You can always rely on Joseph Farah to take the most ridiculous and bigoted positions possible in any situation. In a recent column, he explained why we atheists can never be “real Americans.” The reason, I’m sure you will not be surprised to hear, is because the founding fathers were all Christians.
Atheists can’t be real Americans in the truest sense of the word – and People for the American Way should be renamed People for the un-American Way.
Let me explain why.
America was founded on a creedal statement. It can be found in the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
Thus, America was founded on the principle that the Creator God endowed men with certain unalienable rights. This statement formed the basis of self-governance in a world ruled by kings and tyrants. It is the principle that set America apart from the rest of the world.
It’s important to note that the founders – and most of the 2 million people living in America at the time of the founding – were Christians who believed in the One True God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They weren’t referring to any other god. They rejected Allah. They rejected paganism in all its forms. They rejected atheism.
*yawn* Yep, same stupid argument we’ve heard a million times. None of the founders were atheists, of course, and many of them were obviously Christian. But many of the leading lights would be viewed as anti-Christian by Farah if he was capable of being honest about their real views. The statement he quotes was written by Thomas Jefferson, who explicitly rejected the notion that Jesus was anything more than a man, who called the gospel writers a “band of dupes and impostors” and Paul the “first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus.” He called the God of the Old Testament “cruel, capricious, vindictive and unjust.” There is no doubt that Farah would call anyone who believes such things anti-Christian, but that would be inconvenient for his argument, so he plays pretend. And that’s without even mentioning Thomas Paine; I’m sure Farah would prefer to simply write him out of existence.
But even if that was not true, so what? It is still absolutely irrational to say that only those who believe in the Christian God can be “real Americans.” It’s pure bigotry and stupidity, which is exactly what we have come to expect from Farah on a daily basis. Not to mention the dishonest editing. Here he presents Ben Franklin’s creed:
Another signer, Benjamin Franklin, wrote in 1790: “Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them. As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see.”
He left off a rather important part of that quote. That last sentence did not end with a period but with a semicolon, which continues:
…but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes, and I have with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his Divinity: tho’ it is a Question I do not dogmatise upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble.
Like Jefferson, Franklin believed that Jesus was just a man, not divine, and that much of the words attributed to him in the Bible were corruptions and distortions. Again, Farah would undoubtedly reject the idea that anyone who thinks Jesus was not divine is a Christian today. But he applies entirely different standards to the founding fathers because applying the same standards would undermine his anti-atheist bigotry.
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eric
June 14, 2012 at 2:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That would make most of the native americans living in 1776 not real americans, too. I am amused.
Stevarious
June 14, 2012 at 2:20 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m sure his response to that would be: “Well, yeah. So?”
Akira MacKenzie
June 14, 2012 at 2:22 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@eric:
“That would make most of the native americans living in 1776 not real americans, too.”
Knowing Farah, he’d probably agree. Right wing Christians are big into the idea of “American Exceptionalism” where their God intended America to be a country for his TRUE Chosen People: White, Male, Propertied, Heterosexual, Christians (particularly Protestants).
The Red Savages who lived here before were just squatters waiting to be converted and cleared out or slaughtered.
“I am amused.”
Yeah, it’s all fun and games until someone parks a U-Haul full of home-made explosives in front of a federal building.
shouldbeworking
June 14, 2012 at 2:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Imagine my absolute delight to learn I am not a real American. I guess I better hang onto my Canadian passport.
The Lorax
June 14, 2012 at 2:26 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yes, America was founded on Christian values because of a document that had nothing to do with the legal foundation of America.
I wonder if these people will ever realize that the Declaration of Independence is a declaration of independence; our Constitution, which is a constitution, is what actually founded our country.
Then again, maybe even that is too much for them.
d cwilson
June 14, 2012 at 2:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Farah misses another important part of that quote from the Declaration of Independence: While it says our rights are endowed by a creator, the power of the government comes from the consent of a the people, not the creator and not a church. Furthermore, the people have the right to abolish a government if it doesn’t suit their needs. That alone was a radical idea in its time and is a clear indication that the founders saw government as a purely secular institution.
Skip White
June 14, 2012 at 2:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
What’s with wingnuts’ collective obsession with the Declaration of Independence? It was basically a non-binding mission statement. A well-written middle finger to King George III. Oh wait, it’s that capital-C word there at the beginning, “Creator.” Of course, it’s not followed by the word “God” like Farah wishes it to be. What, does he think he’s better than the Founding Fathers?
Randomfactor
June 14, 2012 at 2:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If America is a Christian country on account of the Founding Fathers, it is a White Male Christian country. No?
gshevlin
June 14, 2012 at 2:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Who appointed Joseph Farah as the supreme arbiter of who is a “real” American?
Who is this conceited lying fuckwit?
I have a message for Mr. Farah. STFU. I am a US citizen, and I intend to stay here. If you don’t like folks who decline to subscribe to your inequitable worldview, I respectfully suggest that you consider relocating to a country that you find more amenable to puerile authoritarianism. I hear that Iran, Belarus or Kazakhstan are good in that regard, to name but a few.
thisisaturingtest
June 14, 2012 at 2:47 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Another quote from Jefferson:
Draft Constitution for Virginia (June 1776)
IOW- atheists welcome here.
thisisaturingtest
June 14, 2012 at 2:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sorry, but here’s another quote from Jefferson that seems particularly apropos to Farah and his kind:
Notes on Religion (October, 1776).
(All quotes from Wikiquote)
Anri
June 14, 2012 at 2:54 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Almost every essay in this genre has one specific aspect I find amusing/disturbing, and this one is no exception. It could be summarized thusly:
“Christ, Christian, Christian, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christian. Oh, and Jews too, sorta.”
It’s not fashionable to appear too anti-Semitic, at least not when addressing a wide potential readership, after all.
At least this one was refreshingly honest about other world religions being excluded from the writer’s vision of utopia.
The essayist suggests that people holding a specific religious view move to a country in which that view is the official state religion. He is, of course, not intelligent enough (or at least presumes his readers aren’t) to see that he is not heeding his own advice.
Reginald Selkirk
June 14, 2012 at 3:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The Founding Fathers also wore wigs and tights. Does Joseph Farah wear wigs and tights?
Gregory in Seattle
June 14, 2012 at 3:48 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Of the many different creator deities, which one? And why that one among the dozen or so that were in widespread use at the time the Declaration of Independence was written down? If Thomas Jefferson had meant a specific one, certainly he would have mentioned it by name.
Then again, Farah is the kind of person who would assert, with equal vigor, that the word “men” in the DoI proves that women cannot be citizens, either.
Synfandel
June 14, 2012 at 4:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Maybe he’s right. I’m an atheist and I’m not a “real American”. I’m one of the hundreds of millions of people who live in America, but not in the United States of America, and therefore are not “real Americans”.
Larry
June 14, 2012 at 4:36 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And it matters what this Farah guy says because…?
No One
June 14, 2012 at 5:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
To quote one of my native “american” friends: “No, you leave”.
Randomfactor
June 14, 2012 at 5:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And it matters what this Farah guy says because…?
Because the people who read his stuff are generally dumber than even HE is.
Sqrat
June 14, 2012 at 5:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The notion that atheists aren’t real Americans is more or less official U.S. government policy, per the words of the Pledge of Allegiance (“one Nation under God”) and of the national motto (“In God We Trust”).
ArtK
June 14, 2012 at 6:01 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Farah couldn’t recognize a Real American™ even if Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin walked up and shook his hand.
Am I a hypocrite because I love the First Amendment in that it allows Farah to publish his bloviations, while hating it because it allows him to publish them?
@Larry
What really scares me is that there are a lot of people out there who actually believe the stuff that people like Farah and David Barton put out. I’ve had relatives — fairly intelligent people — spout “Christian Nation” nonsense at me. I’m frightened because they vote. I’m frightened because, as they lose more control over America (i.e. over marriage equality), they are going to become more frightened and therefore more dangerous.
Finally, it makes me tremendously sad that there is a majority of people in the US who haven’t a clue about the Constitution and what it really means to be a Real American™.
tfkreference
June 14, 2012 at 6:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If America is a Christian country on account of the Founding Fathers, it is a White Male Christian country. No?
Well, substitute “land-owning” for Christian, and you’d be about there (we’ve come a long way from 1787).
Michael Heath
June 14, 2012 at 6:25 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Skip White writes:
There’s three fundamental errors in this quote.
As a reference, here’s the key passage in the DofI:
First off, some sort of god is mentioned twice and not merely once, the second time using a theistic descriptor. The end sentence of the DofI:
I don’t recall if the other members of the drafting committee or the Congress itself added this, I think it was the latter. Here was Thomas Jefferson’s first and his preferred draft’s concluding statement:
[1] It should also be noted that some member of the drafting committee, perhaps Ben Franklin, convinced Jefferson to remove “sacred” from the first draft of the most popularly quoted passage noted above, where it was replaced with the enlightenment-friendly, “self-evident”. So we can blame Jefferson for introducing ‘sacred’ into the DofI given that it was used in the concluding statement of his first draft.
It should also be pointed out that the DofI’s importance goes beyond the colonialists’ treason towards the King, it’s far more than mere “middle-finger to the king” as Skip White asserts. The DofI was a quasi-legal argument making the case revolution in this case is not treason because the King’s governance failed to adhere to certain obligations of government originally spelled out in the English Bill of Rights which was drafted a century earlier. The English and American DofI spells out a break from the circular logic of tyranny and creates an independent standard from which the aggrieved party can revolt from the tyrant, with an arguable legal claim (where I think the latter fails to make its case while supporting revolution anyways). The DofI and this argument is a key leveraging point in developing the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The DofI has also subsequently developed into a standard for governance that if met, makes the case that people born into a previously established society can claim to be free in spite of the fact they had no hand in developing and delegating powers to the government which restricts and sometimes even prohibits the exercise their rights. So the DofI isn’t merely an interesting historical artifact, “a middle finger to King George”, it remains a standard from which we should gauge the quality of governance over us. Some highly respected constitutional scholars believe the U.S. Constitution should be read within the perspective of the standards asserted in the DofI, I concur.
From the perspective it serves as a standard one uses to test the performance of one’s government, the Republican party now controlled by conservatism, fails this standard miserably. President Obama and the Supreme Court also fail miserably on certain key aspects, e.g., 4th and 5th Amendments, the Supremes on whole laundry list given their fealty to corporatism and Christianism rather than the people individually and their Constitution.
marcus
June 14, 2012 at 6:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Farah:”Atheists can’t be real Americans in the truest sense of the word – and People for the American Way should be renamed People for the un-American Way.
Let me explain why.”
No, fuck off!
timgueguen
June 14, 2012 at 6:29 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Farah is apparently of Arab descent. Chances are some if not most of the Founding Fathers wouldn’t have considered him a legitimate candidate for US citizenship. In fact some of his own raders probably wouldn’t think he was if they knew this.
ArtK
June 14, 2012 at 6:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@Sqrat
Oh no, that’s not true at all. Those are just ceremonial deism and have no real meaning.
Wink, wink.
carolineborduin
June 14, 2012 at 7:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
None of the Founding Fathers were of “Syrian and Lebanese ancestry” like Farah is – QED: Farah is not a real American.
Michael Heath
June 14, 2012 at 7:22 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Gregory in Seattle:
Thomas Jefferson wasn’t without overview. There was both a drafting committee and a colonial congress. From this perspective it’s safe to say the Congress was referencing the god they thought both created the universe and at a minimum, inspired at least some of the biblical teachings attributed to Jesus they found worthy of consideration and emulation.
Given the last passage of the DofI which I quote above, many viewed this god has having a theistic nature; however we should also remember this congress wasn’t dwelling over church-state issues or posing for posterity but instead focused on revolting against a king who they argued was not meeting a demanded standard of good governance as noted in the long list of grievances that dominates the DofI.
cptdoom
June 14, 2012 at 10:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Remind me again, is that the God that the likely GOP Nominee believes in? If not, what exactly is Mr. Romney’s state of “realness” vis-a-vis being an American?
StevoR
June 15, 2012 at 6:18 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@28. cptdoom :
Nah, that’d be conman Joe Smith’s angel Moronic, sorry moroni, one. Rmoney was apparently even a Mormon bishop according to the 4Corners (Aussie ABC-TV) doco on him.
Also “likely” nominee? I thought it was well and truly all over and Mittens had that particular rather unfortunate gig locked in, no?
StevoR
June 15, 2012 at 6:31 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Phew! For a second there I thought you meant Charlies Angel Farrah Fawett! Knew she knew better than that!
You’ve been counting then? I think it may only been one hundred thousand, five hundred and fifty-five times but then I may have missed some.
BTW. If it helps, a good debunking of that fallacious notion can be found here :
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/05/07/we-are-not-a-christian-nation/
via the Bad Astronomer Phil Plait’s blog.
PS. Hope its okay to link that here – my apologies and please let me know if not.
StevoR
June 15, 2012 at 6:35 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
PPS. There’s also a really good follow up BA blog post to that which is relevant here – see :
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/08/are-the-ten-commandments-really-the-basis-for-our-laws/
Again, I hope its okay to post this here – please let me know if it breeches “netiquette” or anything like that and you don’t want me to do so, Ed Brayton.
jimmiraybob
June 15, 2012 at 8:16 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well yeah…
Unless you take into account all of the classical Greek and Roman art, architecture, philosophy, science, math and political theory that they were always going on about. When you consider these sources and their direct and easily documented influence, without lying and making things up, on the founding, it becomes clear that ignoramuses* like Farrah are full of….. well, let’s just say empty of knowledge.
*possible substitutions: simpletons, fools, dunces, know-nothings.
StevoR
June 15, 2012 at 8:25 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@ jimmiraybob : youforgot to add tehname sof theplanets inour solarsystem (& most of the moons and many asteroids ) plus the days of the week. All out of the pagan Greco-Roman /Norse pantheons.
Last I heard it was the planet Jupiter not the planet Jeebus and Freya’s day (Friday) not cricification day anyhow.
(Possibly interesting aside at least one religious astronomer in eras past wanted to change the constellation names to Christian religious ones. Thankfully he failed completely.)
StevoR
June 15, 2012 at 8:35 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Arrrggh. Sorry aboyut the typos.
Make that:
You forgot to add the names of the planets in our solarsystem
For clarity.
That individual being Julius Schiller :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Schiller
if anyone’s curious.
Gregory in Seattle
June 15, 2012 at 9:40 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@Michael Heath #27: Which serves my point nicely. If the Founders had intended for the Declaration of Independence to outline a Christian, theist nation, it would have been a Christian, theist document. Instead, the DoI expresses — in only two references — a vague, Deistic deity so broad as to encompass every deity as well as non-supernatural, naturalistic processes which do not need religion or faith to understand. To hold up the DoI and say that it “proves” that the United States is a Christian nation and that atheists cannot therefore be true citizens is a flat-out lie.
The Declaration of Independence it is based on ideas set down in the original Magna Carta of 1215, which established the idea that being monarch comes with contractual obligations between the Crown and its subjects. Failure by the Crown to fulfil these obligations was the justification of the English Civil War, which in turn established the precedent that the Crown cannot govern without the consent of the governed.
The English Bill of Rights, ratified by Parliament in 1689, was an after-the-fact justification of the Glorious Revolution, a religious revolt that pitted supporters of the Catholic King James II against his Protestant daughter, Mary. The Bill of Rights was also designed to limit the power of Mary’s foreign husband, William of Orange, who was also Stadtholder (basically, an elected king) of the countries of the Dutch Republic, and to formalize and guarantee the traditional rights and priviledges of Parliament. It is what made Parliament a legislative body rather than a merely consultative one, and it greatly strengthened the power of the House of Commons and helped to create the office of Prime Minister.
Nemo
June 15, 2012 at 10:33 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@cptdoom #28:
Mormons would say yes. A non-Mormon Christian, on examining Mormon doctrine, would say no.
Nemo
June 15, 2012 at 10:34 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
P.S. Now ask if the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the same one that Christians believe in.
rork
June 15, 2012 at 10:42 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’ve been slow to catch on, but I’m finally getting it I think.
Be disingenuous in your arguments.
Somehow it’s not really lying then.
Jesus wouldn’t want you to fib too much, unless the cause is really important.
jnorris
June 15, 2012 at 10:44 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Randomfactor @ #8: absolutely correct.
jimmiraybob @ #32: also they were Masons.
footface
June 15, 2012 at 12:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And EVEN IF the founders were all good, god-fearing Christians, where does it say in there that only people who share their beliefs get to be Americans?
johnhodges
June 15, 2012 at 2:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Replying to Michael Heath et. al.-
Christian Nationalists seem to have the following logic, as far as I can tell: The Founding Fathers believed in God. Therefore they were Christians. Therefore they founded this country as a Christian Nation, where Christianity is the Official Religion of the United States, Government-endorsed and Taxpayer supported, rightfully receiving special privileges in the law.
Sometimes they also reason as follows, AFAICT: Jefferson says we are endowed by our Creator with rights. Therefore non-Christians have no rights.
Sometimes they say “The USA was founded on Christian Principles.” I have sometimes asked, “Please tell me, WHAT Christian Principles do you think this country was based on? Not laying up treasures on Earth, but instead selling all you have and distributing the money to the poor? Not resisting evil, but instead turning the other cheek? Please quote for me something Jesus taught that we might recognize as a founding principle of the United States.”
Once I asked, When and Where did this Yahveh character ever give us any rights? In particular, rights to religious liberty, freedom of religion? Last I heard, all those who worship other gods were to be put to death. The reply I got was that Yahveh gave us rights in the Declaration of Independence. So the DOI was written by Yahveh????
Both in the DOI and in the Preamble to the Constitution, it says clearly that the authority of the government derives from the people, from the consent of the governed. In neither place does it claim that the government gets its authority from a grant from Yahveh. The “Divine Right of Kings”, Biblical though it was, was not the principle the founders were using.
fastlane
June 22, 2012 at 2:22 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well, they can’t use the constitution, which is the actual founding document of the US government. Although, some try pulling that ‘year of our lord’ BS on occasion.
Asked and answered. You nailed it!