This letter was forwarded to me. I also watched the History Channel's presentation 'Benjamin Franklin' and was outraged by the obvious attempt to insert the concept of the separation of church and state into the Declaration of Independence by one of the three historians commenting on the program.
 
Marie Komar

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If you also wish to contact the History Channel about it,
 
go to this link and click "Contact Us" near the bottom.
 
http://www.historychannel.com/global/feedback/faq.jsp?NetwCode=THC&level_1=nodes_38&level_2=nodes_71&level_3=nodes_86&x=27&y=19
 
 
A Letter to the History Channel (feel free to copy, paste and edit):
 
To Whom it May Concern -
 
I would like to express my displeasure with your recently broadcast program about the life of Benjamin Franklin.
 
One-hundred-five minutes into the 120 minute broadcast is when the comments made by one of your "experts" completely ruined and brought into question the veracity of the entire program.  The comments by this "expert" demonstrate either a historical error made by the HISTORY Channel, or an attempt by the HISTORY Channel to re-write history.
 
Either scenario is unacceptable, however the latter scenario is outrageous.
 
The "expert" in question was the 50-something year old gray-haired man wearing a gray suit and red tie.  The topic being discussed at that moment in the program was the editing of the Declaration of Independence before the final draft was written and signed.
 
Of note was the instance where Franklin edited the original line "We hold these truths to be sacred," and replaced it with "We hold these truths to be self-evident,"
 
The "expert" makes the claim that this edit demonstrates how Benjamin Franklin (paraphrased), "believed so strongly in a separation of church and state that he wanted it to be stated in the Declaration of Independence that it was self-evident that our rights are given to us by the consent of the people and that religion holds no place in the matter."
 
The very document, indeed the very line of the very paragraph of the very document in question, completely debunks your "expert's" claim:
 
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
 
- Declaration of Independence, Paragraph Two, Line One
 
In not-so-hard-to-understand language, the authors here declare that the proceeding TRUTHS are self-evident, meaning that they do not need validation nor do they need consent nor observation.  The TRUTHS that are self-evident are "that all men are created equal," and, "that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights."
 
To rephrase in a manner that regards all that I have said here:
 
It is beyond the need, authority and scope of the consent of the governed that we recognize the fact that we have Creator-granted rights.  These rights are unalienable.  Thus they cannot have been granted nor can they be un-granted by the consent of the governed.
 
I find it truly amazing that the HISTORY Channel would allow this completely erroneous statement by a presented "expert" to not only make the final cut of the program, but to not be refuted and corrected.  In order for your channel to remain in the highest regard of your viewers who have come to rely on your accuracy and to whom it has become a habit to learn the "little known tidbits of history" from you, I would strongly suggest that you immediately issue a correction, make it widely known, and edit the program to remedy this perversion of history.
 
Sincerely -
 
Andrew Jarosh