A couple of years ago, a poll of Americans revealed that few knew what rights were guaranteed them by the Constitution and not many more actually agreed with what was there - a disturbing number thought that the First Amendment goes too far in what it protects. It's perhaps not strange that the Christian Right didn't greet these numbers with too much disappointment.

In the July/August 2000 issue of Church & State, Barry W. Lynn recounts his experience on a CNN show where the poll results were discussed:

[T]he host turned to me and Kristi Hamrick, communications director at the Family Research Council. When asked to give her thoughts on the poll. Kristi said it “delighted” her and showed “that the American people have a lot of common sense.”

Hello? She didn’t even bother to add a perfunctory note that it was a shame most people don’t know what the Constitution contains. Apparently, a leading Religious Right group now officially concedes that ignorance is indeed bliss.

As The Washington Post explains, a more recent survey reveals that things haven’t gotten any better:

Only one of the 1,000 adults polled in the telephone survey could name all five freedoms guaranteed under the First Amendment. Yet more than one in five (22 percent) could identify all five major characters in Matt Groening’s cartoon family.

Similarly, only 8 people in 100 could name at least three First Amendment freedoms. Four in 10 surveyed (40 percent) could name two of the three judges on the star-making show “American Idol,” and one in four (25 percent) could name all three.

“These survey results clearly demonstrate that many Americans don’t have an understanding of the freedoms they regularly enjoy,” Dave Anderson, the Chicago museum’s executive director, said in a written statement.

Would Christian Right leaders continue to insist that this is a good thing — that ignorance of our freedoms is bliss? Perhaps, if we consider the fact that the Christian Right so often distorts those rights in their legal and political arguments. They claim rights which don’t exist and dismiss rights which are clearly outlined. The Christian Right, after all, is more interested in securing renewed Christian domination of American culture and politics rather then broad religious liberties for everyone.

 

Christian Right & Christian Nationalism:

• Religious Right News
• Religious Intolerance & Bigotry
• Christianism & Christian Nationalism
• Religion in America

 

Christian Nationalism & Dominion Theology:

• Dominionism & Dominion Theology
• Christian Reconstructionism
• Leading Christian Reconstructionists
• Reconstructionism & Christian Right: Common Goals, Beliefs

 

Christian Right Issues & Agenda:

• Religious Privilege
• Christian Privilege
• Christian Supremacy