Mark Small

Rev Beckwith says he understands “Biblical history and American history and I addressed the faith of our Founding Fathers and God’s call on every believer in America to be engaged in our Constitutional Republic.” 6/24

1) “biblical history” & American history are not synonymous. King James ed of the bible was published in 1611, long before Constl Convention of 1787. Rev Beckwith’s ignorance of such distinctions is no barrier to his claims of expertise. 7/24

2) this is scary: in another video Rev Beckwith opines morality only is based in scripture and that atheists, agnostics, Hindus and Muslims cannot be moral. That implies that, eventually, we do not deserve equal rights. 8/24

3) “founders” of this country consist of more than “fathers.” Only white, male landowners were able to vote for delegates to the 1787 Convention. The delegates viewed their role as framers of a structure for government. 9/24

A “founder” is “a person who founds or establishes.” Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed., 2001, p. 756. The “founders” includes everyone who was here who toiled and died to build this country. 10/24

“Founders” includes people held in involuntary servitude (a/k/a slaves), indigenous peoples (mistakenly called “Indians” by European settlers) and women (who had hardly any rights). 11/24

4) when Rev Beckwith refers to the “faith of our Founding Fathers” & implies there was an intent this country should be a theocracy, at best he misleads. The religions being practiced in this country in 1787 were many and varied. 12/24

Indigenous peoples & people held involuntarily in servitude had many ways to view themselves & the universe & what they viewed as a god or gods. The Framers were hardly all of the same beliefs as Rev Beckwith. 13/24