Kern, Ritze use false quote to push bill

Oklahoma City (May 7, 2009) State Capitol – During questions about a resolution to erect a monument on the State Capitol grounds, two Republican representatives cited a quote from Founding Father James Madison that has been confirmed to have no historical foundation.

Rep. Sally Kern cited the manufactured quote as evidence in support of HB1330, a measure that would allow the resolution’s author, Rep. Mike Ritze, to erect a monument of the Ten Commandments on the Capitol grounds.

“Perhaps the legislature would find greater benefit in erecting a monument to our founding principles,” said Rep. Ryan Kiesel, D-Seminole.  “Then it would be more difficult for my colleagues to reinvent history in support of a political agenda.”

Rep. Kern made the following quote, which has been erroneously attributed to James Madison:

“We have staked the whole of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”

However, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal and several other credible sources, the quote only appears in twentieth-century texts, and cannot be traced in any historically accurate way back to James Madison.

Having studied James Madison, Rep. Kiesel believes that Madison would condemn this abuse of his memory.

“A proponent of religious liberty, President Madison would no doubt take issue with the misappropriation of his legacy in promotion of a monument that violates the very Constitution he first drafted,” he stated.

After Rep. Kern cited the quote, she asked if Rep. Ritze was aware of the quote; he confirmed that he was.

Rep. Kiesel suggested that his colleagues instead remember an actual quote from James Madison, as found in a July 10, 1822 letter from Madison to Edward Livingston (http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions66.html):

“Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Govt.”

For more information on the false quote:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/capital.asp

http://web.archive.org/web/20030620063744/http://www.au.org/press/pr4401.htm

http://candst.tripod.com/misq1.htm