Reprint Of My Resolution

Friendly Atheist has a post suggesting that you contact your Congressional representatives and urge them to oppose H. Res. 397. Well, if Congressman J. Randy Forbes can waste everybody's time with a toothless piece of propaganda about religion, so can I. My comment was to propose an alternative resolution:

Whereas, the Americas were colonized by people seeking freedom from a government imposing religious choices upon them rather than allowing them to exercise their natural rights to follow the dictates of their own consciences, AND

Whereas, Baptist Christianity in America was founded by Rev. Roger Williams, who advocated the building of a “hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world” to protect the ability of religion to guide men’s souls to salvation, AND

Whereas, upon the founding of the colony that later became the state of Rhode Island, Roger Williams set the example of religious tolerance in the social sphere and civic government untainted by the influence of clergy in the political sphere, AND

Whereas, William Penn, the founder of the colony that later became the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, decreed as Governor of that colony that “perfect religious tolerance of all” be extended even to atheists, AND

Whereas, the Declaration of Independence makes no reference to the Christian diety, AND

Whereas, Thomas Jefferson authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which enacted as law the decree that “…no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities,” AND

Whereas, our political forefathers including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and John Hancock all went to great pains to obscure from posterity and history their personal religious beliefs in the interest of promoting national unity and individual freedom with repsect to matters of religion, AND

Whereas, the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides that Congress shall make no law respecting the Establishment of a religion, thereby prohibiting Congress or any branch thereof from adopting H. Res. 397, AND

Whereas, James Madison, the author of the First Amendment, stated that “I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together,” and “Religion flourishes in greater purity without than with the aid of government,” and “The civil government functions with complete success by the total separation of the Church from the State,” AND

Whereas, the Supreme Court of the United States has consistently stricken down government subsidies for religious institutions, prayer in schools, the teaching of Biblically-inspired “alternatives” to science in public schools, and the use of religion as a shield against laws of general application,

THEREFORE LET IT BE RESOLVED that we here today condemn crass and craven attempts of certain politicians to use the power and majesty of the United States Government to curry political favor as contrary to the letter, spirit, and intent of the cumulated weight of three hundred and fifty years of American history and Constitutional law, AND

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we affirm our belief that the religious convictions and institutions of theistic Americans are surely strong and worthwhile enough to survive on their own merits, without the needless efforts of certain politicians to “support” the same, AND

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we affirm, respect, and urge Americans of all religious beliefs, including a lack of religious belief, to resolve issues of faith and divinity for themselves on an individual basis using their reason, life experiences, and personal consciences, and thus exercise their rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as intended by our Founding Fathers.

What do you think, party people?