David Barton

Our Nation’s protection, that fortress which is our Constitution, cannot possibly rest upon the changeable philosophical predilections of the Justices of this Court, but must have deep foundations in the historic practices of our people. Lee v. Weisman, 1992

The issue in this case was prayer, specifically, invocations and benedictions delivered at school graduations. The facts were summarized by the Court:

The city of Providence, Rhode Island had a policy of permitting its public high school and middle school principals to invite members of the clergy to offer invocation and benediction prayers as part of the school’s formal graduation ceremonies. Pursuant to this policy, the principal of a middle school invited a rabbi to offer such prayers. The principal gave the rabbi a pamphlet entitled “Guidelines for Civic Occasions,” which recommended that public prayers at nonsectarian civic ceremonies be composed with inclusiveness and sensitivity. Also, the principal advised the rabbi that the invocation and benediction should be nonsectarian.

Although the rabbi prayed according to the “politically correct” guidelines given him, a suit was nevertheless filed by a student and her father, Daniel Weisman. When that case finally reached the Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote the Court struck down the traditional practice of graduation invocations and benedictions offered by clergy. The Court provided the essence of its argument in this simple sentence:

But it is not enough that the government restrain from compelling religious practices: it must not engage in them either. Notice the Court’s conclusion that to allow a rabbi to offer a prayer was the equivalent of the government engaging in a religious practice an incomprehensible stretch both of logic and of interpretation.

Nevertheless, even if it were true that the government allowing prayer is the same as engaging in it, then our history is replete with numerous examples of the government doing so at the insistence of prominent Founding Fathers. Notice:

David Barton – The research that we do is extensive.  The ushers, the greeters, the parkers, the teachers, the nursery workers are all in place to give glory to God.  Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.  Worship should be organized.

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John Witherspoon, too, complemented the Jews:

To the Jews were first committed the care of the sacred Writings. Yet was the providence of God particular manifest in their preservation and purity. The Jews were so faithful in their important trust. Elias Boudinot, President of Congress, was so fond of the “Hebrews” that he served as president of the “Society for Ameliorating the State of the Jews” and made personal provision to bring persecuted Jews to America where they could have an “asylum of safety” and have the opportunity, if they so chose, to inquire into Christianity “without fear or terror.”

However, the Founders’ respect for other religions should not be confused or misinterpreted as a promotion of pluralism evidenced by this statement from Benjamin Rush:

Such is my veneration for every religion that reveals the attributes of the Deity, or a future state of rewards and punishments that I had rather see the opinions of Confucius or Mohamed inculcated upon our youth, than see them grow up wholly devoid of a system of religious principles. But the religion I mean to recommend in this place is that of the New Testament.

Similarly, consider Justice Story’s statement in his Commentaries on the Constitution:

The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance Mahometanism, or Judaism, or infidelity by prostrating Christianity; but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects and to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment which should give to a hierarchy a denominational council the exclusive patronage of the national government.

Representative quotes of many Founders demonstrate their preference for Christianity and provide no evidence of any alleged “mandate to promote a visible, pluralistic society.” Notice:

You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. Congress will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention. George Washington

Let statesmen and patriots unite their endeavors to renovate the age by educating their little boys and girls and leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system. Samuel Adams

David Barton – Do you know what our mission is as leaders of this church?  Our mission is to entertain you.  “He said the word entertain in church?”  Entertain.  I will give you the definition of entertainment.

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Interested members of the Jewish, Roman Catholic and a few of the Protestant faiths formed a voluntary association called the Champaign Council on Religious Education. They obtained permission from the Board of Education to offer classes in religious instruction to public school pupils in grades four to nine inclusive. Classes were made up of pupils whose parents signed printed cards requesting that their children be permitted to attend; they were held weekly, thirty minutes for the lower grades, forty-five minutes for the higher. The council employed the religious teachers at no expense to the school authorities, but the instructors were subject to the approval and supervision of the superintendent of schools. The classes were taught in three separate religious groups by Protestant teachers, Catholic priests, and a Jewish rabbi. Not only were the classes voluntary, students could attend only with parents’ written permission; yet the Court found these classes unacceptable. It reiterated its position taken the previous year:

As we said in the Everson case, the First Amendment has erected a wall between Church and State which must be kept high and impregnable. Justice Felix Frankfurter further expounded on this position: Separation means separation, not something less. It is the Court’s duty to enforce this principle in its full integrity. Illinois has here authorized the commingling of sectarian with secular instruction in the public schools. The Constitution of the United States forbids this. The Court’s assertion that it was wrong for Illinois to “commingle sectarian with secular instruction” seems ironic when one recalls that on August 7, 1789, George Washington signed the Northwest Ordinance which encouraged schools in the territory that would become Illinois to teach “religion, morality, and knowledge.” Furthermore, when Thomas Jefferson authored his plan of education in Virginia, he considered religious study an inseparable component in the study of law and political science. As he explained:

David Barton – “To capture and hold the attention of a person for an extended period of time.”  Did Jesus entertain?  You better believe it.

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In a letter to his daughter, Susan, Boudinot described his motivations for writing that rebuttal:

I confess that I was much mortified to find the whole force of this vain man’s genius and art pointed at the youth of America. This awful consequence created some alarm in my mind lest at any future day, you, my beloved child, might take up this plausible address of infidelity; and for want of an answer at hand to his subtle insinuations might suffer even a doubt of the truth, as it is in Jesus, to penetrate into your mind. I therefore determined to put my thoughts on the subject of this pamphlet on paper for your edification and information, when I shall be no more.

I chose to confine myself to the leading and essential facts of the Gospel which are contradicted or attempted to be turned into ridicule by this writer. I have endeavored to detect his falsehoods and misrepresentations and to show his extreme ignorance of the Divine Scriptures which he makes the subject of his animadversions criticisms not knowing that “they are the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth” ROMANS 1:16.

Patrick Henry, too, wrote a refutation of Paine’s work which he described as “the puny efforts of Paine.” However, after reading Bishop Richard Watson’s Apology for the Bible written against Paine, Henry deemed that work sufficient and decided not to publish his reply. When William Paterson, signer of the Constitution and a Justice on the U. S. Supreme Court, learned that some Americans seemed to agree with Paine’s work, he thundered:

Infatuated Americans, why renounce your country, your religion, and your God? Oh shame, where is thy blush? Is this the way to continue independent, and to render the 4th of July immortal in memory and song? Zephaniah Swift, author of America’s first law book, noted:

David Barton – Did Simon Peter entertain?  No doubt about it.  Did the Apostle Paul entertain?  Yes.  You don’t have to be boring.  You can be entertaining.  This book, the Bible, is that exciting.

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