Quote Originally Posted by Breukelen advocaat
I do not equate religious thinking with intellect. I did not use terms, in reference to the Founding Fathers, such as "divinely intelligent", nor did my statement reflect a "quasi-religious elevation". In fact, the Founding Fathers were themselves very secular in their approach to the type of government that they created. All I did was state my opinion that they were possibly the greatest "group" of men assembled in history - and the word "greatest" certainly does not, at least in my interpretation, have the slightest ring of religion, or religiosity, to it.

Just because they were educated, and intelligent, enough to be influenced by ideas and works from the great masters of philosophy, science, art, politics, and other subjects does not diminish their contribution -it enhanced and improved it.
well....to claim that the founding fathers were the greatest grouping of minds in the history of mankind is certainly putting them on a pretty high pedestal.....when i refer to their status as quasi-religious i am refering to the myth that has been built up around them to serve the needs of US patriotism...its not enough for the US to have been founded by some really smart men, no! they have to be the smartest men ever to have walked the planet, and so by this inference the US is the greatest accomplishment of mankind....Their status is indeed quasi-religious because like catholic saints before them they have been elevated from the realm of the ordinary to the extraordinary in order to perpetuate a myth....and like Catholic saints to the church, to criticise or denigrate them is to blaspheme against the American dream, the American way - even America itself.....
there's plenty of religious symbolism in the US deference to the founding fathers....indeed you could draw parallels with the christian concept of god and the depiction of the group....
both exceptionally wise.....
both exceptionally good....
starting again with a new slate after all the failures of the old world to create a new beginning for mankind....


i'll be happy if you just admit that the founding fathers whilst undoubtly clever men, were not in fact the cleverest group of men ever to walk this planet....its really not too much to ask :thumbsup: