"America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"

Two hundred and thirteen years ago today, President John Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli, which included the following statement:

Article 11 reads:

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen,—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

According to Frank Lambert, Professor of History at Purdue University, the assurances in Article 11 were "intended to allay the fears of the Muslim state by insisting that religion would not govern how the treaty was interpreted and enforced. John Adams and the Senate made clear that the pact was between two sovereign states, not between two religious powers."[18] Article 11 has also been cited by 21st-century church/state separatists as one of several documents — including the Federalist Papers papers and the Declaration of Independence — that demonstrated, according to Author Brooke Allen, that the Founding Fathers "... were not religious men".

The Senate's ratification was only the third recorded unanimous vote of 339 votes taken. The treaty was printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and two New York papers, with no evidence of any public dissent.

Not that this historical fact will penetrate the black hole of denial that passes for the freakazoid brain any more than any other historical or scientific fact does, but raise a beer anyway: Happy Anniversary, Treaty of Tripoli.