RTP-area local music and culture

[Nathaniel Florin <npflorin AT yahoo.com>]

Ross wrote:

> I don't buy the claptrap being pitched by the Right
about
> this nation being founded on Judeo-Christian
principles, 
> because I don't think the  ancient Greeks were
particularly 
> Judeo-Christian and some of our most important
principles 
> are inherited from them. Many of the others were 
written 
> by Unitarian-Universalist types, and who the fuck
knows 
> exactly  *what* they believe?

I'm picking nits, but Unitarianism really got rolling
in New England in the 1790s, after the Constitution
was written. Many of the Framers were into Deism,
which was a predecessor of Unitarianism but not the
same thing. Moreover, it was not clear to many of the
Founders that they were banning state sponsorship of
religion. The Tax dollars went to Congregationalist
churches until 1815-1819 in most of New England, and
until 1833 in Massachusetts. Article 6 ("no religious
Test...") and the First Amendment were both extremely
controversial when proposed and ratified, and even the
Framers didn't agree what they meant. This isn't
unique; see Lincoln's speech on the Founders and
slavery and their disagreement over what they had
allowed and disallowed.

The Christian/non-Christian split in early America
isn't as clear as we'd like it to be.

As for 'Moneyball', its real lesson is that when
something advanced makes it into a book it's already
two years out of date.

Nate