Blogging Against Secularism Weekend Draws to a Close

With the end of Easter Weekend, as far as I know the BATS are finished with their concerted effort to trash America's Christian heritage, the right of Christians to exercise their faith in the public square, and bash the non-existent theocracy in America.

The BATS were more active this time than they were when they bashed all these things on Independence Day 2007 and Easter 2007. Though their Friday effort got off to a slow start (I don't think any of their posts Friday had any substance at all, beyond "I hate Christianity in the public square"), some on Saturday actually had a bit of substance to them. Though they approached the issue with fundamentally flawed assumptions, a handful of the Saturday and a handful of the Sunday posts did at least contain references to some facts.

I do have to say, in all fairness though, that the five blogs participating in our little "counter-blog" which I called "Blogging Against Secularism" did very well in setting the record straight about America's Christian heritage, the proper and constitutional role of faith values in public policy, and the complete fallacy of what the BATS call "theocracy."

And we did it on short notice and over a weekend where we were all celebrating the resurrection of our savior and spending time with family.

I'd like to thank Ft. Hard Knox, Sibby Online, Ron's Musings and Voices Carry (and all the contributors at Dakota Voice: Carrie Hutchens, Dr. Ralph Hatcher and Mark Skogerboe) for stepping up to preserve the Constitutional and historical right and responsibility of Christians to lawfully influence public policy--as any constituency does--in the United States.

This right--and responsibility--is far too important to surrender because of some empty intimidation from some people who either don't understand history and civics, or don't care to.

In closing, I'd like to say that I concur with what Benjamin Franklin said during the meetings that produced the United States Constitution, when he reminded his colleagues of their need of prayer for God's guidance:

I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel...We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages

With the willingness of God's people to be the salt and light He's called us to be, and with His gracious Providence, that will not be the fate of the United States of America.

Dakota Voice: The Proper Role of Faith in Politics

For several decades now, there has been a civil war between the traditional Christian values of America, and those who want to see any influence of Christianity erased from the public square.

This war had been under way for quite a while before many Christians woke up to it, and many are still asleep.

While I have no doubt that there are those who understand but disregard the true nature of a "Christian America" and the role of faith in the public square, there are other who simply do not comprehend the difference between "theocracy" and the lawful, constitutional and proper role of faith in the public square. Consequently, some innocently oppose what they would otherwise support, if they only understood the difference...

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

Sibby Online: God, the basis to our freedoms

In his book, "America, A Call to Greatness", John Chalfant tells about the involvement of the clergy during the founding of America, an involvement that is much needed today, not what Chalfant calls "The Abandonment Clergy" who have given in to the secularists (beginning on Page 32):

The clergy throughout the colonies searched the Scriptures and taught the people what God said about virtually every issue pertaining to their political freedoms...

To read more, go to Sibby Online.

Sibby Online: The separation myth

In his book, "Myths, Lies, & Half-Truths: How Misreading the Bible Neutralizes Christians", Gary Demar says this on page 185 from his chapter on the myth that "There is a Separation Between Church and State":

The fact that the United States Constitution ends with "in the year of our Lord" certainly refutes the notion of strict separationists that our Framers desired to separate all aspects of religion from government...

To read more, go to Sibby Online.

Dakota Voice: The Faith of the Father of our Country

One of the favorite lies secularists love to tell in their efforts to undermine belief in America's Christian heritage (and by extension confidence that America should retain Christian values) is that the Founders were not Christians. We usually hear that most were deists.

I think I've provided more than ample evidence over the course of this weekend's BATS posts that these suppositions are complete fallacy, but I'd like to take a closer look at this claim in order to expose it's complete falsity.

The dictionary defines "deism" as "a movement or system of thought advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe."...

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

Sibby Online: 3 secular reasons for “Under God”

William J. Federer’s book "Three Secular Reasons Why America Should Be Under God" says (starting on page 73):

America’s founders had a "deity-based" belief system.

Why? Because:

Your RIGHTS cannot be taken away by the government if they come from a power "higher" than the government – i.e. God...

To read more, go to Sibby Online.

Ron's Musings: Who Wants Theocracy?

Yesterday I wrote about Jefferson and the separation of church and state. Today I want to address the question of theocracy more directly. As I mentioned yesterday, there are many on the left who seem to believe that the religious right really wants to institute a theocracy in America. Nothing could be further from the truth! I’m sure there is an insignificant minority who really would like theocracy but being insignificant, they really don’t need to be dealt with in any significant way.

For the overwhelming majority of evangelicals and anyone on the religious right, what we want is what the First Amendment guarantees. We want to exercise our religious beliefs without government interference. But because freedom of religion has been reinterpreted to mean freedom from religion, that has become increasingly difficult to do.

I was a double major in college. My majors were political science and religion. Typically people looked at me like a grew two heads when I told them this...

To read more, go to Ron's Musings.

Dakota Voice: Why America Was Colonized

When we examine the Christian heritage of America, there are any number of points in history we could examine. Though the Christian character of the American people is waning in this age of secularization, we have been a predominately Christian culture since the very beginning.

There is a wealth of information available to illustrate the Christian character of the Founders of the United States, and we see much of it quoted in Christian patriotic circles (including this site). But what about all the way back, to the beginning of the Colonial period?...

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

Dakota Voice: The American Experiment

The writings and statements of the Founders leaves no doubt to the mind willing to entertain truth that almost all were Christians, and virtually every one had a Christian worldview, regardless of how public they were in their expressions of faith.

They realized that the welfare of a civilization depends on morality, and that this new nation they had set up, based on freedom, was suitable and maintainable only by a virtuous people.

They believed that the state had to be accountable to a higher law, the “Natural Law” or the “Law of Nature’s God.”...

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

Crusade to Establish State Religion to Oppress Visible Signs of Religion

Once upon a time, people flocked to a new land called America, where they could escape from religious persecution and oppression. True... religious groups might band together in the new land and form individual communities meant more so for people with like beliefs and ways, but the country itself did not have a single religion that all were required to participate in or not participate in. The Founding Fathers seemed to wish to enhance the freedom of religion and made clear no government was to establish a religion and force others to take part in it or any other religion for that matter. This is something too many seem to have forgotten along the way.

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

Dakota Voice: Protecting Life Isn't Just a Religious Value

One of the most common areas of public policy where you'll hear liberals and secularists protest the interjection of religious values is in protecting life.

Whether it's protecting unborn human life, or the lives of those some consider "not worth living," citing a transcendent religious value as a reason not to end innocent human life is sure to get the Left frothing at the mouth...

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

Dakota Voice: First Principles, Part 1

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House has written a small book called “Rediscovering God in America.” In this easy to read, informational best-seller we are informed of the beliefs and temperament of the Founding Fathers when laying the foundation of the fledgling United States of America. The task was no small undertaking. It involved thinking “out of the box,” though that idiom had yet to be coined. All previous governments, certainly in the West, had been organized around a monarch...

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

Ron's Musings: American Theocracy?

From time to time you hear from someone or other who claims America is becoming a theocracy. Many believe the religious right controls the Republican Party and wants to institute theocracy in America. I have little patience for such rhetoric simply because it is demonstrably false.

Many of these same accusers love to tout "separation of church and state" and its hallowed place in the Constitution. Of course, the Constitution nowhere contains anything like separation of church and state but that is no deterrent to the disciples of the philosophy...

To read more, go to Ron's Musings.

Dakota Voice: The Founders and their Republic Were Christian

All of the 55 signers of the Constitution were Protestant Christians except Thomas Fitzsimmons of Pennsylvania; and the genius, Ben Franklin who has been falsely accused of being a deist.

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

Dakota Voice: Religion Not Allowed Attitude Defies 1st Amendment

The constitution makes it quite clear that forcing a specific religion upon the people is not allowed. In other words, people in power are not allowed to pick the church of their choice and force it upon the population. The First Amendment does make it clear that people have freedom of choice -- the freedom to choose and express their religious beliefs. How then can any suggest that religion is not allowed?

For any to suggest there is a movement towards theocracy in this country, would appear to be the results of boredom and a "let's pretend such and such is happening and we have to save the world by convincing the people it is bad" game. It would certainly be difficult to believe it was anything more.

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

Voices Carry: It's impossible to separate church and state

Who are we kidding, it is absolutely relevant what Sen. Barack Obama's church teaches and that his spiritual advisor is black liberationist Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Like gives birth to like. Though many tried to dismiss it several months ago, it was centrally important for the electorate to know the full story behind Mitt Romney's Mormonism. (Mormon salvation is that each man becomes a god of his own planet and spends eternity populating it with spirit babies - Mormon women can look forward to being eternally pregnant.)

Hypothetically, do we really think that electing a candidate with a pacifistic Mennonite or Quaker background would have no bearing on their ability to fulfill the role of Commander and Chief?...

To read more, go to Voices Carry.

Dakota Voice: Why Are There Tax Code Restrictions on Churches?

Given the current tax code restrictions on churches with regard to their tax exempt status, coupled with the myopic view of our society (e.g. what is, always was) it may be easy to understand how some people could develop the misperception that churches should have no involvement in the political process, even that such a supposition is a foundational American idea.

In reality, the opposite is true...

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

Ft. Hard Knox: (Moon)BATs want Freedom FROM Religion

The “Freedom from Religion Foundation,” which boasts on its web page that it is, “…an educational association of non-believers and secularists, (which) has been working since 1978 to keep state and church separate…” has posted a list of reasons the United States of America is not a Christian Nation.

Well, no, that’s exactly true...

To read more, go to Ft. Hard Knox.

Dakota Voice: What is Theocracy?

Well, the BATS are back at it again this Easter.

You might recall that last Easter, a group of secularist bloggers started a blogswarm to "Blog Against Theocracy." At first I assumed they would be blogging against the ancient nation of Israel, or perhaps some Muslim countries, but I quickly realized they were blogging against something that didn't exist in America and wasn't being worked for in America...yet they wanted people to believe it was.

I use the term BATS because the whole concept of "Blogging Against Theocracy" in a country where there has never been theocracy, is no theocracy, and is no move to institute theocracy is quite silly. Thus, BATS: Blogging Against Theocracy Silliness....

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.