This relates to Pizzagate as it details the derailment of our legal system into Positivism which is still the standard operating procedures of the courts today. This puts everyone in America at risk. This article also heavily details the religious nature of the Founding Fathers and the philosophies that guided them in the creation of a nation subjecting itself to God's Morality.
Our Founding Fathers and the citizens of their day were mostly Christian with some Jews and Deists mixed in. Not one of the Founding Fathers was Atheist and most of them supported the Bible and its teachings. Thus, they were wholly against pornography and homosexuality, both of which were illegal and not considered protected under any Amendment.
What is protected? Speech or Expression?
One cannot find the phrase "Freedom of Expression" in any clause in the Bill of Rights, Constitution, or Declaration of Independence. It's not there.
Our runaway Judiciary reinterpreted the clause "Freedom of Speech" to mean "Freedom of Expression," thus subverting a protection for words into a protection for actions and behaviors. The judiciary has been out of bounds for almost a hundred years now. They have made many rulings which disregard the original intent of the Founding Fathers and established the "case-law" method in which they do not rule based on the Constitution or any Founding Documents, but rather on recent judicial cases which is used to further subvert the will of the people and the Christian intent of our Founding Fathers.
The case-law method and the Positivist philosophy which undergirds it was introduced in the 1870's when Harvard Law School Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell (1826-1906) applied Darwin's theory of evolution to jurisprudence. Langdell reasoned that the laws and the Constitution must evolve, guided by the judges, because man himself "evolved" from lower life forms. In his view, there were no moral absolutes as our Founding Fathers always taught (their philosophy being guided by the Bible, Charles Montesquieu, John Locke, and William Blackstone). This philosophy came to be taught to law students across the United States and forever changed the way our Judicial system worked. Under the case-law approach, history, precedent, and the beliefs and views of the Founders not only became irrelevant, but were considered stumbling-blocks to the evolution of society. This method still prevails to this day.
In looking at the pornography laws, the charges that one can't "legislate morality" are nonsense. Every law that exists is the legislation of morality. As signer of the Declaration John Witherspoon explained:
"[C]onsider all morality in general as conformity to a law."
Consequently, it is never a matter of if morality can be legislated, only whose morality will be legislated.
The Founders believed the Bible to be the perfect example of moral legislation and the source of what they called "the moral law."[40]
For nearly 150 years, the Courts relied on that moral law as the basis for our civil laws...."
Barton, David. “The Judicial Evidence.” Original Intent, 6th ed., WallBuilder Press, 2016, p. 69.
Pornography was not common in the 1700's. Consequently, court cases involving pornography were not common either. The pornography case THE COMMONWEALTH v. SHARPLESS, 1815 is a perfect illustration of how pornography was regarded by the general public and the Founding Fathers. Here is the Court's words as recounted in Original Intent:
"Jesse Sharpless...designing, contriving, and intending the morals, as well of youth as of divers other citizens of this commonwealth, to debauch and corrupt, and to raise and create in their minds inordinate and lustful desires...in a certain house there...scandalously did exhibit and show for money...a certain lewd...obscene painting representing a man in an obscene...and indecent posture with a woman, to the manifest corruption and subversion of youth and other citizens of this commonwealth."
A classic description of pornography -- yet this occurred in 1815. The defense claimed that since this was only a "private viewing," it was not an indictable offense. The court disagreed, stating that many things occurring in private have a public effect and therefore are punishable:
"This court is...invested with power to punish not only open violations of decency and morality, but also whatever secretly tends to undermine the principles of society...[W]hatever tends to the destruction of morality in general may be punished criminally. Crimes are public offences not because they are perpetrated publicly, but because their effect is to injure the public. Burglary, though done in secret, is a public offense; and secretly destroying fences is indictable...hence, it follows, that an offence may be punishable if in its nature and by its example it tends to the corruption of morals; although it be not committed in public."
"[A]lthough every immoral act, such as lying, etc., is not indictable, yet where the offence charged is destructive of morality in general....it is punishable at common law. The destruction of morality renders the power of the government invalid....The corruption of the public mind, in general, and debauching the manners of youth, in particular, by lewd and obscene pictures exhibited to view, must necessarily be attended with the most injurious consequences...No man is permitted to corrupt the morals of the people; secret poison cannot be thus disseminated."
Barton, David. “The Judicial Evidence.” Original Intent, 6th ed., WallBuilder Press, 2016, p. 69-70.
In DAVIS v. BEASON, 1890, it was argued that what might be immoral for one group may be moral for another (Mormon Polygamy being defended as protected by Freedom of Religion). Note the court's response: "Probably never before in the history of this country has it been seriously contended that the whole punitive power of the government for acts recognized by the general consent of the Christian world...must be suspended in order that the tenets of a religious sect...may be carried out without hindrance.
The constitutions of several States, in providing for religious freedom, have declared expressly that such freedom shall not be construed to excuse acts of licentiousness [looseness and immorality]...[T]he constitution of New York of 1777 provided as follows: "The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever hereafter be allowed within this State to all mankind: PROVIDED, That the liberty of conscience hereby granted shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness ..." The constitutions of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada and South Carolina contain a similar declaration."
Although the defendant claimed that his actions were not licentious -- at least in his view -- the Supreme Court rejected that argument on the basis that his behavior was a crime by "the laws of...Christian countries."
Barton, David. “The Judicial Evidence.” Original Intent, 6th ed., WallBuilder Press, 2016, p. 71.
Freedom of Religion and Speech are provisions under Christianity's tolerance of views that aren't expressly evil; no other religion other than Christianity and perhaps Judaism has ever claimed that God Himself has given you rights which the government cannot take away; and furthermore, the inalienable rights of Speech and Religion do not give you leave to do whatever you want in the name of Speech and Religion, as God has layed out Commandments to be followed and not to be broken in the name of ANY rights or freedoms, as our Founding Fathers firmly believed. Everyone in America is free as long as they obey the rules of Chrisianity: Do not Steal (Private Property Protection), Do not Murder (Life Protection), Do not Covet, Do not Commit Adultery, Do not abuse children, Do not Lie or bear false witness, Do not Kidnap, Do not Imprison without due process (Liberty Protection), etc.
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eucalyptus_spearmint ago
Upvoted!
Vindicator ago
@Angelis_Solaris, any thoughts on how this applies specifically to the case of Jeffery Epstein and his co-conspirators?
MercurysBall2 ago
Is Evidence-based Medicine positivist? - http://www.ijpcm.org/index.php/IJPCM/article/view/63
The answer is yes. Evidence-based medicine is another phrase for scientism, beloved by the eugenicists and the Lucis Trust. See: https://steemit.com/women/@myrevteam/eugenics-education-chapter-4-alice-bailey-and-annie-besant
Angelis_Solaris ago
Courts will seldom look to the Founding Documents to decide what the law intends anymore, and it's almost certain that they were following the Positivist philosophy of law in Epstein's case as well. I haven't looked too far into the Epstein case other than the duplicitous nature of the official story of his "suicide."
Largely what the courts have done is negate citizen's Freedom of Religion by ruling that religious activities in public or on government property by citizens constitutes breaking the Establishment Clause, when in reality, the Establishment Clause's purpose is to prevent Congress from making laws establishing a national religion. The Founders wanted to prevent the Federal Government from negating State's rights and the religious rights of the citizenry, which the Judiciary has now done in the name of "Separation of Church and State," a phrase found nowhere in any of the founding documents, but in a letter by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists assuring them that the First Amendment prohibited the government from trying to control religious expression. The First Amendment was supposed to prevent government from regulating religion, as opposed to keeping religion out of government or the public square. Now, in the name of Separation, the government has now long been regulating religion and micromanaging the smallest of citizen's affairs. David Barton discusses this at length in his book, Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, and Religion .
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CarpenterforChrist ago
Well written. Are you running for office in any judiciary capacity? If so, you get my vote. God bless.
Angelis_Solaris ago
Thank you! I'm not, but maybe someday. God bless.
Angelis_Solaris ago
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Continued....
Not only Pornography, but Homosexuality was punishable; furthermore, Homosexuality was often met with a death sentence.
As David Barton states in his work "Original Intent":
"The overall attitude of the Founders toward homosexuality was similar to that of Blackstone, who found the subject so reprehensible that it was difficult for him even to discuss.[117] For example, James Wilson was so disgusted with homosexuality that in his legal works he declared: "The crime not to be named [sodomy], I pass in a total silence."[118]
Similarly, Zephaniah Swift explained that homosexuality was "punished with death...[because of] the disgust and horror with which we treat of this abominable crime."[119]
In fact, at the insistence of the Founding Fathers, the penalties for homosexuality were very severe. In States like New York, Connecticut, South Carolina, and Vermont, the penalty for homosexuality was death;[120] the laws of other States showed similarly harsh penalties.[121] In Virginia, according to Thomas Jefferson, "dismemberment" of the offensive organ was the penalty,[122] and Jefferson himself authored a bill to penalize sodomy by castration[123]"
Barton, David. “Revisionism: A Willing Accomplice.” Original Intent, 6th ed., WallBuilder Press, 2016, p. 312.
Sources:
117. William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1769), Vol. IV, pp. 215-216
118. James Wilson, The Works of James Wilson (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1967), Vol. II, p. 656.
119. Zephaniah Swift, A System of Laws of the State of Connecticut (Windham: John Byrne, 1796), Vol. II, p. 311
120. Laws of the State of New York...Since the Revolution (New York: Thomas Greenleaf, 1798), Vol., I, p. 336, Chap. XXI, Fegruary 14, 1787, in which the penalty was hanging; The Public Statute Law of the State of Connecticut (Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, 1808), Book I. p. 295, Title LXVI, Chap. I, SS2, in which the penalty was death; Alphabetical Digest of the Public Statute Laws of South Carolina (Charleston: John Hoff, 1814), Vol. I, p. 99, Title 28, in which the penalty was death as well as the forfeiture of possessions; Statutes of the State of Vermont (Bennington, VT: Anthony Haswell 1791), p. 74, March 8, 1787, in which the penalty was death.
121. A Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia (Milledgeville: Grantland and Orme, 1822), p. 350, Section XXXV, in which the penalty was life in prison at hard labor; Laws of the State of Maine (Hallowell: Goodale, Glazier and Co., 1822), p. 58, Chapter V, February 19, 1821, in which the penalty was solitary confinement for up to one year and imprisonment at hard labor for up to ten years; Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: John Bioren, 1810), Vol. I, p. 113, Chapter CCXXXVI, Section VII, in which the penalty was imprisonment at hard labor.
122. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (Philadelphia: Matthew Carey, 1794), Query XIV, p. 211
123. Jefferson, Writings, Vol. I, pp. 226-227, "For Proportioning Crimes and Punishments."
You may be skeptical to hear that the Founding Fathers were largely Christian Fundamentalists. Let's hear it in their own words:
"The propitious smiles of Heaven cannot be expected upon a nation that disregards the Eternal Rules of Order and Right which Heaven itself has ordained." -George Washington
"[T]rue religion affords to government its surest support." -George Washington
"[R]eligion and virtue are the only foundations...of republicanism and of all free governments." -John Adams
"My only hope of salvation is in the infinite transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of His Son upon the Cross. Nothing but His blood will wash away my sins." -Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration
"Jesus Christ has in the clearest manner inculcated those duties which are productive of the highest moral felicity and consistent with all the innocent enjoyments, to which we are impelled by the dictates of nature. Religion, when fairly considered in its genuine simplicity and uncorrupted state, is the source of endless rapture and delight." -Zephaniah Swift, Author of America's First Legal Text
"[G]overnment...is a firm compact sanctified from violation by all the ties of personal honor, morality, and religion." -Fisher Ames, Author of the House Language of the First Amendment.
"Religion and morality...[are] necessary to good government, good order, and good laws." -William Paterson, Signer of the Constitution; U.S. Supreme Court Justice
"[T]he moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws." -Noah Webster
"The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity, let the Blackguard Paine say what he will." - John Adams
"[T]hink how great a portion of mankind consists of weak and ignorant men and women and of inexperienced, inconsiderate youth of both sexes who have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice, to support their virtue....If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it." -Benjamin Franklin, one of the least religious Founding Fathers.
"You have been instructed from your childhood in the knowledge of your lost state by nature -- the absolute necessity of a change of heart and an entire renovation of soul to the image of Jesus Christ -- of salvation thro' His meritorious righteousness only -- and the indispensable necessity of personal holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. -Elias Boudinot, President of Congress (to his daughter, Susan Boudinot)
"[D]on't forget to be a Christian. I have said much to you on this head and I hope an indelible impression is made." -Jacob Broom, Signer of the Constitution
"On the mercy of my Redeemer I rely for salvation and on His merits; not on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts." -Charles Carroll, Signer of the Declaration
"I...am endeavoring...to attend to my own duty only as a Christian...let us take care that our Christianity, though put to the test...be not shaken, and that our love for things really good wax not cold." -William Samuel Johnson, Signer of the Constitution.
"I rest my hopes of salvation on the Lord Jesus Christ." -James Kent, Father of American Jurisprudence
And their sentiments concerning the Bible:
"[T]o the free and universal reading of the Bible in that age, men were much indebted for right views of civil liberty. The Bible is...as book which teaches man his own individual responsibility, his own dignity, and his equality with his fellow man." -Daniel Webster
"The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts." -John Jay, Original Chief Justice U.S. Supreme Court
"The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society -- the best book for regulating the temporal [secular] concerns of men." -Noah Webster
"Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses." -James McHenry, Signer of the Constitution
"The Bible itself [is] the common inheritance not merely of Christendom but of the world." -Joseph Story, U.S. Supreme Court Justice; Father of American Jurisprudence
"To a man of liberal education, the study of history is not only useful, and important but altogether indispensable; and with regard to the history contained in the Bible..."it is not so much praiseworthy to be acquainted with as it is shameful to be ignorant of it."" - John Quincy Adams
"The reflection and experience of many years have led me to consider the holy writings not only as the most authentic and instructive in themselves, but as the clue to all other history. They tell us what man is, and they alone tell us why he is what he is: a contradictory creature that seeing and approving of what is good, pursues and performs what is evil. All of private and of public life is there displayed....From the same pure fountain of wisdom we learn that vice destroys freedom; that arbitrary power is founded on public immorality." Gouverneur Morris, Penman and Signer of the Constitution
"Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited...What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be. I have examined all [religions]...and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more of my little philosophy than all the libraries I have seen." -John Adams
"[Why] should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book? Its moral are pure, its examples captivating and noble. The reverence for the Sacred Book that is thus early impressed lasts long; and probably if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind." Fisher Ames
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Angelis_Solaris ago
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As Benjamin Franklin explained to the French:
[B]ad examples to youth are more rare in America, which must be comfortable consideration to parents. To this may be truly added, that serious religion, under its various denominations, is not only tolerated, but respected and practised. Atheism is unknown there; infidelity [a disbelief in the Scriptures and in Christianity] rare and secret; so that persons may live to a great age in that country, without having their piety shocked by meeting with either an atheist or an infidel."
Remember, Jesus Christ said "Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart." Pornography was abhorred by the citizenry and the government alike as it breaks and mocks the commandments of Jesus Christ which most people reverred in the U.S. in the 1700s.
Christian influence has existed since the inception of the United States:
1619: The Rev. William Wickham served in Virginia’s original General Assembly—the first elected governing body in America. [1]
1620: The Rev. John Robinson shaped the Mayflower Compact—the first governing document written in America.[2]
1636: Harvard—six ministers helped found the first successful college in America.[3]
1636: The Rev. Roger Williams and Rev. John Clarke founded the colony of Rhode Island.[4]
1639: The Rev. Thomas Hooker and the Rev. John Davenport founded the colony of Connecticut and helped produce the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut—the first constitution ever written in America.[5]
1641: The Rev. Nathaniel Ward wrote the Massachusetts Body of Liberties—the first bill of rights in America.[6]
1681: Quaker minister William Penn founded Pennsylvania and wrote its Frame of Government. [7]
Sources for the early influences:
[1] William Henry Foote, Sketches of Virginia (Philadelphia: William S. Martien, 1850), p. 21.
[2] John Robinson and Robert Ashton, The Works of John Robinson, Pastor of the Pilgrim Fathers (London: John Snow, 1851), pp xlvii-li, “Memoir of Rev. John Robinson.”
[3] Samuel Atkins Eliot, A History of Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1630-1913 (Cambridge: Cambridge Tribune, 1913), p. 30.
[4] The Blue Laws of New Haven Colony: Usually Called Blue Laws of Connecticut; Quaker Laws of Plymouth and Massachusetts; Blue Laws of New York, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. First Record of Connecticut; Interesting Extracts from Connecticut Records; Cases of Salem Witchcraft; Charges and Banishment of Rev. Roger Williams (Hartford: Case, Tiffany & Co, 1838), p. 64; and May Emery Hall, Roger Williams (Boston: The Pilgrim Press, 1917), p. 62.
[5] Margaret Huntington Hooker and Edward Hooker, The Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker, Hartford, Connecticut, 1586-1908 (Rochester: Margaret Huntington Hooker, 1909), pp. xxiii-xxiv; and Old South Meeting House, The Founders of New England (Boston, Old South Meeting House, 1894), p. 16
[6] John Ward Dean, A Memoir of the Rev. Nathaniel Ward, A.M., Author of The Simple Cobbler of Agawam in America. With Notices of his Family (Albany: Joel Munsell, 1868), pp. 59-60
[7] “Frame of Government of Pennsylvania,” The Avalon Project, May 5, 1682 (at: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/pa04.asp); and George Hodges, William Penn (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1901), pp. 65-66.
For a summation of U.S. history sourced from primary documents regarding its inception, see: https://wallbuilders.com/chw/lessons/lesson-4-american-founding-federal-era-original/
There you will find that the Bible is the stone upon which the Republic was built, and the Constitution and all the Founding Documents reflect and were modelled after Biblical principles.