This Country Was Founded On...

Conservatives and Christianists are always telling us that "This country (i.e. the USA) was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and based on the authority of the Bible."

False.

Very false. In fact, the USA was founded on rationalism and the humanist ideals of the Enlightenment, based on the writings of Locke, Rousseau, and that whole crowd.

Doesn't that sound familiar from sixth-grade Civics class? (If not, then you probably went to a religious school or were home-schooled. Or possibly you went to school in Kansas, and were also taught that the world was created in six days, that the Earth is flat, and that George W. Bush is a good President.)

Many of the early European settlers fled to North America to escape religious persecution in their own countries. (Some fled to North America so that they could set up their own persecution of other religions.) See, that sounds pretty familiar, too, doesn't it?

The Founders were quite aware of the dangers of an official state religion, and of unfettered power for religion in general. They deliberately established a nation without an official religion, a nation where the state is forbidden to "make any law respecting an establishment of religion." (If that doesn't sound familiar, stop reading now...you are probably already in serious trouble with the theocrats who run your government.)

The Christianists and Conservatives keep telling the lie that this country was founded on religious beliefs. And because they repeat it so often, everyone starts believing the lie.

The only way to combat a lie is to tell the truth, to tell it repeatedly and positively. So please do the Ivory Madonna a favor. The next time you hear someone spouting that "Judeo-Christian nation" claptrap, or talking about passing laws based on the Ten Commandments or the Bible or the Apocrypha, please say what the Ivory Madonna says:

"This country was founded on rationalism and the humanist ideals of the Enlightenment, and it saddens me to see this creeping religionism that turns its back on those ideals."

If enough of us tell the truth often enough, maybe the lie will fade away....

-M

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The Ivory Madonna's story is told in Dance for the Ivory Madonna by Don Sakers.