# Tom DeLay: "God Wrote the Constitution" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 22, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027 "2014-05-22T20:11:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/61 "2014-05-23T16:55:23Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > Since neither democracy nor republics are ever mentioned in the Bible, I think God wants the US to be an absolute monarchy (doesn’t the word “kingdom” show up a whole lot?) That’s why whenever anyone invokes “the Lord” at me, I say _“Sorry, I’m an American. We don’t have lords.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/62 "2014-05-23T17:49:40Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I guess it’s **mostly harmless** since DeLay is no longer in Congress, he’s just a lecturer now. > > The problem is the people who take his shit seriously. But others with this notion are trying desperately to get into Congress. Or the Senate, even. The leading GOP candidate in this year’s Senate race in Iowa (to replace the retiring Tom Harkin) is Joni Ernst. Yes, she with the hog-castratin’, motorcycle-ridin’, pistol-shootin’ ways sure to strike fear into the hearts of Obama and all them no-good Washington libruls. Anyway, in a recent debate she said her decisions on approving federal judges would be based on [whether they realized the Constitution and our laws come from God.](http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/04/29/3432089/iowa-senate-biblical-law/) Naturally, no one thought to follow up with the fact that the Affordable Care Act is a law. Or gun control laws, or public education laws, or basically any law these fundamentalist Tea Party types don’t like. They’re laws, so by definition, they came from God, right? Right? ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/63 "2014-05-23T18:00:33Z")
You want to know whacky? Here is a former justice of the Utah Supreme Court as well as a former law professor, [arguing why God wrote the constitution](https://www.lds.org/ensign/1992/02/the-divinely-inspired-constitution?lang=eng). > [@](#): > > The Divinely Inspired Constitution > > Not long after I began to teach law, an older professor asked me a challenging question about Latter-day Saints’ belief in the United States Constitution. Earlier in his career he had taught at the University of Utah College of Law. There he met many Latter-day Saint law students. “They all seemed to believe that the Constitution was divinely inspired,” he said, “but none of them could ever tell me what this meant or how it affected their interpretation of the Constitution.” I took that challenge personally, and I have pondered it for many years. > > I hope I will not be thought immodest if I claim a special interest in the Constitution. As a lawyer and law professor for more than twenty years, I have studied the United States Constitution. As legal counsel, I helped draft the bill of rights for the Illinois constitutional convention of 1970. And for three and one-half years as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court I had the sworn duty to uphold and interpret the constitutions of the state of Utah and the United States. My conclusions draw upon those experiences and upon a lifetime of studying the scriptures and the teachings of the living prophets. He later quotes from the [Mormon scriptures](https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/101.77?lang=eng#76): > [@Good Ole God Himself](#): > > 77 According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the brights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles; My AP history teacher (in Utah, of course) openly taught us that. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/64 "2014-05-23T18:12:51Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Well, according to the Bible, the Israelites ruled a vast empire with a sprawling capital. Rather than a bunch of raggedy-ass goatherds wandering aimlessly over a sere and desolate landscape, with most of their history about getting conquered. Dude… leave us out of this, OK? You want to attack Christians, knock yourself out. No need to insult us along with them. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/65 "2014-05-23T18:19:23Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Hint: **Skammer** ’s reference to a missing comma was not irrelevant. Okay, I missed it the first time. My bad. Ask not for whom the whoosh goes. It whooshes thee. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/66 "2014-05-23T18:32:30Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Gotta watch those missing commas. Well, you know what spellcheckers say. Proper capitalization and punctuation is the difference between “I am going to help my brother, Jack, off his horse” and… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/67 "2014-05-23T18:36:07Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Dude… leave us out of this, OK? You want to attack Christians, knock yourself out. No need to insult us along with them. Where do you think Jesus was from? Kansas? ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/68 "2014-05-23T18:44:11Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Where do you think Jesus was from? Kansas? Actually…it’s all starting to make sense, now… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/69 "2014-05-23T18:51:27Z")
Texas, sure. Kansas, no way. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/70 "2014-05-23T19:20:29Z")
Both are disqualified. In Kansas you can’t find 3 wise men. In Texas you can’t find a virgin. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/71 "2014-05-23T19:23:25Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Dude… leave us out of this, OK? You want to attack Christians, knock yourself out. No need to insult us along with them. On Judgment Day Og will hold the Jews to account for one wicked and abominable collective sin, one anti-Semites never seem to mention: **You** gave birth to both Christianity and Islam! :mad: Yes, you did, don’t try to disown them! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/72 "2014-05-23T19:35:21Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > On Judgment Day Og will hold the Jews to account for one wicked and abominable collective sin, one anti-Semites never seem to mention: **You** gave birth to both Christianity and Islam! :mad: Yes, you did, don’t try to disown them! Oh, please. You might as well blame Roddenberry for all the crappy Star Trek fanfic. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/73 "2014-05-23T19:48:35Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Oh, please. You might as well blame Roddenberry for all the crappy Star Trek fanfic. And why not? He should have known what he was starting . . . ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/74 "2014-05-23T23:03:46Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Very well played. I once did a presentation on misplaced modifiers in law school; good times. Do you mean: “When I was in law school, I did a presentation on misplaced modifiers” or “I once did a presentation on misplaced modifiers and their role or appearance in law schools” ??🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/75 "2014-05-26T01:07:04Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Do you mean: > > “When I was in law school, I did a presentation on misplaced modifiers” > > or > > “I once did a presentation on misplaced modifiers and their role or appearance in law schools” > > ??🙂 Go highlight my whole post 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027/76 "2014-05-26T01:50:38Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Both are disqualified. > > In Kansas you can’t find 3 wise men. > In Texas you can’t find a virgin. Obviously, the 3 wise men came from the east-- Missouri. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-delay-god-wrote-the-constitution/689027.md?page=3)