Sean Hannity and his fellow ignorant conservative friends consistently and constantly mislead their listeners with untruths about the founding fathers. James Madison would flip over in his grave if he knew how his political legacy is being misused by the conservative minority in this nation.

"You want to refer to some liberal activist judge..., that's fine, but I'm going to go directly to the source. The author of the Bill of Rights [James Madison] hired the first chaplain in 1789, and I gotta' tell ya' somethin', I think the author of the Bill of Rights knows more about the original intent -- no offense to you and your liberal atheist activism -- knows more about it than you do." (September 4, 2002)

What Sean Hannity doesn't understand is that the first congressional chaplains weren't hired by James Madison - they were appointed by a committee of the Senate and House in, respectively, April and May, 1789, before the First Amendment even existed.

James Madison's view, as presented in his Detached Memoranda: "Is the appointment of Chaplains to the two Houses of Congress consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom? In strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative."

Source: Center for American Progress