Ten Tortured Words

Ten Tortured Words PDF Author: Stephen Mansfield
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 141857788X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
In the steamy summer of 1787, as America's founding fathers fashioned their Constitution, they told the most powerful institution in their new nation what it must not do: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Few Americans understand the miracle in world history these ten words represent. For the first time in human experience, the legislative power of a nation was forbidden from legislating the conscience of man. And for over one hundred and fifty years, religion flourished, institutions of faith multiplied, and revivals transformed whole communities. Th elected representatives of the people often called for days of prayer, recognizing that religion is essential to national character. So what happened? Why is it that today a cross-shaped memorial or a religious symbol in a city seal is considered a violation of the Constitution? Why are pastors threatened if they speak out about politics and children kept from even asking about religion in the public schools? Ten Tortured Words separates historical fact from fiction, illuminating the events and personalities that shaped the writing of the Establishment Clause. In his straightforward, award-winning style, cultural historian Stephen Mansfield interprets the societal shifts that have led to the current rift between religion and politics, and takes a surprising look at what lies ahead for freedom of religion in America.

The 10 Big Lies About America

The 10 Big Lies About America PDF Author: Michael Medved
Publisher: Forum Books
ISBN: 0307394077
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
"It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble," nineteenth-century humorist Josh Billings remarked. "It’s the things we know that just ain’t so." In this bold New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author and talk-radio host Michael Medved zeroes in on ten of the biggest fallacies that millions of Americans believe about our country–in spite of incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. The Big Lies exposed and dissected include: • America was founded on genocide against Native Americans. • The United States is uniquely guilty for the crime of slavery and built its wealth on stolen African labor. • Aggressive governmental programs offer the only remedy for economic downturns and poverty. • The Founders intended a secular, not Christian, nation. Each of the ten lies is a grotesque, propagandistic misrepresentation of the historical record. Medved’s witty, well-documented rebuttal supplies the ammunition necessary to fire back the next time somebody tries to recycle destructive distortions about our nation.

Words on Words

Words on Words PDF Author: David Crystal
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226122014
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 604

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Book Description
From Homer ("winged words") to Robert Burns ("Beware a tongue that's smoothly hung") to Rudyard Kipling ("Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind"), writers from all over the world have put pen to paper on the inexhaustible topic of language. Yet surprisingly, their writings on the subject have never been gathered in a single volume. In Words on Words, David and Hilary Crystal have collected nearly 5,000 quotations about language and all its intriguing aspects: speaking, reading, writing, translation, verbosity, usage, slang, and more. As the stock-in-trade of so many professions—orators, media personalities, writers, and countless others—language's appeal as a subject is extraordinarily relevant and wide-ranging. The quotations are grouped thematically under 65 different headings, from "The Nature of Language" through the "Language of Politics" to "Quoting and Misquoting." This arrangement enables the reader to explore a topic through a variety of lenses, ancient and modern, domestic and foreign, scientific and casual, ironic and playful. Three thorough indexes—to authors, sources, and key words—provide different entry points into the collection. A valuable resource for professional writers and scholars, Words on Words is for anyone who loves language and all things linguistic.

Post-Christian Nation

Post-Christian Nation PDF Author: Mark A. Stelter
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
We have been indoctrinated with the lie that belief in God is irrational. As a result, the United States is rapidly becoming a post-Christian nation. At the current rate, by 2040 most Americans will no longer identify as Christian. Mark Stelter relies on his professional experiences as a lawyer, theologian, and former college professor to carefully examine secular materialism and clearly demonstrate that it is the theistic worldview—not the atheistic worldview—that is most supported by the evidence. Stelter explores a variety of topics that include the triumph of secularism in American culture, the shift in worldviews, the separation of church and state, the academic assault on religion, moral truth versus moral relativism, the intolerance of tolerance, and much more. Post-Christian Nation is a well-documented examination of how Christianity—not atheism—prevails when tested by reason, logic, and science.

Where Has Oprah Taken Us?

Where Has Oprah Taken Us? PDF Author: Stephen Mansfield
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 1595554157
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
“Reveals the Oprah story no other dares to tell—and with a two-edged sword that rightly divides the truth from the lies.” —Star Parker, nationally syndicated columnist and media commentator New York Times bestselling author Stephen Mansfield traces the fascinating and influential life of Oprah Winfrey, profiling her quest for spiritual enlightenment—a well-publicized journey featuring a caravan of experts, mystics, and gurus—all claiming to have a prescription for inner peace and personal well-being. Mansfield shows how Oprah’s story fits into our larger cultural experience and reveals why her spiritual discoveries have resonated so loudly in today’s popular culture. In so doing, he sheds needed light on the dangers of a spiritual journey fueled solely by a desire for self-actualization. In the end, we find that the story of Oprah is, in fact, the story of us—of a generation searching desperately for something meaningful to believe in. “Stephen Mansfield offers us an unvarnished account of Winfrey’s life (and our own spiritual wandering) told graciously and irresistibly. You will be thrilled, disturbed, and astounded, but ultimately inspired and uplifted.” —Rabbi Daniel Lapin, American Alliance of Jews and Christians

Confidence and Character

Confidence and Character PDF Author: James A. Pingel II
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 163087759X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
His birthday was once celebrated as a national holiday and his portrait once adorned the walls of almost every classroom in the United States. He was a victorious Revolutionary War general, a crucial influence in the creation of the Constitution, and the first President of the United States. Today, unfortunately, many only know America's first hero and the "Father of His Country" as a slaveholder with wooden teeth or as the somber-looking man on the one-dollar bill. To many, he remains a distant, mysterious, and unapproachable figure from a day long gone. The truth about George Washington, however, is much different. He was America's most successful, venerated, and indispensable founding father. So who was this man? What made him such a singularly successful leader? What lessons can be learned from his life? Confidence and Character: The Religious Life of George Washington examines religion's impact on the private and public man. Too often ignored, underemphasized, suppressed, or distorted, Washington's religious faith fundamentally inspired and nurtured his worldview, vocational performance, and leadership. This is the Washington we need to get to know and learn from, even today.

Ten Tortured Words

Ten Tortured Words PDF Author: Stephen Mansfield
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 141857788X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
In the steamy summer of 1787, as America's founding fathers fashioned their Constitution, they told the most powerful institution in their new nation what it must not do: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Few Americans understand the miracle in world history these ten words represent. For the first time in human experience, the legislative power of a nation was forbidden from legislating the conscience of man. And for over one hundred and fifty years, religion flourished, institutions of faith multiplied, and revivals transformed whole communities. Th elected representatives of the people often called for days of prayer, recognizing that religion is essential to national character. So what happened? Why is it that today a cross-shaped memorial or a religious symbol in a city seal is considered a violation of the Constitution? Why are pastors threatened if they speak out about politics and children kept from even asking about religion in the public schools? Ten Tortured Words separates historical fact from fiction, illuminating the events and personalities that shaped the writing of the Establishment Clause. In his straightforward, award-winning style, cultural historian Stephen Mansfield interprets the societal shifts that have led to the current rift between religion and politics, and takes a surprising look at what lies ahead for freedom of religion in America.

Peace Within Our Grasp

Peace Within Our Grasp PDF Author: Crandall R. Kline, Jr.
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1469101521
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
This book is dedicated to the memory of these two good friends and all the others from the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) at the Texas Western College in El Paso, Texas who gave their lives that the rest of us in the 12th Armored Division might live. John Fuchs and John Haufle were in the 17th Armored Infantry, 12th Armored Division and they were killed in action in Alsace, France in the winter campaign of 1944-45. The rest of us in the 12th Armored Division have had 60 more years to live, getting married, raising families and building careers. It is fitting that we give some time to studying the causes of wars and speaking out to make the changes in the United Nations that are necessary to make it effective in bringing peace.

Tortured Soul

Tortured Soul PDF Author: Marley Brant
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493057138
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Those interested in the history of the infamous Younger Brothers of Missouri know eldest brother Cole’s story. Or at least they think they do. Cole told it enough times. Yet his autobiography, his dozens of interviews, and the stories he told to his friends and family members unfortunately tell a story quite different from researched history of the same times and events. John and Bob died young and never had the opportunity to tell their side of it all. And brother Jim remained silent. Until now. Tortured Soul: Jim Younger in His Own Words finally reveals Jim’s memories, thoughts, and opinions. Although Jim’s recollections are also mired in selective memories and a certain distortion brought about by the passage of time, a damaged psyche, and a need to protect himself and those he loved, the story Jim tells is based on his history and his desire to set Cole’s tall tales in their proper perspective.

Once a Week

Once a Week PDF Author: Eneas Sweetland Dallas
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : General
Languages : en
Pages : 580

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Book Description


The Religion of Democracy

The Religion of Democracy PDF Author: Amy Kittelstrom
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698192249
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
A history of religion’s role in the American liberal tradition through the eyes of seven transformative thinkers Today we associate liberal thought and politics with secularism. When we argue over whether the nation’s founders meant to keep religion out of politics, the godless side is said to be liberal. But the role of religion in American politics has always been far more nuanced and complex than today’s debates would suggest and closer to the heart of American intellectual life than is commonly understood. American democracy was intended by its creators to be more than just a political system, and in The Religion of Democracy, historian Amy Kittelstrom shows how religion and democracy have worked together as universal ideals in American culture—and as guides to moral action and the social practice of treating one another as equals who deserve to be free. The first people in the world to call themselves “liberals” were New England Christians in the early republic, for whom being liberal meant being receptive to a range of beliefs and values. The story begins in the mid-eighteenth century, when the first Boston liberals brought the Enlightenment into Reformation Christianity, tying equality and liberty to the human soul at the same moment these root concepts were being tied to democracy. The nineteenth century saw the development of a robust liberal intellectual culture in America, built on open-minded pursuit of truth and acceptance of human diversity. By the twentieth century, what had begun in Boston as a narrow, patrician democracy transformed into a religion of democracy in which the new liberals of modern America believed that where different viewpoints overlap, common truth is revealed. The core American principles of liberty and equality were never free from religion but full of religion. The Religion of Democracy re-creates the liberal conversation from the eighteenth century to the twentieth by tracing the lived connections among seven thinkers through whom they knew, what they read and wrote, where they went, and how they expressed their opinions—from John Adams to William James to Jane Addams; from Boston to Chicago to Berkeley. Sweeping and ambitious, The Religion of Democracy is a lively narrative of quintessentially American ideas as they were forged, debated, and remade across our history.