Rush & the Right-Wing Distorts Religious Views of the Founders

I inadvertently tuned in to a snippet of a Rush Limbaugh broadcast the other day that touched on the Framers’ intent. I must admit that my brutal first reaction was that the Founding Fathers, whatever their intentions, never envisioned an electorate under the sway of such an ignorant, loud-mouthed lout. But I suppose that is not the point.
Rush and his fellow right-wingers often cut the Framers up into their own little “red” paper dolls and then clothe them in ideological garb quite alien to the men they were and the principles they advocated. For instance, conservatives will have you believe that these were gentlemen of deep religious faith who would be horrified by the secularism of modern society. Nothing could be further from the truth.
While it might be overdrawn to categorize our Founders as agnostics, it would be a mistake to conclude that any of them would tolerate the mingling of religion and political affairs. That was simply not the case. The Declaration of Independence refers rather vaguely to a “Creator;” the Constitution does not once mention a Supreme Being. This was not accidental. In fact, the Constitution clearly prohibits religious tests for officeholders, and the First Amendment draws a bold line between church and state.
Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison – all were Deists. This has been called the “clockmaker’s religion” because its chief tenet was that an omniscient Creator in the distant past set humankind in motion and then stepped out of the way. Others hewed to more traditional faiths.
But religious affiliation is quite beside the point. The key commonality shared by virtually all of the Founders was that they were creatures of the Enlightenment: champions of reason over faith.
John Adams, a Unitarian, today would doubtless attend church regularly, yet would vigorously decry the influence of religion upon government that has become the norm in the Bush-Cheney era. Jefferson and Franklin – scientists as well as statesmen – would be aghast to learn that in spite of what we know of geology and paleontology it is acceptable in this administration to promote faith over science, to question evolution, to suggest that the earth might be only 6000 years old.
Maybe the Framers’ intent is not that important after all. Perhaps what is really important is your intent, as a citizen of the United States in 2008. Do you want to waste your life listening to dopes like Rush Limbaugh, or do you want to play a meaningful role in this remarkable republic the Founders bequeathed us? How do you think George Washington would answer that question?