Banning a lie

I've been sitting looking at this article about the so called "banning of the Declaration of Independence at a California school and wondering what the full story was. If it is true, then it is in horribly bad form. But I can't imagine that a school district, especially one in the Bay area would risk such a fight over something as silly as this.

And it is silly, or appears to be on the face of it. But this is exactly the kind of thing that the conservative Christians manage to overblow and turn to their advantage. Soon we will hear about the liberal judges who cause the Declaration to be banned, but not about Conservative judges who caused women to die because they denied them abortion rights. Their noise machine is just better.

I saw this story around midday, and it has taken this long for me to find the response to the surprisingly one sided article listed above. Here's a peak at the truth:

...the teacher was forcing his students to listen to and read "Christian Nation" propaganda. The school asked him to stop. The teacher is suing the school with the help of a right-wing "Christian Law" organization, the Alliance Defense Fund. (Also see this.)

The school did not "ban the Declaration of Independence" -- that is just a lie. This story is like when you hear that a man was "arrested for praying" and you find out he was kneeling in the middle of a busy intersection at rush hour and refused to move.

More at See the Forest, who also points to Digby, who supplies this for all of those "we are a Christian nation" idealists:

The 1796 treaty with Tripoli, negotiations begun under Washington and signed by Adams states:

[As] the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion

It just makes me sad that things have come to this. I have no problem with religion and it's practice, but I do have a problem when it become intrusive on other people's lives (especially children), and them is used as a wedge issue based on an outright lie (Which I always thought was a sin. What do us blue staters know, though?).

*UPDATE* More on the secular history of America, not that it matters. I say that because the lie has already been spread and the frame is already built. Liberals hate religion. The counter to this is not a factual based refutation, but rather that Conservatives hate religious freedom and tolerance. They want to tell you exactly what G-d means and how you should worship him. They want to tell you which church to attend and at what time. And if you don't follow their rules, then you are not a true Christian.

If there is one thing people hate, it's being told what to do by the government.

*UPDATE, TOO* Surprisingly (so far), some on the right look at the story with the samr wonder and doubt I did early on. For example, the guys from Power Line:

As a lawyer, however, I should note that most allegations asserted in pleadings are untrue. So news reports based on what someone has stated in a legal complaint should always be taken with a huge grain of salt. Still, the Trunk has been saying for a while that it is only a matter of time until the Constitution is held to be unconstitutional. The Declaration will presumably bite the dust first.

Just when you think you can characterize a group...
Granted, there are plenty of people out there ranting and raving without giving this story much thought, but I must extend a certain amount of respect to those that haven't jumped the gun. No matter how much they idolize Hugh Hewitt.