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Friday, May 02, 2003
The sneering face of Christianity
Well, Noonan is on hiatus and Clinton-basher Michael Kelly ironically died in a Hummer, so that means I have to go to the bench for my fall-back pundit whackaloon, Joseph Perkins. Perkins, as you may recall, landed his job with my local paper based upon his skills as an "aide" to former Vice President/Village Idiot Dan Quayle. The fact that he's a black conservative, making him slightly rarer than a panda, probably never entered the minds of the SD Union. But, being an equal opportunity kind of paper, they gave him a job writing a weekly column. Excuse me, that should have been "weakly". Witness:
Sandra Banning and her eight-year-old daughter are faithful members of Calvary Chapel, a church in Elk Grove. "In our home we are practicing Christians," the mother related last summer, "and are active in our church."
That is why it is so outrageous that the father of Banning's daughter – who never bothered to marry his baby's momma – filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the child to which he has not even partial custody somehow was injured by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, including the words "under God."
Michael Newdow's lawsuit was thrown out in federal district court. And the Sacramento atheist's appeal would have been dismissed, no doubt, by every federal appeals court in the land save for the one in which it was heard – the notoriously liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Last June, a three-judge 9th Circuit panel sided with the atheist, ruling the pledge unconstitutional so long as it includes the phrase "under God." And in February, an 11-member panel of the court reaffirmed the court's original outlandish ruling.
So the Bush administration formally appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court this week to overturn the decision by the 9th Circuit; to allow the more than 9.5 million schoolchildren in California and eight other Western states to continue to recite the pledge in its current form.
[snip]
That certainly would be disconcerting to Newdow, who would enjoy nothing more than making his case against God before the nation's highest court. For his suit really isn't about his daughter, to whom he has contributed little more than his DNA. Its about advancing his godless agenda.
He admitted as much last summer. "The main thrust of this case is not my daughter," he said. "It's me."
Indeed, it's not enough that he would prevent his daughter-in-biology-only from reciting the pledge, from acknowledging the Almighty. He would impose his decidedly minority views on all school children. Even though the vast majority are raised in homes in which religion plays an important role.
And the atheist seeks not only to evict God from the school house, but to banish the Creator from the public square all together. In fact, he said last summer he considers his pledge suit to be a "hopping off point" for similar litigation.
[snip]
But the atheist misinterprets the so-called "establishment clause." It ensures freedom of religion. It does not mandate freedom from religion.
Newdow is like so many others who advocate an absolute separation of church and state. He denies the integral role that religion has played in the governmental affairs of this republic since its very founding.
Indeed, the Declaration of Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson, refers to God or the Creator four different times. The Constitution refers to the "year of our Lord."
George Washington issued a presidential proclamation in 1789 declaring it "the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor."
He added that "both houses of Congress have ... requested me to 'recommend to the people a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.' "
[snip]
But the United States was founded by God-fearing men. And it's the godless element in this country – those who would bar even the mere mention of the Almighty in schools and other public settings – who truly have broken faith with this nation's Founders.
Note the snide, almost Coulterish references to Newdow: "the father of Banning's daughter – who never bothered to marry his baby's momma ", "the Sacramento atheist's ", "making his case against God ", "his daughter, to whom he has contributed little more than his DNA", "advancing his godless agenda", "his decidedly minority views", "the atheist misinterprets ", "it's the godless element in this country ". This is Perkins version of "Christianity": bullheaded, vicious, intractable, and sneering. You have to think that someone like this would read the Sermon on the Mount and think to himself, "What a wimp".
And I'm sure it has never occurred to Perkins that, had he lived during the founding of this "God-fearing" country, he probably wouldn't have landed a gig defending the faith for a local newspaper. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson probably would have had other work for him to do.
George Washington was born into a world in which slavery was accepted. He became a slave owner when his father died in 1743. At the age of eleven, he inherited ten slaves and 500 acres of land. When he began farming Mount Vernon eleven years later, at the age of 22, he had a work force of about 36 slaves. With his marriage to Martha Custis in 1759, 20 of her slaves came to Mount Vernon. After their marriage, Washington purchased even more slaves. The slave population also increased because the slaves were marrying and raising their own families. By 1799, when George Washington died, there were 316 slaves living on the estate.
Thomas Jefferson had 187 slaves. We know that because he kept meticulous hand-written records, which we still have. On January 14, 1774, after he inherited slaves from first his mother and then his father-in-law, Thomas Jefferson wrote his inventory of 187 slaves. In his last inventory, taken 50 years later in 1824, Thomas Jefferson also had 187 slaves. Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 at the age of 83.
Blessed are the meek.
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