David Barton Quotes

Marlette was inundated by complaints from Muslims for his 2002 cartoon depiction of Muhammad driving a Ryder rental truck like the one used by convicted Oklahoma City terrorist bomber, Timothy McVeigh. The caption was, “What would Muhammad drive?” He was front-page news in Saudi Arabia and other Islamic nations. He received death threats. The Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim World League both demanded an apology. Marlette refused. When he was killed in an automobile crash in July of 2007, many Muslims believed that this was the retribution of Allah.

Many Arab orthodox Muslims would be terribly angry and insulted if Islam or key elements of it were insulted. To them this was obscene. Culturally, sarcastic comedic attacks and insults in general are not common in Arab culture. Making fun of Islam or the Prophet was unheard of. Under Sharia (Islamic Law) this is heresy and must be stopped, with the heretic put to death. In the early 21st century, the Internet and other modern communications exposed Muslims to the West in a level of detail that had been unknown before. Satirical TV shows like South Park and political and social cartooning in Western countries sometimes made fun of Islam and Muhammad, and militant Muslims would exploit these situations to produce huge protests including violent attacks on Westerners or interests of the countries where these “offences” took place. With little or no understanding of freedom of speech, many Arabs saw governments that would “allow” such satire as attacking and wanting to destroy Islam.

The choice of non-capitalization of the word “god” was Jefferson’s and is retained herein. This quotation is one of the most important in American history because it set the boundary for when it was proper for government to legislate personal behavior. For Jefferson, legislation was only justified if the behavior damged other people economically or physicly. Moral, religious, ethical or cultural affects were not sufficient to interfere with other people's freedom. The quotation was initially given to argue against a state etablished church and blasphemy laws and has been used in arguments even into the 21st century debate over gay marriage.

This is the first American ordinance of freedom of conscience. Note that it only provided freedom of religion for Christians. However, that was an important first step as different sects of Christianity had been persecuting each other whenever the opportunity arose.

American Catholic bishops were divided during the Civil War over the slavery question. For a bishop’s view opposing abolition of slavery, see Hughes {611579}.

The Vatican Congregation of the Index had banned Greene’s Book, The Power and the Glory. See {598544}.

The Governor opposed Jews being allowed into the colony at all, but was overruled by the Dutch West India Company. He feared that this would set a precedent and then Catholics and other “dissenters” would come to New York. He then prohibited them from worshipping as Jews {35223} but was again overruled. He was a very unpopular Governor who himself was a Calvinist fundamentalist having been the son of a Calvinist minister and studied for the ministry himself. The company set the standard of religious tolerance and enforced it. See {611104}. The governor predicted the consequence and the precedent did indeed allow Catholics to come to New York and both Jews and Catholics have been significant New York population groups ever since.

There is irony in this act and statement. The film was censored because it was a defamation to Jesus Christ, who the Muslims recognize as a holy Prophet. See {620971} . However, ultra-fundamentalist Muslim clerics preach hate and desecration of Christianity, Judiasm, and Hinduism commonly. None are ever prosecuted in Pakistan. Books and pamphlets excoriating Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Bhai prophets are common place in Pakistan. Ironically, this banned film was called for by the Catholic Church.

Ingersoll was considered to be the greatest orator and political thinker of his day, but his overt atheistic views curtailed his elected political career.

By the beginning of the 21st Century, some Republicans had perfected the art of naming legislation completely contrary to its intent and effect in order to make opposition to it more difficult for opponents in the legislature. But nothing they ever did came close to the audacity of naming this legislation, The Toleration Act, as it was about the most intolerant legislation ever passed in America. Exactly what the motivation of the legislative drafters was is not known. One theory is that as a Catholic Colony, perhaps they really thought that they were being tolerant as they would not execute Protestants except Unitarians. In any event is was a low point in American history and was one of the examples that was before the Founding Fathers when they added the First Amendment to the Constitution. See {624142} for the text.