Defending Religious Freedom

It occurred to me that the whole "Merry Christmas" controversy is something other than a Far Right propaganda and publicity stunt. It still is, but there's something else more insidious. It's a trojan horse, dolled up to look like a defense of religous freedom, but inside is a different story.

With the help of Thomas Jefferson, religious freedom was established in this country. In Jefferson's 1777 Draft of a Bill for Religious Freedom for the state of Virginia, he states: "Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind..."

In other words, God meant for our minds to be free and capable of depending on reason to reach conclusions, and any threats to such freedom lead to a bitter hypocrisy not intended by God.

He follows: "...the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to exalt it by its influence on reason alone; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others..."

He is saying here that although God has this power, he does not seek to coerce us, but allows us to follow reason alone. Also--and this is most relevant to our present state of affairs today--the people who help to lead this country, political or religious, are imperfect humans and are not divine, and have no right to impose their will or politics based on their faith upon others.

So while he admits the existence of a creator (and his personal position on this is quite debatable), Jefferson paves the way for all to possess freedom of mind, speech and religion, even if one chooses NOT to have religion. You cannot have freedom of religion without freedom from it. Also, politics wedded to religious concerns leads to more impropriety and loss of freedom. Hence, people like Senators Frist, Brownback, Trent Lott, President Bush and the like. Hence, people like James Dobson and Pat Robertson waging a full-on war against true religious freedom, through the means of bullying and buying influence to today's politicians to impose their system of belief on the our entire country, Christians and non-Christians alike.

The Anti-Happy-Holidays crowd is crying wolf. They claim their rights to say and hear and read Merry Christmas is being impinged upon because stores, people and even the President's holiday card chose the easy and inclusive way out with Happy Holidays. These people cry Religious Intolerance. They boycott huge retail corporations who sell to every creed imaginable because they choose Happy Holidays over Merry Christmas. Ridiculous, true, but even more ridiculous when you realize that these people are NOT the oppressed minority. They are running our country!!!!

These people, and their political puppeteers, are seeking to impose their system of belief on every non-Christian in this country. Christmas is, after all, Christ-mas, but it's fair to say that non-Christians celebrate this holiday in a variety of ways. We should all be free to do so. Jefferson tried to guarantee this. The Consitution guarantees this.

They also like to claim that Jefferson fans such as myself use the "Freedom of Religion" argument as an excuse to eliminate Christianity. Nothing could be more false. As I said before...I'll defend heart and soul your American right to believe and express your religion...just don't expect me to accept it into judicial and federal public institutions of which I am an equal, tax-paying, voting member of.

In other words, I am against "...the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others..." in my government. Thank you.

Forcing the public to forgo 'Happy Holidays' in favor of 'Merry Christmas' is not freedom of religion, it's tyranny of ONE religion. Will the President have to write Merry Christmas, Screw Everyone Else!...on his holiday cards? What comes next, mandatory church and tithing to "faith-based initiatives?" Our churches are already being used as voting offices, why not? Theology is being taught in our science classes, why not??

This isn't really about Christmas. It's about the agenda of the Far Right to do what they can to make this a country based on and ruled by their religion. They claim to be for American values, but American values never included religious tyranny. If they get their way, people like me and millions of non-Christian Americans will be unrepresented (yet taxed). But that's OK for these "Pat Robertson Christians" because they believe their way is the right way, it's God's way, and eventually we'll all be thankful.

Extremist Muslim leaders run on this philosophy, and it's doing wonders for them.