LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

‘Wall Of Separation’: A Carefully Constructed Edifice Of Misinformation

[...] Americans United has been critical of a program being offered to PBS stations called “Wall of Separation.”

We became suspicious about the production because the film’s director and writer, Brian Godawa, is a militant theocrat with close ties to Christian Reconstructionism, the most extreme faction of the Religious Right. He and his allies believe that Christians of his stripe should take control, not only of the government, but of all aspects of society – including the entertainment industry.

Americans United was concerned that “Wall of Separation” is designed not to educate but to promote an inaccurate view of the historical origins of church-state separation. Some critics accused me of attacking a program I had not seen. We ordered a copy, and yesterday several members of the AU staff and I screened it. I regret to report that “Wall of Separation” is even worse than I had imagined. It clearly designed to promote views held by Religious Right extremists.

A common theme running through “Wall of Separation” is that the Founding Fathers sought a government based on the Bible. It’s odd that the framers would want this so much yet neglect to actually put it in the Constitution. In fact, claims of America being founded on “biblical law” are the stock and trade of Christian Reconstructionists and other theocrats who openly espouse a government based on their narrow definition of Christianity.

But their wishing does not make it so. Offering no evidence, “Wall of Separation” asserts that the Founding Fathers intended for U.S. law to be based on biblical codes. About halfway through the film, the narrator notes that the framers had diverse religious views but then adds, “But this diversity of religious beliefs was nevertheless within the context of a religious consensus that promoted the integration of biblical moral codes in society and biblical civil codes in government. This was their original intent — but it would not last forever.” [...]

In short, “Wall of Separation” is a cleverly packaged piece of propaganda, obviously designed to promote the Religious Right view that separation of church and state was not the intention of America’s Founding Fathers. [...]