 |
| George Washington life mask, by Houdon (National Portrait Gallery) |
George Washington planted vineyards and also ran a distillery. Thomas Jefferson was a passionate wine collector, sometimes called “America’s first vintner,” who once confessed “wine from habit has become an indispensable for my health.” Benjamin Franklin wrote that “wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy,” observing that the elbow was perfectly designed, by the Almighty, to facilitate drinking: “Let us, then, with glass in hand, adore this benevolent wisdom.”
Given this, and other related historical facts, it would be easy to argue that the United States was founded by a bunch of tosspots for the express purpose of facilitating inebriation.
It would take an honest, fair-minded person — they do exist — to survey, not the narrow range of grape-stained documents, but the whole of American history, to point out that subordination to Great Britain did not encumber consuming wine, and other factors inspired the quest for American independence, such as a desire for freedom.
A similar candor demands that a similar evenhanded historical perspective be applied to last Sunday’s “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving,” the prayer orgy on the National Mall featuring top officials from the Trump administration celebrating the notion that ours is a Christian nation created by, and for, Christians.
Pretty to think so. For them. For others, not so much. But before we dive in, first consider the source — something the media is terrible at doing. We wake up every morning, shocked to discover a fiery object in the sky, muster our wits to gradually ascertain that, yes, it is indeed the sun, again, and then prepare to receive that day’s load of lies and crimes as similar bolts from the blue, as if they hadn’t appeared yesterday and the day before that, and the day before.
The proponents of the America-is-Christian canard are the same people who generally not only take pride in their woeful ignorance of the past but claim to feel bad if minor details like slavery or labor strife or mass immigration manage to nudge themselves into a textbook, who pass laws to make sure succeeding generations are hobbled in a similar fashion, a kind of intellectual foot-binding. Now, in their continuing quest to salve their inflamed egos, they claim America was founded especially for them as a Christian nation. It wasn’t. It was founded by Christians, true. But suggesting that their creation is therefore, by necessity, also Christian, is like arguing that Albert Einstein’s revolution in physics makes atomic energy Jewish (which the Nazis actually did claim, to their eventual sorrow).
Where to begin? It’s common to start with the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli, where our nation spelled it out so plainly that even MAGA could understand, if they were into understanding reality rather than trying to mold it to their whims.
To continue reading, click here.
Thank you Neil for reminding your audience that we are in the grip of Fascists who steal from those not strong enough to fight off the thieves. Looking forward to the midterms, let’s flip the Congress (both Houses) and cut off funding for their so called pro-Christian agenda and return funding to everyone who lives on the margins.
ReplyDeleteAMEN
Delete"...a kind of intellectual foot-binding." Perfect. And we all know that Jews run the space lasers, not nuclear weapons.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the idiots that make that ridiculous claim should also read George Washington's letter to the Touro Synagogue.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/touro-synagogue
But then, their bizarre hero, the demented & deranged child rapist, read out loud, poorly as almost everyone has said, a weird part of that fictional bible about David & Solomon, both Jews of ancient Israel!
The United States was founded by Caucasian , christian, men. To demonstrate largess, they included reassuring language to OTHERS that the government would not establish a national religion . Orwellian doublespeak was already being used in the phrase all men were created equal . Then they did not treat them that way. They were not atheists and god is mentioned and so is creation.
ReplyDeleteEvery president was christian for 200 years. The christians seized power and the rest of us landless peasants weren't trusted to elect anyone. Human chattel was maintained and exploited for more that one hundred years. Wars were fought to exterminate the indigenous people on this land and women were subjugated. All in the name of god and based on biblical teachings.
Corporations were formed and eventually given the rights of personhood. All before trump came along. I'm not surprised the Christian Right continues to effort towards control of this country. The rest of us are fucked. We are trying to resist a circumstance that has existed since the founding. Personified by a faker and scoundrel.
And we , the democrats can't even get our shit together for the upcoming midterms. all the words aren't going to change a goddamn thing. Thanks for the effort but you are casting at windmills
Incorrect. The overwhelming majority of the Founding fathers were deists. They weren't Christians, but they believed there was a creator.
DeleteJefferson was very doubtful about most of the so-called bible, he actually rewrote it deleting much of what he thought was ridiculous & made up.
Have been calling them...the evangelicals and the fundamentalists and the Christian Right...Christian Fascists, since well before the ascendence of the Orange One. Probably as far back as the Tea Party days. They are both Christians who are fascists, and fascists who are Christians. And in a little more than year, those God-loving clowns and Jesus freaks have taken over the circus.
DeleteAs Orwell so accurately put it: "All men are created equal...but some or more equal than others." If you were white, Christian and owned property, you were fine. A landless serf, a factory worker, a person of color, a female...not so much. Hell, not at all.
A great deal of the Nazi playbook came from our enslavement of blacks and our treatment of indigenous tribes. Hitler studied our methods, learned them well, and put them into practice. The ovens were an afterthought.
Corporations became the paternalistic and less-than-benevolent dictators of their communities. Employees left their civil and human rights at the time clock when they punched in. As a result, the United States has had bloodiest and most violent labor strife of any industrialized nation in the history of the world.
Hundreds of working men and women died to secure basic dignity in their workplaces, along with the right to bargain collectively for better wages and conditions, and for the benefits we now take for granted. And the owners and overseers of those workplaces were white Christian capitalists who believed that God was on their side. Along with law enforcement, private armies, and the military.
Elon Musk has openly bragged of using sophisticated technology to steal the last election for his orange overlord and the Christian Fascists. Democrats and those who voted for them shrugged and did nothing. And now it is about to happen again, on an even larger scale. We're not only toast, we're burnt toast.
There's no light at the end of the tunnel...just more tunnel. I don't expect to ever see and feel the sunshine again, after a decade of stumbling through the darkness. Just more and even darker darkness.
"All men are created equal...but some are more equal than others."
DeleteFixed it for you, Grizz.
Money is the biggest threat to our democracy. Right wing media and un-taxed techno-facists come in a close second, but I believe they would crumble if the money stopped flowing.
ReplyDeleteI have come to the following conclusions regarding the right. And when I say the right, I mean anyone center and right of that. It is clear that there is no longer a true middle, as proven by joe manchin. In the 70s,or 80s, or 90s manchin would have been a republican and societies continued claim that the left has shifted further left is just absolute baloney. The right has shifted so far right, that it makes the center look like a republican.
But I digress. the right can be classified as either: Brainwashed, stupid, or pure evil. Your piece today, Neil, is a great example of that. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink; and in this case, water is fact.
These past two years has been nothing but facts being shown, only to be called lies, and then shown to be true. Over, and over again. And still, the lies win.
I like to think it is simply because democratic leadership is as bland as milk toast milk toast (and surely people like both schumer and jeffires are perfect examples of this), but in actually the problem is propaganda and stupid lazy people.
Fox, Fox "News," OAN, Meta, YouTube, Joe Rogan, the "man o'sphere" and all the other platforms that are nothing less than right wing mouth pieces are never held responsible for spreading misinformation, lies, and hate. I will never forgive the companies that have settled with them (like dominion) for not destroying them and proving how cancerous they are.
Coupled with the "liberal" medias failures of white washing, both siding, and corporate kowtowing we live in a world when actual leadership is held accountable and the rest are let to fester in the sun and called heroes.
I'm not calling Eric Swalwell or Al Franken good people (though lets be honest, Franken being held politically responsible for a comedy show decades earlier seems laughable at this moment in time), but I am trying to highlight how there are at least five republicans currently in congress and the white house who have literally raped or facilitated the raping of others (with documented public proof) and we still seem to treat them like they deserve respect or their positions.
Republicans do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. Republicans do not deserve respect. Republicans do not deserve to serve in governments, in any capacity. Republicans do not deserve our trust.
All of these things are earned, and despite what is being reported, none of them have earned an ounce of it. And I'm tired of people acting like they do. Bill Cassidy is a perfect example of this; lose your primary, and suddenly you grow a spine. Watch what Thomas Massey does now.
absolutely pathetic.
Yes this was poorly written. Yes i'm angry.
Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this world which by definition rules out the idea of a "Christian America". Jesus called us to be salt and light in our society.
ReplyDeleteYou cannot be a republican and a real christian.
DeleteChristian nationalist are not followers of Christ.
Separate church and state. full stop
It sometimes feels like the Jesus MAGA have embraced all the sanctimony/ self-righteousness of the early Puritans, but without the self sacrifice and self-discipline. The Puritans believed the creation of America was God's will, and wanted their government intricately tied to their religion. So much so that voting registration in the Massachusetts Bay Colony was tied to church membership. Their intolerance of other religions, the Quakers in particular, was immense. And of course, the Puritans brought us the salem witch trials, as well. And here we are in 2026. So much damage in the name of Christianity.
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned earlier, many of the Founding Fathers were not Christians, but deists. They believed in a Creator, though they probably disagreed among themselves as to the characteristics of that Creator.
ReplyDeleteBen Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, probably Monroe and Madison would have been included in that group. And most of them also were practical politicians. They knew that they weren't perfect and that the government they were trying to create wasn't perfect.
Creator is used in the Declaration of Independence. There is no mention of a Creator or God in the Constitution. That was very deliberate. There were Jews and Muslims that fought with the Continental Army against the British as well as atheists.
As I have heard many times, the First Amendment assures freedom of religion as well as freedom FROM religion.