The Culture War - Uprooted Traditions

Uprooted Traditions and Edited History

The traditional American culture has a number of enemies, and its traditions and customs are under constant attack. The people who do not consider themselves bound by tradition — who actively attempt to break down traditions and "push the envelope" of change — are called liberals. The fallacies of their beliefs are laid out in some detail on a series of pages, starting here. Those of us who attempt to preserve our traditions and expect everyone to abide by a fixed set of rules for civil behavior are called social conservatives. The clash between the two groups has recently been called the Culture War, and that is the subject of discussion on many of the page of this web site.

In most cases, tradition is under attack by those who take it upon themselves to enforce "political correctness." These easily offended people (and their lawyers) reside mainly on the Pacific coast and the northern Atlantic coast of the US mainland. But while bad ideas originate in New York and Los Angeles, they eventually spread throughout the country. This page is here for the purpose of alerting people in the rest of America to the destructive and undesirable trends that are just over the horizon.

This page discusses the general erosion of American traditions, but also addresses a number of specific subjects, such as The Public Display of the Ten Commandments, The official celebration of Thanksgiving Day, and the Separation of Church and State.

More material can be found under The War on Tradition in American Schools.

Other pages nearby contain material about the War on Christmas, opposition to the Pledge of Allegiance, the effort to make English the official language of the United States, and the fight against Politically Correct Mascot Names.

The Founding Fathers and Slavery: Even though the issue of slavery is often raised as a discrediting charge against the Founding Fathers, the historical fact is that slavery was not the product of, nor was it an evil introduced by, the Founding Fathers.

Historic Jamestown marks 400 years since 'invasion'. Use of the word "celebration" is being banned at this year's special events ordered by Congress to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of settlers in Jamestown, 13 years before the Plymouth Pilgrims appeared on America's shores, because it was an "invasion" that resulted in a "holocaust," organizers say.

New Test Asks: What Does 'American' Mean? Patrick Henry and Francis Scott Key are out, but Susan B. Anthony and Nancy Pelosi are in. The White House was cut, but New York and Sept. 11 made the list. Federal immigration authorities yesterday [9/27/2007] unveiled 100 new questions immigrants will have to study to pass a civics test to become naturalized American citizens.

When Worlds Collide: The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago has a new permanent exhibit of savagery and barbarism, "The Ancient Americas." The ancient Americans themselves are not portrayed as savage or barbarous. (How surprising. Knock me over with a feather.) The savages and barbarians are the museum's curators. They plunder history, ravage archaeology, do violence to intelligence, and lay waste to wisdom, faith, and common sense.

Banishing Religion from the Public Square: For quite some time in America, frank public discussions about candidates' religious views have been deemed verboten. The trend began in 1960, when John F. Kennedy found that his Catholic faith was proving to be a liability with Protestant voters.

Ballgame keepsake goes electronic. The paper ticket might be on its way to joining AstroTurf and scheduled doubleheaders in the graveyard of sports obsolescence. A host of professional teams, including the Washington Nationals, are introducing new systems allowing fans to enter games using their cell phone, driver's license or similar means, potentially making paper tickets a thing of the past.

The Da Vinci Code: A Brilliantly Crafted Deception. Few things have done more to injure the witness of the Church than attacks on the deity of Christ, the reliability of Scripture, and the rise of feminist ideology. Now these three have been brilliantly combined into one profoundly evil witness in Dan Brown's latest best-seller book, The Da Vinci Code.

Numerous reviews of the movie can be seen here.

A proposed bill to ban male circumcision. A San Diego, California-based group that calls itself a health and human rights organization recently submitted a proposed bill to Congress called the Male Genital Mutilation Bill ("MGM bill"). The bill, if adopted, would ban the practice of circumcising baby boys.

Under God? Let's see the proof. The unelected and still mostly liberal federal judges continue their four-decades-old nasty habit of dismantling our institutions, symbols and beliefs for the sake of a microscopic minority.

Judge kills death sentence because jurors read the Bible. Although Robert Harlan was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a 25-year-old woman and shooting another woman passer-by who tried to help, leaving her paralyzed, a Colorado judge overturned his death sentence because some jurors had read the Bible during their deliberations.

Are comic books no longer for kids? So here we go with another delivery vehicle for children sacrificing innocence at the altar of controversy, in the hopes of gaining notoriety — and press attention. In 2003, Marvel went homosexual, trying to draw attention to itself by creating a gay superhero, the Rawhide Kid, but the "Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather" comic books never sold well, despite the initial raft of publicity.

'Cotton wool kids' losing basic skills. Panicky parents are breeding a generation of "cotton wool kids" too afraid to climb trees or ride their bikes, NSW's most senior child guardian has warned. Mums and dads are so fixated on keeping their children safe that children are growing into nervous adults without acquiring basic survival skills along the way.

[Apparently "cotton wool kids" is the Australian way to say "sissies".]

Clinton-Era Pregnancy Policies Must be Reviewed and Revised. A 33 year-old female Marine gave birth to a healthy 7-pound baby boy on May 23, [2003,] while she was aboard the warship USS Boxer. The amphibious vessel was deployed at the time in a war zone near Kuwait, where the unnamed staff sergeant was assigned to a ground unit.

Multicultural Hypocrites: If it's something strange, something perverted, something counterproductive, or something that simply sets them apart from American culture in general, then the multicultural idiots are all for it.

Congressman Challenges Courts' Moves to Eliminate God, Bible from Public Forum: During the last several months, attacks on Christianity in the public arena have gained considerable notoriety around the country. They include a legal effort to eliminate "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, and challenges by the American Civil Liberties Union to remove Ten Commandments monuments from public property in Alabama and Pennsylvania.

The Death of English Christendom: British Prime Minister Tony Blair has taken the concept of policy czar to uncharted territory with his appointment of former Labour Party MP John Battle as "faith czar." What is of interest is that the British government is, on the one hand, attempting to divest itself of the Church of England through the process of disestablishment. On the other hand, Czar Battle will attempt to promote the "best of faith" over and against the "worst."

Modern Pagans vs Christians: A civilization's calendar is reflective of its values, its history, its beliefs, and its religion. Western Europe calculates its time from the birth of Christ because it was a Christian civilization. The Founders knew all of this. They were profound students of history. Their writings show an acquaintance with the philosophies of government throughout history and around the world. They knew they were Christians, and they knew that the nation they were building was founded upon Christian, Biblical principles.

Quoting Scripture banned in library community room. Quoting from the Bible has been banned in a community room at the public library in Clermont County, Ohio, and now a couple who sought to use the facility for a financial planning seminar have brought a court case. "What's next? Will the library board attempt to keep patrons from checking out Bibles and reading them on government property?" asked Tim Chandler, a legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, which is working on the case involving George and Cathy Vandergriff.

Feds fixing "Southern bias" at U.S. parks: The National Park Service is looking to rid itself of what it calls Southern bias at major Civil War battlefields and instead emphasize the horrors of slavery.

The American way: The world of mid-twentieth century television was clean — safe for viewing no matter what your age. Parents simply did not have to worry about what their children were watching, or what messages they were receiving through their televisions. The 1950s, however, are long over and modern Hollywood can't resist tampering with American icons. They want to tear them down and rebuild them in their own image.

Bugs Bunny in Blackface: Racially Charged Cartoons Removed From Retrospective. Cartoon Network executives had planned a complete run of the Bugs Bunny cartoons, but decided to omit 12 of the animated shorts because they were considered too racially charged.

Editor's Note: Besides being an attempt to edit history, this is a sign of the times and a symptom of the Culture War. It is now socially unacceptable to ridicule minorities, women, or people from distinctly identifiable foreign cultures, but it's still okay to make fun of heterosexual white males. Especially if they are from the South. Almost every work of comedic fiction ever made contains something that is objectionable to somebody somewhere (if it is humorous at all), whether it's a stereotype, excessive violence, characters who stammer, characters who drink too much, etc. Numerous Warner Brothers cartoons produced during World War II depicted the Japanese as ruthless nearsighted midgets, and they were no doubt applauded at the time.

The "Little Rascals" films, in their original uncut form, were full of the same kind of material. Many episodes of the "Little Rascals" are no longer shown for that reason. Numerous TV shows, especially those made before 1970, were based on stereotypes. Examples include The Beverly Hillbillies, Hogan's Heroes, Green Acres, and of course, Amos 'n Andy. Compare those old cartoons and TV shows with the material that is acceptable on television today, and it's easy to conclude that this branch of political correctness is a farce and a perfidious assault on plain speaking and the traditions and institutions that made this country great. I'm not saying that irrational stereotypes and derisive mockery made this country great; I'm saying that freedom of expression is diminished and diluted when the P.C. Police denigrate creative works that aren't to their liking.

See also A Guide To Censored Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.

Some are still available on video.

Smoking cuts for classic cartoons after complaint. Turner Broadcasting is scouring more than 1,500 classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including old favourites Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo, to edit out scenes that glamorise smoking. The review was triggered by a complaint to media regulator Ofcom by one viewer who took offence to two episodes of Tom and Jerry shown on the Boomerang channel, part of Turner Broadcasting which itself belongs to Time Warner Inc.

[In the story above, please note: ONE VIEWER complained. That's all it takes any more.]

In our next hilarious episode, Tom and Jerry go to anger management. Thank you for commissioning our firm to remove all the smoking scenes from episodes of Tom and Jerry. It has, however, come to our attention that other aspects of these cartoons may not be in line with contemporary thinking.

"Master" and "slave" computer labels unacceptable, officials say. Los Angeles officials have asked that manufacturers, suppliers and contractors stop using the terms "master" and "slave" on computer equipment, saying such terms are unacceptable and offensive.

Cartoon Censorship Blamed on "Politically Correct White Mentality": Classic cartoons originally produced between the 1930s and 1950s and a television staple for the baby boomer generation, are being edited for offensive material today "because of a politically correct white mentality," according to a cartoon historian.

Fox Movie Channel Bans Charlie Chan Movies: The Fox Movie Channel abruptly cancelled its planned Charlie Chan film festival last week after complaints from an Asian American group that the character was "one of the most offensive Asian caricatures of America's cinematic past."

Political Correctness Imprisons Speedy Gonzales: From Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, to Wile E. Coyote's Roadrunner-catching Acme ingenuity, Warner Brothers' hilarious Looney Tunes have filled generations of Americans with innocent childlike laughter. Unfortunately, political correctness run amok is depriving future generations of one unforgettable toon. The Cartoon Network, a subsidiary of AOL-Time Warner, has shelved all 40 six-minute Speedy Gonzales shorts.

Speedy Gonzales Caged by Cartoon Network: The rapid rodent has been deemed an offensive ethnic stereotype of Mexicans, and has been off the air since the cable network became the sole U.S. broadcaster of old Warner Brothers cartoons in late 1999.

Note: "Speedy Gonzales" (1955) won an Academy Award leading to a series of Gonzales cartoons. Speedy was usually paired with Sylvester and always came out on top. Two other Speedy cartoons, "Tabasco Road" (1957) and "The Pied Piper of Guadalupe" (1961), were nominated for Academy Awards.*

By the way, the Turkish TV network is banning Winnie the Pooh, because they say Piglet is offensive.

G.I. Joe is No Great American Hero, Group Says: The Lion & Lamb Project says military action figures are "aggressive toys." However, a Hasbro spokesperson says, "G.I. Joe has been a part of our culture for nearly 40 years and represents core American values – patriotism, honor and bravery."

You may also be interested in the section about the NCAA's fight against politically incorrect mascot names.

Separation of Church and State

Contrary to what you may have heard, the phrase, "separation of church and state" is not in the Constitution of the United States. It is not a federal law. The idea that the Constitution forbids religious observances on public property or during public ceremonies is a vicious canard that was manufactured in the Supreme Court only a few decades ago.

God Save The United States and This Honorable Court. There is no constitutional conflict in using taxpayer dollars to fund faith-based initiatives. This is a position we've advocated for years. The Supreme Court should leave the faith-based initiative alone and focus instead on removing the special privileges that are afforded to atheists and others who are antagonistic to religion.

Clarifying the Separation of Church and State: There is no such thing as "separation of church and state" in America's history. There is such a thing as separation of the state from the church. Our founding fathers, because of their experience, were most fearful of the encroachment of the state into the life of the church. They knew the results of that kind of evil and suffered persecution because of it. So they came to these shores seeking freedom and the privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of the Bible and their own conscience.

Separation of Church and State: Learn more about the origin of the phrase "separation of church and state," the expression Justice William Rehnquist described as "a misleading metaphor."

Separation of Church and State and the Deportation of Christianity. There is no such law! This phrase ["separation of church and state"] does not appear in any founding document. It is not in the Constitution of the United States. It is, however, in the "Constitution" of the former Soviet Union.

"The 'wall of separation between church and State' is a metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned."

— Justice Rehnquist, dissenting, in Wallace v. Jaffree

Some states had official religions well into the 1800's. Congregationalism was established by law as the official religion of the Connecticut and New Haven colonies when the colonies were founded in the 17th century. It remained the official religion until the Connecticut constitution was adopted in 1818.

Jefferson advocated a 'gate' between church and state. Thomas Jefferson, credited with penning the famous "wall of separation between Church and State" on which many secular organization have rested their hopes of eliminating Christianity from the public square, actually believed in a "gate" allowing free passage between the two, according to a researcher who's reviewed Library of Congress documents.

The Myth of the Separation of Church and State: The American Humanist Association certifies counselors who enjoy the same legal status as ordained ministers. Since the Supreme Court has said that Secular Humanism is a religion, why is it being allowed to be taught in schools? The removal of public prayer of those who wish to participate is, in effect, establishing the religion of Humanism over Christianity. This is exactly what our founding fathers tried to stop from happening with the first amendment.

An Attack on Naval Academy's Mealtime Grace: Removing leader-led prayers from military training, especially in this time of national peril, represents a seismic shift in restricting this long-established American military practice. We are proud of the Naval Academy and its leadership who have not been bullied by repeated threats from those who would weaken military training and America in time of war and national security crisis. Prayer is a matter of honor and an American military necessity in time of war. Those who would undermine or remove it are un-American.

Democrats misplay the "God Card". Democrats have some serious decisions to make about the future of their party and its message. The Democrat Party cannot long stand as one that demands separation of church and state in all — even symbolic — matters while at the same time claiming Biblical substantiation for liberal public policies.

The Big Lie: Church and State Separation. The practical myth of "separation of church and state" is a prime example of how language is used to perpetuate a political lie. For the time being, this lie is pervasive in American society, with pseudo-intellectuals joining duplicitous liberals in invoking this phony argument with regularity.

Church and state: We are on the threshold of America's entry into a post-religious, post-Constitutional era. Decades of liberal assaults on traditional values and institutions are bearing fruit — sweet or bitter depending on your allegiance. The final battles are underway, and the bulwarks erected to protect us from the dark side of our natures and from governmental tyranny are being battered down.

School is told to restore 'Jesus' bricks. A federal judge has ordered a public high school to return bricks inscribed with Christian messages to a walkway, concluding their removal violated the free speech rights of the people who paid for them. U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue ruled the bricks, with engravings such as "Jesus Saves" and "Jesus Christ The Only Way!" did not constitute an endorsement of religious views by the Mexico Academy, a high school in upstate New York. The bricks containing such engravings were the only ones removed, while others also referred to God and some commemorated churches.

Dare we erase God from history? The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday [3/24/2004] heard arguments on whether the diminutive phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is a violation of the so-called "separation of church and state." We have reached this low point in our nation's history because a federal appeals court actually ruled last year in favor of an egocentric atheist named Michael Newdow who abhors our freedoms of religious expression.

Appeals Court Upholds KY Ten Commandments Display. A Kentucky county has won another court ruling that says a Ten Commandments display can be posted in the courthouse. … The American Civil Liberties Union brought the case against Mercer County. The ACLU argued the display violated the Constitution's guarantee separating church and state.

Sidebar Discussion: The Madison Bus Passes

Another War: [In] the Madison, Wisconsin Metro System, each month this government entity placed a picture of some public figure on its bus pass. One month it used Martin Luther King Jr. and another, Elvis Presley, another the inventor of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee (not Al Gore). But when it decided to use Mother Teresa the Freedom From Religion Foundation went ballistic, saying it was an impermissible intermingling of government and religion.

More about the Madison Bus Passes: Madison Metro System printed a picture of Mother Teresa on its April [2003] bus pass. Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, condemned it as a violation of church and state. A spokeswoman for Metro said Mother Teresa was selected because she made Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century. The May bus pass features a picture of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; Gaylor did not criticize this selection.

The Editor says...
The people at the Freedom From Religion Foundation evidently believe that the appearance of Mother Teresa on a bus pass constituted the establishment of a national religion. The accusation is ridiculous, and is merely an attempt to prohibit and suppress the freedom of religious expression, even though the bus passes were surely not intended to be religious artifacts.

Religious Holiday Displays Information Letter: The Constitution protects the right of private citizens to engage in religious speech in a "public forum." In a leading First Amendment case, the Supreme Court held that a private group could erect a cross in a public park during the holiday season.

Ten Commandments Texas Revival Rally Keynote address: When are we going to get this through our heads? For the last forty, and fifty, and sixty years, the lawyers and the judges who have pretended that there is some reference to separation [of church and state] in the Constitution have lied to us!

The Truth About "Separation Of Church And State": Liberals have run off with this phrase, prostituting it per usual. The matter is simple. It's this: America does not want a state church. England has a state church — the Anglican Church. America does not want one denomination considered The Nation's Church. On the other hand, America has a religious heritage. It's not Muslim. It's not Hindu. It's not Shinto. It's not animism. It's not New Age. It's not Paganism. It's not Voodoo. It's Judeo-Christian. America, while not desiring a state church, does desire religion in life.

The Separation of Truth and State: The American people have been bamboozled for more than a generation now that their government can safely ignore God and his moral standards. The principal underlying presumption in this is that the God of the Bible is irrelevant. The presumption is that there is not really a God at all, or if there is a God, he is either too impotent or too distant to be concerned with the affairs of men. This humanist philosophy presumes that the wisdom of man is the standard of all things.

Feelings trumping rights: Church-state separation zealots have often selectively applied their wall of separation. They have consistently screamed bloody murder at any whiff of Christianity in the public square, especially when there is the remotest suggestion that government is merely countenancing Christianity (far from endorsing it). But they've sat idly by as the state has outright endorsed other religions or worldviews or their values.

Resurrection Day 2005 — The ultimate sacrifice. In challenging activist-atheists who wish to raze all religious symbols from public life (erroneously citing the First Amendment and Thomas Jefferson's "Wall of Separation"), we have often asked, "If you truly believe in atheism, why does any religious symbol, which you take as meaningless, matter at all?" As for the courts that take these cases seriously, we ask the following: On what constitutional basis do atheists have standing to sue?

Fight over the cross revived. More than two years after officials ordered the image of a tiny cross removed from Los Angeles County's official seal, a pitched battle continues over the constitutionality of religious symbols in public places. And this week a band of activists, many from the San Fernando Valley, will get yet another chance to make their case for returning the cross to the seal even as they have elevated their efforts to the national level.

Removal of Cross From Los Angeles County Seal Prompts Lawsuit. The decision by Los Angeles County officials to remove the small cross from the county's official seal has triggered a lawsuit. It was filed Tuesday [10/17/2006] by the Thomas More Law Center in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The decision to remove the cross from the seal was made in June of 2004 after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue the L.A. County supervisors because of their use of a Christian symbol.

The Mount Soledad Cross

The latest:
Federal Court: Mt. Soledad Memorial Constitutional; ACLJ Brief Cited. The Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego is constitutional. That's the finding of a U.S. District Court in San Diego and the latest decision in a lengthy legal battle that has spanned several decades.

Cross Stays on Mountain, Judge Rules. A federal judge in San Diego says a giant cross that looks over the city from Mount Soledad may stay where it is. The cross, part of a national veterans' memorial, has been at the center of a legal battle for 20 years.

Veterans reenlist. For nearly two decades, the ACLU has waged war against the cross in the public square, turning the laws meant to protect freedom of speech against small communities whose budgets can't stand up to a political Goliath. Now the ACLU may meet its match.

ADF attorneys ask 9th Circuit to dismiss 17-year lawsuit against Mt. Soledad cross. Now that Congress has passed and the President has signed a bill that clearly puts the cross under federal control, we hope that the 9th Circuit will see that it's no longer necessary to continue the ACLU's protracted legal attack on this symbol dedicated to our nation's fallen heroes.

Atheist who sued over giant cross dies. Philip Paulson, an atheist who waged a 17-year legal battle to have a giant cross removed from public land on Mount Soledad, has died. He was 59. Paulson died Wednesday of liver cancer.

San Diego ordered to remove cross or pay $5,000 a day. After a 17-year legal battle between the city and a self-described atheist, a judge has ordered San Diego officials to remove a giant cross from a hilltop park or start paying $5,000 a day in fines.

Conservative law group files brief to block removal of Soledad cross. A conservative advocacy group filed a "friend of the court" brief on behalf of congressional members, asking an appeals court to stay a lower court ruling ordering the removal of the Mount Soledad cross.

Congressman asks Bush to save cross. The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee asked President Bush to help save a 29-foot cross standing on San Diego city property from being removed by court order.

9th Circuit Rejects Mount Soledad Appeal. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to stay a district court decision ordering the removal of the historic Mount Soledad cross in San Diego. The Cross has stood on city land since 1954 and is a memorial to veterans. Instead, the court scheduled oral arguments on the issue for the week of October 16. That's weeks after the cross is to be removed.

High court intervenes in fight over cross. The Supreme Court intervened Monday [7/3/2006] to stop, at least for now, the removal of a large cross from city property in southern California. … Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, acting for the high court, issued a stay while supporters of the cross continue their legal fight.

Mount Soledad Cross Land-Transfer Bill Goes To Bush. The fate of the Mount Soledad cross, the subject of a 17-year legal battle over the constitutionality of a religious symbol on public land, lies in the hands of President Bush Wednesday [8/2/2006]. The U.S. Senate yesterday unanimously approved a bill that would transfer the land upon which the Mount Soledad cross sits to the federal government to be preserved as a national war memorial.

Update:
President Bush Signs Mount Soledad Cross Bill. President Bush Monday afternoon [8/14/2006] signed a bill into law transferring the Mt. Soledad Cross and property on which is sets to the federal government.

Opponent of cross has terminal cancer. Philip Paulson, who sued the city of San Diego 17 years ago to force the removal of the Mount Soledad cross from public property, has been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Paulson, 59, and his lawyer, James McElroy, said yesterday they plan to add another plaintiff to the case so that it may continue.

Public Display of The Ten Commandments
and our National Motto:

The Ten Commandments, Moses and John Jay: As our nation's courts continue to wrestle with the issue of religion in the public square following the Supreme Court's confusing Ten Commandments ruling, it is imperative to look back to the founding of our nation in order to examine what the Framers intended in regard to public expressions and depictions of religion. And as we consider the High Court's Commandments rulings, the point cannot be made too many times that the Justices reached their conclusions in a building that is alive with symbols of these same Commandments.

Affidavit in Support of the Ten Commandments: David Barton was asked to prepare this legal brief in response to multiple ACLU lawsuits against public displays of the Ten Commandments.

Kentucky Ten Commandments Display Upheld. A display of the Ten Commandments at an eastern Kentucky courthouse does not violate the Constitution, but a lawsuit challenging a similar display in another county can proceed, a federal judge has ruled.

Another ACLU lawsuit against the Ten Commandments meets with defeat. The founder of Liberty Counsel says the dismissal of an ACLU lawsuit against a Ten Commandments display in one Kentucky county is not a good sign for anti-American organizations.

Hairsplitting at the Court. In 1789, the First Amendment was drafted by the first Congress — after it had hired a chaplain. Although President Jefferson's religion was a watery deism, he regularly attended Christian worship services, often with the Marine band participating, in the hall of the House of Representatives. The House was used because of the shortage of suitable venues in the newly founded District of Columbia. Jefferson, who coined the metaphor "wall of separation" about relations between church and state, also allowed the War Office and Treasury to be used for religious services that were open to the public. The Supreme Court chamber also was used for services.

Struck Down – The Ten Commandments Suffer a Blow. Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council: "This ruling by the Supreme Court is not only denigrating to our culture but it undermines the very laws we already have in place. Forbidding the Ten Commandments opens the door to hostility toward religion, which is contrary to the free exercise clause of the 1st Amendment."

Supreme Court's Decisions Regarding Displays of the Ten Commandments, available in PDF format.

Justices Disallow Ten Commandments in Courthouses. In separate opinions today [6/27/2005], the Supreme Court signaled that the permissibility of government sponsored displays of the Ten Commandments depends on circumstances. If the exhibit appears to have been erected with a religious purpose, it violates the Bill of Rights Establishment Clause prohibition on government sponsorship of religion, five justices said in a case from Kentucky.

Supreme Court Issues Split Decisions Regarding The Ten Commandments. In the Texas case of Van Orden v. Perry, the United States Supreme Court upheld a Ten Commandments monument that has been on the state capital grounds without any controversy for about forty years.

The Supreme Court, God and us. Oh, we can read the decisions all right — two of them this week. We just can't tell what they mean or how to apply them. Almost 60 years into the business of adjudicating church-state relationships, the court can write and perform only farce.

The split decision. For most of the 216 years since the Bill of Rights was adopted, the First Amendment's prohibition against government establishment of religion has been easily understood by judges and ordinary Americans alike. … For much of our nation's history, most Americans, including most federal judges, presumed that the First Amendment did not absolutely prohibit all governmental acknowledgment of religion's role in the lives of the people — and for good reason. Neither the wording of the amendment itself nor common practice challenged the widely held belief that government guaranteed freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

Ten Commandments v. Ten Opinions. The Founding Fathers were very much aware of the concept of judicial supremacy over constitutional interpretation — but they rejected it strongly. In 1804, for example, President Thomas Jefferson said judicial supremacy would lead to despotism.

When Justices become dictators: This week, the Supreme Court of the United States once again proved that it is a feckless, dictatorial and altogether ridiculous body. Its latest spate of decisions reveals legislative usurpation, disingenuous deference and silly inconsistency. But, of course, what else should we expect from the court that tells us our Constitution protects pornography but not political advertising, sodomy but not the Ten Commandments, and mentally disabled murderers but not private property?

Jewish Group Files Amicus Brief Opposing Bible Display in Texas
A Jewish group filed an amicus brief in opposition to a Bible display in the entrance to a Texas courthouse. Staley v. Harris County, Texas involves the showcase of a King James Bible open to passages chosen by a government employee, highlighted by red neon lighting. "This display violates the constitutional principle of separation of church and state, and sends the message to non-adherents that they are outsiders in their own communities," Jeffrey Sinensky, American Jewish Committee's general counsel, said in a statement. "The promotion of religion is particularly inappropriate in front of a government building where all people, regardless of faith, gather to pursue justice," he said. "When government officials decide which particular religious message is most worthy of dissemination to the community, and how that message should be delivered, religion is diminished and religious liberty is denied," the brief states.
-- CNS News

[Once again, for the benefit of the poorly educated masses, there is no "constitutional principle of separation of church and state" because such a phrase is not in the Constitution.]

Teach the Ten Commandments. While focusing on private school development and expansion, lets also push hard to teach about the Bible in public schools, as groups like the Bible Literacy Project and Bible in the Schools have done. We should stipulate that, as part of their "core knowledge," all children should know what the Ten Commandments are (and also where the 50 states are).

Place your right hand on the Quran and repeat after me: Apparently, in a little-noticed development, Judge Moore had become "Congress," his Ten Commandments plaque was a "law," and the plaque established a national religion.

North Carolina courtroom oaths expanded beyond Bible. A ruling from a North Carolina judge that allows other religious texts besides the Bible for swearing in of courtroom witnesses is being called a further example of the secularization of the procedure. The American Civil Liberties Union assisted in the case of a Muslim woman who sued for not being allowed to take her oath on the Koran, according to Associated Press.

Suing to get 10 Commandments off county building: Bronze plaque has hung on county courthouse since 1918.

Media focus on monument's removal is misplaced, says Dobson: Pointing to rulings legalizing abortion, removing the Pledge of Allegiance from schools and threatening the definition of marriage, [Focus on the Family founder James] Dobson told the crowd that national media reports have focused on the wrong issue. [He says] the recent battle over the removal of a Ten Commandments monument symbolizes the need for change in America's judiciary more than concerns over the monument's Aug. 27 removal.

Ten Commandments stunner: Feds lying at the Supreme Court. Todd DuBord, pastor of the Lake Almanor Community Church in California, said he was traveling with his wife, Tracy, and was more than startled during recent visits to the courthouse and two other historic locations to discover the stories of the nation's heritage had been sterilized of Christian references.

10 Commandments Changed to 10 Amendments at the U.S. Supreme Court. Pastor Todd Dubord's article detailing a recent trip to our nation's capital. Some revealing thoughts about how history is being rewritten to exclude God.

Civics 101 - Getting it right. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's defiance of a federal court's mandate to remove a Ten Commandments display from the rotunda at the Alabama judicial building has been debated vigorously in recent weeks, mostly out of context.

The de-Christianization of America via the court system: From the judicial banning of the 10 Commandments (and subsequent expulsion of Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore) to the outlawing of the "Under God" phrase from the Pledge of Allegiance to litigation aimed at banning everything from Christmas nativity scenes to the very mention of the word "Jesus" in graduation ceremonies - 2003 saw a wholesale explosion of judicial activism, the net effect of which has been to further erase America's Christian history and institutions from public life.

Ten Commandments Poster Inside Courtroom Approved. A federal judge has rejected a demand from the American Civil Liberties Union that she censor a document posted in an Ohio courtroom titled "Philosophies of Law in Conflict" because the Ten Commandments are included. "It is truly unfortunate that the ACLU apparently has nothing better to do than to file baseless charges against a dedicated public servant like Judge [James] DeWeese," said Francis J. Manion, a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice.

Boise Ballot Blazes Trail for Ten Commandments Supporters. The fight over the public display of the Ten Commandments has finally made it to the ballot in a northwestern state. It began in the city of Boise, Idaho, where — according to Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition — the local citizenry took matters into their own hands when city officials did what many communities are witnessing.

Ohio Ten Commandments Case Appealed to Supreme Court. The case stems from a 1999 lawsuit filed against the school board over those displays, which resulted in a lower-court ruling that the displays were unconstitutional.

The Ten Commandments Cause a Stir, Again. It seems a renegade judge, the Honorable Ashley McKathan, has the Ten Commandments embroidered on his judicial robe. Further, it seems that his taste in wardrobe choices has made one of the local attorneys, the ACLU, and atheists uncomfortable.

Fight over Thou Shalts won't wilt. A Ten Commandments monument will remain on the lawn outside City Hall in Fargo, N.D., for now, but the City Commission's recent vote to keep it there won't end controversy over the marker. … The 6-foot-tall granite Ten Commandments monument was donated to the city in 1958 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, a service organization. It has been the most prominent feature of the lawn outside City Hall since 1961.

The jury is still out on the Ten Commandments. Don't think that lawsuits about the Ten Commandments and the Pledge of Allegiance are settled because Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore was fired and Michael Newdow lost his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Dozens of similar cases are boiling up all over the country.

Judge in Houston: Remove Bible From Court Display. A judge on Tuesday [08/10/2004] ordered Harris County to remove a Bible from a monument outside its civil courts building. Federal Judge Sim Lake said the county should be exercising religious neutrality and "not be seen as endorsing Christianity." He gave officials 10 days to remove the Bible.

Judge Orders Bible Removed From Monument at Texas Courthouse. A federal judge ruled that a Bible must be taken out of a monument outside a courthouse in Houston, Texas, within 10 days because the display violates the constitutional separation of church and state. [The] decision came as the result of a lawsuit filed a year ago by real estate broker and attorney Kay Staley, who is a member of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. "It is just a wonderful day for religious freedom and religious diversity," said Staley.

Editor's Note: The monument has been there for about fifty years. Why is it suddenly unconstitutional? And how does the removal of the Bible promote "diversity?"

Update: Court delays order to remove Bible from monument. A Bible can remain in a monument on county property, at least for the time being, a federal appeals court ruled in an emergency order Tuesday [8/24/2004]. With a district judge's deadline for removing the Bible only hours away, the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued a temporary stay of the district court order.

Newdow strikes again:
Atheist Sues to Remove 'In God We Trust' From Currency. The atheist who is fighting to take the phrase "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance filed a lawsuit late Thursday [11/17/2005] seeking to prevent the U.S. government from printing the national motto — "In God We Trust" — on any future coins or paper money.

Court Upholds Ohio's God Motto: A federal appeals court Friday [3/16/2001] upheld Ohio's state motto, "With God, all things are possible." It called the phrase "religion neutral" and constitutional even though the quote is attributed directly to Jesus Christ.

Constitutional Guidelines for Displaying Religious Documents on Public Property [PDF]

"In God We Trust" Marks 50 Years as the Official Motto. In God We Trust. The four short words of the U.S. motto are long on irony: In the early 1900s President Theodore Roosevelt wanted them deleted from coinage; he felt their use was "dangerously close to sacrilege." In 1970 the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled they have "nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion."

In Gold We Trust. The American mint has removed the official "In God We Trust" motto from the face of it dollar coin and has relegated it to the gold-colored coin's thin edge. Mint officials said the reason for the change is to leave more room for portraits of former presidents and the Statue of Liberty.

This screen shot was taken from the web site of the United States Mint, and it seems to confirm the story above -- the national motto has been moved to the edges of the new one-dollar coins.

Surely this was accidental, right?
Mint Releases More 'Godless' Dollars. It looks like the U.S. Mint has struck again — or not struck again, depending on how you look at it. New dollar coins featuring John Adams are missing edge inscriptions including "In God We Trust," according to the Professional Coin Grading Service, a rare coin authentication company based in Newport Beach, Calif.

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

- James Madison

Thanksgiving Day:

The Origins of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

War on Holidays is War on America. Thanksgiving is over, but the country is probably lucky it took place at all. Various reports disclose that the war against Thanksgiving is almost as ferocious as those against such other evil institutions as Christmas and the Confederate Flag.

A Brief History of Thanksgiving. Our nation's success in the world is not haphazard, not happenstance, and not merely the result of our own efforts. No, God has shepherded us from the first days colonists walked this new land — and we put our country at risk whenever we forget this truth — that we owe our Lord thanks and obedience. Our forebears knew that God judges nations and communities as well as individuals. They knew, too, that we are responsible for our own attitudes of thanksgiving and also for gathering together to offer prayers of gratitude.

Thanksgiving Proclamations. Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday in that it brings to the forefront the undeniable link between Christianity and America. Most of us automatically think of the Pilgrims and their thanksgiving. But Thanksgiving as a national observance was established years later in 1789, when President George Washington issued a presidential proclamation declaring a national day of thanksgiving.

Schools are distorting Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, a time to reflect on the many blessings bestowed on this great nation while enjoying the company of family and friends. It's hard to imagine that anyone could consider the celebration controversial or feel the need to censor Thanksgiving discussions among schoolchildren. But when it comes to political correctness, no holiday is safe.

Giving Thanks to God: When President Bush issues his Thanksgiving Proclamation — inevitably noting the many blessings, as well as the great responsibilities, of our liberty — he will be participating in a tradition that affirms once again that, while we are committed to upholding religious liberty, we remain one nation under God. This is because President Bush is following in the footsteps — and speaking in the voice of — America's Founding Fathers, who saw religion as a necessary and vital element of their experiment in republican government.

President Lincoln's 1863 Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day: Whether delivered on Thanksgiving or not, Lincoln's words are directly germane to the subject of Thanksgiving. In describing the American people's general ingratitude toward God the words couldn't be more applicable today.

You should also visit the page about Anti-Christmas and Anti-Anti-Christmas Sentiment in America today.

Is the United States a Christian country?

"Under God" in the Pledge Is Consistent with the Beliefs of the Founders. Those who drafted the U.S. Constitution would have had little, if any, problem with the issue. Indeed, from the earliest days of colonization to the inception and expansion of the American Republic, our nation's government has never been symbolically neutral with regard to the existence and providence of God.

Nixing God from America: There are forces at work in our nation that want to change who we are and who we have been. They want a completely secularized society that does not even recognize the God for whom our founding fathers expressed great fondness and dependence. We are literally watching the rewriting of American history.

Judge Declares Declaration of Independence Unconstitutional. Okay, so the headline is a bit premature, but it's the logical precursor to the legal philosophy of liberal extremists, isn't it? Ever since the Supreme Court erroneously elevated Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation between church and state" metaphor to a constitutional doctrine in the 1947 landmark decision Everson v. Board of Education, a growing sort of legal fog has been setting in on our constitutional religious freedoms, ending in what can only be described as a requirement of government hostility towards religion.

Chuck Baldwin's Speech In Boise, Idaho: Even the Constitution recognizes the worship day of the Christian God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Article 1, Section 7, Paragraph 2 states, "If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) ..." Notice, the U.S. Constitution exempts Sunday — the day Christians set aside to worship Jesus Christ — from being a legal business day. Furthermore, Article 7 of the Constitution states, "Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth day of September in the year of OUR LORD [emphasis added] one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the twelfth." Notice, the U.S. Constitution concludes by identifying the Lord Jesus Christ as being "our Lord."

Was America a Christian Nation? Numerous quotes from former Presidents of the US, indicating that it was assumed to be, unofficially, at some point in the past.

Noteworthy Decisions Concerning Religion by the Supreme Court of the United States, including this one:

"Among other matters note the following: The form of oath universally prevailing, concluding with an appeal to the Almighty; the custom of opening sessions of all deliberative bodies and most conventions with prayer; the prefatory words of all wills, 'In the name of God, amen;' the laws respecting the observance of the Sabbath, with the general cessation of all secular business, and the closing of courts, legislatures, and other similar public assemblies on that day; the churches and church organizations which abound in every city, town, and hamlet; the multitude of charitable organizations existing everywhere under Christian auspices; the gigantic missionary associations, with general support, and aiming to establish Christian missions in every quarter of the globe. These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation."

-- The United States Supreme Court
Holy Trinity Church v. U.S.
Feb. 29, 1892

Additional details on (and excerpts from) this ruling.

Numerous other points of support for this argument.

The Bible and Conservatism: Jews and Christians alike tend to undersell or dumb down our faiths. We're content to think the Bible is just a book of stories, ethical rules for personal observance, or abstract theological dogma. On its own terms, however, Scripture is much more than that. Something I found incredibly exciting about Judaism, my own inherited religion, when I was getting to know it as an adult, is that it addresses every conceivable kind of question a person or a society could have.

Information Letter on the Constitutionality of the National Motto. Around 1861, the Chief Justice Chase of the Supreme Court wrote the following in a letter to the Director of the Mint: "No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins."

Also related — The Presidents Speak: References to God in the Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents, 1789 to Present. (PDF file, 17 Pages)

Excellent! What Did America's Founders Truly Believe? Today, many revisionist historians have taught America's children that our Founders were deists, atheists, and secular-minded. As a result, many Americans blindly believe that our forefathers intended to erect the so-called "separation of church and state." By simply reading through the words of our Founders, you will come to realize that nothing could be further from the truth.

Read this: 50 States and God. The respective Constitutions of all fifty states acknowledge God. For example, "We, the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution…."

Is God a Part of U.S. History? How could this happen? That is the question that many people are asking in the aftermath of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling declaring the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because it contains the phrase "under God." This is beginning to be another unifying, defining moment in our country. The outcry has been loud and clear, from President Bush, to the halls of Congress and to the classic "common man and woman" across this land.

The Biblical Roots of American Liberty: It is a fact of history that our forebears whose religious convictions brought them to these shores in the 17th and 18th centuries sought to create in this new world a biblically based Christian commonwealth. But it was not to be a theocracy — of which the world had seen too many. It was to be a religious society, but one which incorporated a secular political order.

The Importance of Morality and Religion in Government: A collection of quotes from the Founding Fathers.

The Editor says...
The Liberty Bell first hung in Independence Hall in 1753, bearing the inscription, "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof" (Lev. 25.10)* How long will the ACLU tolerate that?

Our U.S. Constitution: Edmund Morgan, writing about our Founders in general, said: "In no other period of history would it be possible to find in politics five men of such intellectual stature as Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson; and there were others only slightly less distinguished. Only for the brief span of a single lifetime would America's statesmen and her brightest thinkers be the same men." But let us be warned! John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

The Negative Effects of the Education System and the Media Rewriting History: Congressman Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland cites "a court case in February 29, 1892, against the claims of the cult called the Church of the Holy Spirit that Christianity was not the faith of the people. The Supreme Court made a decision saying that it clearly was and they marshalled 87 different legal precedents to affirm that America was formed as a Christian Nation by believing Christians."

Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff wrote that "American tradition" dictates that "there is no mention of God in the Constitution." But Hentoff's "tradition" fatally collides with the plain text of the Constitution itself, which records that the document was completed on "the seventeenth of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven, and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth." (Emphasis added.)
— The New American

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