"FBI Technology Blows Apart Myth of Church State Separation"

[Bluebear]

What's next with these people? "New Biblical translation explains Bush is the Messiah, not Jesus"?


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To: National Desk

Contact: Dane Rose, 202-546-8329 ext. 106; Rev. Rob Schenck, 703-447-7686 cell, both of Faith and Action

WASHINGTON, April 24 /Christian Wire Service/ -- Speaking to a group in Danbury, Connecticut, the Reverend Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), president of Washington, DC-based Faith and Action and a missionary to government officials on Capitol Hill, pointed to recent FBI analysis of Thomas Jefferson’s infamous “separation of church and state” letter to debunk the mythical “wall” that supposedly divides the two.

Schenck was speaking at a rally on the Danbury Green, not far from the ruins of the 18th century church where the Danbury Association of Baptists met. It was in an 1801 letter to the Association that Jefferson coined the phrase, “wall of separation between church and state.” In 1947 the US Supreme Court incorporated the phrase into its majority opinion in a case called Everson vs. Ewing Township Board of Education. The first two drafts of the Jefferson letter, together with the one sent to Danbury are kept by the Library of Congress. The chief of the library’s manuscript division, Dr. James Hutson, has written extensively on the letter. Several years ago the FBI used classified technology to reveal margin notes and other material in the drafts that had been inked out by Jefferson.

“The results of the FBI analysis are staggering,” said Rev. Schenck, who met with Dr. Hutson to discuss his findings on the notes. “It changes the whole character and meaning behind Jefferson’s words. In my opinion, and I believe Dr. Hutson’s work backs me up, this letter was nothing more than political damage control. It was never meant to represent constitutional theory.”

Schenck pointed out in his Danbury talk that the Supreme Court took political spin and elevated it to constitutional doctrine.

“That is patently absurd,” he said.

Schenck’s talk has taken on added momentum after radio stations in Connecticut and Texas played it in its entirety. He will be taking his message to churches and other venues across the country over the next 18 months and is available for further comment.

http://www.earnedmedia.org/ncc0424.htm

[Mythsaje]

1. From the author of the Jeffersonian Bible?

What a load of pure bullshit.

[charlie]

2. He's also the idiot

who sneaked into Senate chambers and daubed "holy oil" on the seats before the Alito hearings.

[shenmue]

5. Didn't he...

support people who attacked clinics?

I remember that name. Not a good one.

[charlie]

7. Good memory

Likely so, since he was a member of Operation Rescue:

http://www.lifeandlibertyforwomen.org/truth_about_photos.html

[Yollam]

3. Separation of church and state is in the establishment clause...

...of the United States Constitution, not by some letters written by Jefferson. And I doubt anyone from the FBI would be willing to go on record supporting this claptrap.

[rman]

4. Probably won't go on the record by name,

but no doubt some anonimous sources in the FBI are willing to use "FBI technology" to do an "analysis" that gives a result desired by one of W's fringe bases.

[Igel]

16. Actually, the phrase isn't.

Jefferson argued in the Dansbury letter that the establishment clause was equivalent to a wall of separation. "Establishment" is a very strange word in that sentence.

[Random_Australian]

6. Everything I know about the seperation of church and state is screaming.

I mean, seriously, what's next? "LOOK! Typo in the constitution! it says seperation of the birch and state!"

Thanks to Bluebear for the heads-up.

[mediaman007]

11. No separation of church and state? Tax them!

Plenty of sheltered money in those churches.

[drm604]

8. What bull.

I notice that the article doesn't say anything about what exactly these margin notes say. Even if I were to believe this nonsense about the FBI using classified technology to reveal the notes, I'd have to wonder why Schenck isn't screaming to the rooftops about the exact wording of these notes and what exactly makes them so "staggering".

Why would the FBI be examining these letters? Wouldn't it be some kind of museum curator at the National Archives or the Smithsonian Institute or wherever these supposed original drafts are kept? Why would they need classified technology? I've read and heard of various techniques that museums and archives use to read inked out and even scraped off text and images. Why in this case would it require the FBI and "classified technology" and why would this technology be classified? The first time they use it in a criminal case they'd have to reveal the details of the technique for the evidence to be any good in a court of law, wouldn't they? They are, after all a law enforcement agency.

Suppose for a moment that the FBI did do this. I can't imagine them doing it for anything other than purely political reasons. So why haven't they announced this to the MSM? Why aren't we seeing FBI experts discussing this on Faux News? Why do we need the "Christian Wire Service" to inform us of this?

I know that the burden of proof is on Schenck since he is the one making these unsupported claims, but it would help greatly if we could debunk this story decisively right here and now. Does anyone know where the originals of this letter and its supposed drafts are kept? Surely the curators could speak knowledgeably about this.

[charlie]

9. "Classified technology"

is just Schenk blowing smoke. A curator at the Library of Congress made the request for the examination and Louis Freeh agreed to it. Text and analysis here:

http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danbury.html

[drm604]

13. Fair enough,

but that article certainly doesn't seem to support Schenck's claims.

[chaplainM]

14. Thanks for posting that link.

It's a very interesting analysis of the way that the Federalists demonized candidates who wanted government to keep their noses out of the people's religious beliefs and practices.

I'm so glad no one is taking that low road today.

[Gman]

10. Sounds like he's selling Intelligent Design

Same pitch, different folly.

[TreasonousBastard]

12. So, what about Jefferson's...

Virginia Statute on Religious Liberty:

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/42.htm

Unmentioned in this article is that Jefferson was also responding to ferocious attacks on the Baptists of the time, who were far different from most of today's Baptists. There were loyalists who did insist on keeping the Church of England as the "official" church, and a few others who wanted some other state church. Baptists and some other sects got caught in the middle and were hounded.

I don't think anyone would argue that the religious should stay completely out of government-- much of the decent law that we have was inspired or pushed for by religious groups who were led to some action. The point is that government cannot control religion, and religion cannot control government. It's just that simple.

On edit...

I just finished reading the Library of Congress link Charlie gave above, and there is no support at all for the the Rev. Skank's argument.

More smoke from the religinuts.

[elehhhhna]

15. Breaking: Lincoln was proponent of slavery! No, really.

[Supersedeas]

17. using classified technology for narrow political purposes - NO WAY