So much has been happening recently both domestically (US) and abroad (especially abroad) that while I have had opinions, mostly I have simply watched confused and aghast at the Battle Royal that is unfolding with increasing violence in North Africa and the Middle East. I must admit that I am not on firm ground when it comes to my knowledge of, or my opinion about our present course of action in this region of the world. Therefore I am going to turn my attention to an email I received in the last several days from my good friend and erstwhile provocateur, John Bank.
The gist of John's email was this: The person or persons who sent the original email which John was forwarding were outraged over the following incident which happened in an open court room in the USA. The daughter of murdered parents who, in testifying at the accused's trial was sworn in with the words--"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"
The daughter, apparently confused and a bit shocked, then turned to the bailiff and said, "Don't you mean to say that I should end this oath with the words, 'so help me God'?" The bailiff or judge then said that if she wanted to say those last few words that she could.
The daughter goes on to say that she instructed all others in her family to say the 'complete' oath, including God. She went on the say that she was outraged and upset that it has come to this in America. The America, where in a recent NBC poll, 86% said that they believed in God. How could this state of affairs exist, she protested, in a country which overwhelmingly acknowledges GOD? Why do we have to cater to the 14% who say they don't believe in God? Why do we have to abridge the pledge of allegiance, eliminate 'In God We Trust' from our money or take the Ten Commandments out of public buildings? Who do these damn atheists think they are, these 14%'ers, was the implication. May I take a shot at answering her questions?
Why should we be concerned with the 14% (who say they don't believe in God according to that NBC poll)? Oh, how short are our collective memories! Those 14% represent a minority, of course. How dare they sway the majority? Well, this is how and this is why their opinions have to not only be taken seriously, but be PROTECTED. The history of our most immediate ancestors, you know, the ones who got on those leaky, disease-ridden and rat-infested wooden ships to brace a trans-Atlantic crossing into the unknown is inextricably linked to those 14%. No, most of them weren't atheists; that's not the linkage. Actually, the linkage between those seemingly disparate groups lies in the following 175 years of early American history. Ultimately, the final forging of that link finds its mettle in one of the world's most unique documents--Our Constitution. For those of you who blindly still believe in American exceptionalism in all things, THIS is still a reason to believe that our country IS exceptional.
In this social contract are expressed our Enlightenment forefathers' clear understanding of what it means to be an individual, 'a minority held in compact within a majority'. And the document is very clear in its leaning toward a protection of that minority even if that minority is a single individual. You see, individuals, according to this document have rights--rights that are unalienable. No person, agency, governmental authority or ruler may take them away. How appalling this statement must have been to the English Monarch in 1789. The state may not ever do anything to dissever those rights. (There is a strange irony here as relates to the paradox of our ambivalence to Arab theocracies.) So to cut, as they say, to the chase...our forefathers demanded that we separate the church (read here: one's religious beliefs) from the state. The state, federal government, whatever, may make no law respecting a person's religious beliefs.
So it's not just those pesky errant 14% of unbelievers who are screwing it up for the rest of us God-fearing Christians when they insist that the government STAY OUT OF RELIGION IN ANY AND ALL FORMS. It's the countless millions who over the millenia have been tortured, killed, forced to live in sub-human ghettos because they didn't happen to believe the way the majority did. The majority, of course, in most cases led by and controlled by ignorant, power and money-hungry clergy or secular rulers.
I would argue that the daughter who was so outraged by the exclusion of 'God' from the courtroom oath should get down on her knees and thank both the 14% and all those hundreds of thousands of her ancestors who protested, fought, braved the hostile oceans and died in the service of the creation of this magnificent document. A document that does not allow any governmental power to tell us who we must pray to or what we must do. A document that guarantees that any person will not have to conform to what any majority believes is an appropriate outward display of inner conscience. A document, by the way, which she probably hasn't ever read.
Love your neighbor, honor his or her beliefs (if they have shared them with you), keep your word, but keep your mouth shut about God. Too many people suffered and died so that you could worship, or not, as you please. In the end your neighbor will love and respect you all the more , and I'll bet God, whoever or whatever he/she/it is, will welcome you home when it comes time to return to where ever it was you were before you were born.
ps: Aren't they teaching American history anymore in our public schools?
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