TPaine
More About Me
My Tagline:
God gave us reason, not religion
My Interests:
God, Interfaith issues, Charity, Origin of life debates, History, TV, Music, Books, Current events, Politics, Sports, Family, Pets
My Favorite Books, Authors, Musicians, Movies, Preachers, TV shows, etc:
Age of Reason, Rights of Man, Reason the Only Oracle of Man, Philosophical Dictionary, Two Treatises of Government, My Life With God In And Out Of The Church, The Enlightenment Reader
Who Inspires Me:
Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Voltaire, John Locke, Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, Confucius, Lao-tzu
My organizations and affiliations:
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, World Union of Deists, Religious Tolerance.org, Amnesty International
My favorite spiritual activities:
Contemplating nature, the universe, and the gift of human reason
What is your current spiritual mood?:
Relaxed
What's your spiritual type?:
Confident Believer - I have found the right path and am fully committed to it.
About Me
To quote Thomas Paine, "I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy."
I hope I can use this community to help others realize that Deism is a valid belief system that provides an alternative to any of the other religions around today for those still searching for a system to believe in.
Because I believe there is positive value in all religions, and because I believe that each individual has the right and responsibility to find the belief system, or lack thereof, that they believe is is correct according to their conscience and reason, along with Thomas Jefferson, "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state." (Letter to the Danbury Baptists, 1802); and James Madison, ""Every new and successful example, therefore, of a perfect separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance; and I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together" (Letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822); I believe in and totally support the concept of separation of church and state.
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November 26, 2008 - 09:32 AM
Thank you!