(August 20, 2011 at 8:07 pm)padraic Wrote:Quote: Atheistfreethinker Wrote: The men who wrote this infallible [sic] document were fighting against a totalitarian, despotic regime where the monarchy was, and still is, the head of the church.
Really, I didn't know that. I thought they rebelled against England,which in the eighteenth century was a constitutional monarch,hardly either totalitarian or despotic. Arrogant and unwise,certainly.
The American evolution was fomented by a bunch of well-off,slave owning white men who felt hard done-by over taxes. It was about money and power,not freedom.
Wars are never about moral principle, except perhaps for some of the poor dumb bastards who do the actual dying. Hard to tell,when most countries fill their ranks by conscription and bare faced lies in times of war.
The English monarch is the titular head of The Church Of England,just as she is the of head of state. However,she has no actual power,religious or political.
Yes I suppose that 18th century England had a Parliament, but it would be very naive to believe that King George didn't rule the country. The Parliament did whatever the king wanted just like the days of the Tudor dynasty.