Religion, a Part of American History/Culture
by: Vernon Richards, author of Islam Undressed
Back in the '50s, secularists defending the political status quo objected mightily to certain preachers sticking their noses into politics. The Rev. Martin Luther King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference riled folks and caused all kinds of trouble. That largely religious contest of morality and wills induced all kinds of political and social turmoil. To avowed secularists then and now, religion is a purely ornamental thing having no practical application, but the Reverend begged to differ. Deeply religious folks actually took a stand on religious conviction and fought for it, picketing a lunch counter and refusing to move to the back of the bus. Those who protest the mixing of politics and religion then and now act like free-speech is selectively revocable. Yet by advocating a set of principals and conduct, secularism itself is a faith-based religion, and like any religious following can be carried to extreme levels of intolerance by fanatical adherents. Worship who or what you will, invest your hopes and beliefs in whatever concept you wish, just allow me the same courtesy I afford you. Secularists are welcome to be pure secularists, but should self-regulate tendencies to become anti-Christian extremists. Secularists seem to think that commitment and faith in any religion (except secularism, of course), should exclude anyone from public office. Such secularists are thus elitists who seem to think it is their right to rule. Claiming to have a superior understanding of humanity and correct government, they seem unable to see that it is a short step from that, …to despotic rule by such a self-appointed ruling class.
It violates both free-speech and freedom-of-association principals to censure religious ideas from politics. Such attempts demonstrate the inherent contradictions and intellectual bankruptcy of those espousing extreme anti-religious efforts. There are words for such fanatics, …words like bigot, and intolerant, or try hypocrite on for size. All these shoes fit perfectly. No Christian, Jew, or Buddhist is filing law-suits insisting secularist activities, ideas, and movements be censured and removed from public discourse and display. If fanatical atheists or secularists find any and all reminders of this countries religious heritage so terribly offensive, perhaps they might consider joining their ‘brothers’ in France, maybe, or the old Soviet Union, or China, or North Korea, or Cuba. There you will find your utopia of secularism, …but at a terrible cost of all kinds of freedoms.
Religious concepts have been woven into the fabric of this republic from its conception: Consider the thinking behind "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. ..." And consider Lincoln's immortal Second Inaugural, this country's second declaration of dependence on divine Providence. Stripped of its religious references, the Bill of Rights and other foundational national documents would be largely meaningless. So many progressive political movements, including the very creation of our republic, have been rooted in religious conviction. The Constitution does not attempt to remove religion from public discourse and politics, but instead is specifically crafted to prevent the formation of an officially sanctioned ‘state religion’, in order to prevent a ‘Church of England’ or ’Islamic’ type religious theocracy from taking power from the people. It does that very well, thank you very much, without having to reinterpret/rewrite the document or force the removal of all religious concepts/symbols from the public realm. Our national moral core and expressions, including our laws based on Christian/Judeo principals, are a part of our national character, and inseparable from the religious roots from which they sprang. If not “Under God”, then under who or what? Under Sharia, where women and non-believers are considered sub-human have almost no rights? Come on, …get a clue, …or at least ‘buy a vowel’!
We have all carefully listened to and evaluated secularists incredulous objections and complaints for long enough now. Secularist claims and insistence that some folks, namely Christians, shouldn't express their views, or at least should censor their words to accommodate their hyper-sensitive lot, should not expect these Americans to cease expressing their honest convictions. It's a free country, which means the political brawl is open to all comers. In the open marketplace of ideas, religious concepts intermingle with political ideals, all rising or falling on their relative merits. It is simply wrong to apply prejudicial sanctioning intended to stifling debate. The only time an idea should be censored is when it violates the laws of the land by advocating/practicing violence, coercion, and the non-democratic overthrow of government.
What is even more incredulous in this ongoing contest of ideas, is the fact that there is only one “religion” in this country that actively works to replace secular governance with the iron fist of a totalitarianism theocracy, and the same people fighting against Christianity seem to be working feverously to protect and promote that anti-secularist agenda. Whereas Christians are content to wait for the Savior to return to the Earth to ‘rule in righteousness’, Moslems feel obligated to install a Caliph by violent or non-violent means, thereafter replacing our Constitution and laws with Sharia and state-sponsored bigotry. While some true intellectual secularists oppose Islam as vigorously as other religions, they appear to be in the minority. The contradictions exhibited by many Christian-hating/Islamic-appeasing secularists is mind-numbing. Sadly, many even call themselves ‘Democrats’, which dishonors actual democratic patriots of former times. Clearly, excessive relativism and irresponsible tolerance can be carried to an unhealthy extreme. Those capable of bending to the will and morality of Islamists, in the name of inclusiveness and diversity, inexplicitly seem to have no tolerance for harmless Christian/Jewish religious symbolism or concepts. Just what is going on, one might ask?! Am afraid it is as simple as it appears. Those who harbor an irrational hatred for worshipers of God see clearly that Islam is the declared enemy of Christians, Jews, Hindus, and all other peaceful religions. With that recognition they think and act along the line that “The enemy of my enemy, ...is my Friend”. Polarization and paralysis is the result, with Islamists playing secularists off against the moral majority with skill and effectiveness.
Should Islamists achieve their goal to install a Caliph (perhaps Caliph Chirac) and overthrow the Constitution, they will dutifully reward their co-conspirators (the far-left media, Hollywood, activist judiciary, socialists, communists, secularists, intellectual elitists, the ACLU, and other anti-Christian groups et al). If any ‘co-conspirators’ just mentioned wish to peek at the prize awaiting them on that day, they need look no further that Iran. Communists, secularists, intellectuals, and liberals in Iran who cooperated with Islamists to overthrow the Shaw, earned themselves first-in-line status in the slaughter that followed. Secularists who don’t want to find themselves paying a burdensome ‘protection-tax’, and compelled by stick-wielding ‘minders’ to bow to Mecca 5 times a day, should support Christians in their efforts to maintain the pure Constitution and our system of laws based on Judeo-Christian principals of justice and equality. Secularists, the enemy of your true enemy, is your friend. Understand that friend is the religious man who takes his family to church on Saturday or Sunday, annoying though he may sometimes seem to you. Annoying is much better than dangerous.