Friday, August 10, 2007

Bill Sali and the Gods

Recently, a concerned citizen wrote a letter to the Ann Arbor News in Michigan. The person in question commented that they were disturbed by the omission of God and the lack of references to the Bible during the July Fourth speeches this year. Here is the exact text of that letter to the editor:

"Noticeably and sadly missing in the speeches and news editorials celebrating our independence on July 4 was the lack of acknowledgment and tribute to our Founding Fathers and to America's Christian heritage.

The Christian principles that America was founded upon were drawn directly from the Word of God (the Bible). America was a blessed nation because many of the Founding Fathers were determined to honor God and His laws in creating this country. "

Basically the writer assumes that the United States was built on Christian principles and that the Founding fathers had intended it to be a Christian Nation. We know that there is nothing further from the truth, the premise having been that the United States would be a country to tolerate all religions and not promote any. The reasoning was simple. Almost all countries which had inalienable ties to one specific religion and, at the time, particularly Christianity, had engaged in colonialist nation building and the two went hand in hand. The idea that a country would go forth under the protection of "God" was so disturbing to them that they decided to start with a clean sheet and found a country which accepted, tolerated and indeed WELCOMED any and all religions without promoting one of them above the others.We're back to the First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof....."

Unfortunately this is something that continues to befuddle most Republicans, notably Republican Representative Bill Sali of Idaho who very recently had this to say, as noted by One News Now:

"We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota. Those are changes -- and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers,"

The lawmaker from Idaho goes on to assert that the United States was built on principles from the bible and that it is only through the direct protection of God, that the country has been able to survive the onslaught brought upon it by heathens.

Protection by God? Any God? No, Bill Sali is clear on that. He went on to say that when a Hindu prayer is offered, that's a prayer to a "different God" and that that poses problems for the survival of the United States.

It disturbs me greatly, that a Republican Representative knows less about this country's Constitution and the principles on which this country was founded, than a foreigner like myself, but then I'm maybe asking too much from a party that still supports a President like Bush.

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