Post #3303889

2026-06-11 13:27 UTC

@jmeowmeow@hachyderm.io I think it has more to do with the fact that all the weird splinter christian secs in Europe fled to America for the freedom of religion. You can see this history in everything from Quakers and Calvinist to smaller specific protestent factions and even Catholics in protestent countries.

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@meltedcheese@c.im 2026-06-12 01:45

@quinn@social.circl.lu @jmeowmeow@hachyderm.io Freedom of religion was one of the motivations for immigration, certainly. As long as there was plenty of land to spread out, this worked. But inevitably,True Believers came into conflict, just as they had in Europe for over a thousand years. Plenty of “weird sects” [your words] remained in Europe. Another big motivation for immigration to the Colonies was the ability to own land. Land meant wealth and wealth meant bootstrapping your family out of the stagnant caste/class system in Europe into a better life. Add that up and you can see that “self-determination” is a common theme and that is still a strong virtue for all Americans. That doesn’t mean we’re perfect at providing and protecting self-determination. We’ve had a lot of backsliding lately. It is aspirational but is why we are here and a foundational principle of our government.

Open ##3303890