America is NOT a Christian Nation: Talking points to counter Fox News' assault on the 1st Amendment
Updated: May 23, 2019
In this video, the Counter Arguments group tackles the facts behind the Constitution and the separation between Church and State. Use these basic, civics class facts to prove to Fox followers that America is a Secular Nation, not a Christian one.
On May 6, 2010 Fox news host Bill O'Reilly and guest Sara Palin had a discussion about a national day of prayer, in which they made the argument the United States is a "Christian nation." The crux of the argument is this:
Palin pointed to the Declaration of Independence's stating our unalienable rights don't come from man they come from God.
O'Reilly argued that old Fox standard "the founders were Christian so the values of the Constitution are Christian."
And the Counter Arguments group adds some other common Fox counters as well:
Our national motto is "In God We Trust" which can be found on our money
A line of the Pledge of Allegiance reads "One nation, under God"
Many of our court houses hold copies of Bibles or the 10 Commandments
When swearing in a President, witness or other elected official they swear on a Bible and say "so help me God."
In this video the Counter Arguments group brilliantly pulls these Fox brainwash points apart by giving you historical context and facts. We recommend just watching the video because they do a better job then we do breaking it down, but here is our TL/DW for those not able to watch or just looking for something to copy/paste.
The Declaration of Independence: "The laws of nature and of natures God"
The Declaration of Independence was a collective statement by the 13 colonies to England they no longer recognized the Kings rule. Signed on July 4, 1776 this document was not the beginning or the end of the Revolutionary War, and it was never used as law or to rule. In other words, the Declaration has meaning, it's an important historical document to get you an idea of the reason our forefathers rebelled, as well as the beliefs they were fighting for; but it is NOT the Constitution, the supreme law of our land. To that end, you can scratch Sara Palin's bullet above as countered.
Counter Arguments then conducted a word search of the Declaration to try and find certain words that would prove a Christian proclivity to the Declaration. Phrases searched for that could NOT be found included: Christian, Jesus, Bible, religion, religious. Which rules out a lot of specifically Christian terms. However there are some religious references in the Declaration so it's important to note them so you can frame them correctly:
"The laws of nature and of natures God"
"That they are endowed by their Creator"
"Providence"
Do these three statements prove the Declaration is a Christian document? No, of course not. Referencing a God does not exclusively mean Christianity. And you could argue at this point that all the founding fathers were Christian, but not only would that be a circumstantial argument its also NOT TRUE. Thomas Paine and Ethan Allen denounced Christianity and were advocates of the Enlightenment religion of nature and reason called "Deism"
"The widespread existence in 18th-century America of a school of religious thought called Deism complicates the actual beliefs of the Founders. Drawing from the scientific and philosophical work of such figures as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Isaac Newton, and John Locke, Deists argued that human experience and rationality—rather than religious dogma and mystery—determine the validity of human beliefs. In his widely read The Age of Reason, Thomas Paine, the principal American exponent of Deism, called Christianity “a fable.” Paine, the protégé of Benjamin Franklin, denied “that the Almighty ever did communicate anything to man, by…speech,…language, or…vision.” Postulating a distant deity whom he called “Nature’s God” (a term also used in the Declaration of Independence), Paine declared in a “profession of faith”."
From Encyclopedia Britannica Online - "The Founding Fathers, Deism, and Christianity"
At this point you can almost scratch O'Reilly's bullet as well, since obviously not all of our founding fathers were Christian; but I'll wait till the Constitution part for that because that Counter Arguments video slam-dunks on the 10 Commandments at the end, so I will too.
The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and The Establishment Clause
Once the Revolutionary War was won the Declaration had served it's purpose and it was time for the Founders to establish a framework for governing a new nation. And these brilliant men got together and gave us the.... Articles of Confederation in 1777 which didn't give enough power to the federal government and failed as a result... but THEN they got it right with the Constitution. THIS is the document that will tell us definitively if America is a Christian nation, so lets dive in.
Again they conduct the word search of the document, this time the Constitution, for key Christian phrases. They found NO results for: Christianity, Christian, Jesus, Bible, God, Creator and Religion. Which rules out a lot of specifically Christian terms.
You do find the word "Religious", here is the context, from Article 6:
"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
This article also effectively counters the bullet "When swearing in a President, witness or other elected official they swear on a Bible and say "so help me God." The Constitution never specifically uses the words "so help me god" nor does it call for a bible to be used. You don't have to swear, you may instead affirm. In fact, more than one President has skipped "so help me god" and the bible as part of their oath.
Then they conducted the search in the Bill of Rights (the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution). No results for: Christianity, Christian, Jesus, Bible, God and Creator.
You do find the word "Religion" in the First Amendment, here is the context:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
This key portion of our Constitution is often called the "Establishment Clause" and it is best understood in the context of two, now famous, letters between Thomas Jefferson and a group of Baptists in Danbury Connecticut. The Baptists wrote Jefferson over concerns they had that the government would be unfair to them as a religious minority within the state. Jefferson replied that that could not happen, specifically because religion was kept separate from government by the Establishment Clause, which creates a "Wall of Separation" between church and state:
"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 would "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties."
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Danbury Baptists, January 1, 1802
This is a simple metaphor for a simple concept. Worded within the context of Christianity, it means that the Government can't tell Christians what to do, and that Christians can't tell the government what to do. It's a two-way-street that's walled off, preventing either from effecting the other.
On one-half of the establishment clause, Sara Palin is right. Our Constitution, very specifically, is set up to prevent us from having a Government that would ever infringe on our inalienable right to practice religious faith freely.
However, where Palin, and the rest of the religious-right, get it wrong, is that Christians don't get to dictate to the government. Their laws and taboos don't get to be inflicted upon others because we don't legislate based on an established religion. Period.
If we DID legislate to a specific religion, Jefferson would have had to tell the Danbury Baptists they were screwed.
The 1950's "One nation, under God" and "In God we trust" to counter Godless Communism
So we still haven't answered why:
Our national motto is "In God We Trust" which can be found on our money
A line of the Pledge of Allegiance reads "One nation, under God"
The national motto and the Pledge were changed during the Cold War as part of the nationalist movement to rally against "Godless Communism," the media spin-phrase used to propagate against the Soviets. The Pledge didn't include the phrase "under God" until 1954. The motto changed from "Of Many, One" (in Latin) to "In God We Trust" in 1956 and started appearing on money in 1957.
Oh, and that's the same time that many of our court houses started featuring copies of Bible or the 10 Commandments, both of which are currently illegal and can be removed at any time.
The Ten Commandments and the Constitution
To conclude, lets really drive home how incredibly inaccurate Bill is when he tries to frame up the idea that the Constitution is based on the 10 Commandments. Aside from the fact we now know not all the founders where Christian, lets actually look at the 10 Commandments:
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall make no idols.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.
Yes, murder and theft are illegal, just like they are and have been everywhere else, and it is illegal to bare false witness only if done under oath or affirmation. But everything else, having no other gods, no idols, name in vain, sabbath day, adultery, honoring parents and coveting? None of those are in the Constitution and none of them are punishable under U.S. law.
The "Fox Counter Points" series is a collection of videos and articles made to help deal with the flagrant lies, manipulation and hatred spewed by Fox "News", with logic and facts.
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