PART II
The BIGGER Lie
Was the U.S. Constitution “inspired by God?”
The BIGGER Lie
The BIGGER Lie is the misconception that the U.S. Constitution was “inspired by God.”
Let me paint the picture for you.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness — that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
You know these words, right?
They are NOT in the U.S. Constitution.
They are from the Declaration of Independence.
Here’s how the U.S. Constitution begins:
Which one mentions a Creator? Which one mentions “unalienable rights?” How about “all men are created equal?”
Correct: the Declaration of Independence mentions all three. The Constitution makes no mention of any Creator or “unalienable rights” or that “all men are created equal.”
The Founders had their own faith-based beliefs which varied greatly, but they did not incorporate those beliefs into the U.S. Constitution. While the Declaration of Independence strives to connect us with a Creator who guarantees “unalienable rights,” the Constitution never mentions either.
What History Teaches Us
Religion was a very important part of society in the 1780s, much more so than it is today. Most of the Founders were thought to be church-going men, but there were variations in what they believed, and how they applied their faith in the course of their life’s work.
James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution” believed the government should not provide public (government) money or support for any organized religion. As a member of the Virginian General Assembly in 1785, Madison wrote a pointed piece called A Memorial and Remonstrance in which he argued against providing state monies to “Teachers of the Christian religion.”
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. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not.
James Madison was a smart man: while he clearly opposed funding churches with state money, he also understood the nature of the society he lived in, keeping it private until 1826 that he had been the one to write this document opposing government funding for religious undertakings, understanding fully what the public outcry against him would be.
The Founders wrote a lot about liberty, and equality, but those were words meant for them — the white men who would rule the nation. These were concepts that were never supposed to come to fruition for those “undeserving” souls: the indigenous tribes, African slaves, and women.
No Rights for You!
We’ve all seen the crazy Soup Nazi on Seinfeld, barking at customers who fail to place their order correctly. It is a funny scene, but there is also a bit of realism to it: the fact that one person can deny another of something without reason is either hilarious or scary.
NATIVES/INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
After calling the natives “savages” in the Declaration of Independence, the Founders completely dismissed them for the rest of American history, viewing them only as a conquered people, not as the rightful inhabitants of the land.
These God-fearing White Europeans — now Founders — proceeded to treat the natives like savages, making and breaking nearly 400 treaties with them, then eventually stealing the entire continent out from under them. The truth is that the real savages were the colonists — fully supported in writing by the Founders. Today, any American who denies the true history of how this nation treated the Indigenous people is a savage.
The Native people refused the Jesus laid on them by the colonists, but the colonists insisted: they ended up using force — guns and horses were used to overpower the Natives, and take all they had.
All “inspired by God.”
AFRICANS/BLACKS
From nearly the beginning of European settlements on this continent, slaves were kidnapped and dragged here from Africa in the bottom of slave ships. Many died on the way, and more died upon arrival, being exposed to disease their bodies had no immunity to.
Those who brought them here believed slavery was justified because it appeared often in the Bible. Jesus had mentioned slaves, including in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, so the colonists believed slavery was acceptable to God. They were replete with verses that supported slavery:
“Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life….”
Lev. 25:44–46
The Bible discusses slavery in various ways. Slave owners in colonial America used certain verses like the one above to justify their continued use of slavery.
But while the Bible clearly permitted slavery, it is also clear that none of the colonists read or followed the entire Bible. Here’s one little verse from the Bible that was not heard or read in the days of chattel slavery:
“Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.
Ex. 21:16
There is no single historical issue that more accurately defines the United States of America than slavery.
All men are created equal? No.
The Founders didn’t believe in it then, and Republicans don’t believe in it today. No one who has studied American history could ever suggest equality, justice, or liberty were the founding principles of this nation.
“Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference — so wide that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of the one is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason but the most deceitful one for calling the religion of this land Christianity…”
WOMEN
“To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Gen. 3:16
Today’s American women have not heard this verse from the first book of the Bible preached in church often for good reason: they would rise in rebellion. If American women knew that God had granted husbands complete rule over their lives, there might be a whole lot of American women questioning if they wanted to continue in this faith.
Until recently, saying ‘no’ to her husband when he wanted sex was not an option: women had no legal recourse. In fact, until late in the 20th century, there were a number of things women were prohibited from doing:
- women couldn’t obtain credit in their own name
- couldn’t serve on a jury
- couldn’t be admitted to a military academy or serve on the front lines
- couldn’t be admitted to an Ivy League school
- had no reproductive rights
As for the last one, it is no accident that Republicans are now leading the charge to erase these rights — again. The other rights women have secured surely will also disappear unless American women decide to fight.
Founded on Lies
America was purportedly founded on the principles that “all men are created equal” but in truth we, as a nation, have never put that principle fully into action. While the Founders wrote it, they never enforced it: in fact, they never wanted it enforced. It would have cost them the nation, as southern states simply would not have agreed to be united had slavery been outlawed by the Constitution.
“There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.”
Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
This was the world Madison and his contemporaries lived in: one where the God of vengeance was held over their heads as a bird of prey, lying in wait to devour them should they slip into sin. Madison, at least rejected this, as did others, like Founder Thomas Paine.
“Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in, but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity.”
Clearly, the Founders found themselves writing a document that would create a nation in a land where a great majority of its peoples were bound to the God of Abraham, or at least had descended from those who arrived here to pursue religion on their own terms. They were certainly influenced by this religion in both their personal and professional affairs, but did they permit this influence to direct their work on the Constitution? Could it be said that the influence of living in a semi-religious state led them to follow the precepts of that religion, or further to the point, look to the God of the people for inspiration?
In October, 1787, a month after the Constitution was signed by its drafters, Alexander Hamilton wrote to one “Mr. Childs” about his belief in God’s influence:
“For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system which without the finger of God never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.
Hamilton’s use of the term “the finger of God” here is a reference to a biblical verse, perhaps Luke 11:20: it is impossible to know precisely which verse he was quoting, as the “finger of God” appears no less than 11 times in the Bible.
In other words, it was not a verse alien to a church-going man, which Hamilton did regularly, although he was nowhere near pious.
The use of the language here does not suggest that the words of the Constitution were inspired by God, but that Hamilton believed God had played a role in making it come together. Looking further at the letter, Hamilton goes on to suggest that God was not involved at all. In the very next sentence of his letter to Mr. Childs, Hamilton states:
“I will not presume to say that a more perfect system might not have been fabricated; but who expects perfection at once?”
If Hamilton was convinced that the “finger of God” played a role, why wouldn’t he expect the Constitution to be perfect? Was God not known for perfection?
His own words contradict the notion that Hamilton’s work on the Constitution was guided by nothing more than the diligence of the men involved.
This was the same sentiment Madison used in Federalist #37, where he used the same language about the finger of God, writing about the enormous differences that had to be overcome by the convention to achieve a completed project.
“It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.”
James Madison, Federalist #37
Two notes: first, Madison and Hamilton worked together to write the Federalist Letters, which were published in newspapers to try to convince the individual states to vote to approve the newly completed Constitution. They were familiar with each other, and worked hand in hand writing these letters, along with a handful of others, so it is completely sensible they may use a finger of God reference more commonly, similar to how some may write “God helps those who helps themselves”— which is not in the Bible.
Second, many have quoted Hamilton and Madison’s words because they provide a biblical reference. Reading what each of them wrote completely, however, adds necessary context to their words, and clearly shows neither men were suggesting the Constitution was inspired by God.
In fact, Madison clarified his beliefs about why the Convention succeeded just a few paragraphs later:
“The first is, that the convention must have enjoyed, in a very singular degree, an exemption from the pestilential influence of party animosities — the disease most incident to deliberative bodies, and most apt to contaminate their proceedings. The second conclusion is that all the deputations composing the convention were satisfactorily accommodated by the final act, or were induced to accede to it by a deep conviction of necessity of sacrificing private opinions and partial interests to the public good, and by a despair of seeing this necessity diminished by delays or by new experiments.”
James Madison, Federalist #37
Did you read where Madison told us how God had inspired the men at the convention? Did you see where he was praising the influence of the Almighty in pushing the delegates to cooperate?
Of course you didn’t, because that is not what happened.
God may have been an influence on the lives of many of the Founders, but the Constitution was clearly not inspired by God. The Founders made almost no mention of God during the Convention, and only one reference to religion in the document itself — and that was to exclude religious tests.
The government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed, not from an assembly of elders, not from a king or a prelate, and not from a higher power. The stirring opening words of the Preamble, “We the People of the United States,” make it clear both who is establishing the government and for whose benefit it exists. There is no consent required beyond the will of the people for the people to govern themselves.
Anthony J. Minna, WHY GOD IS IN THE DECLARATION BUT NOT THE CONSTITUTION, Journal of The American Revolution
Those who declared their independence from England may have been praying for divine intervention when they considered taking on the world’s most powerful army. To stir the people, they made mention of their Creator in their Declaration, and wrote of glorious rewards for fighting the tyrant: life, liberty and all that.
But after the Revolution ended, and the work of creating a stable government was required, they knew they could not permit religion of any kind to influence the nation’s foundational law. They knew the history of other nations being unduly influenced by the religion of the month, and they were bound and determined to not have a repeat of that here.
In revolution, it is imperative to rally the people to the cause, to state that they all had been denied “unalienable rights” that were worth fighting for. Upon victory, however, these Founders were no longer interested in giving rights to the common man, creating instead in the original Constitution a document that didn’t even include the rights later included in the First Amendment.
If the Founders were inspired by anything, it was to keep God out of their Constitution and out of their government: they worked hard at that effort, and succeeded in doing just that. Had they actually written a document that had been inspired by God, they would have had to grant those “unalienable rights” to every citizen, something they were not prepared to do.
The Founders had no intention of granting anyone rights besides themselves. They had established a government that gave them sole authority over a nation completely void of any mention of any religion, exactly as they had planned.
If religion was important to the American people, that concern surely never appeared in the Constitution that began with “We, the people.” The argument could be made that not only was the U.S. Constitution not the inspiration of God, but that the Founders deliberately left out any and all mention of religion to give them — and not God — the clear and undisputed power of governing.
The Founders were well aware of how religion had given rise to autocrats, to kings, and to popes, all wielding untold power over the people for land, power, and taxes — the same exact things these Founders ended up doing themselves.
They wrote in the Declaration that “all men are created equal” but made no provision for it in the Constitution, spitting in the face of the people’s God. They permitted the continual use of force over the lives of the indigenous people, over slaves, and refused to grant women full rights.
The Founders Beliefs
The Founders had their own religious beliefs, and many were Christians. But they did not and would not incorporate their beliefs into the law.
The only mention of any religion in the Constitution is exclusionary to any and all religions:
The singular mention of religion in the Constitution was from Article VI:
Later, The Bill of Rights added the First Amendment:
When the Constitution was sent to the several states for ratification, many were underwhelmed by the total lack of any mention of God.
Where did our “Unalienable Rights” go?
While it has become a popular expression used over centuries, the concept of “unalienable rights” is foreign to both the Bible and the Constitution. Mentioned only in the Declaration of Independence, these God-given rights were specifically never mentioned again: the Founders knew they had no ability to provide the aforementioned “unalienable rights” through this constitution, as southern slave states simply were unwilling to give up their slaves, and would not support it.
What the Founders actually debated was how to incorporate a way to count slaves while not giving them any legal rights. If you believe the Founders work on counting slaves as 3/5 of a person was “divine intervention,” you might be a Republican.
If the Constitution was “inspired by God” where then in the Bible does God count man as only 3/5 of a person?
If we look at the Bible and God’s rules for Man, and compare that to how Americans have defined order in this nation through the Constitution and law, what we see is a remarkable contrast.
When we compare the Word of God to the Laws of Man, the most interesting fact we find is that the God of the Bible never mentions any “unalienable rights.” Instead of granting Man rights, God laid out commandments for Man to follow; quite a big difference from what God demands and what the American government granted.
The Treaty of Tripoli
Further proof that the Constitution was not inspired by God may come from some of the earliest documents of the new nation.
The Treaty of Tripoli, one of the first treaties the new nation signed with a foreign power, was ratified unanimously by the U.S. Senate in 1796. In the Treaty of Tripoli, we find an astounding comment about the new nation and it’s freedom from religion:
Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli states:
If the Constitution — the foundational legal document of the nation — was inspired by God, why then are the Founders, just five years after ratification, stating that the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion?
If the founders were dogmatic about anything, it was the belief that a person’s faith should not be intruded upon by government and that religious doctrine should not be written into governance. James Madison, for instance, was vigorously opposed to religious intrusions into civil affairs.
Divine Inspiration?
Many Americans, especially those who desire a nation with the God of Abraham at the helm, proclaim a convoluted set of values and beliefs based on the incorrect notion that this nation’s constitution was “inspired by God,” or that God somehow provided a framework in which to guide the Founders in the creation of the government.
In June of this year, Russell “Rusty” Bowers, Secretary of State for Arizona, testified before the January 6th Committee investigating the Insurrection. Bowers stated to the committee that he believed the Constitution is “divinely inspired” and it was this belief that prohibited Bowers from breaking the law as Trump and Giuliani had asked him to do.
It was his belief.
“It is a tenet of my faith that the Constitution is divinely inspired, that this is my most basic foundational belief,” Bowers said during his testimony.
His most basic foundational belief is that the Constitution he swore to defend is divinely inspired.
Nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of God, or the Bible, or any reference to the law being inspired by either.
Is Rusty Bowers a fool? Has he been duped? Have we all?
How has this man who has served in the Republican Party for thirty years come to hold this belief when the Constitution itself makes no mention of God?
Institutional and generational core beliefs: those core values that are handed down from one generation to the next but are never challenged or verified, just simply accepted.
In other words, people come to believe that which they are taught by those they trust, even when what they learn is not true.
Historian Heather Cox Richardson on the danger of societal lies.
The construction of a world based on lies is a key component of authoritarians’ takeover of democratic societies. George Orwell’s 1984 explored a world in which those in power use language to replace reality, shaping the past and people’s daily experiences to cement their control. They are constantly reconstructing the past to justify their actions in the present. In Orwell’s dystopian fantasy, Winston Smith’s job is to rewrite history for the Ministry of Truth to reflect the changing interests of a mysterious cult leader, Big Brother, who wants power for its own sake and enforces loyalty through The Party’s propaganda and destruction of those who do not conform.
Political philosopher Hannah Arendt went further, saying that the lies of an authoritarian were designed not to persuade people, but to organize them into a mass movement. Followers would “believe everything and nothing,” Arendt wrote, “think that everything was possible and that nothing was true.” “The ideal subject” for such a dictator, Arendt wrote, was not those who were committed to an ideology, but rather “people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction…and the distinction between true and false…no longer exist.”
While America’s Founders wrote and talked at great length about liberty, equality, and unalienable rights, they wrote and passed a Constitution that did not guarantee those bounties to the people. In fact, a majority of the citizens of the new nation were denied many rights for most of the history of the United States.
Closer to the truth is that America started out more like an authoritative nation, with rights being granted only to white land-owning men. It took Black men until the 15th Amendment was passed to be granted the legal right to vote, and women another five decades beyond that. The indigenous people, native to America, are still treated as savages by the American government.
Over the course of two-and-a-half centuries, America has moved closer to being a nation of equal rights, but only due to the constant struggle and fight of those who have been denied for so long. It wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 that Black men and women could vote freely without fear of reprisal throughout this nation.
The Republican Party, on the other hand, is fighting hard to eliminate voting and women’s rights: the GOP desire a return to 1787, the year the Constitution was written, and a time when only white men had any rights. Backed by billionaires who can now give unlimited campaign contributions, the GOP will stop at nothing to return America to a nation of limited rights for a limited few.
“My father was a Republican. So was my grandfather. The first administration I joined in Washington was Gerald Ford’s. One of my dearest friends is Alan Simpson, former senator from Wyoming. But since Ronald Reagan became president, I’ve watched the Republican Party turn from a governing institution into a crazed cult. It is not just bent on returning America to what it was before the New Deal. It is now intent on turning America into an authoritarian nation. It represents a clear and present danger to the future of the United States and the world.” Robert Reich
Oppression and Repression are all about Control
The entire Make America Great Again circus was nothing more than the former president’s miserably ugly attempt to unravel the progress made by every minority group that has been oppressed and repressed since even before this nation’s inception, fully supported by wealthy white Republican men.
If the God of the Bible is all powerful, and was watching and inspiring the Founders as they wrote the Constitution, why didn’t he ensure that all Americans were blessed with these “unalienable rights” mentioned in the Declaration of Independence?”
Why didn’t he force the hands of the Founders?
Or better still, how did the Founders create a constitution that so many claim was “inspired by God,” yet failed to grant these “unalienable rights” to so many, even after they declared God had granted them to all?
Beyond all of this, if God had declared that men should be in charge of everything, and God is always watching, how have so many who were denied those “unalienable rights” been able to now secure them for themselves? Is God angry with white men for denying others these “unalienable rights?” Perhaps God is angry with those who have secured their rights, in spite of the Founders negligence?
Republicans believe that God is angry, but they believe it is because so many — who should not have these rights — have secured them, and continue to fight for even more equal treatment under the very same Constitution. Republicans believe it is their birthright alone to enjoy full rights of citizenship while denying them to more than half the American people.
Wasn’t God watching when the Founders wrote the Constitution?
Is he watching now?
“Do not be deceived:
God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”Gal. 6:7
Just how does an all-present God not see the way some “Christians” have murdered, abused, and enslaved other “Christians” in his name? How does an all-knowing, always present God not see how the Founders used his name to promise “unalienable rights,” then not deliver on them?
When the United States of America killed those who followed other gods, the God of the Bible was hijacked to give them the right to do so. When American settlers stole the land from the Natives, they hijacked the God of the Bible to steal their land and murder their people. When they kidnapped slaves, and hauled them here in the bottom of slave ships, they hijacked the God of the Bible by cherry-picking verses about slavery while ignoring other verses that prohibited kidnapping. When they denied women the same civil rights that white men had — like voting — it was done by hijacking the God of the Bible, the same god they told the world helped America secure the blessings of liberty.
Every wretched thing the United States has done has been in the shadow of a God that we don’t know; one our Founders refused to acknowledge in our Constitution; and one in which we act as if we do not believe in.
The more we look, the less this “Christian nation” seems anything but.
How does the Republican Party get away with lying every day about God & the Government?
Core Beliefs.
Since birth, many Americans have been taught that America is the greatest nation ever, established by God, and run by men — white men — because that’s how God wants it. They believe God created the United States for white men to dominate, and to spread Christianity from coast to coast — as Christ had commanded in The Great Commission. They believe the Constitution was divinely inspired by this same God, and that it is their purpose in life to serve God by making America a Christian nation.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
God did not establish the nation of the United States; he never provided any instruction through any prophet to lay claim to this place as the new “Promised Land.” God was not the inspiration for our Constitution, but was deliberately left out of the proceedings by the Founders, who were unwilling to free the slaves they held in violation of God’s own word.
Today’s Republican believes what he/she believes because they have been told fairy tales, fabrications, and outrageous lies about God and the Government since birth. These values, these beliefs have been handed down from one generation to the next, and continue unabated today.
Unwilling to see or hear the truth, the GOP instead uses social media to spread more misinformation; creates political action committees and other groups — like the John Birch Society — to provide ‘messaging’ about what they consider truth; burns books in an attempt to hide the real facts of history; and bad-mouths, disparages, or doxes anyone who attempts to show them their folly.
Core beliefs are those deeply held concepts about life: they are ‘what you believe in your heart,’ when nothing else makes sense. They form the foundation for all our thoughts, feelings, and actions.
When core beliefs are so distorted, so twisted out of the shape of what reality truly is, the response to truth and facts is normally a defensive one: to fight to defend what one believes, to challenge anyone who shines a light on your world, or to attack with vengeance the initiate.
What a Republican believes is that there is a God in heaven; that God created the United States to spread the faith of Christianity; that the Founders wrote the Constitution with God’s guidance; and that Donald Trump was chosen by God to help transform this nation into that nationalistic state dedicated to the service of God.
How The BIG Lie is rooted in the BIGGER Lie
Republicans believe God ordained America to Christians, who came to this continent by the thousands starting in the early 1600s. Ever since, they have fashioned out of whole cloth the idea that this land was given to them by God, and that they — white, Europeans mostly following some form of the Christian faith — were entitled to seize the land and all its bounty. In doing so, if they met indigenous people, they would attempt to “educate” them in Christ, and if the natives rejected this teaching, they were labeled as savages, and treated as people who had no rights to the land they actually lived on: that land now belonged to the white colonists — given to them by God through the decree of various popes and kings.
As generations passed, and the white colonists continued to break treaties, to inhabit land they had taken — even by force — they continued to push further westward. They farmed, they built towns, and began legislatures to pass laws, and they laid claim to the land through surveying it, often acres at a time, and placing a deed in the public record. They built churches, and schools, and continued to expand, both to the west and the south.
In the south, these colonists found the land good for farming crops like cotton, which could be sold throughout the land and through the mercantile exchanges of their sponsor nations. The farms became so large and expansive they became known as plantations, where a single owner might command hundreds of acres of land and workers — workers who themselves had been brought here against their will. These “negroes” as they were called were the slaves of the white colonists, kidnapped in Africa and dragged here in ships where the inhumane conditions cost nearly half of them their lives on the voyage. These slaves were not treated like men, but were treated harshly — not as the Bible of these Christians had provided — but as a less-than-human form of man.
As the colonists grew in wealth, long after they had forgotten their Christ, they demanded “liberty” from the tyrant king who had provided them protection from the savages, and the French, and all others who would steal their new wealth. What they had built — their vast empire of rich land and poor minds — had all been built on stolen land and stolen lives, but they could no longer see the truth, and were no longer willing to hear it. They threw off the king, and raced acrossed the continent with their Bible in one hand and a rifle in the other, killing, stealing, and claiming all they wanted in the name of their God.
The lessons they learned — how to treat the native, how to abuse the slave, how to shoot your way to prosperity is still at the root of the movement today: white, so-called Christians who have never read the book they claim to love spend Sunday mornings in churches learning from pastors and preachers how to hate: never understanding or sharing the truth about how America came into being — by using God as a butcher’s knife.
The Christ of the Bible is full of love: love God the Father, love your neighbor, love your brother, and even love your enemy. But the white Christians of today don’t hear that message; they don’t recognize that if they truly were like Jesus — full of that love — America could not possibly have hated its way through the natives and slaves to arrive here.
What the white, European Christian used to conquer this land was not the love of Christ: it was hatred, pure and simple. Instead of using the Bible to learn how to love others, they used the Bible to justify their murder of others, to steal from others, to enslave others. They used God to kill others.
The White Christian of today believes it is his birthright to lay claim to all of this, that God bestowed it upon “We, the people,” and that anyone who would attempt to stop that movement is “anti-American,” or the word they love to use more than most any other — a communist.
The Republican right has spent hundreds of years brewing in hatred, purifying their lust for power, and that is the program of the GOP today: to push the nation of the United States back to 1787, when the white, wealthy landowners had all the control.
When the Founders wrote the Constitution, they were not “inspired by God” to write a document to fulfill God’s purpose for this land. No, in fact, what the Founders did was intentionally leave God out of the government from the top side, and citizens out of the government from below.
The Founders had no intention of sharing the government — the control of the nation — with God or his followers: what they wrote was the intentional act of men who refused to share the power and control of the government with either.
Today’s Republican is the same in many respects. They want a return to the days when they no longer had to share control of the nation with women, Blacks, or anyone else. Their efforts to disguise their hatred, their racial animus, their misogyny, has been exposed since the emergence of Trump, who like Hitler before him, declared his BIG Lie, then repeated it over and over, daring even his own party to deny him.
Their understanding of the Bible and of the God described therein has been severely and significantly distorted over the centuries:
“… this nationalistic myth blinds us to the way in which our most basic and most cherished cultural assumptions are diametrically opposed to the kingdom way of life taught by Jesus.”
Gregory A. Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Nation, p.13
Republicans believe God ordained white men to be in charge of all things. They believe God wants to keep the races separated, and they fight to support these positions. They believe these things because when they read the Bible, they cherry-pick verses to satisfy themselves, which is precisely what Christ told his followers NOT to do.
While in the desert, Christ was tempted by Satan, who told him to turn stone into bread. Jesus answered — quoting straight out of scripture :
“It has been written: ‘The man shall live not by bread alone, but by every word coming out of the mouth of God.’”
Republicans never hear the second part of this verse, “but by every word coming out of the mouth of God.” They read and/or follow the verses that they approve of; any Christian knows that is not how faith in Christianity works.
When you are taught things from day one that are taken out of context, things that are incomplete, and other things that are downright falsehoods, your core beliefs become that of a Republican:
- God gave us this land
- We shall rule over it
- Women will have no say
- Nor shall anyone of color
This mentality of core beliefs is not Christianity, but is Christian Nationalism, and is as far away from Jesus as Christ is from Satan.
Hoodwinked?
The religions of the world have a hold over mankind, and have driven many of the core beliefs held by Americans throughout the centuries.
But are those core beliefs based on any fact, or is it all fiction?
What we believe today is based largely on what our parents believed, what our siblings believed, what our neighbors, friends, and schoolmates believed. And all of them have been influenced by those before them, taught the same basic set of beliefs regarding God and the Government: that God endowed this land and created, through the Founders, this great nation of liberty and freedom. We believe these as truths, just as anyone from a different culture believes what they have been taught.
There is no evidence that the United States Constitution was “inspired by God” or founded on any religious principles, the Founders flat out denying their chance to incorporate Christianity or any other religion into the Constitution. Beyond that, there is no evidence that America was a “promised land” granted to Christians emigrating here from Europe, only to murder those who lived here and seize their land and property.
While the God of the Old Testament directed Joshua and the nation of Israel to go forth and take the land promised to their fathers, the Christ of the New Testament clearly never thrust Himself on the Natives, taking all they had; nor did he ever ordain the kidnapping of Africans, dragging them here to enslave them. Those are not the ways of Christ, who came to free the slaves, not to enslave.
We believe what we have been told since birth, what has been poured into us by the society around us, but in the end we believe what we choose to believe, even when there is no evidence of our claim to any of it.
These beliefs, that are yet today held by many — that God handed this land to our forefathers, who then seized the land, built a nation, and wrote a constitution that was suppose to create the legal framework to support these “unalienable rights” God had granted all men — is, in a word, preposterous.
To be fair, if the colonists who landed here had treated the native people as Christ taught — through love — we would see a different nation today. Not one that has been at war more than 90% of its existence, but one of peace.
The indigenous people have a true appreciation for nature: they see themselves as part of the Earth, not over it, as those who follow the God of the Bible believe.
“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Gen. 1:26
When we take a deep look at how the “Christians” landed here, claimed the land for themselves, killed the natives, and consumed nearly every natural resource to extinction versus how the native, indigenous people respected the land, air, water, and animals, and saw themselves as part of life, we may begin to see something more true about our faith than ever revealed to us before:
Religion rapes; spirituality nurtures.
And Lies support lies.
Beliefs built on those lies of a society become deeply disturbing when they are acted upon every day by those claiming to love a God they clearly do not know. Those who hold their distorted beliefs the firmest will be the same who are most unwilling to examine themselves, while those who at least open their minds to self-examination may find a new truth worthy of embrace.
“Hatred stirs up strife: love covers all sin.”
Proverbs 10:12
America: lies built on lies.
You want the truth? Can you handle it?
The Founders didn’t write “unalienable rights” into the Constitution for one reason, and one reason only: they weren’t about to grant God any power over them, and they weren’t about to grant citizens any rights under them. They wrote it the way they did to maintain all the power and control of the nation in the hands of the few.
The Founders used the language of “unalienable rights” to trigger revolutionary fervor, to rile up the colonists who would need to fight the King to secure liberty. But once the war was over, the wealthy white men who met that summer in Philadelphia weren’t about to give any rights to anyone other than themselves. They held all the cards then, and that is the primary driver for Republicans today: they want to totally control the nation by reducing or removing the rights of everyone else — a return to 1787.
These Founders weren’t “inspired by God” while writing this document: if anything, if God does provide “unalienable rights,” these men ensured no American other than them would enjoy those rights. They wrote a constitution that severely limited the granting of rights: what the Founders wrote was designed to restrict citizens rights, completely opposite of any “unalienable rights” which couldn’t be taken away by any government.
By ignoring these “unalienable rights” mentioned in the Declaration, the Founders created a government where they would answer to no King, no citizen, and no god. To ensure the citizenry never got control of the government away from them, they included things like the Electoral College, putting the selection of the President in the hands of Electors and out of reach of the people. The use of electors, instead of the direct vote of American citizens, has altered this nation beyond comprehension.
Republicans lie about the Constitution
Let’s fast forward to the 21st Century, to today’s Republican Party, to the twisted and very distorted beliefs about the founding of this nation, and the meaning of the U.S. Constitution.
In the video below, Raphael, “Ted” Cruz, U.S. Senator from Texas, insults the audience with lies that have no historical truth to them.
- He states that American rights come from God.
- He believes the Constitution is a ‘miracle,’ suggesting divine influence.
- He states the American rights are protected when government is limited.
The only thing that needs to be limited is Ted Cruz: his ridiculous religious rhetoric contributes to the nonsensical ideology too many Americans have falsely built their lives on.
It is people like Ted Cruz who are wrong in their beliefs about our Constitutional rights. They were written by men, for men, to rule over other men. God was nowhere in sight when this document was assembled.
Today’s Republican Party is clearly the marriage of racism and religion, albeit a sick, dark religion that does not resemble that of Jesus Christ.
When God and the Government Clash
A M*A*S*H episode from 1982 gives us a glimpse of what happens when God and the government clash.
In “A Holy Mess,” Father Mulcahy finds himself defending a Private gone AWOL after getting a Dear John letter from back home. While attending Mulcahy’s religious service in the camp’s Mess Tent, the military police (MPs) catch up with the young man before he can leave the country, but Mulcahy steps in to grant the man sanctuary. The MPs are having none of it, and want to drag the Private off to jail when Colonel Potter steps in. The MPs argue that the man is AWOL and must face justice, but Mulcahy makes the argument that the man has sought the protection of God and he has granted it to the man — and the MPs cannot take him.
This battle goes back and forth, with Potter finally calling the top military religious official in Korea, who agrees that the Mess Tent is not a church and therefore Mulcahy cannot grant the man sanctuary.
At this, Mulcahy simply refuses to turn the man over, throwing down the gauntlet of God’s sovereignty over all matters — even that of the Government on a military installation. The matter ends when the Private grabs a gun and points it at Mulcahy, before eventually surrendering.
The reason I spotlight this episode is that it gives us a glimpse of what might have occurred during those months the Founders spent in Philadelphia in 1787, hammering out the new Constitution.
While there are no records of the actual proceedings, there are plenty of diary entries and letters about the happenings during that long Summer. The discussions, the debates that took place must have been constant: they discussed everything from taxation to states rights to…well, you name it… they debated it. They had to: it was critical that they came up with the best plan for a new constitution, as many of them who had played an active role in leading the Revolution believed the loose confederacy of states would quickly dissolve without a more solid legal framework.
Perhaps the most critical subject they discussed — or refused to discuss — was religion.
Each of these men had lived their entire lives in the colonies; their education had taught them all about the dangers of permitting religion in government affairs. In England, the King was not only the Head of State, he was also the Head of the Church.
While these men grew up in a society that embraced religion much more closely than our current one, they also knew that it was absolutely critical to not permit any religion to control the affairs of the government. While writing the Constitution, and after having spent months debating everything under the Sun, they mentioned religion only once.
What the Founders knew then, and what is on display in this episode of M*A*S*H is that God and the Government will at times clash, and the Founders wanted to be emphatically clear that the two were separate, and that God — any god — had no say in the business of this Government.
The Founders went out of their way to avoid any mention of religion in the new constitution.
The Founders varied in their religious beliefs, but one thing they did agree on was a fear of permitting any religion to hold sway over the affairs of this new government. They knew the history of other nations, how religion — in whatever form — had been used to influence other nations away from governance based on reason and logic. Whatever the religious beliefs of the Founders, those beliefs were not incorporated into the Constitution on purpose to avoid the God-Government conflicts that had historically plagued other governments.
The Founders were not “inspired by God” when writing the new Constitution. The truth is they were “inspired to keep God out of it.”
What if America, the great nation “created by God for Christians” was created by men who decided to keep God out of the foundation of the nation? What if those Founders were not “inspired by God,” but instead were inspired to keep God out of the business of the government entirely?
The BIG Lie — that Trump won the 2020 Presidential Election — is truly rooted in the belief that white men should be the only ones in this nation who should hold power, have the right to vote, and to decide the fate of the nation.
The BIGGER Lie is that the U.S. Constitution was “inspired by God.” This has been shown to be demonstrably false. The Founders deliberately acted to keep the God of “We, the people” out of the government.
Now, onto The BIGGEST Lie: what if there is no God at all that created this nation, and all the acts of the people — from Columbus, to the slaveholders, to the Founders, to Republicans of today are all based on a god that does not exist?
Think about that for a moment: no god created America. Men created God and the Bible to rule over men. Other men created America and the Constitution to rule over men.
I am not suggesting that there is a God or that there is not a God: that is a topic each person must answer themself. My challenge to you, the reader, is to open your mind to possibilities you may not have ever imagined, to reality and facts you have never heard or read. I challenge you to read on, to The BIGGEST Lie and see just how deep the Rabbit hole goes.
This ends Part II, The BIGGER Lie.
© Timothy J. Sabo 2022 All Rights Reserved
