For example; The War on Christmas & the “Battle” against “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, the forceful removal of “God from the public square” and the forced removal of “God from our public schools,” and of course the “Hidden Gay Agenda.”
Setting Standards: Robert Meyer states in one of his articles the following:
“To call someone a liar, you must know something about the thoughts and intentions of the individual making the claim. In this era of reckless character assassinations, we have become impervious to the principle that if lying is despicable, then calling someone a liar gratuitously is proportionally as repugnant.11
It is with this in mind that I proceed.
Religiosity in America: America is a religiously diverse country, with one clear majority.
Jews: Approximately 1.4 % of Americans are Jewish while approximately 0.22% of the world is Jewish.1&2
Muslims: Approximately 0.6% of Americans are Muslims while 21% of the world religions are some form of Islam. 1&2
Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese traditional & Primal Indigenous: The World Report shows that these religions collectively account for 32% of the world population and approximately 1% of the United States population. 1&2
Agnostics Atheist Humanists, Theist & Jedi Knights3: Based on the World Report about 8% of people world wide have no religion or are atheist/agnostic and 8% are theists, meaning they believe in a god or gods with no revelation while they are less than 1% of the American population. 1&2
Christians: According to Adherents.Com 33% of the world’s Population is some form of Christian. While the U.S. Census approximates that 80% of Americans are some form of Christian. 1&2
Who is really waging a war on who? The easiest way to identify a “war monger” is by their own pro-war rhetoric.
Pat Robertson: “There will be Satanic forces… We are not… up just against human beings, to beat them in elections. We’re going to be coming up against spiritual warfare.”
Pat Robertson, Road to Victory, 19917&8
Robertson named his enemies in a 1992 newsletter, Pat Robertson Perspective. The list includes, among others, the National Organization for Women, the National Education Association, the National Council of Churches, the Gay-Lesbian Caucus, as well as People for the American Way, and Americans United for a Separation of Church and State. They are lumped together as the “Radical Left.” 7&8
“The strategy against the American Radical Left should be the same as General Douglas Macarthur employed against the Japanese in the Pacific… Bypass their strongholds, then surround them, isolate them, bombard them, then blast the individuals out of their power bunkers with hand-to-hand combat. The battle for Iwo Jima was not pleasant, but our troops won it. The battle to regain the soul of America won’t be pleasant either, but we will win it.”
Karl Rove: “We need to find ways to win the war” Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief political strategist, and deputy chief of staff told a gathering of the Family Research Council in March, 2002. 7&8
Tim LaHaye: Reverend Tim LaHaye co-authored Mind Siege: The Battle for Truth in the New Millennium, published in 2000. The best-selling book issues a call to arms for evangelical Christians to battle against secular humanism. Mind Siege declares that secular humanism is a “religion,” and issues marching orders to evangelical Christians to gear up for an all-out battle to root secular humanists out of public life; their bottom line is that “No humanist is fit to hold office.” 7&8
Paul Weyrich: Paul Weyrich said in a talk, “The real enemy is the secular humanist mindset which seeks to destroy everything that is good in this society.” 7&8
James Dobson: “Children are the prize to the winners in the second great civil war. Those who control what young people are taught and what they experience – what they see, hear, think, and believe – will determine the future course for the nation.” 7&8
Children At Risk: The Battle for the Hearts and Minds of Our Kids, Word Publishing, 1990, p. 35
Jerry Falwell: “One day, I hope in the next ten years, I trust that we will have more Christian day schools than there are public schools. I hope I will live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won’t have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!”
America Can Be Saved!, (Sword of the Lord Publishers, Murfreesboro, Tenn.) 1979, p. 52-53
“[T]he only hope for the inner city is vouchers, so that all the churches can go in and plant Christian schools in the inner cities and capture these fatherless young people for Christ and teach them biblical discipline and so forth. It’s either God or it’s ruin for our country, I do believe.”
“The 700 Club,” Sept. 3, 1996, (reported in Church & State, October 1996, p. 19)
D. James Kennedy: “This is our land. This is our world. This is our heritage, and with God’s help, we shall reclaim this nation for Jesus Christ. And no power on earth can stop us.” 7&8
Character & Destiny: A Nation In Search of Its Soul, (Zondervan Publishing House, 1997)
“God forbid that we who were born into the blessings of a Christian America should let our patrimony slip like sand through our fingers and leave to our children the bleached bones of a godless secular society. But whatever the outcome, one thing is certain: God has called us to engage the enemy in this culture war. That is our challenge today.” 7&8
Character & Destiny: A Nation In Search of Its Soul, (Zondervan Publishing House, 1997) 7&8
“How much more forcefully can I say it? The time has come, and it is long overdue, when Christians and conservatives and all men and women who believe in the birthright of freedom must rise up and reclaim America for Jesus Christ.” 7&8
Tom Crouse: Crouse called on the church to stop worrying about appearing tolerant and start proclaiming the truth, saying that Jesus was the most intolerant person in the world. 7&8
Christian Citizens regarding the Christian Terrorist Eric Rudolph:
Crystal Davis: “He’s a Christian and I’m a Christian and he dedicated his life to fighting abortion,” said Mrs. Davis, 25, mother of four. “Those are our values. And I don’t see what he did as a terrorist act.” MURPHY, N.C., May 31, 2003 20
Betty Howard: Changed the sign in front of her diner from “Roast Turkey Baked Ham” to “Pray for Eric Rudolph.” Mrs. Howard said she was going to start an Eric Rudolph legal defense fund. Many customers have already said they would chip in. 21
“Bless his heart,” Mrs. Howard said. “Eric needs our help.” 21
I challenge you to find similar, verifiable rhetoric, from the Secular Left. I couldn’t find any. In fact, my searches only found vast fonts of rhetoric from the Religious Right.
Common Sense & Simple Math: The “War on Christmas”, the vast conspiracy by the “Secular Left” engineering the death of Christianity in America and the numerous other claims made by the “Religious Right” just do not add up.
Here is why:
Let’s do some fairly simple math: Approximately 80% of Americans are Christian. Approximately 8% of Americans are secular if you include, atheist, agnostic & theist. That is a 10:1 ratio. It just doesn’t add up that such a small minority could hold so much influence over such a vast majority. This would require a far greater amount of resources per person amongst the minority to be able to exert such a disproportionate influence.
Let’s exercise some common sense: If there has been a war on Christianity in America it has been a greatly sustained war and appears to have started in the 1948 in the McCollum v. Board of Education case where religious education in Public Schools was first struck down by the Supreme Court.18
We should consider how much money it takes to wage war. If there is one thing we American’s should be acutely aware of, it is that war is not cheap. War costs money, a sustained war costs even more money.
When it comes to fund raising we should consider some things about the “Secular Left” versus the Religious Right. It is fairly safe to assume that the Religious Right is one of the most effective fund raising machines in the world. The sources to validate such claim are so vast it would take a book about the size of Encyclopedia Britannica to track them all.
Where’s the organized effort by the left? Where are the meetings? How can you have a war without meetings and organization? I have never been invited to one, I have never seen a Death to Christmas handbook, nor can I find one. There are no leaders or organizers in the “War on Religion.” How can you go to battle without a clear chain of command? The only document we have is the U.S. Constitution while the Religious Right has the Wedge Strategy.
Let’s consider some of the problems with the “Secular Left”:
- They are too fragmented, the left’s greatest weakness is that they go in too many directions at once and can almost never agree on a single cause. It is either, save the whales, save the trees, save the owl or save the (Fill in the blank).
- A lot, not all, of the extreme left are financially disorganized and don’t do as good of a job at raising money as the Religious Right.
- They are an extreme minority, with a 10:1 ratio they have a much smaller base from which to raise funds. The point being, it is far easier for the Religious Right to raise money to fund a war simply because a vast number of Americans are Christian.
The question then is how can a sustained and expensive war be waged by the Secular Left? No Money, No War. Let’s consider some of the problems with the “Religious Right”: The tactics actively utilized by the Religious Right are themselves evidence of the fact that they don’t have a legal leg to stand on. They know their actions are unconstitutional. Thus the Religious Right’s only approach is: a. To create their own theistic law schools where teaching falsehoods and granting law degrees to people that have been indoctrinated into a false belief system about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is the primary goal. 13&28
a. As Falwell himself states” “We are unabashedly proactive,” “We are on a mission to return America to her religious heritage. We’re hoping we are training the lawyers who can turn the legal profession back to the right.” 28
b. In an interview with the Associated Press, Falwell added, “We want to infiltrate the culture with men and women of God who are skilled in the legal profession. We’ll be as far to the right as Harvard is to the left.”28
b. To create a public campaign of disinformation which: 13
a. Promotes the false idea that The United States of America was founded as a Christian Nation. 13&14
b. Redefines Science, the Scientific Method & Scientific Theory to include the supernatural as a plausible explanation as cited in the Discovery Institutes own document appropriately titled “The Wedge Strategy.” 13&14
c. Uses lies and deception, intentionally marketing falsehoods about science,13 education,13 birth control, abortion, stem cell research, the War on Christmas, etc…
d. Uses hateful rhetoric, even alluding to calls for violence, such as prayers for the death of people such as Pro-Choice participants, Supreme Court Justices and other “Activist Judges.”
e. Raises funds to mount the criminal defense of people that commit acts of terrorism by murdering doctors and nurses that perform abortions, or planting bombs at abortion clinics. 19
f. Commits terrorist acts to promote a fundamentalist agenda. 16&19
g. Attempts to legislate away the intended checks and balances as defined by the Constitution and using false claims about Activist Judges that are “legislating from the bench” as a means to undermine the law.
h. Promotes laws that undermine the very essence of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and our Democracy by silencing free speech.
i. Intentionally undermines and degrades public education by promoting a theistic agenda that is designed to force a single religion and world view upon the children of America regardless of their families’ belief system.
The Lies: War On Christmas: Fox News host Bill O’Reilly claimed that “it’s all part of the secular progressive agenda … to get Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square.” He then added: “[B]ecause if you look at what happened in Western Europe and Canada, if you can get religion out, then you can pass secular progressive programs, like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage, because the objection to those things is religious-based, usually.” 4
The War on Christmas as some like to call it is far from a reality. Though I can actually find one group that is opposed to Christmas, it is not the Secular Left:
“There is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel but the Lord’s Day, which is the Christian Sabbath. Festival days, vulgarly called Holy days, having no warrant in the Word of God, are not to be continued.” The Directory for the Public Worship of God Agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster. 25
Kevin Reed offers this summary of the Puritan opposition to Christmas: 25
“(1) No time of worship is sanctified, unless God has ordained it; (2) unscriptural holy days are a threat to the proper observance of the Lord’s day because these holy days tend to eclipse the sanctity which belongs only to the Lord’s Day; (3) the observance of unscriptural holy days tends toward the superstition and innovation in worship which is characteristic of Roman Catholicism.” (Christmas – An Historical Survey Regarding Its Origins And Opposition To It) 25
What would our godly forefathers think of the nonsense that goes on at this time of the year, in and out of public worship? We can only imagine what they would have thought of Santa Clause – ‘who sees and knows all about little children’. That some Christians even lie to their children, telling them that there is a Santa is almost incredible – their children may well ask when older, ‘Is God fictional too, just like Santa and the Tooth fairy?’ We plead with you not to try to put Christ ‘back into Christmas’ for he was never there, nor does he belong there. We ask you instead to stand apart – though admittedly this is very difficult, and you will be vilified for it – and emphasize God’s weekly Holy Day all the more. 25
The reasoning for this Christian opposition to Christmas is based on the historical evidence that the real origins of the Christmas holiday are in fact rooted in pagan and non-Christian traditions. According to these Christians, the act of celebrating Christmas is actually an affront to God and his son.
The ignoble nature of the origins and customs of Christmas can be found in many standard reference sources; therefore, we will not dwell on them in great detail. It is appropriate, however, to mention a few highly significant facts pertaining to the origins behind Christmas. 24
…
The transition from festivals commemorating the birth of a sun god to a celebration ostensibly for the Son of God occurred sometime in the fourth century. Unable to eradicate the heathen celebration of Saturnalia, the Church of Rome, sometime before 336 A.D., designated a Feast of the Nativity to be observed. 24
The only references to an actual organized effort to eradicate Christmas and remove references to Jesus from Christmas are solely by Christians for Christian purposes.
Of course I am not saying there are not any members of the secular left that advocate or even call for the end of religion. There is Richard Dawkins who is very outspoken about the damage that has been done to society in the name of religion. There most certainly are others like him, however, this does not constitute an army nor a major organized force against religion.
The Assaults on Christmas:
- In Saginaw, Michigan it was alleged that Township schools opposed red and green clothes and prohibit singing Christmas songs.26
- In Watchung, N.J. it was alleged that the city council passed a policy to start calling the Christmas tree a “Mitten Tree” replace all references to Christmas with the word “Holiday.” 26
- In Plano, Texas, the school allegedly told the students they could not wear red and green because they were Christmas colors. 26&27
- At Glendale-River Hills School District in Wisconsin it was alleged that the schools prohibited any song close to the Christmas holiday from having any religious “motive or theme,” yet they would still allow secular and Hanukkah holiday songs. 26
Gays will Destroy Marriage & The Earth: Focus on the Family founder James Dobson warned those attending the Friday afternoon rally at Oklahoma Christian University that the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman must be protected. … “Homosexuals are not monogamous. They want to destroy the institution of marriage,” Dobson said. “It will destroy marriage. It will destroy the Earth.” Activist Judges: The Whitehouse has a Statement by G.W. Bush; The sacred institution of marriage should not be redefined by a few activist judges. All Americans have a right to be heard in this debate. I called on the Congress to pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of a man and a woman as husband and wife. The need for that amendment is still urgent, and I repeat that call today. 10
Continued in Part 2:
http://ezinearticles.com/?One-Mans-Religion—Part-2&id=397903
Sources:
1) Religions in the U.S. – Wikipedia collection from U.S. Census Bureau.
2) Adherents.com - (”membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc”)
3) The Telegraph U.K. – Jedi Knights
4) Media Matters – Bill O’Reilly & The War on Christmas, Religion out of the public square & Secular Progressives.
5) Fictional War on Christmas: USA Today
6) ACLU – The ACLU has numerous examples of where it defends religious liberty.
7) Theocracy Watch – A Religious Right watchdog group.
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State – The Religious Right in their own words.
9) Religious Tolerance – Divorce rates are slightly higher for Born Again Christians than Atheists or Agnostics.
10) Statement by the President – Activist Judges
11) Renew America – Calling Someone a liar
12) Rational Radical – Podcast #65
13) Wedge Document (PDF file), a 1999 Discovery Institute fundraising pamphlet. Cited in Handley P. Evolution or design debate heats up. The Times of Oman, 7 March 2005.
14) Dover Trial - Full text of Judge Jones’ ruling, dated December 20, 2005 (PDF File)
15) Killing Policeman was a gift - http://judicial-inc.biz/Horsley.htm 16) Refuse & Resist – Anthrax Threat letters sent to 250 Abortion Clinics
17) Majority Rule – U.S. Senate Website
18) McCollum v. Board of Education
19) Eric Rudolf – Christian’s raising funds for Abortion Clinic Bomber
20) NY Times – Run, Rudolph, Run June 31, 2003
21) NY Times – Sympathy for bombing suspect may cloud search for evidence – June 2, 2003
22) March, 2004, issue of Church and State - “Faith Czar” Jim Towey announced $40 billion dollars was now available to religious charities.
23) NY Times - Lawsuit Challenges Use of Federal Aid for Bible-Based Counseling 09/13/2006
24) Christians against Christmas - http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/Xmas_ch2.htm
25) Puritan & Reformed against Christmas
26) Americans United – The Religious Right’s Phony ‘War on Christmas’: Mything in Action
27) Plano Independent School District – Public Statement
28) Find Articles - Jerry Falwell Opens Law School To Train ‘Radical’ Attorneys
29) Left Behind: The Game – PC Game that is based on the left behind series of books.
**Hyperlinks to sources removed in order to comply with EZine policy limit of 3 external hyperlinks. Contact me via profile for hyperlinks by e-mail.
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