3 tools the religious right uses to push their agenda

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3qmd5Fbqzjw

 

The Pursuit of Happiness: Virtue or Pleasure? (Open to Debate podcast)

Happiness is a complex emotion and mental state, one that has been pondered since the times of the Ancient Greeks. Many have wondered what it means to be happy and to achieve happiness through either virtue or pleasure. Is it for the good of the individual or the benefit of society?

Those who believe virtue is the key to happiness argue that it is important for the well-being of both the individual and society, as touted by the Founding Fathers and the Stoics and inspired by Jeffrey Rosen's book "The Pursuit of Happiness", as one should strive for a life of moral virtue and rationality. Those who believe pleasure is the key to happiness see it as the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain. Quoting philosophers such as Epicurus and John Stuart Mill and touting Roger Crisp's "Reason and the Good", they also argue that everyone should have the liberty to define their sources of happiness and seek them as they see fit.

With this background in mind, we debate the question: The Pursuit of Happiness: Virtue or Pleasure?
Interview: 

https://opentodebate.substack.com/p/the-pursuit-of-happiness-virtue-or-pleasure

The U.S. was not founded on Christian principles.

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xxSZ950eky0

 

Was America founded on the Christian religion? #churchandstate #trump

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ls0yg2zCixA

 

PragerU's State-Sponsored AI Slop

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qVQR8vCPY6k

 

Masked Secret Police Are Not Victims | The Truth About Alex Pretti | What would the Founding Fathers do?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky5B7xrontY

 

Debunk: "The Founding Fathers were Christian nationalists"

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cqthRXEzsxA

 

Indiana’s Lt. Gov. falsely claims every Founding Father would be a "far-right Christian nationalist”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEXluS_Buk0

 

History Minute (041): The Pilgrims and Puritans did not come to America for religious freedom.

As explained by Constitutional scholar and author Andrew Seidel, the Puritans and Pilgrims did come to America to escape persecution, but not to establish religious freedom. Rather, they came to establish theocracies where their religious beliefs could be enforced by the government. They were intolerant of any religious views that didn't align with their own, to the point of persecuting and executing people with differing views. And they also gleefully committed atrocities against native peoples in the name of their religion. 

When it came time to write the Constitution, these are the very examples that the Founding Fathers looked  at and said this is no way to run a country, and that they deliberately avoided. That is why the Founding Fathers wrote the U.S. Constitution to keep religion separate from government.

And by the way, as far as persecution goes: Who was persecuting them in England? Other Christians.

Andrew also provides suggestions for how to discuss this topic with others over the holidays without causing tension. 

Hear the details starting at 45:50 in this podcast:

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-sg9ur-28f31217

Responding to Charlie Kirk on the US founding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAjskIgXaMM

Responding to Milo Yiannopoulos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb7I5nZm1Os

 

Is the US a Christian nation?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBEkFEyFfR4

 

“Religion and Morality” What did the founders mean? (Andrew Seidel; One Nation, Indivisible podcast Episode #017)

Andrew tackles Trump’s new Religious Liberty Commission, which had its first meeting at the Museum of the Bible and which focused heavily on the myths of Christian Nationalism, especially what the founders meant when they wrote of “religion and morality.” 

The assault on history continues with an under-the-radar story from NPR about letting the MAGA mob police the history at America’s parks and historic sites. 

Finally, Andrew wraps up with a look at the Southern Baptist Convention / SBC’s resolutions on marriage equality and Obergefell v. Hodges and delves into the question from episode 5: Could this Supreme Court overturn marriage equality? 

• Andrew’s debate with Mark David Hall is here: https://www.c-span.org/program/book-tv/influence-of-christianity-on-americas-founders/532002
• NPR reporting on on the National Park Service’s new signs: https://www.npr.org/2025/06/10/nx-s1-5429773/national-park-service-signs 
• A draft of the SBC resolutions is here: https://sbcannualmeeting.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/2025-SBC-Daily-Bulletin-Tuesday-FINAL.pdf

Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-hrgh6-260810cd

On Dennis Prager’s Claims About Deuteronomy and Social Justice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8f-QO8P3L0

 

Founding Fathers Cold Open - SNL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDtSQVj0qzg

 

What did the Founding Fathers really say? - Americans United

What religion were the Founding Fathers? Were they Deists? Were the founders evangelical Christians? The faith of the Founding Fathers is a fascinating and hotly debated subject. But their personal religious beliefs, while interesting, matter far less to the debates in which those beliefs are typically raised than the fact that nearly all the Founders cherished religious freedom and church-state separation…

https://www.au.org/what-did-the-founding-fathers-really-say/  

Why America wasn't Meant to Be a Christian Nation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5nWWper_B4

Why America is Not a Christian Nation - and Never Was | Ronald Lindsay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9kk8hI8o-E

The Pursuit of Happiness: Virtue or Pleasure? (John DonvanOpen to Debate podcast)

Happiness is a complex emotion and mental state, one that has been pondered since the times of the Ancient Greeks. Many have wondered what it means to be happy and to achieve happiness through either virtue or pleasure. Is it for the good of the individual or the benefit of society? 

Those who believe virtue is the key to happiness argue that it is important for the well-being of both the individual and society, as touted by the Founding Fathers and the Stoics and inspired by Jeffrey Rosen’s book “The Pursuit of Happiness”, as one should strive for a life of moral virtue and rationality. 

Those who believe pleasure is the key to happiness see it as the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain. Quoting philosophers such as Epicurus and John Stuart Mill and touting Roger Crisp’s “Reason and the Good”, they also argue that everyone should have the liberty to define their sources of happiness and seek them as they see fit. 

With this background in mind, we debate the question: The Pursuit of Happiness: Virtue or Pleasure?

Interview: 

https://opentodebate.org/debate/the-pursuit-of-happiness-virtue-or-pleasure/

Did the GOP Misquote the Founding Fathers To Justify Insane Polices?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RcN-utgUUQ