I don't like starting a post with bad grammar...ending a title with a preposition, but if it catches your 
eye...well that's what titles are meant to do...!!!
A reading from the Preamble of the Constitution of the Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania:
"We, the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance, do ordain and establish this Constitution."
(I invite you to share similar instances and/or references from your own State Constitutions in the comment section below...go ahead, do some research, do some homework...)
We live in an age of diversity...!!!
Diversity in cultures, ethnicities, religions, career choices, skills, etc...
We can thank God that living in a free country like America has provided opportunities to achieve that diversity...
Without true freedom you don't have diversity...
Did our founding fathers see this, and did they expect the US to become a 'melting pot'...???
I think so, because the wisdom they displayed could only have come from a loving God...They knew this and acknowledged God's primacy in many ways...
Read the preamble to our Constitution, your own State Constitutions, the slogans on our currency, and the many other places in our history where faith in God played a large part...!!! In fact, many have given their lives to defend an individual's right to be an atheist...!!!
And don't be afraid of history...you can learn a lot from a study of the past...
One thing you learn is not to throw the baby out with the bath water...You learn to not reinvent the wheel...You learn, by the mistakes of others, and the hard work of others, and the dedication and selflessness of others...You learn to appreciate NOW...
If you don't have this appreciation and pride in our Country and its pioneers, perhaps you're listening to a different drummer...
Perhaps you're too resistive to becoming part of the 'melting pot', where, although we come from diverse backgrounds and cultures, we are reluctant to be ONE NATION UNDER GOD INDIVISIBLE WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL...!!!
Take some time, go back and reread our history...reread it carefully and reflectively...particularly reread, carefully and reflectively, the pledge of allegiance...then see if you don't hear that drummer in the background beating as one...!!!
I think it is interesting that no where in the US Constitution is God or a deity mentioned. Also, the original Pledge of Allegiance, written in 1892 by a Baptist minister, Edward Bellamy, does not mention God. It was not until 1954 that the words "under God" was added.
Paul,
The Fathers, respecting Jesus' admonition to render to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God The things that are God's, recognized that what they were drafting was a civil document to explain how the people of the newly formed United States would be governed.
And in conformity with that understanding, it was THE PEOPLE who determined the Constitution, not representatives, hence...'WE THE PEOPLE.......'
Both the Constitution and The original Articles of Confederation, from which the final Constitution was born, were 'conceived' in the Spirit of The Declaration Of Independence, which is FRAUGHT with references to God and a Divine Creator and Supreme Power...
In fact the day after The Declaration of Independence was authorized to be drafted, in June of 1776 , permission was granted to draft appropriate Consitutional Articles...
To really get the 'Spirit' of what the early fathers intended you must look at all these documents as inter-related and seamless...!!!
Thanks, Fran
Fran - you are correct in stating that to understand them we need to look at all of what they wrote. In regard to the melting pot, too many people think that is a bad thing, that joining American socieity they lose their own. How can you truly be an American yet deny any conformaty to what that means.
Mike,
I don't have a problem with the concept of 'melting pot'...I am proudly Italian American, proudly Roman Catholic, and proudly American...I know first generation Italians who fought in the US military against their Italian relatives in WW II...I am an American by birth...This is my homeland...!!! That is what should unite us...!!!
Those that have a problem with the 'melting pot' concept usually are not patient enough to give it enough time to work...perhaps several generations...The US is still in its infancy when compared to other countries and other civilizations...!!!
I abhor 'I want change, and I want it now' philosophies...!!! JMHO
Thanks, Fran