“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion” – Treaty with Tripoli 1797 – unanimously approved and signed by John Adams

On Thursday while interviewing Iowa Representative Steve King, Glenn Beck, along with King, claimed that the upcoming Sunday vote on the health care bill is “an affront to God”. Beck went further to state that, “faith has been perverted” and that a Sunday vote was something the Founding Fathers, “…would have never, ever, ever done. Out of respect for God”. While God does not discuss his/her feelings with me, and I am not arrogant or delusional enough to think that I know what God finds offensive, I am a student of history and I believe it is Beck who is perverting history.

The health care vote on Sunday will not be the first time Congress has voted on the Sabbath. In 2005, the Republican-controlled Senate met on Palm Sunday, the day Christians celebrate the return of Jesus to Jerusalem, in order to pass a measure which permitted a federal court to intervene in the controversial Terri Schiavo case (thinkprogess.org 3/18/2010). Is Beck suggesting the Republicans, the self-professed party of faith, dared to disrespect to God? If so, why didn’t we have any plagues that day? I know I certainly don’t remember any instances of water turning to blood or swarms of locusts that day.

The truly upsetting part to me about Beck’s diatribe was that he once again tried to distort history and bastardize the writings of the founders. This country was not founded as a Christian nation. Many of the founders, including Thomas Jefferson, were deists. There is a reason the Constitution never mentions God or Jesus or Christianity. It is a secular document. Read it for yourself, the only time religion is even mentioned is in the First Amendment and Article VI of the Constitution, which states “…no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States”.

As I have stated in two previous blogs this week, you have the right to say and believe fantastical things. You and I have the right and the obligation to share the truth.

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