A Letter to Representative Trent Franks

United States House Representative Trent Franks recently had some fascinating remarks on the necessity of re-affirming the injection of his god into government:

Concerned by these remarks - not the least by their historical inaccuracy - I composed a brief message to the good representative:

Dear Representative Franks,

I am writing you in concern over your remarks made on the House floor, as recorded in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39D_96oDXY0

While no one can deny the historical presence and influence, for better or for worse, in Europe's, and, indirectly, America's, history, it strikes me as a disservice to the people of our country to spread falsehoods such as:

"[Christopher Columbus'] service to God was to go out in search the world to find ways, and he ran into this place called 'America'."

...when it's well-established that Columbus struck out solely to find a more economical means by which to trade with India and China than the so-called "Silk Road".

Following that, you state:

"Indeed, those who were colonists that first came to America came here because they wanted to worship God."

Indeed, some of the early colonizers (though not all, as the settlers of Jamestown most definitely came for profit) came seeking religious freedom from an oppressive British religious state, but do we not, in turn, commit the same act of tyranny by interweaving a religion into our own government? How we do honor those who came seeking religious freedom by keeping religion interwoven with our government?

In your final example, you state:

"Indeed, the founding fathers that started this country did so in the name of God."

Assuming that you are using the common usage of "founding fathers" - a description of a group seven comprised of Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Madison, John Jay, and George Washington - this is strictly not true at all. In the document of the U.S. Constitution, there is no mention of a "God", and, in the Declaration of Independence, there is only a passing reference to a "creator" and no actual reference to the Abrahamaic god embraced in the phrase "In God We Trust". Perhaps if they had intended such a stance, our motto would not have initially been "E Pluribus Unum".

Lastly, and most severely, is your concerning stance that, without a book by which to derive morality, society would devolve into anarchy. I strongly suggest you familiarize yourself with concepts such as secular humanism; a god is about as necessary for proper governance in this day and age as a celestial teapot.

I look forward to response.

Thank you,

Joshua Hyde

In the unlikely event that I get a response, I will gladly follow up to this post.