Blasphemy: How the Religious Right Is Hijacking the Declaration of Independence

For the past few decades, the Religious Right has been trying to weaken, if not eradicate, the wall of separation between church and state. In their attacks, it is common for them to argue that the U.S. is a "Christian nation," "founded on Judeo-Christian morality," etc.; and they frequently buttress their arguments by citing the references in the Declaration of Independence to "Nature's God" and "Creator." Dershowitz shows that those arguments, including the references to the DOI, are badly misguided. In the first two chapters, Dershowitz shows that both the historical context of the DOI and the numerous statements of some of the most influential figures of the period make it clear that organized Christianity was not a significant, positive influence on the DOI. He also shows that the references in the DOI to "Nature's God" and "Creator" meant something radically different in the 1700s from what the naive literalists in the Religious Right claim. Obviously, those present serious problems for the Religious Right's arguments. The third chapter discusses the "natural law" concepts that are so prominent in the DOI. This was my favorite part of the book. First, natural law is not dependent on revelation, so that's a problem for the Religious Right right there. Second, it's not clear that natural law is a useful, much less valid, analytical concept to begin with. Dershowitz's discussion of the analytical problems in natural law arguments was very interesting. The book is very short, but it provides a wealth of historical detail and analysis, and in a very readable style. I recommend it highly.

Alan Dershowitz explores what everyone should have learned in high school: the Founding Fathers were children of the Enlightenment and didn't set out to create a Christian nation. In fact, the greatest of the founders, including Franklin, Washington, and Jefferson were Deists or Unitarians and saw the claim of the divinity of Jesus for what it is: superstition created by passionate and illiterate early followers of Jesus. One of Dershowitz's most pregnant suggestions is that there should be a Ten Amendments movement (as opposed to Ten Commandments) in which the Bill of Rights is placed in every courthouse and schoolroom in the nation. The focus of the book is recapture the meaning of what Jefferson meant when he wrote "Nature's God" and "Creator" in the Declaration of Independence. Dershowitz relies on primary sources, especially the writings of Jefferson himself, to clarify what Jefferson had in mind when he wrote the word, "God". Dershowitz adds icing to the cake by showing what other important figures of our nascent country thought of religion, God, and the separation of church and state by quoting their actual words. This is a book I wish every high school sophomore would read to get a correct understanding of why the separation of church and state is important and why the evangelicals that describe the United States as a "Christian Nation" are wrong.

Alan Dershowitz explores what everyone should have learned in high school: the Founding Fathers were children of the Enlightenment and didn't set out to create a Christian nation. In fact, the greatest of the founders, including Franklin, Washington, and Jefferson were Deists or Unitarians and saw the claim of the divinity of Jesus for what it is: superstition created by passionate and illiterate early followers of Jesus (if there was a real Jesus, but that's another matter). One of Dershowitz's most pregnant suggestions is that there should be a Ten Amendments movement (as opposed to Ten Commandments) in which the Bill of Rights is placed in every courthouse and schoolroom in the nation. The focus of the book is recapture the meaning of what Jefferson meant when he wrote "Nature's God" and "Creator" in the Declaration of Independence. Dershowitz relies on primary sources, especially the writings of Jefferson himself, to clarify what Jefferson had in mind when he wrote the word, "God". Dershowitz adds icing to the cake by showing what other important figures of our nascent country thought of religion, God, and the separation of church and state by quoting their actual words. This is a book I wish every high school sophomore would read to get a correct understanding of why the separation of church and state is important and why the evangelicals that describe the United States as a "Christian Nation" are wrong.

Finally! Let the truth be heard! As a Republican I am sick and tired of Christian fundamentalists trying to hijack the constitutional or fiscal conservative movement. The separation of church and state is not a modern liberal invention, as Bill O'Reilly would have you believe. Now, it REALLY irks me when people speak for what the founding fathers "meant," or "intended," or "believed" by doing everything but what they should be doing--reading the words of the founding fathers!!! Uninformed conservatives argue that the great wall separating church and state is a liberal trick. But where did the phrase actually come from? FROM OUR FOUNDING FATHERS, MANY OF WHOM WERE COMPLETELY SECULAR MEN!!! Thomas Jefferson said that state endorsement of any religion leads to a corrupt society. In his 1808 speech to the Virginia Baptists Jefferson said "Erecting the `wall of separation between church and state,' therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society." In 1802, to the Danbury Baptists, he explicitly referred to the first amendment, telling us what HE thought it meant: "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should `make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' THUS BUILDING A WALL OF SEPARATION BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE" (emphasis added). Furthermore, when uninformed conservatives claim that our founding fathers "intended" this country to be a "Christian" society, the only thing one may deduce is that they have never read what our founding fathers actually had to say about Christianity!! Here are but a few examples: Thomas Jefferson: "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man," and, "The Christian God can be easily pictured as virtually the same as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, evil and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed, beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of the people who say they serve him. There are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites." Thomas Paine: "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of...Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all." He also said that Christianity is "a fable, which, for absurdity and extravagance is not exceeded by anything that is to be found in the mythology of the ancients." James Madison: "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." Madison argued that no religion has ever protected liberties, saying: "Rulers who wished to subvert the pub

This little book sums up the facts regarding the Declaration of Independence and our founding fathers' views on organized religion. This is the book that lays out everything you need to know to speak intelligently on the subject when your friends and coworks try to tell you otherwise. Be informed ! Read this book.