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Religious Freedom Day: The Big Secret
Religious Freedom Day is January 16. President Bush is asking public schools to promote and participate in celebrating our nation's rich religious heritage. He has done this each year he has been in office. (Read Proclamation in the Freedom Library).
The Department of Education sends out guidelines, along with the President's proclamation to all public school administrators, urging them to involve teachers, students and parents in celebrating our Religious Freedom.
What happens may not surprise you, but it should concern you.
The material disappears. Do you know any teachers who actually receive the material? Perhaps some do, but I have yet to find any who have received it in any timely way and for the most part, they never see it.
Religious Freedom Day is the anniversary of the passage, in 1786, of the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom. Thomas Jefferson drafted the legislation and considered it one of his most important achievements. In fact it was so important to him that he asked that it be mentioned on his tombstone.
Unlike President Clinton, President Bush has made such a proclamation each year he has been in office. President Clinton made a proclamation three of the eight years he was in office.
While our kids are force-fed "diversity day," "gay day," "tolerance day," "world day," "green day," "other religions day," and anything else that does not pertain to our religious heritage, great effort is made to obscure the truth about religious national heritage.
The observance of the great Judeo-Christian heritage upon which this country was built, is driven from the discourse of public education under the guise of separation of church and state.
It is ironic that the secularists tirelessly misquote Jefferson's letter to the Baptists regarding the wall of separation between church and state, while they run away from his expression of the profound importance that our Religious Freedom has played in both our founding documents and the unparalleled prosperity that America has enjoyed.
These very freedoms are often inverted and used to discriminate and express bigotry and intolerance toward Christianity and any expression of it in our public schools.
This is one of the reasons we are sponsoring the David Barton meetings across the state. He is the foremost Christian historian in America. I strongly urge you to attend, bring your children and invite others to attend the meeting in your area.
We are sponsoring two this month. Vancouver, Jan. 28th and Tumwater (Olympia) the 29th. Click here for location and event details.
God bless you and God bless America.
________________
Gary Randall
President
Faith & Freedom
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10 Comments:
I graduated from the public school system in 1981 and do not recall ever hearing of Relious Freedom Day ever so this isnt a new issue.
Gary,
Have you actually read the Virginia Statute?
It makes a very strong statement against laws based on religious belief.
So, is this a new position? Are you now against legislating a biblical condemnation of gay marriage?
Does religious freedom day mean that
non Christian religions like ,Wiccan,will be recognized.
The army recognizes Wiccan as a legitimate religion and allows its members to practice their religion against Bush's recommendations.
Is it religion freedom day or is it Christian freedom day?
I hope it DOES include Wicca. While I hold a very low opinion of that particular religion, it's still a religion and its practitioners have the same right to practice it that we Christians have. That right is being whittled away for both them and us, although ours is diminishing faster because we're not as trendy.
Ralph, do you have a source for your assertion about Bush recommending against accommodating Wicca? I don't recall hearing about that while the whole hooraw was going on.
During his first campaign for president, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush told ABC's "Good Morning America" in 1999 that he was opposed to Wiccan soldiers practicing their faith at Fort Hood, Tex. "I don't think witchcraft is a religion, and I wish the military would take another look at this and decide against it," he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042302073.html
Joel,
How has your individual right to practice Christianity been 'whittled away'?
Mark in Tigard
What can be done to others can be done to me.
Non Jews in Holland said , "I am not Jewish. I don't have to worry." We should worry when a person in power like Bush says that a religious group does not deserve protection because he feels that they are mot a religion. I am LDS (Mormon) . My religion has been labeled as a non Christian cult. This label will remove Mormons from protection by the Freedom of Religion in the constitution.
Joel,
Your non-response speaks volumes.
Mark in Tigard
Mark,
I will jump in here , because obviously you must be a yong man .
There has been a cultural shift in this nation , values and what is considered controversal and such .
Example of what once was considered just Fun is when I was is in elementary school in NJ ,fairly close to New York City .
Right before school got out for our our "Christmas Vacation" our art class made cardboard mail boxes , this fit the Christmas Cards we sent to all the members in the class .
We made candles out of wax paper for Christmas presents for our Moms , and I made a clay ashtray for my Dad .
Oh yes , show and tell , that is where I learned about the Jewish traditions of this time of the year . It was a fun time , and we shared our traditions .
Now , well of course the ashtray deal would be considered bad form , but the mail box and such , well too many feelings would be hurt . Some schools actually have gay safe zones now , and you will most likly learn more about homosexual parents then Christmas traditions of our homes in public schools .
Is this good , well I would argue leaving the traditions from our homes out because of concern of hurting others while promoting some themes and values that clash is not very tolerant or consistent .
And this kind of a blog is a backlash to that ,.
You may not agree with it , but you should at least be somewhat understanding that tolerance use to be more fun for the kids in certain areas .
Mick,
Actually, I'm in my 50's. I grew up in the environment you described.
While I'm not obviously young, you obviously have failed to demonstrate any whittling of your individual rights to practice religion. I think your anecdote explains it. You are confusing religious activities led by public schools with individual rights to practice religion. They are not the same thing.
Mark in Tigard
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