Friday, March 26, 2004
It shouldn't be surprising anymore, after all, who in the NYT editorial staff really cares about facts, nevertheless Kenneth C. Davis' atheistic piece today should take the cake. "Somewhere," he claims, "the spirits of Jefferson, Madison and Franklin may be smiling" about the Supreme Court case on striking God from the Pledge of Allegiance. Leaving aside the stupidity of an atheist saying "spirits" of anyone exist anywhere, Davis goes on to make a loony, but oft-hear argument that leading Founding Fathers were not only non-Christian but anti-Christian. His examples are Washington, Jefferson and Franklin.
Excuse me: that's three out of 95. And you're only batting 2 for 3 anyway. No historian I know of claims Jefferson and Franklin were Christian, although Jefferson himself insists he was. Washington you're dead wrong on. A look at his prayerbook, which he used regularly, is in fact astonishingly Christian (despite being Episcopalian) and these was just one of the prayers he prayed: Oh, most glorious God, I acknowledge and confess my faults in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day. Correct my thoughts, my words, and work. Daily frame me more and more into the likeness of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. In His Name, we pray, Amen. As for the charge of freemasonry, yes he was a freemason. So were the Wesley brothers. Let's get an argument started that they were really Deists. But since we all know what stellar historians NYT editors are, we'll ignore this for now. One of my friends said in an argument yesterday, "Prove me wrong and I'll call you a liar." Does seem to be a favorite tactic.
Ok, so having agreed that he has Franklin and Jefferson pegged (although the inscription of Franklin's grave would suggest he was not exactly a straightfoward Deist), this leaves 92 Founding Fathers he has not accounted for but has lumped together with the Deists. This includes 27 ordained ministers, including the author of America's first hymnal. It also includes the PA Supreme Court justice who urged prisoners at the bar to repent and find "forgiveness of your sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ." It includes the author of our national anthem who was also chairman of the National Sunday School Board. It includes the members of Congress who voted in 1792 to publish Bibles for distribution in our public school system. It includes Patrick Henry who said, "Give me liberty or give me death," but also that, "Our great country was founded not by religionists but by Christians; not on religion but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ." It includes his erroneous choice of James Madison, who believed "we have staked the future upon the capacity of each and every one of us to govern ourselves, to sustain ourselves, according to the Ten Commandments of God." Whoops. We just removed those, didn't we? Earlier in life, Madison would urge a friend, expected to long outlive him, "Do not neglect...to have (your) name enrolled in the annals of Heaven." Deists didn't believe in heaven, for his information. It includes Samuel Adams, who declared, "I depend upon the shed blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins." And in case he thinks of using John Adams' misquoted statement, "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it," I would suggest he do what he claims he wants us to do (although I really doubt he does) and read the whole story. Adams and Jefferson were talking about religion and Adams admitted that "twenty times in the course of my late reading, I have been on the verge of exclaiming, 'This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it.'" Typical Enlightenment stuff. But let's go on: Adams continued, "But without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company--I mean hell!" Yeah, sounds like a Deist all right. The ability of pseudo-historians in papers that can't even get daily events right to pick and choose is truly amazing.
Do I deny the influence of the Enlightenment on our Founders? Not at all, particularly on Jefferson, who I am quite happy was in France during the Constitution's writing, so that he had no influence on it whatsoever. But rather than choose three people, and misrepresent one, if Davis is going to pursue this phony argument, he should have to produce evidence on more people. Would our Founders be smiling? I doubt it. Franklin told Thomas Paine, when urged to support a ban on all public religion that America needed religion to be moral. Even Jefferson believed this.
Let's talk history, turkey!
Excuse me: that's three out of 95. And you're only batting 2 for 3 anyway. No historian I know of claims Jefferson and Franklin were Christian, although Jefferson himself insists he was. Washington you're dead wrong on. A look at his prayerbook, which he used regularly, is in fact astonishingly Christian (despite being Episcopalian) and these was just one of the prayers he prayed: Oh, most glorious God, I acknowledge and confess my faults in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day. Correct my thoughts, my words, and work. Daily frame me more and more into the likeness of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. In His Name, we pray, Amen. As for the charge of freemasonry, yes he was a freemason. So were the Wesley brothers. Let's get an argument started that they were really Deists. But since we all know what stellar historians NYT editors are, we'll ignore this for now. One of my friends said in an argument yesterday, "Prove me wrong and I'll call you a liar." Does seem to be a favorite tactic.
Ok, so having agreed that he has Franklin and Jefferson pegged (although the inscription of Franklin's grave would suggest he was not exactly a straightfoward Deist), this leaves 92 Founding Fathers he has not accounted for but has lumped together with the Deists. This includes 27 ordained ministers, including the author of America's first hymnal. It also includes the PA Supreme Court justice who urged prisoners at the bar to repent and find "forgiveness of your sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ." It includes the author of our national anthem who was also chairman of the National Sunday School Board. It includes the members of Congress who voted in 1792 to publish Bibles for distribution in our public school system. It includes Patrick Henry who said, "Give me liberty or give me death," but also that, "Our great country was founded not by religionists but by Christians; not on religion but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ." It includes his erroneous choice of James Madison, who believed "we have staked the future upon the capacity of each and every one of us to govern ourselves, to sustain ourselves, according to the Ten Commandments of God." Whoops. We just removed those, didn't we? Earlier in life, Madison would urge a friend, expected to long outlive him, "Do not neglect...to have (your) name enrolled in the annals of Heaven." Deists didn't believe in heaven, for his information. It includes Samuel Adams, who declared, "I depend upon the shed blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins." And in case he thinks of using John Adams' misquoted statement, "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it," I would suggest he do what he claims he wants us to do (although I really doubt he does) and read the whole story. Adams and Jefferson were talking about religion and Adams admitted that "twenty times in the course of my late reading, I have been on the verge of exclaiming, 'This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it.'" Typical Enlightenment stuff. But let's go on: Adams continued, "But without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company--I mean hell!" Yeah, sounds like a Deist all right. The ability of pseudo-historians in papers that can't even get daily events right to pick and choose is truly amazing.
Do I deny the influence of the Enlightenment on our Founders? Not at all, particularly on Jefferson, who I am quite happy was in France during the Constitution's writing, so that he had no influence on it whatsoever. But rather than choose three people, and misrepresent one, if Davis is going to pursue this phony argument, he should have to produce evidence on more people. Would our Founders be smiling? I doubt it. Franklin told Thomas Paine, when urged to support a ban on all public religion that America needed religion to be moral. Even Jefferson believed this.
Let's talk history, turkey!
// posted by The Pendragon @ 7:24 AM 
