The Dark Age Continuum

June 18, 1999

Blurring the lines of Church and State

By Kevin Sullivan

Off with their heads

Plumbing new depths of right wing insanity congress has passed a draconian new "Juvenile Justice" legislation - H.R. 1501. If this horrible bill - sponsered by contra apologist monster Bill McCollum (R-FL) - becomes law it would allow children as young as 13 to be jailed with adult offenders for nonviolent drug offenses. It also includes an amendment introduced by Rep. Robert B. Aderholt (R-Ala) which declares that the Ten Commandments can be displayed on property owned or administered by the States. This is their solution to "the problem of youth violence."

Dominated by hypocrites and pseudo-christians - their collective behavior couldn't be further from the teachings of Jesus - the U.S. house of reprehensibles continues it's attempt legislate into reality their historically specious, morally bankrupt and intellectually indolent contention that the founding fathers designed the Constitution to maintain a Christian order. They propose to turn public schools and government agencies into churches by posting the ten commandments. Prayer is next.

So how about this one.

"Almighty God, dear heavenly Father. In Thy name let us now, in pious spirit, begin our instruction. Enlighten us, teach us all truth, strengthen us in all that is good, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from all evil in order that, as good human beings, we may faithfully perform our duties and thereby, in time and eternity, be made truly happy. Amen."

That's a nice little prayer isn't it? There is something interesting about this prayer you should know, I'll get to that later.

What's the harm? This is a democracy, not a theocracy and The Burning Times where not that long ago.

Some Facts

The Founding Fathers desire that church and state be separate was clearly stated by Thomas Jefferson in an 1802 letter written to the Danbury Connecticut Baptist Convention. His purpose was "sowing useful truths and principles among the people, which might germinate and become rooted among their political tenets."

Jefferson wrote, "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a WALL of separation between church and State."

James Madison, considered to be the Father of the Constitution, said in an 1819 letter, "The number, the industry and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church and state."

"But aren't these just sound moral laws we all agree with anyway?"

Not really.

The first commandment says there is only one god, Jehovah.

The second commandment condemns the worship of other gods and warns that Jehovah will punish the, "iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." Jehovah, it is explained, is "a jealous God."

Think about it. My Great, Great, Great, Grandchildren will still be paying for this article. [sic]

That's really vile.

The third commandment prohibits taking "the lord's name in vain." The problem is, they are talking about THEIR lord, the God of the Israelites. I’m a Celt [prounouced Kelt], an "infidel", not an Israelite.

In his autobiography Thomas Jefferson explained that the goal of the 1st amendment's "wall of separation of church and state" was to include, "within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."

The posting of the ten commandments in public institutions is a blatently unconstitutional de facto establishment of the Judeo/Christian religion. The intention of the authors of the 1st amendment to proscribe this has been affirmed numerous times by the supreme court over the past 200 years.

The fourth commandment says you SHALL work six days a week and SHALL NOT work on Sunday. Shall means WILL. Work sunup to sundown six days a week? Really? Well, we already know what this congress thinks of existing labor law.

The remaining commandments tell us to respect parents and not to kill, steal, lie, commit adultery or be covetous. These do have universal resonance and can easily be taught without establishing the christian reichs narrow views as the only moral ones.

It is worth noting that there were NO "thou shalt not kill" arguments raised against the terrorist attacks on Yugoslavia. There will be no "thou shalt not steal" arguments as the public property (see rambouillet footnote*) of Yugoslavia is "privatized" (the neo-liberal word for steal) But that's what hypocrisy is, pretending to be something you're not. The authors of this bill are not moral people, they just pretend to be on TV.

Lies.

Throughout history ALL of these commandments have been broken - God on their lips and evil in their hearts - with appalling regularity by the Bob Barrrs, Bill McCollums, Pat Robertsons and Adolf Hitlers of the world.

Bob Barr is quoted as saying that the posting of this dogma would’ve prevented the massecre at Columbine High. History demonstrates that the opposite more likely to be true. Devotees to these beliefs have conducted countless pogroms, witch burnings, engaged in slavery, rascism and the genocide of the indigenous population of this hemisphere. Indeed christian theology has been used to justify all of the above.

Conspicuous by it’s absence is Jesus’ primary commandment, the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you?" It should tell us something that there is no clamor to post this anywhere.

Oh yeah, by the way, the prayer I quoted at the top?**  These were the words of divine supplication that secondary school students were required to recite in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Narrow minded religious chauvinism, what's the harm?

I have a better question, what's the point?

** Source of Nazi Prayer: July, August 1995 issue of Liberty: A Magazine of Religious Freedom, published by the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland.

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