July
12, 2004--Rule Number One in the Bill O'Reilly School of Falsification
is that the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.
This is the alleged historical foundation upon which O'Reilly wages his
nightly war against secularists like the ACLU bent on driving
"spiritualism" from the public arena. The fact that the one unambiguous
statement in the US Constitution on religion--the First
Amendment--specifically prohibits the establishment of a state
religion, is not enough for O'Reilly, who continues to erroneously
assert that America is a Christian nation.
In
researching my response to Christopher Hitchens' reactionary article,
"To the Shores of Tripoli" (Time, July 5, 2004), I discovered further
evidence that O'Reilly is disingenuously hijacking US history when he
claims the American constitutional republic was founded on
Judeo-Christian principles. In 1797, President John Adams signed the
Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States of America and
the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary. Known today as the Treaty
With Tripoli, this document had been negotiated in an unsuccessful
attempt to halt the plundering of US ships by pirates from the Barbary
States of Algiers, Tunis, Morocco, and Tripoli (Libya today).
Article 11 of the Treaty With Tripoli reads as follows:
"AS
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS NOT IN ANY SENSE FOUNDED ON THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION, as it has in itself no character of enmity against
the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen [Muslims], and as the
said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against
any Mehomitan [Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that
no pretext arising from religions opinions shall ever produce an
interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
[emphasis added]
This is not just some
informal correspondence among the Founding Fathers discussing their
personal religious beliefs, as O'Reilly is fond of citing as historical
backup for his absurd claim that America is a Christian nation. This is
the law of the land. This is an official governmental proclamation
signed by the President of the United States. Article VI, Section II of
the Constitution clearly states:
"This Constitution, and the Laws of
the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; AND ALL
TREATIES MADE, OR WHICH SHALL BE MADE, UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE
UNITED STATES, SHALL BE THE SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND; and the Judges in
every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or
Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." [emphasis added]
What say you, O'Reilly?
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