More Enlightenment. please!

Submitted by dennis middlebrooks (United States), Feb 17, 2008 at 11:40

Rebecca, Russia is an aberration. Its misuse of Enlightenment principles, as I indicated previously, cannot be detached from Russia's prior 1,000 history of ignorance, superstition and repression as an Orthodox Christian country. Every society that had an indigenous Communist revolution or movement (e.g., Russia, China, Cuba, Spain, Vietnam) lacked any prior Enlightenment or democratic foundation.

As an American, I recognize the fact that the Founding Fathers relied far more on the Enlightenment and the legacy of the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome than they did on the Bible or Christianity in general. Have you ever read what Jefferson, Paine. Madison and Franklin had to say about Christianity and the clergy? It was Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, said "Enshrine Reason on Her Throne". And it was Washington, the Father of Our Country, who refused to kneel or take communion and used strictly deist terms to refer to God (e.g., Supreme Architect, The Grand Designer, Divine Providence, etc).

Meanwhile, the nation we fought for eight long and bloody years, claimed (correctly) that its monarchical government under 'Divine right of Kings" was based on Christianity and the Bible. Have Enlightenment ideals been misused? Certainly. So has every other secular or religious movement. So what?

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".