Historical fictions in Congress: Stop America's Spiritual Heritage Week

The Secular Coalition of America has sent out an alert that Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Virginia), the Founder and Chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, and twenty-four other members of the House of Representatives, have co-sponsored a pleasant piece of historical revisionism - a resolution to “affirm the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history and express support for designation of the first week in May as America's Spiritual Heritage Week for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith.”

I think it's pretty obvious that this is just more sectarian Christian pandering to American exceptionalism - a way to drape the cross with the flag and have that symbol drip with both the blood of Jesus and fallen soldiers. We should recognize that the only mention of any religion in the Constitution besides the "establishment" and "free exercise" clauses in the First Amendment and that the formal founding of our country omits religious tests for office and that prayer plays no formal role in the governance of our country. Of course the Congressional Prayer Caucus would have us all supplicate before their allegedly one true God and pray a la 2 Chronicles 7:14: "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

First of all, I am not one of God's people. I am not called by his name. I will not pray and seek his face. I am not wicked and do not need his forgiveness for my sins. Whatever healing our land needs - the healing of its soil, of its rapacious economy, and the healing of its widespread ignorance from fundamentalist religious lunacy - will come about by the work of informed and conscientious people working together for the good of themselves and their communities. It will not come from servility and obeisance to mythical sky gods.

There is no interest in some "rich spiritual tradition." Forbes no doubt wants to rewrite history by effacing the robust Enlightenment religious dialogue during American foundational governance. Jefferson eschewed "monkish ignorance" that led to his compiling a Bible from which he ripped the supernatural (at right).

This was a place and time when Washington left church for lack of belief in what was then a traditional American Christianity.

Thomas Paine, author of The Age of Reason and Common Sense, who was quite humanist in his view, writing,

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

Like Petrarch, it would seem that Paine and many of the Enlightenment founding fathers (I really hate calling them that as if they are themselves deities) believed that "man is the measure of all things." Institutions of religion to which Forbes would have us bow by enmeshing churches and state are mere creations of society, its desires, and humanity's fantasies. Religion is man worshiping himself.

And we have some nice history on our side. The Treaty of Peace and Friendship Between the United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary (at left) just comes right out and says, "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." It was ratified by Congress on June 7, 1797 and signed by John Adams on June 10. End of story. If precedent is something we hold to in this country and we enjoy the flexibility and toleration of religion and non-religion then we ought to keep our government out of the religion business.

This measure needs to die.

So help out and ask your congressperson to flush it down the congressional toilet. Go here to send your representative a letter.