Treaty of Tripoli

  • el
  • pt
  • Good news!  This just in from our ambassador to the lands of the profit…

    Art. 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 Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan 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 entry was posted in Miscellaneous. Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.

    6 Comments

    1. Posted June 30, 2024 at 9:59 | Permalink

      I’m missing the context for this, Frank. Barbary States wars? The first sentence? It’s just all too much for a button-brain like me.

    2. Posted June 30, 2024 at 10:37 | Permalink

      What I like about article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli, signed by the Senate and reviewed by President John Adams, is that it clearly and concisely reiterates the relationship and position of the “founding fathers” as re. Christianity in the government of the USA… namely, there is no relationship, and the Christers have no position.

      “…the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…”

    3. Posted June 30, 2024 at 8:01 | Permalink

      He lived a life of wickedness and now he’s in Hell! What greater proof is needed that he was wrong about the founding of our country? If more is needed, what surer sign of God’s grace can there be but its endurance?

      Beware the fire, Mr. Paynter, and repent.

    4. Posted June 30, 2024 at 9:14 | Permalink

      I’ve been a party to this argument for years. The nominally faith-based authoritarian movement argues with the same bad faith as Lysenkoists, social darwinists and believers in corporate globalism. They also negate the faith of the free thinking congregations and their pop music is truly dreadful.

      If they got their way, and made religion state enforced de jure, they’d fall out with each other within a year of victory, the way the televangelists feud, and use the power of the state to attack each other. The founders were close in time to the religious wars that had wracked Europe for centuries. They were much savvier than patricians tend to be. They also knew the realities of the Star Chamber, which by mission creep could one day feature their appearances on the instruments of persuasion.

      Authoritarian movements negate meaning, whatever their ostensible ideology. What was said, what is fact and what has been proven to be for the good or for the ill has no meaning. The ideological language itself has no meaning. It’s a gloss, a code, a set of talking points that call for nothing more than moving towards greater control. If the authoritarian right didn’t have Christianity to work with, they’d find something else that could be enforced and protected by the power of the state, like social darwinism, with the final appeal in civil matters made to a numinous authority that wanted done whatever his most powerful spokesman said wanted doing. The religious angle here is a useful tax dodge.

      The organized bodies they set up for its propagation also exist to negate the religious experience. Hence their animosity to the free thinking congregations.

    5. Posted June 30, 2024 at 9:31 | Permalink

      Sure, fine, but what concerns me today is will the Archbishop pull a Henry II and have AKMA offed in Evanston by Lutheran fundies (led by Jubal Thrump) after mumbling “will no one rid me of this cursed priest?”

    6. Posted June 30, 2024 at 10:08 | Permalink

      He is a nuisance, isn’t he? That’s what happens when people want something besides brimstone, unchallengeable alibis and investment opportunities. I’m sure Thrump would point out the disadvantages of going off-message, or even contemplating going off-message, as he knotted his rope and assembled the faithful by the tree.