American being based on Christianity is a Falacy.

[bigross86]

ZFBoxcar. Like I said, I really don't know too much about this stuff, and that's I seem to remember someone telling me thats what the difference was.

Yiddish is a dying language, and it's a sad thing. Most of the old generation speak it, and some of the younger generation speak, but very few of the newest generation speak it. Which is a trusy unfortunate thing because some of the elders only speak Yiddish and from personal experience, listening to and respecting one's elders never hurt anyone. In fact, I've learned almost as much from my grandparents as from my teachers have taught me in 12 years of school

[Praxus]

As for the US being founded on Christianity, I think that there were two reasons why Church and State were separated (there are many reasons why it should be that way, but I think only 2 really mattered back then). The first was because the a lot of visionaries wanted the US to become a new Roman Republic, and the other is because European nations didnt have a separation. The US was trying to show emphatically how uneuropean they were. Im not American and so I wasnt raised on US history so these points could be way off. If they are, please tell me.

If you are interested in what founding fathers meant by America being a Republic, check out "The Federalist Papers". One of them by James Madison explains it.

Here it is:
http://memory.loc.gov/const/fed/fed_39.html

[Ziska]

Originally posted by Praxus
So you can waste several years of your life for something that will never advance your life in anyway.

... I'll be the judge of that thanks mate.

Why are you so anti-Christian? I've never insulted you or yours, but you constantly attack Christianity.

[tw-acs]

The persons that left Europe for the new land made certain decisions in the creation of the United States of America.

Such as the seperation of church and state which at the time was not something that was very wide spread in Europe.

The United States was founded by persons that were gernerally christian so christianity influenced the United States a lot. Though it was not based on christianity nor the values of christianity.

It was formed under the values of the persons of the time of which the United States was created. Not of any organization or association.

All religions have there flaws. Christianity has a lot. I cannot comment on other religions for I am not as educated in the workings teachings and general nature of other religions.

The federalist papers were from extremists and thus not information showing general concensus of thought of the US or anyone except the authors of the papers.

[Ray]

Yiddish, a Germanic language, is the language of the Ashkenazic Jews who have connections with East and Central Europe. It is a mix of original German [85%] and Hebrew [10%]. Slav [5%] influence because of the movement of Jews also entered the language. It also has traces of French ad Romanian. The language differs from modern German.
Yiddish has two dialects. The western dialect is in German speaking areas of Europe and the larger following is on the Eastern dialect of the Baltic and Russian areas and their descendants The eastern dialect also has two variations.

The YIVO Institute of Hebrew or [Jewish? I dont remember] Researcg at New York can give more details.

[TopHatter]

Great details Ray, thanks. I've been fascinated by the origins of the Yiddish language for a couple years now. It's a very interesting language, as all polyglot languages are.

[Ray]

No religion is the BEST. All have EXCELLENT messages but it is for the educated to glean the same from the chaff. But then it is not for me to pontificate.

However, I will dwell on the academic issues of this thread.

Semitic Languages, one of the five subfamilies or branches of the Hamito-Semitic or Afro-Asiatic language family. Of the Semitic languages, Arabic was carried beyond its original home in the Arabian Peninsula and spread throughout the Arabian Empire and is spoken across North Africa to the Atlantic coast, and Arabic and Hebrew are used by Muslims and Jews in other parts of the world. The other Semitic languages are centered in a region bounded on the west by Ethiopia and on the north by Syria and extending southeast through Iraq and the Arab Peninsula, with some "islands" of Semitic speech farther east in Iran.
*Linguistic Groups*
Linguists divide the Semitic languages into four groups. The North Peripheral group is represented by Akkadian. The oldest attested Semitic language, with the oldest Semitic literature, Akkadian was spoken in Mesopotamia between about 3000 BC and 600-400 BC and used as a literary language until the 1st century AD.
The North Central group includes the ancient and modern Hebrew language; ancient tongues such as Ugaritic and Phoenician; and the Aramaic language, including Syriac, or Christian Aramaic.
The South Central group consists of literary or Standard Arabic and the modern spoken Arabic dialects. Maltese, an offshoot of Arabic, is spoken on the island of Malta and, because of its location, has been heavily influenced by Italian.
The South Peripheral group consists of the South Arabic dialects, now spoken in parts of the southern Arabian Peninsula (and in ancient times by peoples such as the Minaeans and Sabaeans); and the languages of Ethiopia. The latter include Gecez, or classical Ethiopic, now surviving only as a literary and liturgical language; Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia; and regional Ethiopian languages such as Tigré, Tigrinya, and Gurage.
*Characteristics*
In Semitic languages, words are typically based on a series of three consonants; this series, called the root, carries the basic meaning. Superimposed on the root is a pattern of vowels (or vowels and consonants) that signifies variations in the basic meaning or that serves as an inflection (such as for verb tense and number). For example, in Arabic the root ktb refers to writing, and the vowel pattern -a-i- implies "one who does something"; thus, katib means "one who writes." Other derivatives of the same root include kitab, "book"; maktub, "letter"; and kataba, "he wrote." The close relationship of the Semitic languages to one another can be seen in the persistence of the same roots from one language to another (slm, for example, means "peace" in Assyro-Babylonian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and other languages). In Semitic languages, related consonants typically fall into three subtypes: voiced, unvoiced, and emphatic; an example is the series transliterated g, k, and q from Arabic and Hebrew (the q is pronounced farther back in the throat than k).
*Writing*
Except for two undeciphered scripts used by the ancient Canaanites, and the Latin alphabet as used for Maltese, Semitic languages have historically been written in three scripts. Assyro-Babylonian was written in cuneiform signs, and Ugaritic used a cuneiform alphabet. North Semitic, the early Semitic script, was an alphabetic script; one of its earliest examples is inscribed on the Moabite stone (9th century BC, discovered in 1868 and now in the Louvre, Paris). From the Aramaic variant of North Semitic, the modern Arabic and square Hebrew alphabets developed; North Semitic also gave rise to the Greek alphabet. Like ancient North Semitic, the Hebrew and Arabic scripts are alphabets of consonants only; special marks for vowels apparently came into use in about the 8th century AD. The third script, South Semitic or South Arabic, may or may not have been another variant of early North Semitic script. Also a consonantal alphabet, it was taken to Ethiopia in the 1st millennium BC and gave rise to the syllabic scripts used for modern Ethiopian languages.

[Ray]

Aramaic Language, it is a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew. Originally the language of the Aramaeans, it was used, in many dialectical forms, in Mesopotamia and Syria before 1000 BC and later became the lingua franca of the Middle East. Aramaic survived the fall of Nineveh (612 BC) and Babylon (539 BC) and remained the official language of the Persian Empire (539-337 BC). Ancient inscriptions in Aramaic have been found over a vast area extending from Egypt to China.
Before the Christian era, Aramaic had become the language of the Jews in Palestine. Jesus preached in Aramaic, and parts of the Old Testament and much of the rabbinical literature were written in that language. Christian Aramaic, usually called Syriac, also developed an extensive literature, especially from the 4th to 7th centuries.
The influence and diffusion of Aramaic began to decline in favor of Arabic at the time of the Arab conquest in the 7th century AD. Aramaic survives today in Eastern and Western dialects, mostly as the language of Christians living in a few scattered communities in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran.

[Bill]

The US was pretty clearly based on Judeo-Christian morals....whatever they are.

[shield]

I have always thought that America was founded upon Christian values, if not necessarily upon Christian scriptural law.

[TopHatter]

Originally posted by M21Sniper
The US was pretty clearly based on Judeo-Christian morals....whatever they are.

Originally posted by shield
I have always thought that America was founded upon Christian values, if not necessarily upon Christian scriptural law.

Agreed, it's fairly obvious from the laws of the land that it follows the Judeo-Christians laws and biblical principles. I mean, it's not like we can make the case that we are based on Hammurabi's Code of Laws, heh.

[tw-acs]

The United States was founded by persons that were gernerally christian so christianity influenced the United States a lot. Though it was not based on christianity nor the values of christianity.

It was formed under the values of the persons of the time of which the United States was created. Not of any organization or association.

[Praxus]

Agreed, it's fairly obvious from the laws of the land that it follows the Judeo-Christians laws and biblical principles. I mean, it's not like we can make the case that we are based on Hammurabi's Code of Laws, heh.

You still have not been able to give me one peice of evidence that American Law is connected to Christianity. Give me say 2 examples of Christianity.

Age of Reasoning was turning away from Religion toward Science and Reason.

The US was pretty clearly based on Judeo-Christian morals....whatever they are.

Christian Morals: Self-Sacrifice, Love your Enemys, and treat others as you would like to be treated.

The first one is not in line with American principles, we obviously don't "love" our enemies. We don't treat others like we would be treated, we treat them how they deserve.

[Bill]

"You still have not been able to give me one peice of evidence that American Law is connected to Christianity. Give me say 2 examples of Christianity."

1) Sodomy laws.

2) Restrictions to bars and car dealers(not allowed to open on sundays), and restrictions to hunting(can't hunt on sunday).

Sunday is, i believe, the Christian sabbath?

[Ray]

Thou shalt not covet your neighbour's wife.:wacko :P

It is obvious that Christainity influenced the maturing of the US since the initial settlers were Christians. Of course the US is not 'The Christian Republic of the US' in the like of 'the Islamic Republic of Pakistan'. And anyway, the US is not soaking with religion dripping through every pore. So, why make it an issue?