WASHINGTON, D.C. — In social media posts celebrating Independence Day, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer referenced the Founding Fathers’ statements calling the United States “God’s noble experiment.” The problem? There is no evidence that any early American statesman has ever uttered the phrase.
A search of the Congressional Record found seven examples of the phrase being used since 2003, all uttered by Chuck Schumer. Another was included in Sen. Schumer’s remarks presenting then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor at her confirmation hearing.
Joanne Freeman, a scholar of early U.S. politics and history and Yale University professor, responded, “In the well-over 100,000 documents written by founders included in the Founders Online database from the National Archives, no one uses the phrase ‘God’s noble experiment.’ No one.” The only example of the phrase “God’s noble experiment” being used by anyone other than Chuck Schumer, found by Executive Editor of The Bulwark Adam Keiper, was in a 1939 review of Ray Billington’s book “The Protestant Crusade, 1800–1860” by a Hillsdale College historian.
“It’s disturbing to see any American politician fabricate — apparently from whole cloth — a quotation that is indistinguishable from the junk history being pushed by David Barton and the rest of the White Christian Nationalist movement,” said Nick Fish, president of American Atheists. “It’s particularly galling in the wake of Christian Nationalist hijacking of our nation’s 250th anniversary and their attempts to redefine America in stark, exclusionary terms.”
Independent journalist Jonathan Larson found that Schumer’s Independence Day post was edited to remove reference to the founders allegedly making the statement as they left “Constitution [sic] Hall,” while leaving the core claim intact.
“That Chuck Schumer has seemingly been repeating this sentiment for more than 20 years doesn’t make it true. The truth matters. And the truth is that the United States is an experiment in secular self government, not theocratic rule. A nation that promises religious pluralism, not religious tests of any kind,” added Fish.
In a petition launched Monday and a letter sent to Senator Schumer’s office, American Atheists called on Schumer to correct the record, retract his statements, and apologize for his mischaracterizations. You can sign the petition here.
