Glenn Beck brought right-wing pseudo-historian David Barton onto his television program last week so that he could deliver another one of his “history” lessons to Beck’s audience about how the Founding Fathers took all of the rights guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights straight out of the Bible, specifically Genesis 1-8.
As Barton explained, the purpose of the Declaration was to declare that there was a God, that God created inalienable rights, and that government exists to protect these rights. As such, there were some two dozen rights listed in the Declaration, which eventually were codified into the Bill of Rights, and all of which were taken directly from the Bible.
“They held that all of those came out of Genesis 1-8,” Barton said. “That’s what they looked to. Genesis 1-8, they went through and said, ‘Here’s the two dozen rights we see and that’s why governments exist.’ So this is the God factor and that’s what made of different from the beginning.”
Barton went on to declare that there is no such thing as separation of church and state or government neutrality toward religion because the Declaration declares unanimously, on behalf of every level of government, that God exists.
“We’re told by the courts today that, well, we’ve got people among us that don’t believe in God and to make it fair for everybody, government will take no position for or against God, we’re going to be neutral between religion and non-religion,” Barton said. “Look at the title of the Declaration of Independence. The title says this is ‘the unanimous declaration of the thirteen states of the United States of America.’ Every political entity in America said, hey, this is what we in the political world hold true: There is a God, He gives rights to man, and government exists to protect God-given rights. You can’t be neutral in America on the God factor because none of our documents are. It’s just real clear.”
Beck, of course, was blown away by this revelation, as Barton declared that it is “nonsensical” for courts to protect the separation of church and state.
