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ARTICLES & COMMENTARY: The Rise of Protestant Alliances of Church and State: Martin Luther and the German Reformation The Rise of Protestant Alliances of Church and State: Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation The Constitution and the Commandments The Classical Temple Architecture of Washington, DC A History of Religious Tests: 312 to 1961 American Founders on Church-State Alliances The Bible and the Quran: A Scriptural Comparison Religious
Tradition and Interracial Marriages The Slaves of Jefferson and Washington and the 1782 Virginia Law of Manumission Gays & Social Conservatism as a Coercive Tool of the State The Changing Religious Identification of America Moral Hypocrisy in the Bible Belt Ring Species, Evolution and why Intelligent Design isn't science. Who am I : Why this project? : Contact me INFO & EYE OPENERS FROM OTHERS: Court Holdings on Church and State Historical Revisionism: On David Barton's Christian Nation Biblical Archeology Review Special: Captivity, Exodus, and Conquest The Biological Basis of Morality by Edward O. Wilson MEDUSA
HEADWEAR |
My name is James Veverka and I live in NH with my wife Susan, our pet Golden Retriever, Zoe, and 40 species of birds and mammals in the backyard. We live at the edge of a wooded section near a river so its quite an animated place. I was born in NYC in 1950 but I grew up beginning in 1954 in Hanover, NH, where Dartmouth College is situated. I make and sell winter headwear from Medusa Headwear and Susan sells for Combined Insurance. She was a teacher, a coach and an athletic director for 20 years before changing professions. Susan has a Masters in Science in Biology. I love science. After I started my business at craft shows I got lucky and sold to the largest wholesale catalogue to snowsports shops in the USA. This last year, Chinese imports wiped out most of my business so I decided to do a retail website. I have always been a readaholic. As the Renaissance's religious humanist Erasmus said, first you buy books and then if there is anything left, you eat. Science and history fascinate me to no end. Besides being a big fan of history and science, I love to swim, golf and ski. I have been a competitor in swimming, skiing and track and field. You will not see my golf game on any TV! My best nines are usually near 40. My worst, around 50. My knees went to hell because of skiing my brains and cartilage out, so in May of 2005 I had both knees replaced. I had a quick recovery and was golfing 16 days after surgery (yes, I rode a cart). I lived in North Conway, NH for 5 years in my teens and enjoyed my hikes and skiing in the White Mountains. As a local I spent several weekends every Spring doing extreme skiing in the Tuckerman Ravine area of Mt Washington. People die up there. My last trip over the headwall was in 2002. I also skydived in 2001, knowing that my knees were almost done and time was running short for that enterprise because landing is the hard part. I JUST HAD TO DO IT ONCE!(I did not have insurance at the time so I thought my wilder days were over) Susan joined me for the venture. I undertook this website project after years of reading the scientific and historical inaccuracies that are out there coming from internet newsgroups, blogs, religious activists, and the media in general. Liberals, too! I just couldn't believe the fables that were being passed off as history and science. Cable News is full of pseudo-experts, pandering pundits and misiniformation on these issues. It is clear that a great deal of people don't know what they are talking about. Neither do their handlers. I was amazed by the lack of basic scientific and historical knowledge. So I decided to make a project out of addressing the combination of misinformation and the revisionism. I also wanted to address the friendly masses, who have been lied to constantly. It is the way propaganda machines work; lying and lying until people think the lies are the facts. With families and busy careers, most people just don't have the time to dig around for the facts and I understand that. An example of this is the twisting of the truth, that American was founded on the Ten Commandments. Today's religious right propaganda that is that "America was founded on religious principles" instead of the truth which is that America was founded in religious tolerance. Religious principles are demanding and threatening. Religions are intolerant for the most part. But as usual, even when the facts say otherwise, the twisted version is repeated over and over until well meaning but naive people are repeating the mantra thinking it is fact. James Madison said something interesting about the newe order and certain Christians to his Letter to F.L. Schaeffer on Dec 3, 1821: "The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well-meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting usurpers, that without a legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity" When the US Senate and President John Adams ratified the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797, without any dissent in the Senate, Article 11 stated in no uncertain terms regarding our constitution and laws, that the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion. ![]() But what do the pundits of the religious right say? Just the opposite. It is historical revisionism of the most devious sort; a remaking of America in an image that the religious right has invented. Since the 1830s this faction has sought to reinvent the historical facts. I have been very careful regarding my sources. With so much bad history and bad science from the religious right, I feel that everything I write should have excellent sources that people can refer to. I try to use primary sources as much as possible. In The Rise of Church-State Alliances: Imperial Edicts & Church Councils 306-565 section, I have two lists of sources and references. First, the most notable primary sources and then a list of all of both primary and secondary sources I use. Since the internet makes it easy to contact experts in fields, I also run things by scholars on occasion if I need some clarifications. I hope you will enjoy my site and pass it on to those who enjoy these historical, political, legal and religious subjects. Feel free to E-MAIL me with your comments. |