Tag Archives: Abraham Lincoln

Mitt Romney Rewrites The Pledge Of Allegiance

One nation, under 47%, divisible. __________ This is what it looks like to be on the same team. __________ And this man also sought to preserve the Union.

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Atheists Out of the Closet: Speaking Truth to Hypocritical Religion at the Democratic Convention

I find this life affirming. At the Democratic Convention yesterday, secular people acted up and got off script, shouting no to making inane references to “God” (whatever that ultimately means) in politics. Naturally, the Republicans pounced and demagogued the moment. But what … Continue reading

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Was Abraham Lincoln Gay and Agnostic?

Prior to seeing the below Andrew Sullivan video at YouTube, I’d never heard the claim that Abraham Lincoln was gay. I think the evidence is strong that Lincoln was an agnostic, and I’d be delighted to learn that he was … Continue reading

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Mao Luther King?

I don’t like the look or feel of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C. For one, he looks fat, and he wasn’t particularly fat. And there’s something weirdly Maoist about it—a throwback to 20th century communist … Continue reading

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In the United States, has “that government of the people, by the people, and for the people” perished from the Earth?

When my four and seven year-old daughters reach the age where they can understand, what should I tell them is the kind of government that we live under? In the United States, has “that government of the people, by the … Continue reading

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Gnu Atheism, Movement Conservatism, and Civility

At Commentary’s website this week, Peter Wehner appeals to his fellow conservatives to find, in themselves, a greater habit of civility, and resist the temptation to always confront one’s opposition in a spirit of relentless ridicule, dismissiveness, and ad hominem. What struck me in … Continue reading

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The Apotheosis of Abraham Lincoln into the Arms of George Washington, Accompanied by Angels and Light Breaking Through Clouds

I love this. It was drawn by an anonymous artist in the 1860s and is now housed as part of the collection at the George Eastman House:

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On Gay Adoption, the GOP’s Karen Handel is an Irrationalist

GOP candidate for Georgia governor, Karen Handel, in a recent interview for local Georgia television, offers no reasons for opposing gay adoption. She just does: Q: So you think gay couples are less qualified to function as parents than straight couples? A: I … Continue reading

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A Little Reminder of Mitt Romney’s Willingness to Scapegoat Atheists and Agnostics for the Purposes of Uniting the Republican Party

Mitt Romney—in a speech to Republicans on December 6, 2007—tried to drive secular people like me to America’s margins as the invisible and dehumanized others. I bring this up now, in 2010, because Romney is the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination … Continue reading

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Are you a member of the faith community—or the doubting community?

Because every other year or so I teach the Bible as literature course at my college, I was asked to be on a panel discussing how to deal with religion in the classroom. The event was held last night and one … Continue reading

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Why Sherry Marquez, as a Christian, should treat Muslims in Lancaster, Ca. as her friends

Below is an excerpt from an 1842 speech made by Abraham Lincoln to the Washington Temperance Society. It’s why I think that Lancaster city councilwoman, Sherry Marquez, should make a real effort to befriend the Muslim members of her community, and … Continue reading

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Are you a person of doubt or a person of faith?

Of course, you might be someone in between: a person committed to certain beliefs in excess of the empirical who nevertheless carries them, not with the triumphalism of certainty, but with the cross of doubt. But I nevertheless think that these two categories—the person of doubt and … Continue reading

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Is America a Christian Nation Founded by Christians?

No. Key players in the founding of America—such as Jefferson, Paine, and Franklin—were not Christians. They were Deists and religious skeptics. And other icons of America’s cultural history—people like Abraham Lincoln and Emily Dickinson—were agnostics with a lot of emotional ambivalence toward … Continue reading

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Abraham Lincoln: Atheist and Darwinist?

Not quite, but Lincoln seems to have flirted with Deism, entertained evolution, and had a decidedly ambivalent, sometimes even hostile, relationship to conservative Christian religion. Lincoln biographer Richard Lawrence Miller, writing in Free Inquiry earlier this year, says the following: For an isolated … Continue reading

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Here was a Man

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A Reading of Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!”

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Image of Abraham Lincoln

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When Was Darwin Born?

Thursday, February 12, 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Darwin was born on February 12th, 1809, the same year that Lincoln and Edgar Allan Poe were born. 2009 also marks the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s … Continue reading

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2009 May Be the YEAR of Lincoln and Darwin

Both Lincoln and Darwin were born in 1809, so expect a lot of retrospective reflection on these two figures throughout 2009. In the United States, Edgar Allan Poe might also get some attention—as I believe that he too was born … Continue reading

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Life Affirming: Jefferson, Lincoln, Obama

By illustrator Patrick Moberg.

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