Essay: Is America a Christian Nation?

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Is America a Christian nation?

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

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#Constitution #Religion #Immigration
Or diverse nation of #immigrants? #Liberal #Tolerance

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

Is America a Christian nation?

Is America a Christian nation? What if one of our Presidents had been a Primitive Baptist from Tennessee? Should he have felt right about insisting that no citizen play musical instruments in church or hand out temperance society tracts?

Would Americans have approved of anyone who had insisted that we were, and should act like, a Primitive Baptist nation? A Baptist nation? A Protestant nation? A Christian nation?

Actually, in the greater scope and scale of history, this continent has only very, very recently changed from being a collection of native tribal civilizations. We are presently a diverse nation of immigrants.

The framers of our constitution were careful to draft a secular document that gives our government authority drawn exclusively from the people. It is structured to actively resist the overriding influence of any special-interest group without having to resort to another revolution.

Our elected President is expected to represent all Americans. He is responsible for managing a civil society that protects life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all of us. Modern civilizations like ours work best when

Essay: A new idea is like a new cat in the house

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A new idea is like a new cat in the house

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

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A new idea is like a new #cat in the house. People resist change agents

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

A new idea is like a new cat in the house

I found a relatively new poster at open.salon.com. She writes with thoughtful passion about ways that she has had to face and reason about controversial situations. It turns out that I was the first one to “favorite” her and we exchanged several messages. She was distressed by the strong anger that one her articles had provoked and was considering withdrawing from the site. I encouraged her to carry on:

“Dear Kat, People who write like you do are really annoying. This is actually a good thing. Don’t worry about it. Keep it up. Perfect your art. I got a bumper sticker for my wife’s car that said,

Essay: Communities and their essential limits on personal freedom

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Communities and their essential limits on personal freedom

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

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Communities are inherently intrusive, coercive, and very necessary

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

Communities and their essential limits
on personal freedom

“No man is an island.” Communities are the foundation of civilization. It is almost impossible to be entirely self-sufficient. We need each other for our variety of abilities, interests, and ideas. Our individual differences make us stronger as a group.

Farmers understand that monoculture crops require extra care because they are more vulnerable to disease and disaster. Colonies of single-cell bacteria do not need diversity in the same way because they just reproduce rapidly to consume whatever they find and then die back.

For people, it is easiest to create communities when everyone shares mostly the same values. But, the more we isolate ourselves from others who are different in some way, the more extreme, intolerant, and fragile, our group becomes.

In the natural environment, thousands of

Poem: The Strange Kid

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The Strange Kid

from the book: Life Will Get You in the End:
Short stories by David Satterlee

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Life Will Get You in the End:
Short Stories by David Satterlee

A story of bigotry and bullying told, disconcertingly, in a precise "Dr. Seuss" cadence. This was actually written several years before the 2012 mass-shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

The Strange Kid

This poem was written several years before the 2012 mass-shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin. It addresses the kind of bigotry and prejudice that springs from fear and hate. The ideal cure for such violence is for us to get to know our neighbors, find common ground, and become true friends.

Since we first all went back to school
There’s been a boy who’s new.
He’s different in a lot of ways.
He’s not like me and you.

He wears a white cloth ’round his head
Because he is a Sikh.
He doesn’t want to take it off
To let us have a peek.

His name is even funny too,
And very hard to say.
So Bobby likes to make new names
We call him by each day.

He will not eat a hamburger
Or any kind of meat.
His mother sends him rice stuff that
Smells spicy, strange, and sweet.

And, when we sing