Bill O'Reilly is a big fat idiot. So is Sarah Palin. : PharyngulaLet me get his dismissal of what O'Reilly said out of the way:
In his opening statement, that fathead O'Reilly says:
The constitution clearly states that the government cannot impose religion on citizens, but setting aside a day to encourage expression of voluntary spirituality is in no way an imposition.
No, here's what the first amendment actually says.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Yeah, how dare O'Reilly (who I am no big fan of) paraphrase the first amendment. Yes, the federal government cannot set up a state church or something like that, but the NDP is not a state church. It's not even close.
But wait! Can Sarah Palin possibly be even dumber than O'Reilly? You betcha.
…our constitution of course acknowledging that our unalienable rights come from god not man…
Oy.
Here is the first sentence of that thoroughly god-free document...
Now if you watch the video of the interview with Sarah Palin, you know that she does mention the Declaration of Independence in the same sentence as the U.S. Constitution. And the former document does mention God as the source of our unalienable rights.
The babbling goes on from there, with O'Reilly even claiming that the Constitution is based on the Ten Commandments, which is also news to me: I've missed the parts that set aside holy days, demand worship of a single god, or outlaws coveting; it doesn't even make murder and theft illegal!
PZ Meyers missed the point entirely. The principles underlying the Ten Commandments are the same as those underlying the U.S. Constitution.
Throughout the Ten Commandments references are made to authority, namely God first, then your Father and Mother. The U.S. Constitution fundamental premise is that there must be authority over man, (that is why the document was crafted in the first place)and from that premise the Founding Fathers went on to write the most carefully constructed constitution in the history of the world.
The commandment not to steal is nothing else but a declaration of the importance of property rights, something that is stressed throughout the U.S. Constitution.
Finally, the command not to kill is a direct statement of a person's right to be left free from threats of force or violence. "Cruel and unusual punishment" and the Eighth Amendment ring a bell with anyone?
The vast majority of the people that fought the Revolutionary War were Christians. Most of the Founding Fathers were Christians. The Ten Commandments forms the basis of a Christian's moral code. That morality influences every decision he or she makes in life. Are we to believe that the many Christians who had a hand in shaping the Constitution and our system of government did not allow their moral beliefs to guide them? I think not. To say otherwise would be foolish. Just because a specific document does not verbatim quote the Bible hardly means it is not influenced by it in one way or the other.
That's what Sarah Palin and lot of others have been saying for a long time. And guess what? They're right.