|
 On
APRIL 16,
1859,
French
historian
Alexis de
Tocqueville
died.
After nine
months of
traveling
the United
States, he
wrote
Democracy
in America
in 1835,
which has
been
described
as
"the
most
comprehensive...analysis
of
character
and
society in
America
ever
written."
Alexis de
Tocqueville
wrote:
"Upon
my arrival
in the
United
States the
religious
aspect of
the
country
was the
first
thing that
struck my
attention...
In France
I had
almost
always
seen the
spirit of
religion
and the
spirit of
freedom
marching
in
opposite
directions.
But in
America I
found they
were
intimately
united and
that they
reigned in
common
over the
same
country..."
De
Tocqueville
continued:
"The
Americans
combine
the
notions of
Christianity
and of
liberty so
intimately
in their
minds,
that it is
impossible
to make
them
conceive
the one
without
the
other...
They
brought
with them
into the
New World
a form of
Christianity
which I
cannot
better
describe
than by
styling it
a
democratic
and
republican
religion."
In Book
Two of
Democracy
in
America,
de
Tocqueville
wrote:
"Christianity
has
therefore
retained a
strong
hold on
the public
mind in
America...
In the
United
States...Christianity
itself is
a fact so
irresistibly
established,
that no
one
undertakes
either to
attack or
to defend
it."
Alexis de
Tocqueville
visited
Algeria
and wrote
to Arthur
de
Gobineau,
October
22, 1843
(Tocqueville
Reader, p.
229):
"I
studied
the Koran
a great
deal. I
came away
from that
study with
the
conviction
there have
been few
religions
in the
world as
deadly to
men as
that of
Mohammed.
So far as
I can see,
it is the
principle
cause of
the
decadence
so visible
today in
the Muslim
world and,
though
less
absurd
than the
polytheism
of old,
its social
and
political
tendencies
are in my
opinion to
be feared,
and I
therefore
regard it
as a form
of
decadence
rather
than a
form of
progress
in
relation
to
paganism
itself."
In
Democracy
in
America,
Alexis de
Tocqueville
wrote:
"In
the United
States the
sovereign
authority
is
religious...
There is
no country
in the
whole
world
where the
Christian
religion
retains a
greater
influence
over the
souls of
men than
in
America,
and there
can be no
greater
proof of
its
utility
and of its
conformity
to human
nature
than that
its
influence
is
powerfully
felt over
the most
enlightened
and free
nation of
the
earth."
|
|
News from AmericanMinute.com
|
|
 Get
the book -
The
Interesting
History of
Income Tax
Invite Bill Federer to speak: 1-888-USA-WORD wjfederer@gmail.com
www.AmericanMinute.com
Receive the daily minute on your Facebook
wall, Twitter
feed, or RSS
reader.
Visit The
Coalition
of African
American
Pastors
Visit the American
Minute
archive
Check
out
AMERICA GO
VOTE cards
Get
the
classic
book,
America's
God and
Country
Encyclopedia
of
Quotations
Watch Bill
Federer's
TV program
Faith
in History
Visit
our
website
to
download
an MP3
version of
the
American
Minute
suitable
as a radio
PSA.
Click
here to
shop
AMERICAN
MINUTE
store
40
Days To
Save
America
Daily
Reading:
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/index.php/2012/04/16
Please
support
the
American
Minute.
Click
here to
make a
donation.
Thank you!
Use the
Send to a
Colleague
link below
to tell
others
about the
American
Minute or
click Join
Our
Mailing
List to
sign up.
American
Minute is
a
registered
trademark.
Permission
is granted
to forward
and/or
duplicate
with
acknowledgement
to vwww.AmericanMinute.com
|
