The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States by B. F. Morris was published in 1865. Recently, the Right Wing of the United States discovered this book, and wishes to present it as evidence that the United States is officially Christian.
Whatever.
I'm sure they are wrong, but the United States definitely is, and the Right Wing is in particular, driven by mercenary tendencies. So Human Events (which I monitor) is now hawking a commercial reprint of this early book. Here are some of the things the Right Wing is saying about this book:
.... page after page of original source material making the case that America was founded as a Christian nation. The evidence is unanswerable and irrefutable. This 1000-page book will astound you and send enemies of Christianity into shock. Keep in mind that it was published in 1864 and has been out of print for more than a century.
"I was debating an ACLU attorney at Christmas on an NPR station. I pulled out a Xerox copy of The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States and said to her: "Until you answer this book, the ACLU can't make a case against America's Christian founding." She was shocked when she saw it. She asked where I had gotten it. The only thing that gave her relief was the fact that the book was not in print..."
... and so on.
These quotes come from an email sent to me by Human Events.
Anyway, guess what. This book is actually free! Here. On Google Books. Get your copy now!!!!
Or, download the Free PDF file here, on Scienceblogs.com!!!!
Politics
Comments
Then these guys need to read some of the Founding Father's writings. hey all took great pains to emphasize that, what ever your beliefs, the U.S. was a secular entity, though perhaps made up of believers. Many of these folks were no more then one generation away from active persecution for their beliefs, so I highly doubt they would supports the Christina Right's proposition. Never mind that these modern day religious charlitans aren't actually practicing Christianity, and seem to have taken up the mantle of religious persecution themselves.
Posted by: Philip H. | June 19, 2008 5:01 PM
Hmm. I'll have to remember that the next time I debate someone.
Just pull about 600 pages of random printouts out. "Until you refute this entire book that you've never heard of, much less read, you don't have a leg to stand on!"
I expect the real reaction from the ACLU lawyer would've been to laugh her ass off.
As a debate tactic, it's right up there with inventing your own language and declaring yourself the winner because your opponent hasn't refuted your arguments.
Posted by: JThompson | June 19, 2008 5:13 PM
http://noreckoning.blogspot.com/2008/06/history-ur-doin-rong-pt-2.html
Posted by: William Cowan | June 19, 2008 5:54 PM
Jonathon Rowe does a pretty good take-down of the book at Positive Libery, here: http://www.positiveliberty.com/2007/12/old-book-blows-smoke.html.
As he says, the book even quotes from Parson Weems (the guy who brought us the "chopping down the cherry tree" fraud).
Posted by: Ahcuah | June 19, 2008 5:55 PM
Ahcuah,
Your link goes all 404 on that blog.
Try this one. (It took me a minute to see the difference between your link and mine; you've included the final period in the URL.)
Posted by: JanieBelle | June 19, 2008 7:05 PM
Look, it is so totally not my fault that the blog stopped dead this time.
I didn't even say anything sechshul.
Posted by: JanieBelle | June 19, 2008 8:45 PM
So this book is probably about as accurate as the bible??
Posted by: kschu | June 19, 2008 9:44 PM
Bah. Humbug. Another wingnut tempest in a teapot based on a tired old appeal to dismally outdated "scholarship"........
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
Posted by: themadlolscientist | June 20, 2008 2:00 AM
Not long ago, the WingNut Daily announced a new publication that disproved evolution...it was a reprint of Paley's Natural Theology.
Posted by: mark | June 20, 2008 10:54 AM
Ummm... So a book was written 150 years ago by someone with what we might call a less-than-objective point-of-view, and people want to use it as a factual basis upon which to build an argument? Why does this not surprise me?
From the Introduction of the book:
Umm... Does anyone else think that this was a book written during that time in our history when the concept of "Manifest Destiny" was on the rise? Doing a search for the word "destiny" shows 28 references and "providence" (not the city) shows at least 30 (there's a limit of 30 hits, but "Divine Providence" comes up with another 30 hits).
Posted by: Umlud | June 20, 2008 1:10 PM
The right Wingnutters do this all the time. They've been claiming, literally for years, that the US is a "Christian nation", on evidence equally flimsy. And they tend to do it during times of great stress, when people are seeking answers to what appears to be unanswerable problems. There was such a push during the 1950's, when people were supposed to "pray together". America was no more "religious" then than it is now, although churches of various denominations and traditions tended to be better-attended. That these folks would use a book written in 1864 and appealing to such dubious sources as Parson Weems(for his account of "Christian" George Washington, is just laughable. I don't know what Washington's religious inclinatios were, but he was more a man of the 18th century than anything else, and AFAIK, supported the idea that people's religious beliefs did not belong in the public realm.
Anne G
Posted by: Anne Gilbert | June 20, 2008 2:26 PM