The Wall Has Crumbled Into Dust

Well, my dears, Thomas Jefferson is rolling over, and over and over, in his grave at this very moment. Until this morning I was unaware - paying attention as I was to the SCHIP legislation and the Energy Bill, of an important resolution passed in the House on Monday of this week: H. Res. 847: Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith. Yes, uh huh, you read that right. The importance of Christmas and the Christian faith. I have to thank the Huffington Post and Think Progress for bringing this matter to my attention. From the HuffPo:

Speaking of Christmas, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) says he's not really against the holiday, even though he voted this week against a resolution "recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith."

McDermott said his vote Tuesday night was a protest against Bush's anticipated veto of a children's health insurance bill -- which Bush vetoed Wednesday.

"While the Republicans are passing a resolution celebrating Christmas, the president was vetoing health care for children. There's a little bit of irony going on around here," McDermott said yesterday.

The Christmas measure was approved 372 to 9, according to the Associated Press, with Democrats casting all the no votes. Besides McDermott, the dissenting votes came from Reps. Gary Ackerman and Yvette Clarke of New York; Barbara Lee, Pete Stark and Lynn Woolsey of California; Diana DeGette (Colo.); Alcee Hastings (Fla.); and Bobby Scott (Va.). Ten lawmakers, including Republican Mike Pence (Ind.), voted "present." Forty members were absent.

If your blood runs cold at the very title, wait until you read the text of this Resolution. The whole thing was apparently a protest on the part of Rep. Steve King (R-IA) against the fact that previous resolutions recognizing the Muslim celebration of Ramadan and the Hindu feast of Diwali had been introduced, but not passed (ha ha ha, of course not passed) in the House. I am tempted to include the entire text in this post, just to make sure it is as widely read as possible. OK, yes, I'm going to go ahead and insert the bottom line of the Resolution, I can't help myself, here it is:

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;
(2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;
(3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;
(4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;
(5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and
(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world.

What possible need could there have been for such a thing? Was Christmas in danger of being abolished? Were we burning Christians at the stake in some unknown corner of the US ?Isn't it bad enough that this Christian holiday is also a Federal holiday and has been one since, no not the founding of the Republic, the Founders would never have allowed such a thing to happen, only since Ulysses S. Grant signed it into law in 1870. What part of separation of Church and State does this government not understand? The phrase "separation of church and State" was actually first used, in fact it was "building a wall of separation between church and state" not by godless atheists or ACLU lawyers in the twentieth century, but by Thomas Jefferson in a January 1, 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. We badly need some ghostly appartitions in Washington this holiday season: not the ghosts of any Christmases, past, present or future, but the ghosts of those Founding Deists like Jefferson, Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin, to come shake the Christianist (see Bruce, now I'm using it too!) foundations of this current Congress. (Photo Thos. Jefferson's grave, from Wikipedia)

Technorati Tags: Christianists, Deism, HR847, separation of church and state, Thomas Jefferson

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