A Different Stir

Fred Phelps, founder and pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., claims to be a man of God. But when I interviewed him days after he initiated a vulgar protest at a dead Marine's funeral, he reminded me more of Lucifer

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That's how Michael Smerconish, from the Philadelphia Inquirer, starts his March 14th OP-Ed piece about free speech versus the right to gather.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case concerning Phelps' right to protest and assemble. Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who died in combat in Iraq on March 3, 2006. Joining his family, friends, and loved ones at his funeral a week later were Phelps and several protesters from Westboro Baptist. According to a lower court's recounting of the facts: "They traveled to Matthew Snyder's funeral in order to publicize their message of God's hatred of America for its tolerance of homosexuality."

Phelps has made it his mission to get the USA back on track by protesting at the funerals of fallen soldiers. His signage reflects a perverse ideology and is littered with phrases like: "God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11," "Pope in Hell," "America Is Doomed," "Fag Troops," "You're Going to Hell," "God Hates You," "Semper Fi Fags," "Thank God for IEDs," and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

Snyder's father, Albert, sued Phelps and some of his parishioners, initially winning a $10-million-plus award but that was thrown out by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

The Judge, Robert King, wrote in the court's opinion,"As utterly distasteful as these signs are... they involve matters of public concern, including the issue of homosexuals in the military, the sex-abuse scandal within the Catholic Church, and the political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens." They are protected by the First Amendment, the court concluded, because they didn't assert "objectively verifiable facts" that specifically apply to Matthew or Albert Snyder.

I've long been an atheist and I find acts like those of Fred Phelps not only distasteful but proof that Christianity has fallen off the rails. Yes I know that Phelps is a tiny minority but he represents a larger fallacy in Christian theology, that God, if he did exist, would waste his time micro-managing the world and it's day to day outcomes.

I recently heard Rabbi Harold Kushner, who has written a dozen books offering guidance from the Bible for living a life that matters. His best-known title is When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

He says that if he had to face the fact that God was either all-powerful but not kind, or thoroughly kind and loving, but not totally powerful, he would rather compromise God's power and affirm his love.

"The ... theological conclusion I came to is that God could have been all-powerful at the beginning, but he chose to designate two areas of life off-limits to his power," Kushner says. "He would not arbitrarily interfere with laws of nature. And secondly, God would not take away our freedom to choose between good and evil."

I found that comforting. The God, that I don't believe in, chose to be all loving but not all powerful. This makes more sense that telling a parent who recently lost a child that we cannot know the will of God... or however that lame argument goes.

Too bad that people like Phelps are the ones who make the news more often. Of the 2 billion Christians on the planet I have heard no one make as much sense as Rabbi Harold Kushner.

Were They Christian?

It's almost impossible to know what the Founding Fathers believed... Sure you can extrapolate from their writings but it's important to realize the whole mythology and concept of the Founders is over blown. Jefferson and Adams for example became bitter enemies, although the worked together during the revolution. It wasn't until they both retired from politics that they reconciled. Ironically they both died within hours of each other on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4th 1826.

So while they Founders were sometimes bitter rivals what did they believe? In the case of Jefferson it was quite radical. On the site Beliefnet you can find a version of Jefferson's Bible. A bible that he cut and pasted to assemble the teachings of Jesus without miracles and virgin birth. Jefferson said he wanted to separate the "diamonds from the dunghill." Exactly what did her remove from his version:
The virgin birth—gone.
Christ's bodily resurrection—gone.
The miracles of the loaves, walking on water, raising Lazarus—none of them made Jefferson's book

What about James Madison? Here are a few quotes:

"Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects."

and this

"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people."

Jefferson and Madison are just two examples. Adams was a Unitarian and didn't believe in the concept of the Trinity or the Divinity of Jesus... To say these men were not christian would be a stretch but to say the wanted to establish the United States as a christian nation would also be a stretch.

Christian Nation

Did the "Founding Fathers" intend the United States to be a Christian Nation? Christianistas would have you think so but was that really the case? If you take a look at the first 150 years, of the colonies, you will find religious intolerance was rife. Protestantism was preferable, Catholicism was not, and Jews were an anathema. In Massachusetts Quakers were beaten, arrested, deported and executed. Yes the man on you favorite oatmeal was the scourge of the colonies. Pennsylvania was founded as a refuge for the persecuted Quakers and Maryland was founded for Catholics. Although Catholics were not safe for long in Maryland. The Puritans burned all of the Catholic churches in Southern Maryland. Actually it was George Washington who promoted tolerance of Catholics to curry favor with the French, as an ally, a predominantly Catholic country.

The words God and Creator are each mentioned only once in the Declaration of Independence. The word God is never mentioned in the Constitution. Isn't strange that if the Founding Fathers wanted this to be a Christian Nation that they would leave God out of the Constitution?

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

It wasn't until the 14th amendment, in 1868, that the Bill of Rights was applied to the States. Until then The States could establish religion and sanction it. The Restoration period, after the Civil War, changed the nature of the Constitution forever.

More about the beliefs of the Founding Fathers tomorrow.

Why Does Texas Get to Pick Textbooks?

This weekend's New York Times Magazine featured this article by RUSSELL SHORTO: How Christian Were the Founders? The basic premise of the article was that the state of Texas influences the textbook revisions of all the major textbook publishers and therefore impacts the textbooks that schools use around the country. In his interview with Don McLeroy he said:

McLeroy was frank in talking about how he applies direct pressure to textbook companies... [he] wanted books to include classic myths and fables rather than newly written stories whose messages they didn’t agree with... McLeroy shared an email with the author showing the fruits of his efforts: “Hi Don. Thanks for the impact that you have had on the development of Pearson’s Scott Foresman Reading Street series. Attached is a list of some of the Fairy Tales and Fables that we included in the series.”

To me there are 3 issues with this topic:
1. That Texas gets to choose what is taught in public schools around the country
2. That crazy people get to influence the curriculum even though they know nothing about the subject matter.
3. That we are still arguing about the beliefs of the Founding Fathers.

The agenda of the christianistas is to gut evolution, promote creationism, and establish a christian nation. I have no doubt that many of the Founding Fathers were christian but did they want a christian nation? Tomorrow I will discuss the latest on the beliefs of the Founding Fathers.