I don't equate modern conservatism with anyone active in the Revolutionary generation, but a previous poster did. So I took him up on the analogy.

I think you are correct, though, that modern conservatives are most closely aligned with late 18th century Federalists, except for religious belief. The Federalists of that time opposed the Bill of Rights and sponsored and passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which made it a crime to criticize the government (when they were in power). They were largely the commercial and social elites of the time. What do you think of the Anti-Federalists?

Russ and others are correct (and I was wrong) in pointing out that Jefferson was not an atheist--he was actually a Deist, who did not believe in Christ. Take a look at his own translation of the Gospels...

Back to my point: St. Ann falsely claimed that Gov. Sebelius was partying in New Orleans the day AFTER the tornado. None of your references support Ann in that claim. So either Coulter was careless with the facts or intentionally distorting them in her attempt to defame the Governor. Whichever it was, St. Ann is not a big enough person to ever admit a mistake.

Here's my 'nuh-uh':
According to the Wichita Eagle, "Sebelius was in New Orleans with her family when the tornado hit that Friday evening. But she was notified that night about the tornado, and she and her staff in Kansas immediately began trying to assess the damage. When the scope of the disaster became clear, they began making arrangements for her return.
Sebelius didn’t attend any of the jazz festival and left her family in New Orleans, flying back Saturday afternoon using a plane arranged by Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Sebelius didn’t go to Greensburg until Sunday, Corcoran said, because Kansas National Guard Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting told her it would be best to wait until then. That way she wouldn’t disrupt ongoing rescue...

Quick point: this country was NOT founded by "Conservatives and Hardworking Christians". Most of the conservatives of the time were Tories and didn't want independence. Lazy atheists like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson were kind of important, too.

And Ann's column is once again full of fantasies and factual errors -- such as, Kansas Gov. Sebelius was partying in New Orleans the day after the tornado, a demonstrable falsehood. Among others.

Sometimes, facts have a liberal bias. Too bad...

I agree with you completely. It's just that Christmas was a relatively minor holiday in the Christian calendar until it was popularized by Dickens and a lot of extraneous non-Christian traditions were brought in. The tension between commercialism and the religious event have been with us since long before the rise and fall of communism.

BIGbelly says that it is "pretty obvious" that there is major push to secularize Christmas and other Christian Holidays. Well, Christmas in this culture is a secular holiday, an economic event, under which authentic Christian celebrations have always been muted. But it is laughable to claim that there is some conspiratorial plot to secularize Easter or Pentecost, or All Saints Day, to name just a few. Give it a rest, and have a merry Christmas!

Your whining about the supposed "war on Christmas" merely repeats the ongoing tension between a historically minor Christian holiday and the economic needs of a consumer-driven culture. The national and international celebration of Christmas only became significant in the mid to late 1800's as the large-scale industrial capitalist economies needed to encourage consumer spending. It has little to do with religion.