David Barton is the conservative movement’s favorite revisionist historian – he appeared often on Glenn Beck’s TV show and still pops up on his podcast regularly. Barton is the right-wing’s go-to guy for rationalizing the Founder’s liberalism and turning it into their flavor of conservatism. His organization, Wallbuilders, has published several of his revisionist tomes as no legitimate publisher will touch them: the one who did ended up having to pull Barton’s book about Thomas Jefferson due to blatant lies and inaccuracies. Barton has even appeared on The Daily Show twice, the latest in 2012: he was pushing the very book on Jefferson that has been disgraced as self-serving hooey.

Currently, Barton has a radio show called Wallbuilders Live! which he uses to advance his agenda of revising history to fit his evangelical predilections. His guests are always adherents to this doctrine, finding a ready audience in Barton and his co-host Rick Green. Wednesday’s show featured Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana, he of the “atheist chaplains in the military – oh noes!” brouhaha. He says that the very idea of making counselors available to military atheists is a scam to push religion out of the military, a ridiculous claim on the face of it. As long as our military personnel have a religion, they will be allowed to practice it (even though non-traditional religions had to fight for that right). To suggest they will not is nothing more than grandstanding. But Fleming is good at that, as he proved in his rant:

The Supreme Court opened the door to all of this. Back in decisions like U.S. vs Seeger and others, the court, in their dislike for traditional religion, they defined religion as whatever someone believes so sincerely and so strongly that it affects the way they act.

The fact that Fleming believes that the Supreme Court dislikes traditional religion is laughable and indicative of the victimhood paranoia in which pseudo-Christians so love to wallow like pigs in poop. The SCOTUS has a job and, in that particular decision, went by the Constitution as they are held to do (though some modern justices seem to forget that). And the court did not say that religion is “whatever someone believes so sincerely and so strongly that it affects the way they act.” They wrote that it is:

“… an individual’s belief in a relation to a Supreme Being involving duties superior to those arising from any human relation, but [not including] essentially political, sociological, or philosophical views or a merely personal moral code.” (emphasis mine)

That is about the best, non-faith-based, definition one is likely to find. Religion is the reaction of human beings to things they cannot explain and a way to inform one’s life and give it some meaning or context. Fleming shows a misunderstanding of this principle:

Now, if that’s the case, by the court’s definition, atheism and humanism would be religious because they affect the way people act. But if that’s the case, then why don’t we have the separation of church and state with them, if they’re a religion?

Atheism and Humanism are not religions. They are not concerned with having a relationship with a Supreme Being nor do they consider any duty beyond that of human beings to one another. Just as “bald” is not a hair color and not collecting stamps is not a hooby, so is not believing in mythology not a religion. And so the answer to Fleming’s question is simple: we don’t have a separation of atheism and state because atheism is not a religion. He may as well demand a separation of art appreciation and state for all the sense that above statement makes. Not to be deterred, Fleming goes on:

“Darwinism and evolution is (sic) a religion. Why don’t we say ‘hey, we can’t teach Darwinism in school. That affects the way people behave. I demand separation of church and state. Get Darwinism out of the classroom.’ Or why don’t we say ‘hey, I don’t see any prayers going at graduation; that’s atheism! I demand separation of church and state. Atheism has chaplains, they’re a religion. Get atheism out of the schools.'”

Oh, dear. Fleming is under the misapprehension that a lack of one thing is an endorsement of another. “Darwinism,” correctly known as “evolution,” is not a religion, either. It is a scientific fact, arrived at by decades of peer review and testing. Its theories have been proven over and over (and over and over and over). Despite the Christian deniers, evolution and religion need not be at odds.

As for teacher led prayer in the schools…. they are unconstitutional. Get over it. Unless you want to have prayers from every religion in the schools (I’m pretty sure they’d freak if a Muslim or Wiccan were allowed to lead a prayer), on a rotating basis, there cannot be directed prayers at public schools. Period. Your kid is allowed to pray with some friends or by themselves as much as they want. But if you want your kid’s teacher to pray to your particular god either enroll your children in a private, religious school or home school them. But shut up already about damned prayer in schools.

John Fleming and David Barton can believe whatever they like. They can broadcast on the radio, TV and internet freely, with no government interference. They can publish books full of revisionist propaganda. They are protected under the First Amendment. But that same protection extends to every American, regardless of what they choose to believe or not believe. In America, one religion or philosophy is not placed above the rest – at least in theory. The truth is that Christianity enjoys special treatment, is not held to strict interpretation of the law and has more representation in the government and military than any other religion (or lack thereof). Yet they complain about their so-called persecution. When American Christians are burned alive, hanged and tortured to death for their faith, then they can bitch. Unless that happens (ha!) they can’t claim they are being mistreated. I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat as needed: Religious freedom is not the freedom to shove your religious beliefs on everyone else. If you want to do that, go found your own country – this is America and it belongs to ALL of us.

Here’s the audio:

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