Historical Revisionists

This has become my new pet peeve. In America it seems to revolve around the idea that America is a Christian nation, besides all the evidence to the contrary. A new low has been crossed. One group is now intentionally making up phrases and attributing them to Founding Fathers. They have even admitted to doing so. This is beyond disgusting. These actions are called lying.

This was brought to my attention by the blog Computing Intelligence and his post entitled "Well, he could have said it...".

There is a recent article in the St. Petersburg Times over some new billboards in the area. The article, "Christian group's billboards denounce separation of church, state", contains the following comment from one of the activists, Terry Kemple, involved in making the billboards.

Others carry the same message but with fictional attribution, as with one billboard citing George Washington for the quote, "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."

"I don't believe there's a document in Washington's handwriting that has those words in that specific form," Kemple said. "However, if you look at Washington's quotes, including his farewell address, about the place of religion in the political sphere, there's no question he could have said those exact words."

I cannot find the words to express my utter disgust and contempt for people like Mr. Kemple. Not only is he lying, he knows he is lying.

Mr. Kemple's organization, Community Issues Council (of which Mr. Kemple is the only employee in Tampa), has this statement as one of their goals.

America's government was made only for people who are moral and religious.

Personally, I do not believe that lying is immoral in all situations. Fundamentalist Christians, like Mr. Kemple, always tell me otherwise. In this situation, lying to further one's personal agenda at the expense of others, I think Mr. Kemple is acting immoral. So by his own standards, Mr. Kemple needs to GTFO! Buh-bye, sayonara, adios, hasta luego, bon voyage, seriously get the fuck out of the United States now.

Revisionist History Part 3

This is really starting to become a pet peeve of mine. As some of the readers know, I still work the sound board for my parent's church once a month (because of a promise I made a few years ago before I fully deconverted). I always do the first Sunday of the month. The service around July 4th is always great for some revisionist history.

The actual sermon was secular, there was no mention of God, and I quite enjoyed it. One of the local doctors, who has served in the Navy and retired as a 2 star Admiral, gave a speech on the lives of each of the men who hoisted the flag at Iwo Jima and why it was important for America and World War II.

My issue was a little 3 minute video, played during the song service. You can find the video here. I didn't have a chance to go through each of the quotes while there but have gone through them now.

First quote is Alexander Hamilton.

"I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man."

This quote is real. Hamilton made this claim. I would love to see the evidence he speaks of though.

Second quote is James Madison.

"The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded."

This quote is without citation or any record. It is similar to another quote made up by Christian revisionists and seems to be part of that. It is well dissected here.

Third quote is Thomas Jefferson. (Yeah Jefferson supporting Christianity, you already know it is fake.)

"The reason Christianity is the best friend for government is because Christianity deals with the heart."

There is no record of Jefferson every writing or saying anything like this (here).

Fourth quote is Andrew Jackson.

"The Bible is the Rock on which this Republic rests."

This quote is real. So what? Jackson had nothing to do with the founding of this country. It just shows that Christian Theocrats have been trying to take over the country for awhile now.

Fifth quote is Patrick Henry. (It is a longer quote than what I post but you can get the gist.)

"This great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians"

Another spurious quotation. These words appear nowhere in the writings or recorded utterances of Patrick Henry. You can read about it here, along with quotes used by Sally Kern in her recent revisionist history here in Oklahoma. Patrick Henry was a believer, so making up quotes is just odd. You can find support for Christianity from him easily, but you can't find support for America being founded as a Christian nation.

Sixth quote is Daniel Webster.

"If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."

I honestly can't find anything about this quote, except a lot of Christians use it. Again so what? Webster had as much to do with the founding of this country as Jackson.

Seventh and final quote is Woodrow Wilson.

"America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scriptures. Ladies and gentlemen, I have a very simple thing to ask of you. I ask of every man and woman in this audience that from this night on they will realize that part of the destiny of America lies in their daily perusal of this great book of revelations. That if they would see America free and pure they will make their own spirits free and pure by this baptism of the Holy Scripture."

Wilson said it. Again, so what? Wilson obviously had no clue about the founding fathers.

So let's tally up the quotes.

Real quotes: 4
Fake quotes: 3

Of the real quotes, how many were founding fathers? 1.

Lying for Jesus is fun.

Revisionist History

I posted this here, but I thought it deserved a blog post too.

I wrote my congressman over the "American Religious History Week" law that has been put forth. I wrote him awhile back. Well I just got a response today. Here is the response I got, mind you I did not vote for this wingnut:

"Dear Justin:

Thank you for contacting me to express your view on the creation of "American Religious History Week." I always value hearing from my fellow Oklahomans and I appreciate the opportunity to respond on this important issue.

Our founders built firmly the foundation of this great nation upon the Judeo-Christian values many Americans continue to cherish today. The deep feeling of appreciation for our heritage, which is shared by all Americans, continues to be a source of unity and strength for this nation. The creation of "American Religious History Week" would provide the opportunity for all Americans to engage in reflection upon the significant role religious values have served in shaping this nation's remarkable success and prosperity. Rest assured that I will keep your views in mind should H. Res. 888 come before the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.

Again, thank you for contacting me with your thoughts on this important issue. If I can ever be of assistance on this or any other matter, please don't hesitate to contact my office.

Respectfully Yours,

Dan Boren
Member of Congress"

Basically I will consider what you say, but you are wrong and we are a Judeo-Christian country.

This is my response:

Sir, you are wrong. Our country was founded on secular ideas and the common laws of England. You can easily look this up. The Treaty of Tripoli, which was read in its entirety and voted unanimously by Congress and signed by then President John Adams and was also in every major newspaper of the time, states in Article 11, "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

Clearly the country was not founded upon Judeo-Christian concepts. I can also go into the writings of Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine if you insist upon this revisionist history of the founding of our nation. Church and State Separation are there to protect religion, breaching the "wall", as Jefferson called it, is dangerous and it also can lead to a tyranny of the majority, which was a concern of the founding fathers. Consider this, the fastest growing religion in America is Mormonism and the fastest growing religion in the world is Islam (it is close between Islam and Christianity depending which survey you read). By breaching the wall, you give them the opportunity to make their own rules if they ever reach a majority in the U.S. The idea is to protect all people from tyranny no matter what its incarnation is.

I am tired of all this revisionist crap, trying to make deists look like fundavangelicals. It is retarded.

It is not even like this hard to find out even. A simple search will tell you everything you want to know about the founding fathers. This is what appalls me the most. The fact that it is easy to look up and the fact no one fucking looks it up. They just take their preacher or politicians word for it. For fucks sake people read the goddamn Constitution it is clear. People are being used because of a lack of knowledge and it is like they don't even care.

I lump this historical revision in the same category as young earth creationism. People preying on the lack of knowledge of other people.