Thanksgiving

I have much to be thankful for this holiday season, but one item in the news today disturbs me. Schools in Maryland are teaching of Thanksgiving while insisting that any mention of God be edited out. God and their Christian beliefs are at the very core of the story of the pilgrims. Their journey was made to escape religious persecution above all other reasons. Now, in this land where religious freedom is guaranteed, the Liberals in our educational system are teaching revisionist history to our children committing new and insidious persecutions. Our children are being taught that God is a dirty word and a belief in God is something to be ashamed of, not mentioned in public. This extreme minority on the left is forcing the Christian majority in this country to accept their ways and beliefs as surely as the King in old England forced the Pilgrims to his way of worship.

At exactly what point in our history did we decide that freedom of religion required any mention of God to be outlawed in a public institution? Certainly not when the founders of this country put these ideas to paper, the documents the Liberals interpret to mean that all public education should edit any reference to God, written by these great men, are not allowed in the classrooms in areas of California because of the mention of God. Where is the logic in this? What are these people thinking? Why aren’t the parents of these children up in arms over this?

How is it possible to teach the history of any era of humanity without mentioning God? Religion has been a driving force in every great event of Man. Most wars are an effort to force a set of religious beliefs on a people with different beliefs or an effort to wipe out a people of a different belief altogether. Most migrations were made to escape persecution from people with a different set of beliefs. This country was founded by people escaping such persecution and that is the true story of Thanksgiving. The Indians played their role in helping the Pilgrims to get established and the Pilgrims certainly appreciated the help, but the Thanksgiving celebration was not established to thank the Indians. It was to thank God for the bounty and freedom of this new land. It was to thank God for their Indian friends and the help they gave. It was to thank God for his blessing that allowed them to survive. It is impossible to teach the truth of the history, not just of this Thanksgiving holiday but of this country we love, without mentioning God and religion. Like all great events the establishment of our country was largely driven by religion. Certainly other considerations led to the outright revolt that was our Revolutionary War but religion was the primary force that led Europeans to come and settle the New World.

Our founders never envisioned the separation of church and state that the liberal left in this country insist upon. Contrary to the Liberal claims the Constitution makes no such statement. The Constitution establishes that the government can’t establish any sort of “official religion” of the state, nor can it prevent a citizen from worshipping as he chooses to. The first amendment is direct and clear. Liberal judges are the people that have forced us to regard it to mean that God should not ever be mentioned in school. Here is the first amendment as it was written:

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.

Where in that paragraph does it say that all mention of God should be avoided in education? The Constitution also provides that a person’s religion cannot be a consideration when determining who may serve in a public position elected or appointed.

Freedom of religion is not the same thing as freedom from religion. The founders of this country were deeply religious men. God is an integral part of both our government and our society. Congress opens with a prayer, officials are sworn in, and we have a National Cathedral. Most of this country professes some sort of Christian belief. We should be, and usually are, considerate of the beliefs of others and in this country you have the right to worship, or not, as you please. My question is why should we refrain from doing things that most people not only don’t object to but agree with because a very few find the practice offensive? I have a right to worship as I please but no one is guaranteed the right to never be offended. Indeed, I am very offended by the liberal courts that have given us these judgments. I am offended by the asinine school administrators that believe all mention of God must be edited out of public education. I am offended by the ACLU persecution of the Boy Scouts citing the use of God in the scout pledge. Why must the majority be forced to conform to a minority? This is exactly the opposite of the principles that this country was founded on.

This is the primary reason that I voted for President Bush. I know that this was a time when from 2 to 4 of the current Supreme Court are going to be replaced. We cannot afford another appointment the likes of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and we must take the lower courts back too. It is time to speak for judicial reform in this country. We need judges that will limit themselves to interpreting the law rather than creating it. Issues that are important to this country should be settled through legislative debate by the people’s representatives not established by one judge, or even a small group of judges, elected by no one. I encourage everybody to read and understand the documents that our law is derived from. You may be surprised by what it says but I bet that you will be more surprised at what it doesn’t say. Many of the “constitutional rights” established in court decision simply do not exist. There is no constitutional basis to claim that abortion is a right. There is no constitutional basis to claim that prayer in school should be forbidden. There is no constitutional basis for much of the liberal agenda that the courts have shoved down our throats and it’s beyond time we correct the situation.

Russell