Lyman Beecher
Lyman Beecher (October 12, 1775 – January 10, 1863)
"Was a Presbyterian clergyman, temperance movement leader, and the father of several noted leaders, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Ward Beecher, Charles Beecher, Edward Beecher, Isabella Beecher Hooker, and Catharine Beecher, and a leader of the Second Great Awakening of the United States. Becher was born in New Haven, Connecticut to David Beecher, a blacksmith, and Esther Hawley Lyman. He attended Yale, graduating in 1797. He spent 1798 in Yale Divinity School under the tutelage of his mentor Timothy Dwight, and was ordained a year later, in 1799. He began his religious career in Long Island. He gained popular recognition in 1806, after giving a sermon concerning the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. He moved to Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1810 and started to preach Calvinism. He was later called to Boston's Hanover Church, he began preaching against Unitarianism, which was then sweeping the area."
He said, "the best thing that ever happened to Connecticut was when we seperated the church from the state...we were then able to rely wholeheartedly on God."
I like this statement. It helps a good Anglican like myself come to peace with the important realization that the church should never be an instrument of the state. It never was, nor will it ever be. And while many conservative Evangelicals want to go back to their "roots" and have everyone be Christians again, that is just not possible.
Why? It was never true. There is probably little difference between Washington and Obama, if you look at them. Each are more privy to talking about a
"grand architect" or "Governor of the universe ( these are two terms Washington used) and each are firmly planted in the soil of their Christian faith. And, ironically, each are placed on a pedestal. I look forward to the day when Obama will stop being adored, and reveered and divinized, and we can simply work together towards the healing process we must go through as a nation.
"Was a Presbyterian clergyman, temperance movement leader, and the father of several noted leaders, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Ward Beecher, Charles Beecher, Edward Beecher, Isabella Beecher Hooker, and Catharine Beecher, and a leader of the Second Great Awakening of the United States. Becher was born in New Haven, Connecticut to David Beecher, a blacksmith, and Esther Hawley Lyman. He attended Yale, graduating in 1797. He spent 1798 in Yale Divinity School under the tutelage of his mentor Timothy Dwight, and was ordained a year later, in 1799. He began his religious career in Long Island. He gained popular recognition in 1806, after giving a sermon concerning the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. He moved to Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1810 and started to preach Calvinism. He was later called to Boston's Hanover Church, he began preaching against Unitarianism, which was then sweeping the area."
He said, "the best thing that ever happened to Connecticut was when we seperated the church from the state...we were then able to rely wholeheartedly on God."
I like this statement. It helps a good Anglican like myself come to peace with the important realization that the church should never be an instrument of the state. It never was, nor will it ever be. And while many conservative Evangelicals want to go back to their "roots" and have everyone be Christians again, that is just not possible.
Why? It was never true. There is probably little difference between Washington and Obama, if you look at them. Each are more privy to talking about a
"grand architect" or "Governor of the universe ( these are two terms Washington used) and each are firmly planted in the soil of their Christian faith. And, ironically, each are placed on a pedestal. I look forward to the day when Obama will stop being adored, and reveered and divinized, and we can simply work together towards the healing process we must go through as a nation.
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