The Observer, February 1, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 15
Rational Response: Factually incorrect religious resolution should be rejected entirely
I am pleased to report that with all the war, poverty, hunger, sickness, and general discontent in the world, the House of Representatives is really focusing on the issues. If you consider revising historical facts of our nation's history to suit the tastes of a few fringe Christian fundamentalists to be an important issue, that is.
On Dec. 18, Congressman Randy Forbes, R-Va., introduced House Resolution 888, a resolution that "(1) affirms the rich spiritual and diverse religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history, including up to the current day; (2) recognizes that the religious foundations of faith on which America was built are critical underpinnings of our Nation's most valuable institutions and form the inseparable foundation for America's representative processes, legal systems, and societal structures; (3) rejects, in the strongest possible terms, any effort to remove, obscure, or purposely omit such history from our Nation's public buildings and educational resources; and (4) expresses support for designation of a `American Religious History Week' every year for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith."
H.R. 888 goes on to cite various historical "facts" that support the idea that our Founding Fathers intended for the good old United States to be set up as a Christian nation. Of these 75 'Whereas…' clauses we get outright lies such as "Whereas the Liberty Bell was named for the Biblical inscription from Leviticus 25:10 emblazoned around it: `Proclaim liberty throughout the land, to all the inhabitants thereof.'" (Actually the Liberty Bell was inscribed with the Biblical verse to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Governor William Penn's Charter of Privileges, a 1701 document securing religious freedom, not because the Bible played a critical role in our independence from an English theocracy.) Or that Thomas Jefferson was a pious Christ-believer who for some reason decided to forget all about penning Virginia Statutes on Religious Freedom, in which he specifically stated "no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever…nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise…affect their civil capacities."
Thirty-one representatives have already decided to overlook the teensy weensy problem of that pesky Establishment Clause. And that is 31 too many. Am I the only one who not only finds this resolution factually incorrect but downright scary?
Well, Mr. Forbes:
We the People are not lacking in talented historians with respect for reality. The fact remains that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." That you may want to revise history and make schoolchildren view our Founding Fathers through the miserably scratched lens of pious Christian doctrine merely on the whims of a minority of Christian fundamentalists who are apparently angry because they are too dense to acknowledge the First Amendment, too lazy to read the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli unanimously approved by the Senate (which specifically states in Article 11 that "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"), and too obtuse to comprehend that the omission of God in the Constitution was not a lapse in memory but rather a purposeful intention to keep government separate from religion, only demonstrates your own lack of respect for truth, logic, academic integrity, and the nation's history itself. I do not intend to deny that the founding of the United States was not completely free from Christian religious influence, but it is one thing to posit that influence of Christian principles exists and quite another to argue that a separation of Church and State was never intended. The United States of America is indeed the product of a rich history and legacy, but it is a legacy including that of Jefferson, of Thomas Paine, of Benjamin Franklin – and it is important to recognize these non-Christian contributors instrumental to our nation's earliest chronicles. Paine, author of Common Sense, wrote in Age of Reason that "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church." You really can't get much clearer than that.
I doubt that H.R. 888 would be taken seriously by a majority of Congress, although one must admit that the American government has a nice way of surprising us every now and again with how ineffective politicians can really be. However, the fact that 31 representatives have decided to co-sponsor this rubbish is a national disgrace. So what is really at stake? Under H.R. 888, not only would state-sanctioned religion be permitted (not the least of which would be the Ten Commandments in courthouses), but teachers would be forced to teach students wishful thinking and lies in every publicly funded American history class. More importantly, it is this American liberty that a handful of brainless zealots wish to overthrow; their "Declaration of Theocracy" is only the beginning. On this basis, House Resolution 888 should be rejected entirely.
Tulsi Roy is a second-year biology/HPS major.
