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Bill Sali is wrong: Freedom of religion is not a Christian concept
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Of the two attacks (Larry Craig and Bill Sali) on Idaho values, Sali’s assault on the U.S. Constitution is by far the worst. In considering Sali’s comments that the U.S. was founded on Christian principles, one is reminded of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s observation that everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts.
There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution or in the writings of the key founders to suggest that the U.S. was founded on Christian principles.
The key founders were well aware of the murderous strife that results from mixing religion and government. Thomas Jefferson wrote that “Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.”
Contrary to Sali’s claim that the founders intended this to be a Christian nation, James Madison, the architect of the U.S. constitution, wrote, “Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects?”
While Sali may be ignorant of the bloody history of his religion, Madison was not. Madison wrote that torrents of blood have been spilt in the old world, by vain attempts of the secular arm to extinguish religious discord, by proscribing all difference in religious opinion.
The last thing America needs is to be turned into another Iraq by Christian fundamentalists in control of the government. In fact, Madison could have been thinking about Sali’s religious bigotry when he wrote, “Distant as it may be in its present form from the Inquisition, it differs from it only in degree.”
Contrary to Sali’s claim that the founders never envisioned other religions playing a role in government is Jefferson’s explanation for the rejection of the words Jesus Christ from Virginia’s bill on religious freedom: The insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo and infidel of every denomination.
The U.S. Constitution makes it very clear that no religious test is to be applied for holding office. The First Amendment and the 14th Amendment separate church and state. When Sali isn’t putting his foot in his mouth for political gain, he might want to read the bible carefully (Jefferson did not capitalize bible or god). Nowhere in the bible is there a direction from on high to found a democratic republic. That idea was invented by the founders after studying Greek, Roman and European history.
If there is a sacred place in the United States, it is the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., which is inscribed with these words: “I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” Jefferson was writing about religious zealots.
Gary L. Bennett is a member of the Board of Advisors of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
GARY L. BENNET
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