Carol

“Two things can be true. First, most of America’s founding fathers believed in some deity, and many were devout Christians, drawing their revolutionary inspiration from the scriptures. Second, the founders wanted nothing to do with theocracy. Many of their families had fled religious persecution in Europe; they knew the threat posed by what George Washington, several weeks into his presidency in 1789, described in a letter to the United Baptist Churches of Virginia as “the horrors of spiritual tyranny.” Washington was hardly alone: From skeptics like Benjamin Franklin to committed Christians like John Jay, the founders shared John Adams’s view that America was conceived not “under the influence of Heaven” or in conversation with the Creator, but rather by using “reason and the senses.”
― Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

“American evangelicals have a talent for what some theologians call “baptizing the past.”
― Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

“Beauty, mystery, wonder. They all three go together.

The primary human response to an encounter with overwhelming beauty is wonder. Wonder is the transcendent sensation we experience when we find ourselves in the presence of an awe-inspiring sunset, artistic masterpiece, or newborn baby. Wonder is the uniquely human reaction to the sublime. Wonder is a large part of what it means to be human.

Wonder defined is, "a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration caused by something beautiful, unexpected, or inexplicable."

We wonder at two things - the beautiful and the mysterious.

A life stripped of beauty and mystery is a life barren of wonder, and a life without wonder is a kind of deep poverty.”
― Brian Zahnd, Beauty Will Save the World

“Christianity is inherently countercultural. That’s how it thrives. When it tries to become a dominant culture, it becomes corrupted. That’s been the case from the very beginning,” Zahnd”
― Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism