Letter to the Editor: Bachmann’s ‘Washington: A Man of Prayer’ event proffers misinformation

By DAVE WESTER | Elroy

Sen. Johnson, I see in the March issue of WorldNetDaily’s newsletter that you are one of only three U.S. Senators who accepted the invitation to attend “Washington: A Man of Prayer” to be hosted by Michelle Bachmann in Washington D.C. on May 7, 2014. The other two Senators listed are Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah (not exactly mainstream company). With the integrity of both the Senate and Wisconsin at stake, I hope you are going to correct the misinformation that WND and Ms. Bachmann are distributing.

The WND newsletter and Ms. Bachmann’s comments lead a person to believe that George Washington performed his government duties with his hands constantly folded around a Bible. Nothing could be further from the truth. When it comes to religion, Washington’s greatest concern was to not get it mixed up with government. He likely would have bristled at Bachmann and WND’s prostitution of religion and politics. He rarely attended church and he never took communion. He often expressed Deist sympathies, as did most of the Founding Fathers. Deists do not believe that Jesus is the son of God, nor that God intervenes in people’s lives. That casts serious doubt on the credibility of “members of Congress and national Christian leaders honoring the first U.S. president as a man of Christian [emphasis added] faith,” as stated in the newsletter.

Ms. Bachmann is credited with saying that the No. 1 document that the authors of the Declaration of Independence consulted was the Holy Bible. Where did she dream that one up? It is not supported by historical fact. Historians have documented that Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration, based his writing on the works of non-Biblical philosophers.

In its promotion for “Washington: A Man of Prayer,” the WND Newsletter includes an image of George Washington praying at Valley Forge (during the winter of 1777-1778). WND omitted the fact that the image is a painting that was created in 1975! The “event” it depicts existed only in the artist’s mind. It is total fiction. Misleading. Most people could probably surmise that it is a painting and not a photograph if they stopped to think about it, but WND did not help its credibility by omitting that fact as well.

The newsletter states, “It was a miracle the ragtag, underfed Revolutionary Army could beat … the strongest military power on Earth.” The same could be said of North Vietnam in the 1970s. Ms. Bachmann claims that the Revolutionary Army won because God blessed America. (The British might disagree.) Are we then to assume that God was on the side of North Vietnam also?

In my lifetime, it has been true that the political parties that most often invoke God also have the least regard for honesty. Why is it that as politics and religion become entangled in their rush to the right, they invariably become more deceitful and hypocritical?

As a U.S. Senator, you have a responsibility to be honest about our nation’s history and not abandon ethics for political pandering. If you participate in this kind of deceit without objection, you become a part of it. Because that deceit involves the façade of Godliness, you will also be guilty of hypocrisy.

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