Yesterday, a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional and, not surprisingly, the Right has been outraged.
But I was especially impressed with Bryan Fischer’s response explaining that any idiot can see that this ruling is wrong:
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional because it violates the Constitution’s prohibition against the government establishment of religion.
It is so easy to refute this judge on constitutional grounds that a caveman could do it.
Shoot, you don’t even need the caveman. The Geico lizard probably knows more about the Constitution than this benighted, misguided, robe-wearing tyrant.
“Establishment” had a quite technical definition at the time of the founding. It meant to grant one specific Christian denomination preference in law, make it the official church of a nation or state, and compel people to support it through their taxes.
The Founders had observed what happened in England with an established church, the Church of England. Many of them experienced the religious oppression that accompanied an official national denomination, fled to America for freedom, and determined that the fledgling nation would not repeat the mistakes of the mother country.
Now, I am not sure just who Fischer has in mind when he says “Founders,” but I tend to think of it as referring to the men involved who signed the Declaration of Independence or drafted the Constitution.
As such, I have no idea where he gets the idea that they “fled to America for freedom” after experiencing the religious oppression of the Church of England, considering that the vast majority of them were all born in America. For instance:
Ben Franklin was born in Massachusetts.
John Adams was born in Massachusetts.
John Hancock was born in Massachusetts.
George Washington was born in Virginia.
Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia.
James Madison was born in Virginia.
In fact, of the 39 men who signed the US Constitution, only five (James McHenry, Pierce Butler, William Paterson, Robert Morris, Thomas Fitzsimons) were not born on American soil.
But according to Fischer, our Founding Fathers so chaffed under the Church of England’s religious oppression that they “fled to America for freedom” … where they were born.
And failure to understand that makes this federal judge an idiot.
