Moving toward a Godless America
There is an ever-growing persistence by some to get rid of God, give Him the heave-ho and pretend that He does not exist. Those of faith, any faith but particularly Christians, are considered by the elite thinkers to be one step above the Neanderthals – uneducated and uninspired without understanding the new way of thinking. They point to the notion that separation of church and state is a founding tenant on which this country was built, but what they seem to want is freedom from religion rather than freedom of religion.
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For those who forgot American history, the early settlers traveled across the Atlantic to escape religious persecution. Several colonies had their own official religions; but, in order to not repeat the tyrannous ways of their former homelands, it was decided there would be no official state religion. This is spelled out in the first Amendment of the Constitution (ratified in 1791), “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
Clearly our founding fathers, most of whom were committed Christians, supported the concept of religion and credited their Creator for endowing the rights as stated in The Declaration of Independence. But along the way, as we received more and more gifts as a nation, individuals drifted away from organized religion. In the last century we got through the Great Depression, WWII and the fears of nuclear attacks before church attendance dropped off. This did not affect our constitutional rights, however.
Our current concept of freedom, strangely enough, has adversely impacted on religion in general. It gives those who oppose so-called religious practices in public places a forum from which to launch their campaigns to remove God from our daily lives. It started in the early 1960s when prayer was banned in public schools. Ever since then, atheists, agnostics and those who believe faith-oriented activities are a potential menace to society have chipped away at the religious and moral values of this great nation.
Pew Research shows 92 percent of Americans believe in God and 54 Percent attend services at least once or twice a month. While people may choose not to go to a church or synagogue this does not mean they want to restrict Judaic-Christian recognition.
Not long ago, Celebrating Christmas was targeted by the freedom from religion crowd; but after buckling for a year or so, saying “Merry Christmas” became acceptable again. This victory is being challenged in cities around the country. Governments, in an effort to be politically correct, end up destroying our traditions. And the “no-God-ers” won’t stop. Removing “In God We Trust” from our currency is an ongoing battle. Deleting “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance is another area that is under constant assault.
Your religious and spiritual beliefs are personal, but by allowing the unbelief of others to be imposed on you is a kind of tyranny. Tell you local politicians how you feel. Insist that they resist the pressure from the powerful few. Be sure the states united under God over 200 years ago do not become the Godless Sates of America.
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You say:
“Your religious and spiritual beliefs are personal, but by allowing the unbelief of others to be imposed on you is a kind of tyranny.”
However, this seems counter-intuitive to me. By including religious references with those to the country (as in the pledge and our currency) is that not similarly imposing belief on those nonbelievers? To require certain behavior and to impose references to religion is imposition, while removing these references does not mean disallowing believers to think of these things in a religious context.
One can add the words “under God” or add on whatever religious ideas they want on their personal thoughts of the United States. The imposition on rights that exists, if any, would be requiring nonbelievers to refer to this country as under a God in which they do not believe, or imposing prayers within schools on their lives.
As a long-time proponent of traditional American values, I would also like to note that many of the founding icons of the United States were not Christian but in fact Deist. This involves the belief in the idea of God, but not necessarily a Christian one. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson (the author of the DoI that you mention) were both Deist. The philosophical and moral ideas of the creation of the United States come from men of the Enlightenment such as Locke, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. An appeal to our founding fathers does not support the case for Christianity in US policy.