Hey Nick!

I read your comment and again feel compelled to respond.

First the idea of a state without the compulsion of relligion is enshrined in the original Declaration of Independence of the United States. Regardless of how the equality was only offered to white men (and less wholescale to white women), is moot since whomever they considered human beings at that point in time were bound by the Declaration which offered the freedom of religion and association. The 1st president of the new found Republic himself was a deist and did not prescribe himself to any singular theory of God or religion (although was probably culturally attached to the story of a Christ Saviour). How the hell this disolved into "One Nation Under God" is interesting. It wasn't the pilgrims who wanted a new Republic, it was others who did, but the philosophy of the pilgrims, the evangelical Christianity of the pilgrims has become the almost de-facto informing thought behind much of American thought, politics and international interaction over the last 60 odd years, especially since the 1970's and the end of hippie culture towards a more conservative America.

The reason there are less self-identified Christians in the UK and England specifically is I believe inspired by two very important things:

1. The revolt against religion in much of Europe, as it was the Churches and the authorities of the Churches that played the most central roles in people's lives. It was a revolt against the power the Churches held and the authority they possessed over their constituents. This is most clearly seen in the rejection of the Church in post-revolutionary France and in something closer to home, the rejection of the Church during the Quiet Revolution in Quebec during the 1960's.

2. The above point however is minor. It helped create a mindset, a foundation of thought that leads into the major turning point - acceptance of Science and the demands of Scientific proof. I believe this is clearly and best linked to the publishing of Darwin's Origin of the Species which when published was extraordinary in its blasphemy but as time passed has become accepted as the rule rather than the exception. The wider and mainstream acceptance of evolutionary thought in Europe and in particular in England is perhaps why there aren't as many self-identified Christians. The English have chosen overwhlemingly to accept Evolution as a fact. In America, many more deride, ridicule and steadfastly ignore the idea that Evolution has occured and is continually occuring. Creationism or Intelligent Design is still a matter of fundamental thought to a large segment of the American population and by and large of the Americas themselves.

As for the Stephen Fry Clock, Emily got me a talking Alarm clock in the voice of the inimitable Stephen Fry for Christmas that wakes me up every morning with random series of phrases to get up, random snooze phrases and a sleep meditation should I choose to activate it. He does it in the persona of a butler. By far one the coolest things ever in the Ursa Minor sphere.

-s