Meet House Resolution 888 (as opposed to 666, I guess):
Apparently, Republican Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia (i.e., crazzy-assed, proselytizing "Christian" who still doesn't understand the concept of separation of church and state), drafted H. Res. 888 and presented it to The House of Representatives on December 18th. Just as disturbing, Christian Nationalist Randy has several co-sponsors for this ridiculous bill, a bill that actually tries to rewrite American history.
And check out Liars For Jesus. Particularly amusing. And scary.
Most importantly, click here to take action!
Tell Randy to stop thumping his bible all over our constitution!
7 comments:
They'll be hanging witches soon (except they are so ill-informed, they probably think those suspected of witchcraft were burnt).
This document is great, whether you are Christian or not. This document is not trying to convert young students, but simply trying to expose the religious history of this country. I am still in the school system where Christianity is some what discouraged and almost shut out. Mean while other religions are taught about more in the schools. Islam, Hinduism, Buddism, even Confucism. Meanwhile I haven't even heard mention of the Church in History up until this year. Then you have Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. day which are almost treated as Holy days themselves every single year, They are given more attention to the Civil Rights Movement than any other single event or week. Every year we talk about it. The civil rights movement is not unimportant but we don't even talk about Memorial Day or Veterans day anymore. Those men and women that gave and are giving there lives for this country to be free are almost completely ignored by our school system but what isn't "black history month". The Civil Rights movement was important but by far not more important than all the wars this country has been involved in. Now they want impose a little history of religion in this country fine it's not converting kids, its not harming them.
Mike, one thing you and I agree on: all "religions" should be treated "equally" by the state. But the "state" (government) runs the public schools. I fully believe in the fundamental principal of SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. I do NOT believe the state should support ANY religion, REGARDLESS OF A PREPONDERANCE OF HISTORICAL RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION, or any "minority" status of any other religion. The only exposure I had to religion in public schools was an elective class called "World Religions" which OBJECTIVELY taught the history and fundamental principals of every major religion in the history of humankind. I studied the same, more in-depth type of studies, in college. Those studies, along with scientific studies, have made me the agnostic that I am today, of the opinion that organized religion of ANY kind does more harm than good, and it is little more than a crutch, enabling the innate weaknesses of the human race. Freedom to choose one's own faith, and practice it within reason (as long as it does NOT infringe on the freedoms of others) is allowable under our Constitution. Fine. So be it. But it is a freedom to choose ANY relgion, not just Christianity.
You say the document is not "converting" kids or harming them. Perhaps not yet. But it is just this kind of inroad, made by the Christian Right extremists ("Christian Nationalists") that can lead to a theistic state, based on the very fact that they were able to ADOPT a GOVERNMENT resolution PROMOTING one specific religion. The people who drafted this resolution are not interested in "teaching history." They are interested in promoting their own agenda: prosyletizing Christianity and trying their damndest to make it the "official" religion of the state. That, in my opinion, is WRONG.
I do most certainly agree with your respect for Veterans and their recognition. The brave men and women who fought and died for our freedoms and their own freedoms should have a MULTITUDE of greater respect and recognition than they currently receive. Our current politicians don't deserve one TENTH the recognition that both the living and the dead of our armed services deserve.
Being that I haven't been in a public school for nearly 30 years, I can only trust that your current experiences, as you relate them, are true. Thank goodness you are smart enough to see passed any imbalance that is being perpetuated in YOUR schools. That is not right. But that is a separate issue from promoting a government resolution that inherently PROMOTES one relgion over all others. Both imbalances are WRONG based on the fundamental principals of our Constitution. And contrary to some political beliefs, two wrongs do NOT make a right.
And just for the record, Mike, my disdain for radical Islam is far greater than my disdain for the Christian extremists . . . I swear, if I HAD to pick a "relgion," I think I'd be a Buddhist . . .
Having once been a part of the religious Borg (though I really and naively thought I could prevent being assimilated AND live to tell the tale), things like this make me ill. These tactics of the Religious Right can be traced back to the fundamentalist reaction to Darwinism, and even further back, to the Anglo-Israel movement. The ADL has a great page on this.
What's so sad from the standpoint of someone who never the less believes in the historical factuality and salvific necessity of Jesus Christ is... not only is it not necessary to wrap the cross in the flag... its utterly counter productive. The more Christianity has been repressed, the more it has flourished. The lands where it became a state church, belief is essentially extinct. There's barely a flicker of it in Northwestern Europe! ... On the other hand, the places where Christianity most flourishes now are places where instead of being enmeshed with the culture and the government, it is directly counter to them... Africa, Asia, the "two thirds World."
Moreover: Being a hard core libertarian, I don't trust any burro-crat, be she a pastor or he a congressman. The canned prayers my erstwhile church body sent me to read in church were wretched... I made the mistake of not previewing and rewriting them ONCE before one service 12 years ago... as I read line after line of hateful unscriptural agitprop disguised as devotion to God, my veins bulged out and throat closed up... my wife in the pew thought I was going to pass out with rage.
God bless the ADL!!
No doubt...
This post fed into my thinking about "in God we trust" vs "e pluribus unum" in my political post today... though really it more reminded me that this is one of my main soap box issues... I've posted on it several times previously.
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