Jefferson's Beliefs - 2 of 2

Jefferson’s Beliefs – 2 of 2
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Monday, July 5, 2010

AFA Journal, July 2010 – www.afajournal.org - Since we now have an idea of what the writer believed about God, how did Christianity influence the Declaration of Independence? Continued

Db: (David Barton) continued – Clinton Roster wrote a book titled “Seedtime in the Republic.” He identified six of the greatest intellectual forces in shaping the American government. Out of the six people in that book, four are ministers of the gospel. One example is Rev. John Wise. He was a preacher in Massachusetts in the 1680s. He preached a sermon looking at the different forms of taxation in the Bible. He showed that taxation without representation is tyranny. He preached a sermon looking at different form of government in the Bible and said it is clear God’s government is consent of the governed. He preached a sermon where he said all men are created equal; they are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights. Remember he lived in the 1600s…

AFAJ: Christianity may have influenced the writer of the Declaration, but he only used terms such as nature’s God, Divine Providence, etc. Aren’t these references to a deist God?

DB: This is the father of Jesus. Again, half these guys were ministry trained; 95% of the signers were what we would call evangelical Christians. Even though many people call Franklin and Jefferson deists, they do not fit the definition. A deist is one who believes in an impersonal God. Franklin is the one who called for daily prayer at the convention because he said God answered their prayers and they saw it during the revolution…

AFAJ: Some who see that the writers were followers of Jesus and that God is mentioned in the Declaration will argue that it is not a legal document that should be considered when making public policy today.

DB: That is untrue. Article VII of our Constitution incorporates the Declaration into the Constitution. You will find that every act of the president of the U.S. from George Washington to now is not dated to the year of the Constitution; it is date to the year of the Declaration of Independence. So, the acts signed this year by President Obama will say, “in the year of our independence, 234.”…

AFAJ: Why have most of us never heard these things in our history class?

DB: We use an approach in history today called DECONSTRUCTION and post-structuralism. Deconstruction points out all the negatives and makes the exception into the rule. Post-structuralism divides people into groups and makes them part of the group rather than part of the full unit… We are taught the Founding Fathers were rich, elitist, land owners. This isn’t true. Sam Adams was so poor he did not have a suit to wear in Congress…

AFAJ: How can people educate themselves? ---- DB: The best way to educate yourself is to read books before progressives got a hold of textbooks. They got into the educational system in the 1920s. If you want to get a good historical view, you have to read any book prior to 1900. The good thing about Google books is that you can read all these great books online…

AFAJ: Do you think America can get back to the ideals of the Declaration? ---

DB: Absolutely, I’m convinced of it. I have more optimism today than I’ve had in 30 years. Look at the best sellers right now. There are things like David McCullough’s book John Adams… I recommend everyone read George Washington’s Farewell Address…

George H. Kubeck – Let’s have a patriotic homework assignment! “How would Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson or Alexander Hamilton analyze President Barack H. Obama?”