ince 1983 (when I was first published in Liberty) I had been associated, in one way or another, with the magazine until 1999, when—after six years as editor—I quit. The reasons were many: first, I was bored; second, I had lost my fire in the belly for the topic (mostly because I had read myself out of any dogmatic positions on religious liberty); and finally, I didn’t want to spend the rest of my days bashing Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and other ersatz ayatollahs of the Christian Right.

Last December, however, after reading an advertisement in Christianity Today (Dec. 4, 2000) by the American Center for Law and Justice (Pat Robertson’s answer to the American Civil Liberties Union), I felt that fire rekindle, even rage.

The ad had a picture of the Declaration of Independence in which its references to “Nature’s God” and to “the Creator” were crossed out, followed in huge red type by the word “Censored?” The ad warned that unless Christians fought those who want to “take God out of public life,” then soon “you will not be free to pray, read your Bible, hold a Bible study in your home, display a cross, share your faith . . . or worse.”

Excuse me while I vent.

First, notice that the Declaration of Independence, not the United States Constitution, was used in the ad. Why? Because if they had used the Constitution, there would have been no references to God to cross out. How embarrassing (not to mention politically inconvenient) for the Christian Right that America’s founding charter not only never refers to God, but barely mentions religion; and when it does, it distinctly puts restrictions on what government can do with it. That’s why the ACLJ had to substitute the Constitution with a document that has no legal authority whatsoever.

The Declaration of Independence (written by Thomas Jefferson) was simply a public statement—penned even before the United States was established—that has no more jurisdiction over our laws or government than does Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. (In the recent brouhaha over the 2000 presidential election, no one talked about what the Declaration of Independence said but only about what the Constitution says, because it, not the Declaration, is the law of the land.)

Second, the ad also reads: “Let us show you what Thomas Jefferson really had to say about God’s involvement with our nation”; it then offers to send them a free copy of the Declaration of Independence (not the U.S. Constitution).

Forget, for now, what Jefferson had to say about God in public life; let’s look instead at Jefferson’s God. Jefferson rejected the idea that Christ died for our sins; he rejected all miracles in the Gospels; he called Christ’s apostles and disciples “dupes and imposters”; he derided Paul as “the first corrupter of Jesus”; and he wrote that the virgin birth of Christ will one day “be classed with the fable of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.” If this were the God that people wanted to acknowledge publicly at high school football games or at graduation ceremonies or over school intercoms during classtime, you could be sure that Robertson’s ACLJ bullies would not be producing Goebbels-like ads about the Lord being censored from public life.

Which comes to the third and most important point: despite ACLJ propaganda, there is no systematic attempt by anyone credible to stop people from praying, holding Bible studies, sharing their faith, or displaying a cross—provided that those who do these things don’t use, overtly or subtly, the coercive power of the state (be it in public schools, in courtrooms, wherever) to do them. That’s the caveat that the writers of the ad conveniently ignored. The claim that attempts to stop legislated prayer in public school (where kids must be by law) will lead to a time when “you will not be free to pray” at all is like saying that laws against sex with minors will lead to a ban on the marriage bed. The first argument is as ludicrous as the second; yet the first is being promoted by Pat Robertson’s minions, and millions of Christians believe it.

Distorting truth beyond belief, the ad bordered on satire. Only it wasn’t funny. In fact, it was enough to almost make me wish I were back at Liberty.

Almost.

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Clifford Goldstein is editor of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide.