The latest Clerical Conversations on the Crisis took on the topic of "marriage equality" and what a Catholic's perspective on this question is. Listen to the podcast here.
Stephen Heiner
Stephen founded True Restoration in 2006 and served as its first President until 2023. He now lives in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Steven,
As always, I very much enjoyed the show with Fr Cekada and his Excellency Bishop Sanborn. During the show Bp Sanborn made mention that the United States was not founded as a Christian nation, which it true. He also mentioned that George Washington communicated this to the Barbary pirates.
I believe what his Excellency was referring to is the Treaty of Tripoli. He may be interested in knowing that the fact that the United States is not a Christian nation is codified in law. The Treaty of Tripoli (Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary) was signed at Tripoli on November 4, 1796 and at Algiers (for a third-party witness) on January 3, 1797.
It was submitted to the Senate by President John Adams, receiving ratification unanimously from the U.S. Senate on June 7, 1797 and signed by Adams, taking effect as the law of the land on June 10, 1797.
In Article 11 of the Treaty it states: “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.”
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llac2&fileName=009/llac009.db&recNum=340
Best regards,
Thomas R.