Lying for the Lord – again!

By
Barry Duke
– August 5, 2009Posted in: Christian fundies, Church/State Separation, The Freethinker

WHAT’S with Christian fundies and their addiction to lies?

Is it that, deep down, they know that Christianity hasn’t a factual leg to stand on, and that the only way they feel they can defend and perpetuate the religion is by adding to the foundation of lies on which it rests?

One of the 10 Florida billboards

One of the ten Florida billboards

Here’s the latest example: A Florida fundamentalist group has decided to wage war on church-state separation in the US by posting ten billboard advertisements that send the message that:

America’s government was made only for people who are moral and religious.

The billboards highlight quotes from the US’s founding fathers that are misleading, false or taken out of context.

For example, one of the messages attributes this quote to George Washington:

It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.

Washington never ever said that! Even David Barton, a Religious Right propagandist who for years has pushed a fundamentalist “Christian nation” view of American history, admits that quote can’t be documented.

In 1996, after years of using similar quotes from the founding fathers, Barton issued a list of 12 quotations he admitted were “questionable,” and advised his followers to stop using them.

TheWashington quote is one of them.

Writing for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Sandhya Bathija says:

It’s clear the truth seems to be lost on Community Issues Council (CIC), the group behind these billboards. CIC seeks to “promote and protect Judeo-Christian values” and first came onto the scene in 2005 when its members worked to shut down a strip club in Valrico, Florida.

A retired businessman, Gregg Smith, brought the idea of the billboards to the group’s president and sole employee, Terry Kemple. Smith put up $50,000 to rent the billboard ad space and Kemple paid the bill for a new Web site, www.noseparation.org.

It would be one thing if CIC was somehow misled to believe these statements were true, or that they failed to do some thorough fact checking. But Kemple admits to knowing he is broadcasting complete lies.

Kemple told the St Petersburg Times:

I don’t believe there’s a document in Washington’s handwriting that has those words in that specific form. However, if you look at Washington’s quotes, including his farewell address, about the place of religion in the political sphere, there’s no question he could have said those exact words.

Bathija adds:

George Washington could have said those words?

I’m sure he could have said a lot of things, but it’s irrelevant unless he actually said them. Besides, putting the statement in quotations implies he actually said them, not could have said them.

All this is not surprising. It just goes along with all of the other Religious Right propagandists who continue to push “Christian nation” nonsense, despite knowing the real truth.

What is interesting is how CIC aims to keep America for the “moral and religious,” because last I checked liars don’t fall in that category.

CIC has even managed to annoy Brent Walker, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. In an opinion piece in the Associated Baptist Press, he says:

When those with an agenda cherry-pick – and completely make up – quotes from our founders, they do a disservice to all.



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