Question cocerning the native term for god(s) and imported Christianity

[phil cash cash]

Yes, I agree Bill, it is an important issue.  So, mm, I recall from my
undergraduate course on Puratinism that the American brand or version of
Protestantism developed in such a way as to reject the sovereignty of the
church but yet preserve religious conscience as a kind of naturalism, 
the moral
improvement of life, etc.  In otherwords, the church basically decentralized
itself in the Americas.  Deism also rejects the sovereignty of the church,
etc.  Thomas Jefferson and ol Ben Franklin, the "framers," understood this
critically to develop American "common law" in stark contrast to the Crown,
parliament ("taxation" being a central issue).  So, in short, this became the
American form of political liberalism or at least an oppositional religious
culture.
*hehe, sorry for the history lesson and a bad one at that,* but in all, deism
grew from this oppositional character to become the religious theme behind the
Constitution.  I do not pretend to know the contemporary interpretation of
deism as you have described, only the historical framework. 
Given this historical religious character, the interpretation of "ownership"
and land was perhaps the one element that had the most devastating impact on
indigenous cultures becuase those who controlled land were somehow "chosen"
(that is, owning land allowed one to examine his or her soul) and from this
came nothing but warfare and destruction for all us natives. 
Certainly, these are broad sweeping intepretations and I do not claim to be
addressing Thomas Jefferson mindset, but it seems fairly clear historically. 
l8ter,
Phil
Quoting William J Poser :

> Phil,
>
> Okay, then I guess I didn't understand your post.
> The question of Jefferson's religious beliefs is one that I pick up on
> because in some circles false claims about Jefferson are used to advance
> the argument that the US is a "Christian nation" and to argue against
> separation of church and state and so forth. So in some contexts this
> is an important issue.
>
> Bill

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