Don’t Know Much About History…

Having engaged in numerous conversations with myriad Christians, I’ve come to the conclusion that the vast majority of them “don’t know much about history.” And so, with this post, I will set them straight on two major issues: the history of the United States, and the history of Christianity. Many Christians have the false impression that the United States somehow was founded upon Christianity, and is thus a Christian nation. That’s completely incorrect. Additionally, many Christians have the false impression that religion—specifically their own—has always been a force of good in the world. That, too, is entirely incorrect. Once again, in this post, I will frequently reference David Mills’ Atheist Universe. Whenever I quote Mills, it will be from that volume.

Let’s not waste any time. The definitive proof that the United States was never founded upon Christianity comes in the form of the Treaty of Tripoli (full text available Here). Here is a quote from the treaty: “…the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…” Is that explicit enough? It was composed (by American diplomat Joel Barlow) under the presidency of George Washington. It was unanimously approved by the Senate, and signed by John Adams. Of course, it isn’t surprising that our Founding Fathers would approve such language. Most of them were deists, not practicing Christians.

But what about the Pledge of Allegiance, and its reference to God? What about our money, which reads, “In God We Trust”? Clearly, we must be a theistic nation, right? Perhaps we are now, but it was a recent change. Certainly, it doesn’t reflect the vision of the Founding Fathers.

The first version of the Pledge of Allegiance appeared in 1892 in Youth’s Companion, a children’s magazine. It read, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Now, personally, I always hated saying the Pledge of Allegiance, even before I was an atheist. But, that version doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the current incarnation. The words “under God” didn’t appear until 1954, after a campaign by the Roman Catholic Knights of Columbus. In an effort to draw a clear distinction between the atheist USSR and the God-fearing USA, Congress acted to add the words. Thus, they were added for expressly theistic purposes (and expressly anti-atheist purposes), following a campaign by Catholics.

What about the whole money thing? “In God We Trust” has no relationship whatsoever with the Founding Fathers or their intentions. According to the Wikipedia, “The motto In God We Trust was placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the American Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country, urging that the United States recognize God on United States coins.” Its first actual appearance came in 1864 (on the two-cent coin). Continuing from Wikipedia, “The motto has been in continuous use on the one-cent coin since 1909 and on the ten-cent dime since 1916. It also has appeared on all gold coins and silver dollar coins, half-dollar coins, and quarter-dollar coins struck since July 1, 1908.”

This is really the same as the Pledge of Allegiance, only several decades earlier. It bears no relationship to the deistic character of our Founding Fathers. Rather, it only speaks to the religiosity of American citizens, both in the mid-1800s and mid-1900s. This country might have a religious history, but it certainly wasn’t founded upon Christianity. Indeed, the Founding Fathers went out of their way to say it wasn’t.

Now, let’s talk about the revisionist history that religion (specifically Christianity) has always been a force for good in the world. If you want a good overview of religion-inspired horrors, read this. That should convince any skeptics that religion is indeed a pernicious, frightening influence. But for those wanting more, I’ll be happy to oblige.

David Mills covers this topic extensively in his book. Here are a few salient passages:

“For 1500 years, the Christian Church systematically operated torture chambers throughout Europe. Torture was the rule; not the exception. Next to the Bible, the most influential and venerated book in Christian history was the Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches), which was a step-by-step tutorial in how to torture ‘witches’ and ‘sorcerers.’ Each year, the Christian Church in Europe tortured to death tens of thousands of people, including children as young as two years of age. The only restriction was that the instruments of torment had to be blessed by a priest before their initial use.”

“The Church angrily denounced the introduction of medicines, antibiotics, anesthesia, surgery, blood transfusions, birth control, transplants, in vitro fertilization and most forms of pain killers. Supposedly, these scientific tools interfered with nature and were therefore against God’s will.”

“But pre-renaissance man lived during a period when superstition overshadowed rational thought, and when those who proposed scientific explanations were often tortured to death by religious authorities. Galileo narrowly escaped a death sentence imposed by the Catholic Church for his telescopic observation that Jupiter's moons orbited Jupiter instead of Earth, birthplace of Jesus and presumed orbital hub of the universe.”

As I said, I think many of our Christian friends have bought into revisionist history. I’ll bet some of these facts seem downright foreign to them. And that’s unfortunate, because democracy depends upon its citizens being educated and engaged. Recently, on The Atheist Jew’s blog, I saw a picture of a woman holding up a sign that said, “I don’t accept fundamental tenets of science, AND I VOTE.” Chances are, she also rejects the fundamental tenets of history, especially those that don’t suit her theological preferences. And she votes.

Any wonder we have George W. Bush as our leader? With the way history has a tendency to be rewritten by these folks, I’m sure Bush is confident he’ll go down as a tremendous leader, rather than what he is—the worst president in at least 100 years.

But, then again, that doesn’t matter to him. He don’t know much about history.