Near the intersection of Wheeling and McGalliard avenues, a banner advertises a three-day seminar at Emens Auditorium, titled "The Silencing of God" and sponsored by Muncie Churches of Christ. Its creator, Dave Miller of Montgomery, Ala.-based Apologetics Press, has delivered the seminar around the country.
Fliers for the event in the Art and Journalism Building the questions: "Did the Founding Fathers advocate 'separation of church and state?'"; "Did the Founding Fathers oppose public expression of religion?"; "What were the Founders' views on moral issues?"; "What can we do to save our nation from moral and spiritual destruction?"
The views of Miller are easily deduced: The U.S. is an intrinsically Christian nation, and Christianity ought to dominate American public life. The ability of theocrats such as Miller to propagate such disinformation and the willingness of many Americans to believe it, combined with widespread constitutional illiteracy, pose a grave threat to American democracy.
The Founding Fathers' various writings and speeches and aspects of their private lives can be quoted and referenced to justify almost any idea about how this country should be. We can debate endlessly what they thought as they wrote and signed the Constitution.
The Constitution itself is unequivocal: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Nowhere does the Constitution stipulate, in any way, that Christianity should dominate public life in the U.S. It does not privilege Christianity above any form of belief or unbelief.
Also unequivocal is the 1796 Treaty with Tripoli - read aloud before the Senate, passed unanimously and signed by President John Adams - in Article XI: "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion ..."
It's worth mentioning that the man who coined the phrase "wall of separation between church and state" to describe the establishment clause of the First Amendment was Thomas Jefferson, in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists, in which he explicitly advocated the concept.
Miller has no academic credentials in law or political science. He can't plead ignorance, however. His advocacy bears a casual relationship with the truth, and bigotry pervades his writing.
In a much-publicized event, the Senate opened July 12 with the recital of a Hindu prayer by Rajan Zed, a chaplain from the Indian Association of Northern Nevada. In an audio recording of the prayer, some people can be heard attempting to silence Zed by loudly reciting Christian prayers, prompting the sergeant-at-arms to remove them.
In an article on Apologetics Press' Web site, Miller decried the prayer. "The nod to Hinduism follows closely on the heels of the election of a Muslim to the U.S. House of Representatives as well as the first atheist in Congress." Based on the writings of early Supreme Court Justice James Iredell, Miller strongly implies electing non-Christians into public office threatens our rights, and "inviting a Hindu to offer prayer in Congress is a step in that very direction."
Ideally, no religion's prayers should open any congressional session, but let's refer to Article VI of the Constitution: "[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
Miller further reveals his bigotry by referring to the Hindu reverence for cattle as "outlandish." He follows bigoted comments by Samuel Johnston and David Caldwell with a blatantly racist, anti-Semitic remark: "In other words, Jews, pagans and people from the eastern hemisphere (which certainly includes Hindus) would constitute a threat to the religious and moral foundation on which America was founded. They were right."
Under the First Amendment, Miller has a right to his theocratic, bigoted beliefs. In a pluralistic democracy we must respect the freedom of people to have views that differ from ours. But where do we, as human beings, draw the line when it comes to intolerance and disregard for truth?
Write to Alaric at ajdearment@bsu.edu
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