This week, we at FrederickClarkson.com, sought to recognize the person who epitomizes the Christian Right’s use of the Declaration of Independence to justify their contemporary views.
The Declaration was, of course a political document used to rally people to rise up in revolt against the King of England. In doing so, the signers invoked the “Creator,” whom they describe as “Nature’s God.” Naturally, Christian Right leaders love to emphasize the part about the “Creator” is sounds like the God of the Book of Genesis that created the heavens and the earth. But sometimes they mumble when they get to the part about “Nature’s God,” because, well, it sounds kinda neo-pagan or maybe even environmentalist.
But we digress.
Our Theocrat of the Week is AMann, a blogger at the far-right MASSRESISTANCE.COM, a virulently anti-gay blog affiliated with the Article 8 Alliance. (This Massachusetts-based organization distinguishes itself by seeking the removal of the majority of justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court who voted in favor of marriage equality last year. They especially don’t like Chief Justice Margaret Marshall.)
To explain how AMann riveted our attention, allow us what may seem like an interminable digression and restatement of stuff we write about all the time around here.
Christian Right leaders such as Pat Robertson, Dr. D. James Kennedy, and of course, David Barton claim that the U.S. was founded as a Christian Nation. When making this claim, they frequently cite the Declaration of Independence because it invokes the “Creator” as the source of rights, and therefore, well its obvious, America was founded as a Christian Nation. Dr. Kennedy brought this up when we were both guests on the NPR program Fresh Air with Terry Gross recently. (What follows is adapted from my reply.)
The Constitution makes no mention of God or of Christianity. In fact, the only mention of religion in the Constitution is in Article VI which proscribes religious tests for public office. What this meant was that one’s religious orientation would not be a factor in determining criteria for public officials and by logical extension, the citizens. Instead of a Christian Nation — we have a nation based on religious equality.
If the framers of the Constitution had wanted to include God and Christianity in the nation’s charter, they certainly could have done so. (Indeed, some of them were also involved in that Nature’s God episode.) But they didn’t — and for very good reasons. This is the conundrum for the Christian Nationalists. Thwarted at every turn, they have been desperate for a Founding Document on which to hang thier hat. The Constitution, the document on which we base our laws, has been no help (Article VI, the First Amendment). Of course the Declaration doesn’t actually support their argument either, but at least it mentions the “Creator” — even though there is that pesky less-than-Orthodox part about “Nature’s God.”
All of which brings us around to our Theocrat of the Week — AMann — who earned the title for staying on message and invoking the Declaration of Independence as support for his position, even though it is completely irrelevant.
Here is the key quote from his Award Winning blog post:
Monday, July 04, 2005
Thank God for Independence Day
Happy Independence Day!
The Declaration of Independence states that GOD gave us our human and civil rights; they were not invented or granted by courts or rulers. And it states that we, the people, hold the power He gave us through our consent; the ultimate power is not held by the courts, Empress Margaret of Massachusetts, or the senate president.”
(For those not up on the details of Massachusetts politics, Empress Margaret refers to Chief Justice Margaret Marshall of the Supreme Judicial Court. The reference to the senate president, is that it is up to the senate president to call constitutional conventions of the legislature to consider amendments. On the agenda this year is a vote on an amendment that would ban same sex marriages and legalize civil unions. If it passes this fall, it will be sent to the voters for ratification.)
