Revisionist History: Remembering American Religion
By Giania • Jan 7th, 2008 at 2:09 pm • Category: Articles of Interest, History, Philosophy, PoliticsThey overshot the number for maximum snarky humor by 222.
The Daily Kos has provided a link to the list of committee members who will be dealing directly with this bill in their lengthy commentary. I have no idea why only the Democrats have outbound links.
As with any law-related item, it is strongly encouraged to read the proposed bill yourself prior to espousing your thoughts to a positive or negative. With that in mind, here is a small portion of the opening statement. Those with little tolerance for religion, and those who are disinclined to see our government’s time wasted with trifling arguements for meaningless memorials would do well to take a few deep breaths first.
Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation’s founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation of the first week in May as `American Religious History Week’ for the appreciation of and education on America’s history of religious faith.
Whereas religious faith was not only important in official American life during the periods of discovery, exploration, colonization, and growth but has also been acknowledged and incorporated into all 3 branches of American Federal government from their very beginning;
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’;
Whereas political scientists have documented that the most frequently-cited source in the political period known as The Founding Era was the Bible;
Whereas the first act of America’s first Congress in 1774 was to ask a minister to open with prayer and to lead Congress in the reading of 4 chapters of the Bible;
Whereas Congress regularly attended church and Divine service together en masse;
My thoughts? It’s a waste of human resources to even consider talking about this. This bill strikes me as demonstrating no effort at honoring “American Religious History” so much as it wishes to remind everyone how important Christian religion has been in the history of this country. Regardless of that observation, to approve any bill citing any one faith as essential or preferred in this nation’s past is to imply that it is essential to its present; in short, the bill flies in the face of separation of church and state and is therefore simply not acceptable. I absolutely respect the rights of citizens to practice and celebrate and share their religious beliefs - up to and including sharing their beliefs on how their faith may have shaped this nation’s history and practices - but I cannot and will not condone signing anything into law which then places the state’s official position as one of direct endorsement of a specific group’s personal beliefs. Focusing in such a manner belittles the historical significance and current cultural relevance of all other theological positions, and engenders ill will between differing faiths by inciting heated debate as to why one religion is preferable in the eyes of the government.
I support separation of church and state. I support the equal exchange of ideas. I support the pursuit of history, unbaised by the agendas of the few. Please share your thoughts with me, and more importantly, please share your thoughts with the representatives of the committee if you feel strongly about this issue (one way or the other).
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