House Resolution 888: A push toward American Christian Theocracy?
Posted by: RB on: January 5, 2008
It is being argued on Daily Kos that Christian Conservatives are engaging in a deceitful effort of historical revisionism to give America a big nudge toward becoming an officially Christian nation. It is argued on Daily Kos that this effort is an attempt to exploit the fear of Democrat politicians to appear anti-Christian in order to make religious right historical revisionism (i.e., that the founding fathers intended for America to be an explicitly Christian nation, rather than a secular one) appear more respectable by having it enshrined in Congress. It’s an effort to make lies true.
Introduced by Congressman Randy Forbes December 18 in the US House Of Representatives, H. Res 888 claims to be about “”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.”
Actually, the resolution is packed with lies – American history lies to be specific.
It could easily be argued that House Resolution 888 is framed so as to make it very difficult to oppose it without appearing anti-Christian.
10 Responses to "House Resolution 888: A push toward American Christian Theocracy?"
January 6, 2008 at 8:25 am
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January 6, 2008 at 10:01 pm
More Thomas Jefferson…
“ The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man.”
“Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus.”
“I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus.”
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” (excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in the nations capital) [Source: Merrill . D. Peterson, ed., Jefferson Writings, (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), Vol. IV, p. 289. From Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781.]
January 6, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Ben Franklin…
“ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel” –Constitutional Convention of 1787 | original manuscript of this speech
“In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered… do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?” [Constitutional Convention, Thursday June 28, 1787]
In Benjamin Franklin’s 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach “the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern.”
In 1787 when Franklin helped found Benjamin Franklin University, it was dedicated as “a nursery of religion and learning, built on Christ, the Cornerstone.”
January 6, 2008 at 10:03 pm
John Adams…
“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
• “[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”
–John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” –October 11, 1798
“I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen.” December 25, 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson
“Without Religion this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite Company, I mean Hell.” [John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817] |
January 8, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Thank you, Colin, for pointing out both sides of the matter.
USAmerica was not founded as a purely Christian nation, but nor was it merely Deistic. Neither was it atheistic by any stretch of the imagination. I believe the majority of texts from the pre-Revolutionary time period and up to the War of 1812 show a predominantly Judeo-Christian Theistic disposition to the nation, exceptions like Thomas Jefferson noted.
Of course, there are always those who don’t look at the big picture.
–Sirius Knott
January 8, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Those quotes are all good and fine, but ultimately the US may be a nation of Christian majority, but it is not an officially Christian nation. The Constitution makes not a single mention of God, I am told. And on a number of occasions early legislators clearly struck down attempts at infusing the nation with state-sanctioned Christianity. Very early on after the writing of the Constitution there were a number of cases in which attempts to inject Christianity into official government affairs were struck down. California Attorney and lawyer and chair member of the Center For Inquiry Edward Tabash has given a number of presentations on this in which he outlines the drafting of the Constitution and these early precedents of maintaining secularism. His videos can easily be found online. Early American leaders may well have been Christian—though many of them were known deists—but that is not the same as saying that America is Constitutionally a Christian nation.
January 8, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Seems to me like a political maneuver that has no chance of passing or being heard in the Senate by a guy trying to remain relevant for the next election.
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January 6, 2008 at 8:24 am
Like nails on a chalkboard — America was founded on Christian ideals.
Thomas Jefferson: (1743-1826), third U.S. president.
“Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”
“I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies.”
“Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man. … perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind … a mere contrivance [for the clergy] to filch wealth and power to themselves.”
“In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to liberty, he is always in allegiance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection of his own. … History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. … Political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves [of public ignorance] for their own purpose.”
“I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.”