It's sad how right-wing extremists have to manipulate history, taking advantage of people who don't know any better, to further their agendas.
David W. Hedrick, a candidate for Congress from Washington State, has a YouTube video circulating Facebook of a guy singing the fourth stanza of the Star Spangled Banner which includes the line "And this be our motto: In God is our trust." (Below.)
Hedrick adds in the comments section "So Much for a "Secular Nation" and "our rights come from God and not any man."
This is very misleading and distorts history for the benefit of people who wrongly think this country was founded on Christian beliefs.
When Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that later became the Star Spangled Banner, he likely included the line "And this be our motto: In God is our trust" to promote the idea of adopting this as the country's motto.
The "founding fathers," however, did not adopt this as a motto. They probably would not have approved of the motto given that key framers of the Constitution were not Christians and they believed that separation of church and state was a critical aspect of our government.
Nearly all of the ideas embraced in our Constitution originate from Enlightenment Era thinking which was heavily influenced by Deist philosophy (a religion/philosophy that that rejects the divinity of Jesus).
"In God We Trust" was not adopted as our motto until 1956 (by a Republican!), long after the country was established . It was adopted first as a means of countering communism which was synonymous with atheism.
By Hedrick saying "So Much for a Secular Nation" and "our rights come from God and not any man," he is undermining the intent of the founding fathers by suggesting this country endorse one religion or belief over another.
Sadly, Hedrick himself probably couldn't tell you when "In God We Trust" became our motto. He likely assumes, like much of the brainwashed and uneducated public, that it is as old as Key's poem that later became our anthem.
I'm sure Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin turned in their graves in 1956 when the motto was approved (replacing what was believed to be our unofficial motto, "E Pluribus Unum.").
They probably are still turning at the thought of their secular country slowly turning into a Christian theocracy, just like the one many early Americans fled.
Changing history to make a point seems to be a favorite tactic. My pet peeve is the pledge. I am Christian and have no issues with saying the Pledge as it currently stands but I do think it is important to know that the pledge has been amended 4 times the words "under God" not being adding until 1954.
ReplyDeleteEven worse is the changes being made in the history that is being taught to kids. Texas this last spring voted to remove Jefferson for the textbooks as a primary influence on America's government system. References to the Enlightenment movement are to be removed and students will be taught that this nation is in fact founded on Christian principals. The worst thing is where Tx goes with textbooks the rest of the nation follows. I am so glad I am overseas.
Excellent points, Shannon. I did not think about the pledge. I didn't know "under God" was added almost about the same time "In God We Trust" was added as the motto. I suspect this is also related to the anti-communist sentiment at the time.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting you mention the Texas textbook issue. This blog post actually came from a comment I made on someone's Facebook page. Later, someone responded to my comment saying that I must have read the "wrong" textbooks in school. I replied to that citing the Texas textbook issue. That was also a big issue when I was in my teaching social studies classes last year because, as you said, since Texas is the second largest textbook buyer in the country, publishers base their textbooks on what Texas wants.