Randy Forbes, Representating the Fourth District of Virginia, has introduced House Resolution 888 to declare the first week in May as “American Religious History Week.” Do read it. It’s supporting clauses (those beginning with “whereas”) contain many bold but unsourced assertions such as
Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed this self-evident fact in a unanimous ruling declaring `This is a religious people … From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation’;
or
Whereas in 1782, Congress pursued a plan to print a Bible that would be `a neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools’ and therefore approved the production of the first English language Bible printed in America that contained the congressional endorsement that `the United States in Congress assembled … recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States’;
or
Whereas America’s first Presidential Inauguration incorporated 7 specific religious activities, including–
(1) the use of the Bible to administer the oath;
(2) affirming the religious nature of the oath by the adding the prayer `So help me God!’ to the oath;
(3) inaugural prayers offered by the President;
(4) religious content in the inaugural address;
(5) civil leaders calling the people to prayer or acknowledgement of God;
(6) inaugural worship services attended en masse by Congress as an official part of congressional activities; and
(7) clergy-led inaugural prayers, activities which have been replicated in whole or part by every subsequent President;
It is an interesting read. The supporting clauses go on for six or seven pages, printed out. It does present a case– by example only, no legal or constitutional principles invoked– that most of the politicos through most of the history of the country have been Christian and may have thought of this as a Christian land.
Into the fray, my lovelies. What answers do you have? Are we going to merely hold up copies of the frail Constitution, maybe flip on the spot that holds the First Amendment. Are you Christian living in a Christian land?
Ready for the religious wars to begin? I think that’s where Mr. Forbes is heading this.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Jack // May 14, 2008 at 7:49 pm
The religious wars took place while the Constitution was being drafted. God lost. Nowhere in the Constitution is he mentioned. Article 6, section 3 states in part, “…no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
2 Stan // May 14, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Yeah, but it turns out that either God’s a sore loser or his supporters are.
3 jgoggin // Oct 6, 2008 at 6:15 pm
He…e…e..’s back! And so are they.
4 graybill // Jun 1, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Are we a Christian nation? No doubt this country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and we have enjoyed the benefits thereof – including the freedom to choose to embrace or reject the God of our Fathers.
Does that make us a Christian nation? Hmmmm. Perhaps we have mainly Christian traditions that stem from our beginnings and cultures. Certainly, as the above document rightly points out, our legal system uses Christian oaths/articles of faith (Bible), and our founding fathers agreed that Bible reading and even teaching scripture in the public schools was a good and moral thing to do to train up good citizens. The New England Primer and the McGuffy Readers, used for over a hundred years in public schools (tell that to the modern textbook selecting committees that need to spend loads of money adopting the latest dry-as-dust readers to inflict on children) are still in print today, unabridged, and used among homeschoolers. They are rife with scripture and morality tales straight from the Bible.
Are we Christians? Not unless we want to be. Christianity is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, his son. No one can *make* someone else be a Christian. Not even church membership grants that. That is unbiblical. And that is not American.
But neither is revising our nation’s past. We can be truthful about our nation’s Judeo-Christian origins without being threatened by it. This is not a reason to revise all the textbooks in the public schools and obliterate any references to Christianity so that they do not offend a person of another (or no) faith. Where is the offense?
This is history, plain and simple.
Am I, dear reader, a Christian? Unequivocably, yes! As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord. Will we celebrate American Religious History Week in our homeschool if it is made “official”? Probably not. I dislike contrived things like that. We recycle even when it’s not earth day, and we read poetry even if it isn’t national poetry reading day. I don’t need a politician telling me what to celebrate. But then my children and I do have the luxery to spend time rooting out truth like detectives, studying original documents and the people who wrote them (the good, the bad, the ugly). Public school kids aren’t so lucky. Perhaps these contrivances are necessary for them.
You must log in to post a comment.