Lee Salisbury St Paul Critical Thinking Club September

Lee Salisbury St. Paul Critical Thinking Club September 2, 2012

The Christian Nation Objective The Christian purpose must be “to take command dominion over every aspect of life, whether it’s music, science, law, politics, communities, families – to bring Christianity to bear in every single area of life. ” – Chuck Colson, June 2007 at the Southern Baptist Convention (Colson founded Prison Fellowship, authored over 30 books, received 15 Honorary Doctorates and Templeton – Progress In Religion Award)

What’s At Stake: • Democracy or Theocracy • Muslim nation: Sharia Law • Christian nation: Biblical Law

What’s At Stake: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ” – Preamble to the U. S. Constitution, 1789

What’s At Stake: The Bill of Rights’ First Amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble, or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. Added to the U. S. Constitution, December 15, 1791

Christian Nation Argument • Many early settlers pledged America to Jesus Christ • Colonial documents were Christian • American populace was Christian • Declaration of Independence and Constitution reflect Judeo-Christian values • America’s founders were Christian • The founder’s Congress was equivalent to the American Bible Society in its zeal for publishing and distributing the Bible

Authors Claiming the United States was Founded as a Christian Nation “America’s God and Country” by William Federer “Faith of Our Founding Fathers” by Tim La. Haye “America’s Providential History” by Mark Beliles and Stephan Mc. Dowell “America’s Christian History: The Untold Story” by Gary De. Mar “Separation of Church and State: Historical Fact and Current Fiction” by Robert L. Cord “Christianity and The Constitution” by John Eidsmoe “What If America Were A Christian Nation Again? ” by D. James Kennedy Heritage Foundation <www. heritage. com>

David Barton, author of “Original Intent, ” “The Myth of Separation, ” and “The Jefferson Lies” “One of the most effective communicators in America … every American should be forced, at gunpoint, to listen to Barton. ” – Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas Governor, Presidential Candidate, and FOX News Commentator

Challenging the Christian Nation Concept and the Integrity of its Scholarship “Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right’s Alternate Version of American History” by Chris Rodda

Are All Of Barton’s Critics Motivated By Secularism? • Thomas Nelson Inc. , World’s Largest Christian Publisher (Nashville, TN) • Rev. Dr. Greg Boyd, Woodland Hills Church (St. Paul, MN) • Prof. John Fea, Messiah College (Grantham, PA) • Prof. Warren Throckmorton, Grove City College (PA) • Rev. Ray Mc. Millan, Oasis Church (Cincinnati, OH) • Jay Richards, Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute (Seattle, WA) • Prof. Glenn Moots, Northwood University (Midland, MI) • Prof. Glenn Sunshine, Central Connecticut State University • Prof. Gregg Frazer, Master’s College (Santa Clarita, CA)

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann Claims to Quote James Madison via David Barton Alleged James Madison quotation by David Barton, in “The Myth of Separation”: “We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments. ” Whereas – noted Madison historians state: This quote nor its sentiments are not found in any known Madison writings and are “inconsistent with everything we know about Madison’s views on religion and government. ” – Dr. Robert Alley, Professor of History, University of Virginia

Christopher Columbus (1492) According to Columbus’ personal log, his purpose in seeking undiscovered worlds was to “bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the heathen. ” – Jay Rogers (Forerunner. com)

Charter for Virginia (1606) April 10, 1606 – The Charter for the Virginia Colony read in part, “To the glory of His divine Majesty, in propagating of the Christian religion to such people as yet live in ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God. ”

Charter of Plymouth (1620) November 3, 1620 – King James I grants the Charter of the Plymouth council. “In the hope thereby to advance the enlargement of the Christian religion, to the glory of God Almighty. ”

Mayflower Compact (1620) November 11, 1620 – Many Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sign the Mayflower Compact, in Plymouth harbor. “For the glory of God and advancement of ye Christian faith. . . doe by these present solemnly & mutually in ye presence of God and one of another, covenant & combine our selves together into a civil body politick. ”

Charters of Various Colonies March 4, 1629 – The first Charter of Massachusetts Bay Colony: “We as a nation were intended by God to be a light set on a hill to serve as a beacon of hope and Christian charity…” (John Winthrop) August 4, 1639 – The governing body of New Hampshire April 25, 1689 – The Great Law of Pennsylvania William Penn

Is the Reasoning that “the Earliest Settlers were Christian, therefore America is Christian” rational? Does the fact that Puritans/Christians preceded the founding of the United States prove a causal relationship? • “A” precedes “B” therefore “A” caused “B” • Does correlation equal causation?

Post Hoc Fallacy • “Post hoc, ergo propter hoc” – “After this, therefore because of this” • The assumption “‘A’ precedes ‘B, ’ therefore ‘A’ caused ‘B’” is fallacious reasoning • Correlation does not equal causation The simple fact that Puritans/Christians preceded the founding of the United States does not prove a causal relationship.

Post Hoc Fallacy • “Post hoc, ergo propter hoc” – “After this, therefore because of this” • The assumption “‘A’ precedes ‘B, ’ therefore ‘A’ caused ‘B’” is fallacious reasoning • Correlation does not equal causation The simple fact that Puritans/Christians preceded the founding of the United States does not prove a causal relationship. Vikings preceded Puritans, therefore America should be dedicated to the Viking God Thor; or America should be dedicated to the American Indian’s Great Spirit God

Prominence of Christianity? As for the religious beliefs of the general population in pre- and post-revolutionary times, it wasn’t nearly as Christian as most people think. Lynn R. Buzzard, executive director of the Christian Legal Society (a national organization of Christian lawyers), has admitted that there is little proof to support the claim that the colonial population was overwhelmingly Christian. “Not only were a good many of the revolutionary leaders more deist than Christian, ” Buzzard wrote, “but the actual number of church members was rather small. Perhaps as few as five percent of the populace were church members in 1776. ” – “Schools: They Haven’t Got a Prayer. ” David C. Cook Publishing, Elgin, Illinois, 1982, p. 81

Were the Founders Christian? It is alleged that at least 50 out of the 55 men who framed the Constitution of the United States … were professing Christians. – M. E. Bradford, “A Worthy Company, ” Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1982

Were the Founders Christian? Some Founding Fathers were Christians: Patrick Henry (Episcopalian), John Hancock (Congregationalist), John Jay (Episcopalian), Sam Adams (Congregationalist). Henry Hancock Jay Adams

Were the Founders Christian? Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison – their actions and words indicate an indifference to, if not total rejection of, Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. They did believe in a God, the Providential God of Deism. Franklin Paine Washington Hamilton Adams Jefferson Madison

Why Deism Versus Christianity? • Deism is a belief in a God of tolerance, reason, and the unchanging laws of nature. • Christianity is a belief in an intolerant vindictive God, ever-changing revelation, and supernatural intervention – i. e. , Judaism, Christianity. • In Deism, reason and evidence (science) are always superior to revelation-based knowledge. • In Deism there are no denominations, no doctrinal divisiveness, or condescension toward others. Mutual respect is the objective,

If The Founders Were Bible-Believing Christians … How could they NOT mention the Bible, God, or Jesus in the founding documents? Christian-nation proponents rely on a line in the Declaration of Independence: “all men being endowed by their Creator” with certain unalienable rights … [and] the conventional Anno Domini (A. D. , “Year of our Lord”) dating of the document.

Was The Founders’ Refusal To Acknowledge God or Christianity An Oversight? At the constitutional convention, Luther Martin, a Maryland representative, urged the inclusion of some kind of recognition of Christianity in the Constitution on the grounds that “… in a Christian country it would be at least decent to hold out some distinction between the professors of Christianity and downright infidelity or paganism. ” The delegates to the convention rejected Martin’s proposal and knowingly drafted the Constitution as a secular document. – By Frederic Cople Jaher, “The Jews and the Nation: Revolution, Emancipation, State Formation, and the Liberal Paradigm in America and France”

Did Christians Agree With A Godless Constitution? The Episcopalian Rev. Bird Wilson, Albany, N. Y. , who was just a few years removed from being a contemporary of the so-called founding fathers, said in a sermon in October 1831: “When the war was over and the victory over our enemies won, and the blessings and happiness of liberty and peace were secured, the Constitution was framed and God was neglected. He was not merely forgotten. He was absolutely voted out of the Constitution. ” “The proceedings, as published by Thompson, the secretary, and historian of the day, show that the question was gravely debated whether God should be in the Constitution or not, and after a solemn debate he was deliberately voted out of it. … There is no recognition of God’s laws and sovereignty. ”

Did Christians Endorse the Founders’ Religious Faith? “Those who have been called to administer the government have not been making any public profession of Christianity. . . The founders of our nation were nearly all Infidels, and that of the presidents who had thus far been elected [George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson], not a one had professed a belief in orthodox Christianity. ” – Rev. Dr. Bird Wilson, Albany N. Y. , from a sermon preached October 1831, published in the Albany Daily Advertiser, quoted in a letter from Robert Owen to Amos Gilbert November 13, 1831. “Six Historic Americans” by John Remsburg, pages 120 -121.

Does the “No Religious Test” Provision of the Constitution Reflect Biblical Values? The Constitution mentions religion only once, and that is in Article VI, Section 3, which states that “… no religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public trust under the United States. ”

Does the 1797 Treaty with Tripoli Reflect the Sentiments of a Christian Nation? Negotiated under the administration of George Washington, Article 11 of the Treaty with Tripoli declared in part that “the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion. . . ”

Was the 1797 Treaty with Tripoli Executed Surreptitiously? “Now, be it known, that I, John Adams, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said treaty, do, with the unanimous consent of the Senate, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and every clause and article thereof. ”

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: Benjamin Franklin, 1706 -1790: “I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies. ” Lucifer

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: Thomas Paine, whose book “Common Sense” caused Paine to be revered as Father of the American Revolution. In his later “Age of Reason, ” he said: “The Christian system of religion is an outrage on common sense. ”

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: Thomas Paine, whose book “Common Sense” caused Paine to be revered as Father of the American Revolution, in his later “Age of Reason”: “Yet this is trash that the Church imposes upon the world as the Word of God; this is the collection of lies and contradictions called the Holy Bible! This is the rubbish called Revealed Religion!”

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: Thomas Paine, whose book “Common Sense” caused Paine to be revered as Father of the American Revolution, in his later “Age of Reason”: “The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on nothing; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing and admits of no conclusion. ”

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: George Washington, 1 st President, 1789 -1797: “If they are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa, or Europe. They may be Mahometans, Jews, or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists. ”

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: George Washington, 1 st President, 1789 -1797: “His behavior in church was always serious and attentive, but as your letter seems to intend an inquiry on the point of kneeling during the service, I owe it to the truth to declare that I never saw him in the said attitude. ” – Memoirs of Bishop White

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: George Washington, 1 st President, 1789 -1797: “The pictures that represent him on his knees in the winter forest at Valley Forge are even silly caricatures. Washington was at least not sentimental, and he had nothing about him of the Pharisee that displays his religion at street corners or out in the woods in the sight of observers, or where his portrait could be taken by ‘our special artist’!” – Rev. M. J. Savage

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: George Washington, 1 st President, 1789 -1797: “I have diligently perused every line that Washington ever gave to the public, and I do not find one expression in which he pledges himself as a believer in Christianity. I think anyone who will candidly do as I have done, will come to the conclusion that he was a Deist and nothing more. ” – Episcopal Rev. Bird Wilson, Albany, New York

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: George Washington, 1 st President, 1789 -1797: “Sir, this man was a Deist. ” – Rev. Abercrombie, Episcopal Priest at the church of which Washington was a member

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: John Adams, 2 nd President, 1797 -1801: “I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved – the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!”

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: John Adams, 2 nd President, 1797 -1801: “As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed? ” – letter to F. A. Van der Kamp, December 27, 1816

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: Thomas Jefferson, 3 rd President, 1801 -1809: “We find in the writings of Jesus biographers. . . a ground work of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstitions, fanaticisms, and fabrications. ”

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: Thomas Jefferson, 3 rd President, 1801 -1809: “The Christian God is a being of terrific character – cruel, vindictive, capricious, and unjust. There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. ”

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: Thomas Jefferson, 3 rd President, 1801 -1809: “To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of nothings. To say that the human soul, angels, god, are immaterial, is to say they are nothings, or that there is no god, no angels, no soul. I cannot reason otherwise. . . without plunging into the fathomless abyss of dreams and phantasms. I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence. ”

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: Thomas Jefferson, 3 rd President, 1801 -1809: “Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks [charlatans] calling themselves the priests of Jesus. ”

What America’s “Founding Fathers” Thought of Christianity: James Madison, 4 th President, 1809 -1817: “During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution. ” (June 25, 1785, Virginia Assembly)

Barton’s Conflicting Claims of Congress’s Role in America’s First Bibles • “The use of the Bible is so universal … Congress (of 1777) will order the Committee of Commerce to import 20, 000 Bibles … Congress agreed and ordered the Bibles imported. ” • “Robert Aitken petitioned Congress January 21, 1781, for permission to print the Bibles rather than import them … on September 12, 1782, the full Congress approved that Bible. ” • “Who in fact would question the assertion that this is a Bible nation? Who will charge the government with indifference to religion, when the first Congress assumed all rights and performed all the duties of a Bible Society long before the [American Bible Society] existed? ” • Church service held in the Capitol with the Marine band (Dec. 14, 1800). • Thomas Jefferson’s attendance through his eight years as President proves he became a Christian believer.

Barton’s Conflicting Claims of Congress’s Role in America’s First Bibles • September 11, 1777: “Congress approved the recommendation … instructing its Committee of Commerce to import (rather than buy type and paper) 20, 000 Bibles from Scotland, Holland, or elsewhere, but adjourned – the British were poised to take Philadelphia – without passing implementing legislation. ” • “The issue of the bible supply was raised again in Congress in 1780 when it was moved that the states be requested to procure Bibles …” – John H. Hutson, Chief of Manuscript Division, Library of Congress • 1782: Philadelphia Printer Robert Aitken printed first American-made Bibles. After Congress had Rev. Dr. White and Rev. Duffield examine the Aitken Bible’s accuracy, Congress endorsed the Aitken Bible. • “Whereupon, Resolved, That the United States in Congress assembled, highly approve the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken, as subservient to the interest of religion as well as the instance of the progress of the arts in this country … satisfied with the accuracy … they recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States, and hereby authorize him to publish this recommendation in the manner he shall think proper. ” (September 12, 1782) – Journal of the Continental Congress, 1741 -1789, vol. 23, p 574 Question: What is the significance of this endorsement?

Why Did Robert Aitken Have To Solicit, Plead, and Beg For Help? • September 9, 1782: Letter from Robert Aitken to John Hanson, President of the Continental Congress: “My utmost wishes would be accomplished if Congress will purchase a proportion of the edition … one fourth will not amount to 200 bibles for each state … I am anxious to merely secure the sale … my views will allow moderate credit. ” – Papers of The Continental Congress, National Archives Microfilm Publications, vol. 1, p. 421. • May 30, 1783: Letter from Dr. John Rodgers (friend of Robert Aitken) to George Washington: “Mr. Robert Aitken, who published the Bible in our language … is likely to be ruined by his generous effort in behalf of our Divine Religion … I request a letter from your Excellency to Congress on the subject … as a Motion from you would probably have the desired Effect. ” • George Washington’s June 11, 1783 reply: “It is now too late to make the attempt. ” – George Washington Papers, Library of Congress, 1741 -1799 • June 7, 1790: Robert Aitken’s letter to George Washington: “I printed the Bible … at my own expense … I actually sunk above 3, 000 (shillings) … my losses are exceedingly heavy … I humbly trust that you will be pleased to have me appointed Printer & Stationer to Congress. ” – George Washington Papers, Library of Congress, 1741 -1799

Barton: Capitol Used for Church Services and Jefferson’s Conversion to Faith In Jesus • “I have called these Sunday assemblies … the gay company who thronged the H. R. looked very little like a religious service … beauty and fashion were on display … crowded with ladies in their gayest costume and their attendant beaux … always diverted attention from the preacher … the music was as little in union wih devotional feelings as the place … the Marine Band completely failed, and after a while the practice was discontinued … it was too ridiculous. ” – “The First Forty Years of Washington Society, ” Letters of Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith (Scribner’s Sons, 1906), pages 13 -14. • President Jefferson conspicuously attended Sabbath Day services which confirms that he gave up his skepticism and became believer.

Wall of Separation Between Church and State Early in his first presidential term, Thomas Jefferson declared his firm belief in the separation of church and state in a letter to the Danbury (Connecticut) Baptists: “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, ’ thus building a wall of separation between church and state. ”

Wall of Separation Between Church and State Affirmed Twice, in Reynolds vs. the United States (1879) and Everson vs. Board of Education (1947), the Supreme Court cited Jefferson’s letter as “an authoritative declaration of the scope of the [First] Amendment” and agreed that the intention of the First Amendment was “to erect ‘a wall of separation between church and state. ’”

Wall of Separation Between Church and State Eliminated If we eliminate the Wall of Separation: • Religious doctrine becomes law, as in Iran. • Which of some 2, 000+ denominations decides which doctrine will become law? • What are rights of non-Christians? • How will Blasphemy be defined? What will be the punishment … jail, stoning, beheading? Will We Have A More Perfect Union? Insure Domestic Tranquility?

A Few of the Many Doctrinal Issues To Decide: • • • Sabbath: Saturday or Sunday? Women’s rights and subordination to men Prayer in schools Gay rights: jail or stoning? Apostolic succession: the true church Communion … Trinity … Predestination Jesus’ Second Coming … the Millennium? Pentecost: speaking in tongues; faith healing Mormon doctrine rejects virgin birth, deity of Jesus

What do you think?

Discussion Questions 1. Specify which Judeo-Christian principles or values are found in the Declaration of Independence or U. S. Constitution. 2. Specify which principles/values contrary to Christianity are found in the Declaration of Independence or U. S. Constitution. 3. Define theocracy and democracy. Give examples of each. To what degree can they function together? 4. How would eliminating church/state separation impact Christians? How about non-Christians? 5. Contrast Christianity with Deism. Are the Deist criticisms of Christianity rational and reasonable?