CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES

Yesterday, I saw a news clip that announced the publication of a new history book to be used by the Texas Public School System. The State of Texas School Board voted to adopt the new version based on sound biblical teaxhings demonstrating that the United States of America was founded on Christian principles.
The announcement caused me to wonder what are Christian Principles and what were the beliefs of our founding fathers at the time our government was formed? I wondered further if there is a single quote in this Texan version of U. S. history that truly shows that our founding fathers ever proclaimed such a contention.
My confidence in lawmakers from the religious right who proclaim themselves advocates of family values and defenders of spending tax dollars on religious programs that promote abstinence has been shaken from time to time by revelations that these self-proclaimed moral prophets have mistresses, children by mistresses, engage in hanky-panky with their employees, have been divorced many times, make visits to whorehouses, etc. Call it hypocrisy, misunderstanding or down right embarrassing, where do they come off to use our tax payer dollars to promote their idea of moral superiority?
If by Christian Principles they mean things like the Beatitudes, great! But the Beatitudes is the last thing that the Religious Right talks about. They talk about arresting citizens who help immigrants, they advocate replacing democracy with theocracy, they refuse to admit that slavery was wrong and continue to make excuses for Christian conduct during the time slavery when it was a legal institution of this country. They continue to memorialize the confederate flag, the symbol of slavery.
What were the beliefs of our founding fathers?
James Madison, the father of our constitution, portrayed Christianity with a history of “pride and indolence in the clergy, ignorance and severity in the laity; in both superstition, bigotry and persecution.” John Adams said, “The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Bible do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines and …. foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity.” George Washington, the Father of Our Country, said, “The United Sates is in no sense founded upon the Christian doctrine.” And lastly, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, said, “I do not find in Orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.” He went on to classify the claim of Jesus being born of a virgin as a fable.
The above declarations by our founders are hardly justification for claiming that our country was founded on Christian principles. And yet, the Texas State Board of Public Education under the thumb of the religious right has dared to make such a claim. It is my hope that the escutcheons of the fine University of Texas have not been sullied by playing a role in the Board’s endeavor. I predict that the governor of Texas will place his imprimatur on the tome and will so state at every political rally henceforth. Will the lying slant that has been placed on the truth of our history hurt our cause? Our nation has successfully survived a cascade of lies and liers over the past centuries and will continue to stand tall despite this latest travesty.