- The United States: A Country founded on Paganism
- Satire by Pagan Jim
Originated: 20 March 2005- Additions: 18 Jan. 2010
- Satire by Pagan Jim
- The United States: A Country founded on Paganism
Pagan n. 1. A person who is not a Christian, Moslem, or Jew; heathen. 2. One who has no religion.
--The American Heritage Dictionary, 1st edition
Although the common meaning of Paganism seems to imply atheism, a Pagan can worship any other god not common to the god of the Torah, the Bible or the Koran. This also includes those who worshiped gods before the advent of the Judeo-Christian religions. As Mortimer Adler put it: "Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Cicero were Western pagans. The Western peoples of pre-Christian antiquity were all pagans in the sense defined. Many remained pagans during the early centuries of the Christian era; and from the 16th century on, the number of pagans living in communities that were predominantly Christian or Muslim has steadily increased." [Adler]
So if we wish to find the origins of a government based on Paganism, we must establish two things: 1. The lawful documents, symbols and mottoes of the founding government do not contain any mention of Christian, Moslem, or Jewish religions. 2. The documents, symbols and mottoes of the founding government describe Pagan deities and concepts.
Since the government in question involves the founding documents and symbols of the United States of America, we must satisfy the above two criteria with evidence for Paganism and a lack of evidence for Christianity, Judaism, or Islam.
This becomes evermore interesting in light of the recent religious-right movement in their attempt to convince citizens that the American government derived from Christian principles. The inspiration for creating this article came from deceptive claims by right-wing Christians about Moses and the 10 commandments depicted on the Supreme Court building and other state courthouses (more about this below). This article shows their error by examining the very documents establishing the United States of America (the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution) and the symbols and mottoes used by the early Americans. In every case, Paganism prevails and Christianity does not. In fact, Paganism reveals itself so predominantly that it should give the reader pause to consider the power of Christian propaganda to deceive and disguise these obvious facts for so long.
| When I was a boy World was better spot. What was so was so, What was not was not. Now I am a man; World have changed a lot. Some things nearly so, Others nearly not. There are times I almost think I am not sure of what I absolutely know." --The opening words to the song, "A Puzzlement" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's, "The King and I". |
Pre-independence America
Although the first colonists in America came from Europe (mostly Great Britain, Spain, and Holland), many of them to escape religious persecution (Christian persecution no less!), to establish a place of free Christian worship, these early European-Americans eventually succumbed to the government of Great Britain. The religious-right propagandists like to put emphasis on this period of American history because, indeed, these first European-Americans did live under Christian rule and it makes it seem as if these first colonists established the government of the United States. They did not.
Of course the first Americans did not practice Christianity at all. Native Indians lived in America thousands of years before the Christians invaded their land. These original Americans got dispossessed, slaughtered, or segregated to the will of intolerant Christians. Today's religious-right Christians conveniently leave out any mention of the original Americans, Pagan to the very core. Only a very brief period before the formation of the United States could Christians call America their land. The following gives a brief historical summary:
The Spanish founded the first European colony in North America at St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565. In 1607, the London Company founded the Jamestown colony. In 1620 the Mayflower ship lands at Cape Cod, Massachusetts and its colonists formed the Mayflower Compact (a true Christian document) to establish a form of local government. But these early Christian colonies (the Puritans) became so religiously intolerant that a few of the colonists began to rebel. In 1636 Roger Williams founded Providence and Rhode Island because his fellow Christians banished him from Massachusetts. Why? Because of his "new and dangerous opinions" calling for religious and political freedoms, including separation of church and state. Providence then became a haven for many other colonists fleeing religious intolerance. Just a few years later in 1646, the Massachusetts general court approved a law that made religious heresy punishable by death! In 1692 hysteria grips Salem, Massachusetts as suspects accused of witchcraft got arrested and imprisoned. These religious Puritans accused one-hundred-fifty people of their own citizens and they executed twenty of them. In 1700, Massachusetts passes a law ordering all Roman Catholic priests to leave the colony within three months upon penalty of life imprisonment or execution (New York passes a similar law). In 1702 in Maryland, the Anglican Church gets established as the official church. In 1706 South Carolina also established the Anglican Church as its official church.
All of this occurred well before the establishment of the United States.
These early European Americans began to feel very suspicious of the growing encroachment of Christianity upon government and personal freedoms. By the mid 1750s, a few of the colonists began to introduce heretical ideas. Benjamin Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanac, and he begins to question Christian principles. More and more Americans become wary of religious and political impositions on their life. In January of 1776, Thomas Paine publishes "Common Sense" in Philadelphia which criticized King George III's allegiance to Monarchy, and argues for American independence. It becomes an instant best-seller. Paine, a Pagan deist would later write "Age of Reason" where he rejected Judeo-Christian tenets and scriptures.
Remember that at this time the colonies belonged to Great Britain.
Things had come to a head. The most influential American colonists rebelled against Great Britain and their taxes, institutional churches, and desired to form an independent government free from religion and Monarchies. On July 4, 1776, The Declaration of Independence (written by a Pagan deist) announced their independence to the world.
The Declaration of Independence, a Pagan document
Although strictly not a lawful document, the Declaration of Independence, a pre-government document, revealed the first attempt by the American colonists to establish their own independence from Great Britain. The Declaration also mentions god where the religious-right of modern times have tried to use as evidence for their Christian god. But does the god of the Declaration speak about a Biblical god? No, not at all. Clearly the god mentioned describes a Pagan concept. Lets look at the Declaration's words directly:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Thomas Jefferson thought of himself as a scientist more than he did a politician. Consider that the "Laws of Nature" describe a materialist viewpoint, many times referred to as Newton's laws in the years following Newton's discovery of the laws of gravity, light, and calculus mathematics. (Thomas Jefferson greatly admired Isaac Newton and anyone who visits Monticello will see the influence he had on Jefferson.) Clearly Jefferson intended "Nature's God," not to refer to the personal god of superstitious Christianity, but of a physical god of nature, the laws of physics-- Nature's God. In 1809 Jefferson wrote, "Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight." Clearly Jefferson thought of Nature as God.
But even if you do not feel persuaded that Nature's God means the Laws of Nature and you insist that it refers to a supernatural god, then you still cannot use it to support a Judeo-Christian god. Why? Because to call the God of the Bible as Nature's God would not only contradict the Bible but would constitute heresy in the minds of 18th century Christian leaders of both the Protestant and Catholic faith. Nature's God describes a Pagan concept because nature describes the world. The Biblical concept of nature describes the earth (the world), the planets, plant, man and animal as nature, but certainly not as a part of God. According to Christianity God and Jesus come from above. The God of Christianity does not come from this world:
The alleged Jesus said, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world." [John 8:23] and "My kingship is not of this world..." [John 18:36]
But to the Pagans, many gods of nature exist. The Egyptian, Hindu, Greek and Roman religions describe a plethora of gods of nature. Below gives just a few examples of Pagan nature gods from various religions:
The Egyptians worshiped Anuket- Goddess of the Nile, Baal- God of the Desert, Yamm- God of the sea, etc. The Hindus worshiped Vedic Gods: Surya- God of the Sun, Agni- God of fire, Varuna- God of Rain, etc. The Greeks had Apollo- God of the Sun, Aphrodite- Goddess of love, Poseidon- God of the Sea, etc. The Romans honored Ceres- Goddess of Corn, Libertas- Goddess of Liberty, Neptune- God of the Sea, etc. The Pagan nature gods number in the thousands.
Clearly then, to worship a god of nature regardless of whether you think it means the laws of nature of a supernatural god of nature means practicing Paganism by the very meaning of the word.
To continue with words in the Declaration:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
The Declaration echoes John Locke's idea [1] that in the "state of nature," all human beings lived free and equal (Locke would remain a hero of Jefferson throughout his life). [Mapp] The idea that "all men are created equal" goes against Biblical doctrine. The Bible supports inequality from a top down hierarchy: God-man-woman-beast (Catholic dogma adds the church and their priests between God and man). Moreover the word "Creator" describes a Deistic term in the 1700s.
Jefferson, in his many papers and correspondences throughout his life expressed a Deistic view of religion. Deists did not believe in miracles, revealed religion, the authority of the clergy, or the divinity of Jesus. Jefferson regarded ethics, not faith, as the essence of religion. Of course Deists believed in a creator, but thought that the original Creator no longer lived or did not play any part in the world or influenced the lives of people. That goes to the very reason why the American founding fathers knew that they (We the people) had to form the laws of the land, laws based on human reasoning.
Note also that the Declaration says, "their Creator," not "our Creator." This implies that everyone has a unique creator instead of a universal "our" creator (A Judeo-christian god). "Their Creator" could mean several things. It could mean a personal pagan god (as often seen in pagan societies who's members worship their own personal god). It could mean their parents, who provided them with their life, rights, and their ability to achieve happiness. It could also mean whatever natural or physical laws created them. "Their Creator" implies everything but a Judeo-christian god.
Nowhere else in the Declaration (or any other founding document) do we find mention of gods or creators. The entire bases of connecting god with the U.S. government rests entirely on only three words, "Nature's God" and "Creator." Nothing more. And even these three words come from a deist describing a Pagan concept!
The Constitution of the United States, a Pagan document
The only mention of religion in the Constitution comes from exclusionary wording:
Congress shall make NO law respecting an establishment of religion
no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
Frustrating to both Pagans and Christians, nowhere in the Constitution does it mention a god. Or does it?
Fear not my fellow Pagans. Indeed it does! Within Amendment XX, you will find the word "January" which comes from the Latin Janus which refers to our God Janus, the Roman god of doors and gateways. Sunday (mentioned in Article 1, Sec.7) comes from the word Sunne which refers to the Saxon Sun god. March (see Amendment XII), comes from the Latin, Martius, and refers to our Pagan God Mars.
Some Christians have tried to claim the ratification date at the end of the document as referring to Jesus [2] but this fails for the reason that no Christian worships dates while nothing prevents Pagans around the world from worshiping the God Janus in January, Mars in March and the Saxon Sun god on Sunday.
Of course Pagan Enlightenment thinking also influenced the Constitution, as well as many early American Deists. Deism served such a powerful force in the formation of a naturalistic and scientific viewpoint in the minds of our founding fathers that it shouldn't surprise anyone that in 1787-1788, opponents frequently argued that the Constitution represented a deistic conspiracy to overthrow the Christian commonwealth. [Kramnick]
The Constitution also uses words like "Senate," "Justice," "Liberty" which describe Greek and Roman concepts, all of them Pagan to the very core, not to mention that our very concept of democracy came from the Pagan Greeks (see below).
Democracy and Republicanism: Pagan concepts to the very core
The formation of the United States began a grand experiment in government. The ratification of the U.S. Constitution marked the first time any nation had dared to put a formal distance between church and state. Our founding fathers carefully studied the ancient governing states and kingdoms from the Greeks and Romans, the Saxons, and the theocracies of the medieval era. They had seen the dangers of church-state unions of both Europe and colonial America. They knew, first-hand, about state-sponsored religious persecution. Our American founders wisely took the best features from various governments and left out the worst features, those that would impinge on personal freedoms. Fortunately they left out the Judeo-Christian theocracies.
Through careful thought, our founding fathers produced a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy as some people falsely believe. In fact, nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution does it mention democracy. Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution guarantees "to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government."
So when Christian presidents like George W. Bush describe America as a democracy, they embarass themselves as to what kind of government they want to govern.
Although a Republic evolved out of past democratic governments, and our local governments retain some elements of democracy, the U.S. system relies on representatives to establish laws rather than through the voting public or imperial minded presidents. During the Constitutional Convention of 1787 no one supported a direct form of democracy. On the contrary, our founders feared pure democracy because it provides no checks and balances on the people themselves.
Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and conflict; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. --James Madison |
The ancient Greeks invented democracy. The word comes from the Greek demos meaning "the people," and kratein meaning "to rule." The two words combined literally means "rule by the people." Later, the Romans took some of their governmental ideas from the Greeks and evolved a representative democracy which had representatives from the nobility in the Senate and representatives from the commoners in the Assembly. The Roman government divided between these two branches and they voted on various issues. Even Common Law derives from the Pagan Romans and Saxons.
Our founding fathers based the United States government on the Greek, Roman, and Anglo-Saxon ideas along with freethought ideas from the Enlightenment. Jefferson saw the Anglo-Saxons as originators of the institutions of representative government and trial by jury. The terms, "Life and liberty," "The pursuit of happiness," Self-evident truths," according to Mapp, "were not just glittering ornaments to brighten somber discourse. They were terms specifically defined in the writings of the Scottish Enlightenment to which Jefferson had been introduced by William Small and which he continued to study with great avidity." [Mapp] Of course the Enlightenment went against the grain of Christian, Jewish, and Islamic thought, and by this standard, meets the requirements of Pagan thought.
Of course the ancient Greeks, Romans and Anglo-Saxons practiced Paganism and thus our form of government derives entirely from Pagan ideas.
Founding Fathers Pagan grave sites
For those who wish to grasp the Pagan nature of our founding fathers, just examine their grave markers. A grave and its markings reflects the legacy and personal views of those who have died. You will find that our American fathers paid little heed to religion during their life or at their death. To the chagrin of the religious-right who attempt to distort history, most of our founding father's graves omit any mention of Judeo-Christian religions, a rather odd feature if, indeed, they thought of themselves as Christian. The following describes just six of our most influential American founders grave sites.
 | Benjamin Franklin's Tomb Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Statesman, inventor, and the greatest American scientist of the period. Although his tomb sits on the property of the Christ Church burial ground in Philadelphia, his modest tomb had no references to Christianity. This shouldn't surprise anyone considering that the deist Franklin criticized Christianity. Note the pennies thrown on the grave for good luck (a Pagan practice that persists to this day). |
 | Thomas Paine's Pagan monument Thomas Paine (1737-1809). Political Philosopher and Advocate of freethought and free expression. Perhaps the single most important person to influence Americans toward independence. He authored Common Sense, The American Crisis, Rights of Man, The Age of Reason, Agrarian Justice, Dissertation on First Principles of Government, and much more. Because of his attacks against Christianity, Christians accused him of atheism and denied him burial on "consecrated" grounds. They buried Paine at New Rochelle on 10 June 1809. In 1819, William Cobbett dishumed Paine's bones and took them to Liverpool where they remained until Cobbett's death in 1836 as part of the property of his son, who became bankrupt. The bones were last heard of in possession of a Mr. Tilly in 1844. A monument erected at New Rochelle in 1839 [photo at left] cites Paine's own words. " ~ my country is the world, and my religion is to do good ~ " As a Deist and freethinker, clearly Paine's life and death reflects a legacy of freethought Paganism. |
 | George Washington's vault George Washington (1732-1799), American General of the Revolutionary war and 1st President of the United States. George Washington gave his own instructions to build a modest brick grave site on his own land, Mount Vernon. The grave marker reads: "Within this Enclosure Rest the remains of Gen. George Washington." Nothing about the grave resembles a Christian burial site; no crosses, no appeals to God or heaven. Inside the brick building sits a modest vault (Egyptian style). Note the two Pagan Egyptian obelisks. The obelisk on the left went to the memory of Bushrod Washington, Associate Supreme Court Justice appointed by John Adams, nephew of George Washington. The obelisk on the right went to the memory of John Augustine Washington, nephew of Bushrod Washington. |
 | Thomas Jefferson's Pagan tombstone Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), our greatest American founder, author of the Declaration of Independence and 3rd President of the United States. Thomas Jefferson designed his own tombstone and inscription. Nowhere does it include a Christian cross or any reference to a Judeo-Christian religion. Instead he designed his tombstone after a Pagan Egyptian obelisk! Jefferson gave strict instructions as to the wording to go on it. In his, "A Memorandum (Rules of Etiquette)", written in November 1803, Jefferson wrote: on the faces of the Obelisk the following inscription, & not a word more:
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 | John Adams Pagan vault John Adams (1735-1826), 2rd President of the United States John Adams died on the very same day of Thomas Jefferson's death. Adams burial vault located in Quincy, Massachusetts, looks like those used in ancient Egypt. Not a single crucifixion or appeals to a Christian god anywhere. |
 | James Madison's Pagan tombstone James Madison (1751-1836) chief architect of the United States Constitution, 4th President of the United States. Madison's burial site sits on his own grounds of Monpelier (where the architectural style reflects Pagan Greek and Roman tastes). Again, no references to Christianity. Moreover, his tombstone resembles a Pagan Egyptian obelisk. |
If interstellar aliens researching the behavior of earthlings ever visit the gravestones of our founders they would most likely think of them as Egyptian!
United States government Pagan buildings
If, indeed, the United States rests upon a Christian foundation, then why oh why did our American leaders and architects not construct U.S. government buildings on the foundations of the Temple of Solomon, or Cathedral architecture from the Holy Dark Ages? Why didn't they construct buildings to worship Jehovah, Jesus, or Allah? Of course they didn't because of their obvious and blatant intent to reflect the United States as a Pagan nation. This gives the reason why the architects of the United States Capitol building, state capitol buildings, court buildings, libraries, and national banks throughout America modeled their buildings after Pagan Greek and Roman architecture.
The Greek Parthenon and the Roman Pantheon, perhaps the greatest buildings in history has served as the template for many U.S. buildings. The Supreme Court Building, the Second Bank of the United States, and the Lincoln Memorial, for example, took their design from the Parthenon, a religious Greek temple dedicated to the Goddess Athena. The Pantheon with its majestic dome has influenced the design of many government buildings including the Jefferson Memorial and the U.S. Capitol building. In fact the word "Capitol" comes from the name of an ancient temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.
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The Parthenon, built and designed in Athens in 477-438 BCE by Greek Pagans for the purposes of worshiping Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom. Many American government buildings used the Parthenon as inspiration for their design. | The Pantheon built and designed in Rome in 118-35 CE by Roman Pagans for the purposes of worshiping the Roman Gods. The U.S. Capitol dome, for example resembles the Pantheon dome. |
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Examples of Pagan Influence on American Government buildings - And what do we find on the top of the U.S. Capitol Building? A cross? A menorah? A figure of the "Immaculate" Mary? No. We find the Pagan statue of Freedom!
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Twelve stars surround the headdress of the Statue of Freedom which represents the Zodiac, an ancient Pagan astrological concept.
You have to look to Paganism for ideas about freedom because the Bible, the Torah, and the Koran do not even recognize freedom as a viable notion.
Presidential Memorials modeled after Pagan architectures
- So whenever you walk into a classically designed American government building, think of our Pagan Gods and our American Pagan founding fathers who thoughtfully made our country into a Pagan nation. (You may want to kneel down in reverence to our Pagan Gods at this point before reading on.)
The Pagan Goddess of Justice
Our Justice system also derived from Pagan Greek and Roman concepts. Courthouses throughout America honor our Goddess of Justice with magnificent statues.
Justitia, a Roman goddess of justice symbolizes the fair and equal administration of the law, without corruption, avarice, prejudice, or favor; goddess of divine justice. Sculptors often portray her as evenly balancing both scales and a sword and wearing a blindfold (but often times without one). She sometimes holds the fasces (a bundle of rods around an ax) symbolizing judicial authority in one hand, and a flame in the other hand, symbolizing truth.
The ancient Greeks referred to her as Themis, originally the organizer of the "communal affairs of humans, particularly assemblies." Her ability to foresee the future enabled her to become one of the oracles at Delphi, which in turn led to her establishment as the goddess of divine justice. Classical representations of Themis did not show her blindfolded (because of her talent for prophecy, she had no need of a blindfold) nor did she hold a sword (because she represented common consent, not coercion).
The ancient Egyptians also had a goddess of Justice referred to as Ma'at and often depicted as carrying a sword with an ostrich feather in her hair (but no scales) to symbolize truth and justice. The term magistrate derived from Ma'at because she assisted Osiris in the judgment of the dead by weighing their hearts.
 | The Spirit of Justice statute (also referred to as Minnie Lou) stands in the Great Hall of the Justice department building. She also represents the Goddess of Justice in Art Deco style. Unfortunately, John Ashcroft (a right-wing Christian pictured in front of the statue) felt offended by her naked metal breasts so he had the statue covered, thus insulting American Pagans countrywide. |
So whenever you serve jury duty or happen to need the services of a U.S. court of law, give reverence to the Saxons and Romans, and pray to Justitia our Pagan Goddess of Justice.
United States Pagan currency
None of the first currency minted in the United States contained any mention of God; no godly images, no religious mottoes, nothing.
 | First American Coin The first coin minted in America did not use the motto "In God We Trust." Instead we find Benjamin Franklin's motto, "Mind Your Business." Even the Pagan references appear hidden. However the sundial, invented by the ancient Egyptians suggests its Pagan origins. |
- Not until the late 1700s do we finally find any image of a deity on currency and medals and what deity do we find? An image of Allah? The god of Moses? Jesus Christ? NO! Instead we find our Pagan Goddess of Liberty!
"1776" Libertas Americana medal
This 1775 early American medal showing a woman with flowing hair depicts the Goddess of Liberty (also called Lady Liberty) and refers to the Roman Goddess Libertas.
Benjamin Franklin conceived the idea of the Libertas Americana medal and suggested the motifs.
The opposite side shows Minerva (Goddess of wisdom) clad in breastplate and plumed helmet, holds a shield bearing the fleur de lys of France. The infant Hercules (representing the new American nation) kneels in the protective shadow of Minerva's shield, grasping a strangled serpent in each tiny fist. The reptiles represent the defeats of General "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne (17 October, 1777) and General George Cornwallis (19 October, 1781). The British lion stands, forepaws upon Minerva's shield. Its tail is between its rear legs, a heraldic signal of cowardice or defeat, as, indeed, it may also be in nature. (Information derived from here...)
The 1794 American half-cent, above, shows the Goddess Liberty on one side and a wreath on the other. The wreath depicts a Pagan kotynos, an olive branch worn by Olympian champions and Pagan Roman emperors. The Greek ambassadors of peace, in order to indicate their intentions, offered an olive branch to their interlocutors (an olive branch also appears on the American Great Seal). The idea of putting the image of Goddess Liberty on coins comes from the ancient Romans who depicted Gods and Goddesses on many of their coins throughout the Roman era.
Of course our Goddess of Liberty appears in many forms including the Statue of Liberty which stands proudly in the New York city harbor.
Although we call it the Mercury dime, the official designation refers to it as "Winged Liberty Head." It actually depicts Goddess Liberty wearing a Phrygian cap (typically worn by freed slaves during the Roman Empire), symbolizing freedom of thought. The "In God We Trust" motto (put on coins long after the establishment of our government), must then refer to our Pagan deity Liberty!
The United States Trade dollar depicts the Pagan emperor, Vespasian. Vespasian ruled (AD 69-79) during the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem and had charge of the suppression of the Jewish Revolt, which of course put him at odds with the Jews and the Christians.
 | The Great Seal (a Pagan symbol) On the dollar bill we find the Great Seal which depicts a left eye over an unfinished pyramid with 13 steps. No one knows exactly what it means and many theories exist. Freemasons claim it as a Masonic symbol, others say it represents an occult symbol, others yet say it describes a Satanic mark (the Evil Eye), etc. But one thing no one can deny: the pyramid. Pyramids, of course originate from the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptian's also had their Eye of Horus. And because Egyptian pyramids came from Pagans, no one can deny that this symbol represents a Pagan symbol. The Latin term ANNUIT COEPTIS does not refer to the Christian God as some Right-Wingers want us to believe. Gaillard Hunt, the Department of State's first publisher on the seal in 1892, took official notice .... Hunt described Annuit Coeptis as an allusion to line 625 of Virgil's book IX of the Aeneid, "JUPPITER OMNIPOTES, AUDACIBUS ANNUE COEPTIS," (All-powerful Jupiter favor [my] daring undertakings). To translate the motto, the translator must supply the subject of the verb and the tense. In his 1892 brochure, Hunt suggested that the missing subject, in effect, represents the eye at the apex of the pyramid ... and he translated the motto-in the present tense-as "it (the Eye of Providence) is favorable to our undertakings." Regardless of how you translate it, the eye can only refer to the eye of the God Jupiter, the Supreme God of the Pagan Romans. The illustration [left] depicts the opposite side of the Great Seal. The front side shows the familiar American Eagle holding an olive branch (a Pagan Greco-Roman symbol) in one claw and 13 arrows in the other claw. |
Medal of Honor, an award from the Pagan Goddess
General George Washington created the Badge of Military Merit on 7 August 1792 but it fell into disuse after the Revolutionary War. Not until the Civil War did the medal come back in the form of the Purple Heart and a medal of valor called the Medal of Honor. On 17 February 1862, the Senate authorized the medal for the Army and followed the pattern of a similar award approved for Naval personnel in December 1861.
The Army Medal of Honor depicts the head of our Goddess Minerva, the Roman Goddess of wisdom, invention, the arts, and martial prowess. The Navy and Marine Corps' medal shows Minerva, personifying the United States, standing with a left hand resting on a fasces and Her right hand holding a shield blazoned with the United States arms. She repulses Discord, represented by snakes (the insignia also known as, "Minerva Repulsing Discord"). The Air Force medal insignia represents our Goddess Liberty, modeled after the Statue of Liberty.
Note also the star pointing downward (inverted pentagram), a symbol used by Pagan occultists. The inverted pentagram so infuriates Christians that they accuse Pagans of Satan worship, which of course has no validity whatsoever. Satan describes a Christian concept and Satanism represents an inverted form of Christianity, and has nothing to do with Paganism at all. [3]
So whenever you honor and salute our brave Medal of Honor recipients, give thanks to our Pagan Deities for giving them the courage to defend our nation.
The Ten Commandments subterfuge
The Christian hullaballoo concerning the Ten Commandments and the U.S. comes mainly from the very few references to Moses and the tablets that appear on the Supreme Court building (and a few other state courthouses). Deceptively, Christians will trot out the image of Moses without the context from which the statue sits (it always amazes me how Christians love to accuse others of out-of-context ploys when they, themselves, always get the context wrong.). By using this subterfuge technique, political Christians want you to believe that, somehow, Moses and the tablets on the Supreme Court building represents proof that U.S. laws derived from the Ten Commandments. Nothing could stand further from the truth.
In the first place, Moses does not sit alone on the Supreme Court Frieze. Christians don't want you to know that Moses sits next to two Pagans-- Confucius and Solon:
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This sculptural frieze appears on the back of the Supreme Court Building (the east side), not the main entrance, where you would expect him to appear if the sculptor intended him to hold a special place. Moses sits next to Confucius and Solon holding two blank tablets. These fellows represent three lawgivers from the East, thus they appear on the east side of the building. Characters from the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare also appear on this frieze (go figure).
Moreover, Christians don't tell you that figures of 17 other lawgivers appear on the Supreme Court building. Notorious pagans such as Hammurabi, Menes, Lycurgus, Draco, Augustus, and Justinian also appear among the lawgivers. Even Mohammed holding the Koran appears on the building! (Can you imagine the uproar that would occur if U.S. Muslims declared that Constitutional law derived from Allah and the Holy Koran?) Friezes appear on all four sides of the building and on the inside. The Moses statue appears no larger than any of the other lawgivers. According to the Curator's office, Weinman designed for the Courtroom friezes, a procession of "great lawgivers of history," from many civilizations, to portray the development of secular law. (bold characters, mine).
Also in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court building, one will find ornamental metopes which include some our beloved Pagan Gods and Goddesses (Minerva, Zeus, Mercury, and Juno). Not a single Judeo-Christian God appears anywhere. And the display of these Pagan gods, my dear Christians, blatantly violates at least one the Ten Commandments ("You shall have no other gods before me," or "You shall not make idols").
As for the main entrance to the Supreme Court, Moses does not appear there at all. Instead, we see on the main door, relief panels that depict Pagan reflections such as the Shield of Achilles, the Justinian Code, the Magna Carta, Etc. (Click here for graphic details).
And what do we find on the main entrance frieze to the Supreme Court building? This:
No depictions of Moses or the Ten Commandments appear at all, at all, on the main entrance. The three central figures describe Pagans that represent Order, Liberty Enthroned, and Authority. The other figures represent American justices and the sculptor of the pediment, Robert Aitken. The Supreme Court literally reeks of magisterial Paganism. Here's a photo of the entire entrance:
Now here comes the kicker: nowhere does the image of Jesus appear on the Supreme Court building nor anywhere else in our government symbols! Since Jesus represents the lawgiver for Christians (remember that, according to Christian beliefs, Jesus replaced the laws of the Old Testament, with the New Covenant). Moses represents a Jewish figure and the Ten Commandments represent Hebraic laws, not Christian laws.
And no matter how much a Christian wants to read the Ten Commandments into U.S. law, not one of the commandments appears in the U.S. Constitution either explicitly or implicitly. (See, "How the U.S. Constitution violates the Ten Commandments")
To make matters worse for the Christian argument (not to mention embarrassing), the Supreme Court building came into existence between 1932 and 1935, long after the establishment of the United States government. It can't possibly represent the founding principles of the U.S. government, simply because it got built well after its formation. Nor should we use the art of obscure sculptors who's aim went toward establishing historical references for artistic sake only, as a bases for our law establishment.
Of course the observant reader will also recognize that we can't use it to establish a Pagan origin for the same reasons, but this essay represents satire, and if Christians insist on using anachronisms for evidence, then we Pagans insist on using the very same unreliable methods too.
Conclusion
As I have shown, the intent of our most influential American founding fathers constructed our government based on Pagan ideas. Even their graves reflect Pagan inscriptions and design. The first political document, the Declaration of American Independence, describes Nature's God, a Deist Pagan concept, not the God of Jesus , Moses, or Mohammed. The United States Constitution reflects an exclusion of religion with no reference to a Judeo-Christian god at all. Yet it does indirectly refer to our Pagan Gods, Janus, Mars, Sunne by using the calendar words "January," "March," and "Sunday." American currency symbols reflect Pagan gods and goddesses with references to the Goddess of Liberty, Goddess of Justice, Minerva, and Hercules. None of the early American currency used the motto "In God We Trust." American buildings reflect ancient Greek and Roman Pagan architectural design with many references to our cherished Pagan Gods.
In virtually every case, the thoughts of our most influential American founders consisted of Pagan freethought. So why do Christians claim America as a Christian nation? Because unbeknownst to them, they refer to God symbols put on coins and pledges placed long after the formation of the U.S. government. Sometimes they refer to the words of political Christians like Patrick Henry who proposed a tax to help sustain "some form of Christian worship" for the state of Virginia, or to pious Americans who had little influence on the government. These early Americans who fought for a Christian presence in the American government lost the day. Instead the Pagans prevailed and they won by a large margin with its crowning glory, the Constitution, the American document that serves as the Pagan Law of the Land. Right-wing Christians will also dishonestly (or through ignorance) use quotes from early Americans who wrote in their youth but had not yet changed their minds against Christianity (this especially holds true with the Christian raised Franklin who strongly criticized Christianity in his later life).
So for those of you who have believed incorrectly all these years, you can now reconsider your beliefs and come home to the truth of the matter: the United States of America stands on a foundation of Pagan ideas. Praise Goddess Libertas!
A small revelation
The astute reader will realize that I wrote this essay as satire against those Christians who go around claiming America as a Christian nation because of the few Judeo-Christian symbolic references found on various artifacts ("God" on coins, 10 Commandments in front of court houses, etc.). If we use mottoes, pledges, and pictures of coins as a means to determine our founding principles, then the Christians will lose by a large margin considering the numerous pagan references that far outstrip the number of Christian references.
Although I have attempted to present an accurate history of pagan references above, I have purposely hidden the secular reasons for the founding principles of U.S. government. Our founding fathers never intended our country to reflect religious pagan or Christian principles. They formed a secular government (the first in the world) in order to separate religion from politics which includes the separation of pagan, and Judeo-Christian religions. Yes, indeed, American founders founded our government upon pagan ideas, but not on pagan religious ideas.
The references to pagan deities do not violate separation of church and state because the religions of these deities no longer exist. Through force, Christianity and Islam tried to wipe out all the European and middle-east pagan religions from the 4th century onward by labeling them heretics, burning them at the stake, and destroying their sacred texts. Our founding fathers used pagan symbols to represent the ideas of liberty and freedom, not to promote pagan religions. The use of "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and on currency, on the other hand, got put there precisely to promote Christianity. These uses of a monotheistic "God" points to an existing religion, and for this reason, violates separation of church and state.
In this tongue-and-cheek historical lesson, I presented myself as pagan, but of course I don't really practice pagan worship any more than I do Christianity or Judaism. Nor did any of our most influential founding fathers. I find no offense in using dead pagan symbology, but the use of monotheistic Christian symbols certainly offends many freethinkers, atheists, or the polytheistic religious.
So if anyone points to the 10 Commandments, the Pledge of Allegiance, or the word "God" on a coin, and tries to claim America as Christian, give them a lesson about our pagan roots.
Notes:
[1] See Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and the Second Treatise of Civil Government
[2] Christians have objected to these claims and attempted to put in their own spin. For example, some dishonest Christians have tried to claim that because the end of the Constitution records the year of its ratification, "the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven," that this means the Constitution refers to Christianity. Although, indeed, it uses the word "Lord", it does not refer to Jesus but rather to the dating method. The term simply conveys a written English form of the Latin, Anno Domini (AD). This scripted form served as a common way of dating in the 1700s.
[3] Satanism derives from Judeo-Christian-Islam beliefs, usually in the form of a rebellion by ex-Christians, ex-Jews, or ex-Islamics. Pagan beliefs, on the other hand, have nothing to do with Satanism because Pagans don't believe in Satan or a Judeo-Christian god. They only see forms of Christian Satanism, Islamic Satanism, and Jewish Satanism, but not Pagan Satanism. These anti-Judeo-Christian-Islam beliefs represent the opposite side of the same religious coin. [See God and Satan: Two Sides of the Same Coin.]
Sources: (click on an underlined book title if you wish to obtain it):
Adler, Mortimer J., "How to Think About God: A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan," 1991 (reprint)
Boston, Robert "Why the Religious Right is Wrong About Separation of Church & State, 1993
Kramnick, Isaac, "The Godless Constitution: The Case Against Religious Correctness," 1997
Mapp, Jr., Alf J, "Thomas Jefferson: A Strange case of Mistaken Identity," 1987
Peterson, Merrill D. "Thomas Jefferson Writings,"1984
Yeoman, R.S., "A Guide Book of United States Coins"(42nd Revised Edition), Western Publishing Co.
Further information gotten through Google's web and image search engine.
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The United States: A Country founded on Paganism Satire by Pagan Jim Originated: 20 March 2005 Additions: 18 Jan. 2010
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