A New Retreat Tactic For Christian Fundamentalists?

After years of weakening America with lies, misinformation, and fantasy-based policy-making, religious fundamentalists have been forced into some degree of retreat. Whether this is a linear move toward the future (for the sake of America and humanity, let's hope so) or, more likely, just another pendulum swing, remains to be seen. Regardless, though, watching the retreat and the desperation it has caused allows for some interesting observations.

Earlier today, I read a letter in a popular motorcycling magazine that referenced the supposed "God-inspired Constitution." This is the first time I have seen this phrase, and I can't help but wonder if it is part of a larger movement, since the pious aren't real big on individual thought.

Perhaps the facts about the Constitution are becoming widespread enough to cause this? Not likely. So let's review a few here to see if we can find evidence of this inspiration...

Perhaps there is a mention of God or Jesus in the Constitution? This would seal the deal, right? Well, despite the claims of Christian fundamentalists that the US is a "Christian nation," there is no mention of Jesus (the defining element of Christianity) in the Constitution. Nor is there a mention of the Abrahamic God (SEE NOTE 1).

Maybe we can find this inspiration in the Preamble? Surely, that will explain the inspiration for the document, no? Here it is:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, 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."

Hmm. "We, the People" ordained and established the Constitution. Not some god. This should be considered blasphemous to any religious fundamentalist worth his weight in... uhhh... frankincense. Muslim fundamentalists realize this, and it is a big part of why we have been under attack from them. The Quran makes it pretty clear that Jew and Christians are roughly the equivalent of other nonbelievers, and the representation of those traditions in our social demographics just makes them that much more nuts (SEE NOTE 2).

But hold on: Religion is mentioned in two places in the Constitution:

1. In Article VI:

"...no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

Now, wouldn't this be an odd thing to be included in a document inspired by a particular god, especially if that god was trying to establish a nation based on only one of the three religions that worship it?

2. In the First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

Let's just pretend that I cut and pasted my comments from above and save me the effort, okay?

To further the investigation into the case of divine inspiration of the Constiution, let's ask if the document mentions that infamously-demonic antithesis of godliness: science.

Well, yes, it does, in Article I, Section 8:

"The Congress shall have Power... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries..."

As always, there are a few interesting aspects here:

1. I am no lawyer, but this would appear to be the source of all copyright and patent law in the US (My thanks go out to the founders for the royalty check I received last week).

2. The founders expressed their intent to, quite literally, to promote the progress of science. You know science: That system of fact and reason that has given us things like General and Special Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and lots of other things, the most spectacularly successful of them being Evolution. If the Abrahamic god hates evolution, as fundamentalists often remind us, why would it inspire the founders to promote science? Surely, the deity was smart enough to realize this would aid in the discovery of evolution (SEE NOTE 3), as well as bazillions of facts that negate the "facts" of the histories written in scriptures.

3. The importance of science to the founders is shown here, just as it is on the first coinage of the US (photos in my My Photos album).

We could go on for quite some time about it, but I would hope that the idea of a "God-inspired" Constitution has been shown here to be nearly as dishonest and/or ignorant as claims that the U.S. is a "Christian nation."

Christian fundamentalists, it should be recognized, will not easily give up their efforts to inject their wickedness into any crevice that is unprotected. It is what they do. They are very, very good at politics and manipulating power. We will see lots more of these lies expressed in new and mind-boggling ways as time goes on and they are forced further into retreat.

Allow me to inject a personal anecdote here:

Earlier this year, I was asked by a Christian fundamentalist if I was "one of those people trying to take God out of the Constitution." That grandiose display of ignorance and anti-Americanism stunned me like a taser. I don't remember what I said, and it wouldn't matter anyway. Facts and reason do not appply to these people.

If you believe that I might have quoted the Constitution out of context or left out things that would counter my point, please send me your mailing address and I will send you a free copy of the Constitution, with all of the amendments included (I have some left over from Constitution Day). Unlike supernaturalists, I encourage -- and am happy to help -- you to explore the facts for yourself.

XXX

NOTE 1: The year of the Constitution is written as "in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven," so some might argue that there is a mention of their god, but keep three things in mind: 1. The founders of this nation were political descendants of Great Britain, which determined the calendar, and we should expect such a calendar from a king who was also head of the official (Anglican ) church of the state. 2. Considering the often-deistic writings of many of the founders, the "Lord" referenced was not necessarily the Abrahamic one. 3. Consider the fact that, following the above, was this phrase: "and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth." If the writers of this document were so dedicated to any religion, why would they feel the need to add a secular measurement of time immediately following the religiously-dictated one? That was a pretty radical move, and one that I am surprised has not been more noted by those defending the secularity of the Constitution.

NOTE 2: Certainly, some desperate fundamentalist will point to the word "Blessings" and say that this indicates their God's inspiration of the document, as only their god can offer blessings, but one word nails this: context (fundamentalists hate context). The Preamble makes it quite clear that it is the effort of "the People" that is securing these blessings. Again, blasphemy.

NOTE 3: Yes, I know that Darwin, Dawkins and many other evolutionary biologists were/are British, but there have been notable Americans, as well, such as Stephen Jay Gould and George Williams. And let's remember that Hubble's discoveries of the expanding universe took place on US soil -- at the Mount Wilson observatory, I believe.