I must say that I am just completely CHILLED TO THE BONE in regards to "H.Res. Bill 847 - Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith" which was passed on December 11th, 2007. This bill and its H.R. passing have brought a tear to my eye for my fellow Pagans and our continuous struggle towards equality under the U.S. Constitution.
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;
(2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;
(3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;
(4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;
(5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and
(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world.
My points shall follow:
(1) How can ANY religion be recognized as being a "great religion of the world" when the word "great" itself is determined only by ones own perspective? I for one think that haggis is great, but does that mean that it is a "great food of the world" and should be considered so to the entire planet as dictated by the U.S. Government? Yes, a large portion of Ireland still thinks haggis is great, but Ireland is but a small portion of planet Earth.
(2) How can the House express continued support for Christians when there was no support in the first place? When did the House vote on the initial support of Christians in the United States and worldwide? It didn't happen, because it would be a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution, the First Amendment and Separation of Church and State just as this bill is a violation.
(3) What are the criteria being applied here to the word "religious and historical importance" and who wrote and voted on those those criteria? And what does Christmas have to do with Christians anyhow. Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem when the shepherds had their flocks in the fields. They would have turned to sheep-sicles in December. Christ was most likely born around April, with September being the last possible month with enough warmth.
(4) How absurd! The US was founded on religious freedom. That doesn't mean religious freedom as long as it is a Christian denomination. It means FREEDOM to choose whatever religious path fits your spiritual needs period.
(5) So we Pagan and other non-abrahamaic folks can continue to be attacked by bigots and persecuted for our beliefs, but the House will defend any Christian from bigotry and persecution. What a wonderful bill and resolution this is.
(6) American Christians and Christians throughout the world are deserving of the House's deepest respect, BUT THE REST OF US AREN'T?! I will be back shortly to finish this article. I think I smell smoke, probably from the hordes burning down my house! The one I own and pay taxes on! How can the House not equally extend respect to all religious preferences?
THIS BILL IS AN UTTER SHAM AND AN ILLEGAL ACTION BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES! HERE IS WHY!
Declaration of Independence and (yes I'll say it) our Pagan country:
Our forefathers desired freedom from of the laws of both English Monarchy, the Catholic Church and any other form of organized Christianity. They wanted freedom from taxation and freedom to worship in their own places in their own ways. This is EXTREMELY obvious and evident in our Declaration of Independence.
"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
Natures God and Natures Laws. Not laws as dictated by any church nor laws passed by the House which dictate that one religion is better than another. They wanted equal station Pagan and Christian alike, so that no single dictating God or church thereof could establish power over the people of America.
Christianity of Early America:
There was none! Ok, "none" is an extreme word here and just a byproduct of my extreme frustration of H.Res. Bill 847. I'll stick to the facts in hopes that they may be enlightening enough.
1565 - 1700: The Colony of Virginia initially settled Jamestown between 1565 and 1607 and they were not of any Christian faith but many rather of Pagan variety. The Hudson River, New Amsterdam, Manhattan Island and later New Sweden Colonies settled between 1614 and 1638 all following the old European faiths and religions and again not Christian. It wasn't until the Pilgrim's Plymouth Colony in 1620 that Christianity set foot on U.S. soil and they were in very small percentage.
1700s: John J. Robinson, "Freemasonry had been a powerful force for religious freedom." Freemasons took seriously the principle that men should worship according to their own conscious. Masonry welcomed anyone from any religion or non-religion, as long as they believed in a Supreme Being. Washington, Franklin, Hancock, Hamilton, Lafayette, and many others accepted Freemasonry.
1800: Robert T. Handy, "No more than 10 percent-- probably less-- of Americans in 1800 were members of congregations."
I don't really think anything after the first 250 years can be considered Early America.
The U.S. Constitution:
The Constitution holds no reference to any religion in particular and appeals to no God, Christianity, Jesus Christ, or any other supreme being for that matter. Nothing; Nowhere; Zilch! The Constitution was derived For The People and By The People and again no God was ever indicated. The only time that religion is brought up was here in our 1st Amendment rights.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
Founding Fathers, Patriots and Governmental Purpose:
The U.S. Founding Fathers and Patriots were NOT primarily Christian. The U.S. Government was not formed for Christian goals.
Ethan Allen, whose capture of Fort Ticonderoga while commanding the Green Mountain Boys helped inspire Congress and the country to pursue the War of Independence, said, "That Jesus Christ was not God is evidence from his own words." In the same book, Allen noted that he was generally "denominated a Deist, the reality of which I never disputed, being conscious that I am no Christian." When Allen married Fanny Buchanan, he stopped his own wedding ceremony when the judge asked him if he promised "to live with Fanny Buchanan agreeable to the laws of God." Allen refused to answer until the judge agreed that the God referred to was the God of Nature, and the laws those "written in the great book of nature."
"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." -- Thomas Jefferson (letter to J. Adams April 11,1823)
The early presidents and patriots were for the most part Deists or Unitarians. Most believed in some form of impersonal Providence and rejected the divinity of Jesus Christ and considered the Old and New testaments "absurd".
George Washington, the first president of the United States, never declared himself a Christian according to contemporary reports or in any of his voluminous correspondence. Washington Championed the cause of freedom from religious intolerance and compulsion. When John Murray (a universalist who denied the existence of hell) was invited to become an army chaplain, the other chaplains petitioned Washington for his dismissal. Instead, Washington gave him the appointment. On his deathbed, Washington uttered no words of a religious nature and did not call for a clergyman to be in attendance.
John Adams, the country's second president, was drawn to the study of law but faced pressure from his father to become a clergyman. He wrote that he found among the lawyers 'noble and gallant achievements" but among the clergy, the "pretended sanctity of some absolute dunces". Late in life he wrote: "Twenty times in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!"
Thomas Jefferson, third president and author of the Declaration of Independence, said: "I trust that there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian." He referred to the Revelation of St. John as "the ravings of a maniac" and wrote:
The Christian priesthood, finding the doctrines of Christ leveled to every understanding and too plain to need explanation, saw, in the mysticism of Plato, materials with which they might build up an artificial system which might, from its indistinctness, admit everlasting controversy, give employment for their order, and introduce it to profit, power, and pre-eminence. The doctrines which flowed from the lips of Jesus himself are within the comprehension of a child; but thousands of volumes have not yet explained the Platonism engrafted on them: and for this obvious reason that nonsense can never be explained."
James Madison, fourth president and father of the Constitution, was not religious in any conventional sense. "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise." "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
Upon the passing of this Bill the Separation of Church and State just about ceases to exist. With the passing of H.R. Bill 2679 last year we are no longer able to defend our religious constitutional rights unless we can carry fully the financial burden of attorney and court costs. Under 2679 even if we were to win the civil liberties case we would still be liable for over $100,000.00 in fees.
Our ONLY course of action: Contact your Congressman and Senators and let them know you will not stand by and watch as your rights are ripped away and the Constitution is rewritten. H.Res. 847 MUST GO AWAY or we will become a nation our Founding Fathers certainly didn't want.
Sources:
Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin /query/D?c110:3:./temp/~c1103HikbU::
Religion of the American Enlightenment by G. Adolph Koch, p. 40 (1968, Thomas Crowell Co., New York, NY.) quoting preface and p. 352 of Reason, the Only Oracle of Man and A Sense of History compiled by American Heritage Press Inc., p. 103 (1985, American Heritage Press, Inc., New York, NY.)
George Washington and Religion by Paul F. Boller Jr., pp. 16, 87, 88, 108, 113, 121, 127 (1963, Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, TX)
The Character of John Adams by Peter Shaw, pp. 17 (1976, North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC) Quoting a letter by JA to Charles Cushing Oct 19, 1756, and John Adams, A Biography in his Own Words, edited by James Peabody, p. 403 (1973, Newsweek, New York NY) Quoting letter by JA to Jefferson April 19, 1817, and in reference to the treaty, Thomas Jefferson, Passionate Pilgrim by Alf Mapp Jr., pp. 311 (1991, Madison Books, Lanham, MD) quoting letter by TJ to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, June, 1814.
Thomas Jefferson, an Intimate History by Fawn M. Brodie, p. 453 (1974, W.W) Norton and Co. Inc. New York, NY) Quoting a letter by TJ to Alexander Smyth Jan 17, 1825, and Thomas Jefferson, Passionate Pilgrim by Alf Mapp Jr., pp. 246 (1991, Madison Books, Lanham, MD) quoting letter by TJ to John Adams, July 5, 1814.
The Madisons by Virginia Moore, P. 43 (1979, McGraw-Hill Co. New York, NY) quoting a letter by JM to William Bradford April 1, 1774, and James Madison, A Biography in his Own Words, edited by Joseph Gardner, p. 93, (1974, Newsweek, New York, NY) Quoting Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments by JM, June 1785.
