Fox News' Sean Hannity doesn't let his religion get in the way for his support of a controversial anti-terror tactic.

Hannity invited Meghan McCain on his show to talk about a court filing by 9/11 defendants detained at Guantanamo Bay. The group of detainees had admitted that they were "terrorists to the bone."

If Christian Zionism can be correctly exposed as a warring religion, America may be restored to peace, justice, and at least to some of the prosperity which we have lost. Many of us are all beginning to suffer economic distress as a result of the very wars Christian Zionists have supported, supposedly because these wars please God and are necessary for Jesus' return to earth.
At the apex of the Christian Zionist sect (which is only 100 years old) are leaders who include media personalities such as John Hagee, Rod Parsley, Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, and hundreds more. Each has openly expressed the view that war upon Islamic states is necessary and welcome. Currently, most of these call for America's next planned serial war against Iran. Sudan is also on the war agenda.

In spite of right-wing Christian attempts to rewrite history to make Jefferson into a Christian - and to portray this nation as one founded on Christian values, little about Jefferson's philosophy resembles that of Christianity, and the founders very clearly created a secular, *liberal* state based on enlightenment (Read *humanist*) values. Although Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence wrote of the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God, there exists nothing in the Declaration about Christianity. In point of fact, most of our founding fathers were *Deists.* Deism is the belief that a supreme natural God exists and created the physical universe, and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason and observation of the natural world. Deists generally reject the notion of supernatural revelation as a basis of truth or religious dogma. Deism is *not* a form of Christianity.

One of the most common statements from the "Religious Right" is that they want this country to "return to the Christian principles on which it was founded". However, a little research into American history proves this statement to be incorrect. The men responsible for building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity, and many were strongly opposed to it. They were men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. They were Deists who did not believe the bible was true.

The Constitution specifies that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section 3) This provision was radical in its day-- giving equal citizenship to believers and non-believers alike. They wanted to ensure that no single religion could make the claim of being the official, national religion, such as England had. And yet - in modern practice, and due to the unwarranted political influence of the evangelicals, in practice, such a test exists, causing politicians to feel the need to wear their professed faith on their sleeves. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mention religion, except in exclusionary terms. The words "Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, and God" are never mentioned in the Constitution-- not once.

The Declaration of Independence gives us important insight into the opinions of the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the power of the government is derived from the governed. Up until that time, it was claimed that kings ruled nations by the authority of God. The Declaration was a radical departure from the idea of divine authority.

When Presidents and other federal officials take their oaths of office, they often place their hand on a Bible and conclude their oaths with the words "so help me God." The Christian right sees these practices as evidence that the founders never intended separation of church and state. But this conclusion doesn't follow: the Constitution doesn't require Presidents or other federal officials to place their hand on the Bible or say the words "so help me God." Quite the contrary, those sections of the Constitution that deal with oaths of office are completely secular in content and, as such, constitute evidence that the framers intended separation. Here's what Article II section I of the constitution requires for the Presidential oath of office:

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Rather than creating a nation based on religion, our founders created a *liberal,* secular and (think about the times here) a *radical* state based on humanistic, Enlightenment values. Freedom *from* religion was just as important as freedom *of* religion, and a clear separation of church and State was clearly intended.

My intent in this article is not to provide an in-depth, scholarly analysis, but a short synopsis to stimulate discussion on the Vine. I'll leave you with some apt quotes:

Franklin

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."

"In the affairs of the world, men are saved, not by faith, but by the lack of it."

Jefferson:

"In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot ... they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into mystery and jargon, unintelligible to all mankind, and therefore the safer engine for their purpose."
- to Horatio Spafford, March 17, 1814

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787

James Madison:

"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."
- "A Memorial and Remonstrance", 1785

"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."
-1803 letter objecting use of gov. land for churches

John Adams

"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it."

"God is an essence that we know nothing of. Until this awful blasphemy is got rid of, there will never be any liberal science in the world."

The plain fact is that the dogma, intolerance, irrationality, violence, ignorance and hatred routinely displayed by the religious right in this country would have dismayed and sickened our founding fathers, who strove to give us a country and constitution based on reason and enlightenment....