Apparently not content to let her humiliating performance at the Widener Law School debate die, Christine O’Donnell’s 2008 campaign manager, Jonathon Moseley, is doubling down on her ignorance and making himself a buffoon by offering a $1000 reward to anyone who can find the phrase “separation of church and state” in the constitution.
Okay Jonathon, I’ll give you a million dollars if you can find the phrases “separation of powers” or “checks and balances” anywhere in the constitution. They aren’t there either, of course. But you would make yourself look quite foolish claiming that those concepts are not there. And just like the phrase you insist on obsessing over, those phrases were used by the founders themselves to describe various provisions of the constitution.
Moseley explained: “Despite the Left’s attempt to amend the US Constitution by simply repeating “The Big Lie” over and over again, the phrase “separation of church and state” cannot be found in the United States Constitution. In fact, the words “church” and “separation” also are not found individually anywhere in the U.S. Constitution.”
How about a big lie about the big lie. No one on the left or anywhere else claims that the exact phrase “separation of church and state” is in the constitution. If they did, they wouldn’t have to bother delineating the actual origin of the phrase. But I’m sure Moseley is having fun beating the hell out of that straw man — it’s a lot easier than defeating the actual arguments of his opponents.
Moseley explained: “Chris Coons clearly believes in evolution… of the U.S. Constitution. Constitutional evolutionists rely on a private letter from Thomas Jefferson to invent a “separation of church and state.” Trouble is… Jefferson was not in the Constitutional Convention that wrote the U.S. Constitution. Jefferson was in Paris at the time. Jefferson was also not a member of the first U.S. Congress that wrote the Bill of Rights, either. (That first Congress also used U.S. Treasury funds to import 20,000 Christian Bibles.)”
Great, then the fact that Madison — often called the Father of the Constitution, who chaired the committee that wrote the Bill of Rights — used the same phrase and many like it, and supported an even stricter separation than even the ACLU does today, should be pretty strong evidence, shouldn’t it? And no, they did not use funds to import Christian bibles. Chris Rodda has thoroughly debunked that myth.
Coons and the leftist media quickly back-tracked and tried to cover for Coon’s gaffe, by changing the subject. The exchange was mis-reported by portraying the First Amendment as, in substance, including the functional equivalent of “separation of church and state.”
However, this also is false. The First Amendment guarantees “THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF (of religion).” A wall of separation would violate the 2nd part of the clause, violating THE FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION.
“Any rule that makes religion or religious people unwelcome in any place or any aspect of American life is a violation of the ‘FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION’ guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment,” Moseley explained.
Uh, no. Free exercise of religion means the right to practice one’s religion as long as that practice does not infringe on the rights of others. It does not mean Christians get to do anything they want with the power of government.
Moseley also charged: “Coons also showed apalling ignorance about science as well. The heart and soul of science is questioning established thinking, challenging assumptions, challenging conventional wisdom, and debating both sides of every issue. It is not possible to prepare students to be competent in science without preparing them to look at scientific questions from different angles, examine assumptions, and ask questions outside the box. What Coons would have our schools teach is not science at all, but superstition. Presenting only one point of view without debate never has been and never can be called science. Even if Intelligent Design is taught only as a foil or teaching tool, one cannot teach science by offering only one view”
Great, then O’Donnell will also be advocating that schools teach flat earthism and geocentrism along with conventional astronomy, right? And holocaust denial along with regular history. And phlogeston along with the germ theory of disease. And the Hindu creation myth along with the Christian one as an alternative to evolution. And the Raelian creation myth. And the Dogon myth. Oh, she won’t? What a surprise — she only wants the myths she believes in taught.