total myth. Yeah. And we left off
with presidents of the United States, and you mentioned six or seven of them. Let's continue on, we
left off. We talked about George Washington and john adams, and we can turn to Thomas Jefferson. But
before we go to Thomas Jefferson, where you left off is interesting that the quote he was saying
that they should send us some
		

			word for word is he was saying, I wish societies were formed in India, China and Turkey, to send us
gratis translations of their sacred books. Well, Turkey, that's Muslims, that would be the Quran and
the Quran is the verbatim Word of God. Yes, you should read the Quran. take advice from the second
president, United States. Continue more, please. Okay. Well, let's turn to the third President
Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, at Jefferson, again, was a deist. He was not a Christian. In fact, he
had some really anti christian comments. The third president, the third President, for example, he
called the Trinity a, and I'm quoting here, Hocus Pocus, Phantasm of a god. This is the President of
		

			the United States and then went on to call the Trinity near Abracadabra.
		

			These are the words of Thomas Jefferson. He didn't say it. I didn't say no, no. Whatever said this
is what Jefferson said. And then he compared the believers in the Trinity to mentally ill patients
in Bedlam, Thomas Jefferson Thomas, former president of the United States, President of the United
States. Yeah. Okay. Continue on fourth president Anyone else? You know, Jefferson referred to the
book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible. And again, I'm quoting directly from Thomas
Jefferson. He is saying it was, quote, merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy or capable of
explanation. They in the incoherencies of our own nightly dreams, who has no meaning admits no
		

			explanation. Yeah. So Jefferson, not only was not a Christian, he was actually anti christian. Yeah,
as we can see from
		

			comments that and I want to stress this that he made
		

			that we as Muslims are not making. We're not thinking Thomas Jefferson, third President of the
United States may Yeah, in his own personal attacks against Christianity. So Jefferson a deist.
Yeah, Washington was a deist. Adams was an early Unitarian. James Madison, fourth president, once
again, a deist.
		

			Benjamin Franklin, one of our founding fathers, a deist. Thomas Paine, who wrote the common sense,
the pamphlet that probably, you know, provoked American Independence was a deist. fn Allen was a
deist. john quincy adams, our sixth President of the United States, who was a Unitarian,
		

			who refused. Most people are going to be shocked by this, refuse to take his oath of office on a
Bible insisting instead that he places here not a book of US law. Wow. So was there these are
amazing facts that many people don't know about. But they're all recorded. They're all out there.
		

			America was not founded as a Christian nation, period period. We can look at some early state and
then constitutions and declarations of rights, etc.
		

			Now there was there was great variation among the 13 original colonies and states in terms of their
specific state constitutions. But it's interesting to note that out of the original 13, there was
only one that established Christianity as a state religion, and that was South Carolina. And then
they were establishing only Protestant Christianity as a state religion.
		

			But on the flip side, many of the early state constitutions banned Christian ministers from holding
political office. So Delaware, its constitutions of 1776 and 1792, Georgia, in 1777, and again in
1789, and 1798, Kentucky in 1792, New York in 1777, North Carolina and 1776, South Carolina and
1778, even though they established Protestant Christianity, as the state religion, Tennessee in
1796, in Virginia in 1786, all banned Christian ministers from holding political office, not founded
on a Christian. So just to make a go on a tangent for a second, we as ones who have submitted to the
one God, the same way, Jesus, Moses and Abraham, the messages submitted to the one guy, that's all
		

			we're trying to do. We're not anti christ. No, no, no, no. And and again, you know, the the comments
that were made by Jefferson, made by Adams, those are those their comments. You know, I quoted them,
but they're not my comments. Yes. They're Jefferson's comments. They're Adams comment, because we
can't be Muslims unless we love Jesus Christ peace be upon him. Absolutely. Absolutely. And and as
Muslims, we do not attack other religions as well. You know, the Quran in the second chapter, has
this wonderful statement about freedom of religion. Yeah. Where it says, Let there be no compulsion
in religion, yes. Period.
		

			And it also says, doesn't God Almighty saying to bring forth your evidence if you're claiming the
truth. So if you say something, now we're saying, hold on, this is not true of you're saying that
America which we love, we live in it and respect to her law abiding citizens, and we share we care.
And now if you're saying that it was founded on a Christian nation, we're saying hold on is not the
case. And we're bringing forth the evidence to prove it. Sure. Yeah. And will you look at the
official documents of the United States of America as well?
		

			Yeah, read the Declaration of Independence. There's not one mention of Jesus Christ in the
Declaration of Independence anywhere. It doesn't sound like a Christian nation, read the
Constitution.
		

			There's no mention of Jesus Christ, or even of God, and the Constitution, and the Declaration of
Independence. When there is a reference to God, it's usually in the impersonal terms of the deists.
You know, nature's God, quote, unquote, their Creator, quote, unquote, supreme judge of the world,
quote, unquote, these were catchphrases of the deists. And these are the terms that we see appearing
in the Declaration of Independence.
		

			Continue on Tell us more, please, this is very, very enlightening and interesting. Well, in terms of
the Constitution, as I mentioned, there's no reference to God whatsoever, and the Constitution, but
how about our pledge allegiance? Well Pledge of Allegiance. Later, much later, much, much later.
We're not talking about the founding of the country, but we're talking about the Pledge of
Allegiance. The Constitution tells us
		

			In other words, the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, as well as laws that are passed by
Congress, and official treaties, which the United States has entered into. And with that in mind,
there's one treaty in particular, that we need to look at which one which is the 1797 Treaty of
Tripoli. Now, this treaty was drafted. When George Washington was still president.
		

			It was unanimously approved by the United States Senate. That was the last time the United States
Senate was unanimous about anything. But this treaty was unanimously approved by the United States
Senate, and was signed by President john adams, our second president. Now what makes this treaty so
special, in terms of our present discussion, is the 11th article. And, again, let me just read it
verbatim.
		

			Article 11, as the government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the
Christian religion, as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or
tranquillity of muscleman Muslims. And as said, states never entered into any way or act of
hostility against any Mohammedan nation. It is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from
religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two
countries. This was Tripoli, what today we would call Morocco. And the United States, the Treaty of
1797.
		

			Direct statement as the government of the United States of America is not in any sense, founded on
the Christian religion. Now, this was an official treaty of the United States. This was the law of
the land. Yeah, according to the Constitution, saying right here that it was no, it was not as a
Christian nation. Furthermore, drafted under Washington, unanimously approved by the United States
Senate, there wasn't one senator, who voted against this because of this article, not one, not one,
it was unanimous. So why don't people push this idea as an attempt to rewrite history? You know,
it's an attempt to rewrite history. people focus on things like the pilgrims coming to America, or
		

			Catholics coming to America and the middle colonies, etc, Quakers coming to Pennsylvania, etc. And
they say, Well, you know, this was established as a Christian nation. Yeah. But what they fail to
realize is that in almost all of these cases, these Christian groups that were coming to America,
were fleeing from religious persecution in Europe, and who was persecuting them in Europe? Who other
Christians, other Christians were persecuting? Sure. And so they were fleeing to the America. They
wanted to distance yet Muslims were persecuted. Oh, no, wasn't Muslims? Yeah. It was other
Christians were persecuted. Wow. And so even those who weren't Christians wanted to make sure that
		

			you were not setting up any kind of a theocracy in this country. Yeah, they wanted that great
division between church and state, but isn't unknown through history. This is another topic of
itself that Muslim Jews and Christians when Muslims ruled they were living in peace, as well, in
most places. Yeah. You know, and Muslim andaluza would be the shining example of that. That's
amazing. Where can people get ahold of you if they want to invite you to come and give a big lecture
on this topic or any other topics, they can contact me my website, which is Dirks online books,
that's all one word Dirks online books.com. And that's dirt. dir, KS. Thank you so much. May God
		

			Almighty the creator rewards you for being with us. Thank you so much.
		

			And we got to clear another misconception and another myth out there and all it took was for you to
tune into the deen show and continue tuning in to learn more about this beautiful way of life and
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800 662 as long and we hope to see you again next time here on the D show we started with please we
end with peace, peace be unto you Salaam like
		

			he created the universe.
		

			Along the heavens and the earth.
		

			He is the
		

			He's the owner. He
		

			He sent His messenger
		

			he's
		

			a great danger,
		

			worship
		

			there is nothing greater