-Cp
05-07-2007, 11:41 AM
Mr. President, please tear down this wall!
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Posted: May 7, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Chuck Norris
Almost 20 years ago, on June 12, 1987, then-President Ronald Reagan spoke to the people of West Berlin, near the Berlin Wall. From there his now-famous words were amplified even to those in Communist East Berlin: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Various walls have been erected and razed throughout history – some permeable and others impermeable, some ideological and others material.
A few of the literal ones are even now under construction – that which separates the West Bank and Israel, Baghdad's Sunni and Shiite districts, and the Mexico-U.S. border.
Then there are those walls created by the minds of men. Among the host of them are the barriers between intelligent design and macro-evolution beliefs, pro- and anti-Iraq war views, and church and state relations.
A wall that morphs
The peculiarity of the wall that divides ecclesiastical and governmental matters is that it has changed through the past two centuries.
When Jefferson originally penned that legendary commentary on the First Amendment, "a wall of separation between church and state," in his letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802), he was concerned with prohibiting the domination and legislation of religious sectarianism in government, as it was back in England and even in some early colonies of Virginia.
However, he was not trying to rid government of Christian influence – a fact proven by his own proposal of biblical imagery for the U.S. Seal, endorsement of using government buildings for church purposes and the signing of treaties for federal monies to be used to support priests, missionaries and build churches on the western frontier.
Some might be completely surprised to discover that just two days after Jefferson wrote his famous letter citing the "wall of separation between church and state," he attended church in the place where he always had as president: the U.S. Capitol. The very seat of our nation's government was used for sacred purposes! As the Library of Congress notes, "It is no exaggeration to say that on Sundays in Washington during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) and of James Madison (1809-1817) the state became the church."
A wall that became a roadblock and grid
Of course, liberal groups like the ACLU don't want Americans to know how our early government mixed Judeo-Christian belief and practice with state administration and policy – even every one of the Ten Commandments were incorporated into colonial law. Nowadays, if such integration were even attempted, cries of church-state division injustice would be heard from every corridor of society.
Contrary to its original intent, the wall of separation is now used to advance a freedom from religion, rather than our First Amendment right to a freedom of religion. Instead of protecting both individuals and churches from state tyranny, the wall of separation has created a roadblock that seeks to prohibit Christianity from entering the halls of government, public schools and a horde of other community sectors. In court and culture, it has evolved into a pejorative law that seeks to minimize and even eliminate religion (particularly Christianity) from every civil arena.
We have viewed the wall of separation so long through this skewed lens that it has turned into an interpretive grid through which we have even reinterpreted our own nation's history as more secular than sacred. As a result, we shy away from our founders' Christian culture and neuter their religion in our textbooks, government and even at national landmarks.
A wall that restricts the 400-year celebration of our nation
From Plymouth to Jamestown, I've already addressed in another WND article how Christian history is being revised and removed from early American origins, often to cater to our overly tolerant and secularly biased nation. I even read this past week how the president's proclamation of the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown Settlement falls short of emphasizing our godly heritage.
Being friends of the Bush family, I know of their sincere Christian faith and appreciation of our national heritage. And I believe when the president visits Jamestown this Sunday, May 13, to celebrate our country's birth, he will have the spiritual fortitude to proclaim its Christian legacy, despite its unpopularity or possible absence in his script.
President Bush has the grit and backbone to declare the Christian mission of Jamestown, as stated in the Virginia Colony Charter of 1606 by King James I, who called for the "propagating of Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God." Such a religious declaration needs repetition by the president and all of us, now more than ever, especially in a day when most seem adamant to build up "the wall of separation between church and state."
A wall that must be torn down
Don't get me wrong. I believe in separating religious sectarianism from government. I believe in the Establishment and Free Exercises Clauses of the First Amendment. I don't believe, however, in an erroneous interpretation of the Bill of Rights, as well as Jefferson and Madison's interpretive words, which produces a secular-progressive barrier that bans any Christian influence in society and alters our religious origins.
If we as a nation are ever to march forward in victory, we must go back to the beginning to discover our Christian roots, and how much further back can we go than to the first English colony of America? As the first colonists prayed twice daily, my wife, Gena, and I prayed this past Thursday on the National Day of Prayer that the president and every Christian across this land would not be ashamed of the Gospel, but be proud to raise "the banner of Jesus Christ."
At the same time, we must raze today's incorrect interpretations about an impassable wall of separation between church and state, which even its alleged greatest advocate and author, Thomas Jefferson, did not totally espouse or uphold in office.
Mr. President, please tear down this wall! And continue to proclaim for the whole world to hear that we are a nation founded upon Christian liberty, beliefs and practice.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55566
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: May 7, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Chuck Norris
Almost 20 years ago, on June 12, 1987, then-President Ronald Reagan spoke to the people of West Berlin, near the Berlin Wall. From there his now-famous words were amplified even to those in Communist East Berlin: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Various walls have been erected and razed throughout history – some permeable and others impermeable, some ideological and others material.
A few of the literal ones are even now under construction – that which separates the West Bank and Israel, Baghdad's Sunni and Shiite districts, and the Mexico-U.S. border.
Then there are those walls created by the minds of men. Among the host of them are the barriers between intelligent design and macro-evolution beliefs, pro- and anti-Iraq war views, and church and state relations.
A wall that morphs
The peculiarity of the wall that divides ecclesiastical and governmental matters is that it has changed through the past two centuries.
When Jefferson originally penned that legendary commentary on the First Amendment, "a wall of separation between church and state," in his letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802), he was concerned with prohibiting the domination and legislation of religious sectarianism in government, as it was back in England and even in some early colonies of Virginia.
However, he was not trying to rid government of Christian influence – a fact proven by his own proposal of biblical imagery for the U.S. Seal, endorsement of using government buildings for church purposes and the signing of treaties for federal monies to be used to support priests, missionaries and build churches on the western frontier.
Some might be completely surprised to discover that just two days after Jefferson wrote his famous letter citing the "wall of separation between church and state," he attended church in the place where he always had as president: the U.S. Capitol. The very seat of our nation's government was used for sacred purposes! As the Library of Congress notes, "It is no exaggeration to say that on Sundays in Washington during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) and of James Madison (1809-1817) the state became the church."
A wall that became a roadblock and grid
Of course, liberal groups like the ACLU don't want Americans to know how our early government mixed Judeo-Christian belief and practice with state administration and policy – even every one of the Ten Commandments were incorporated into colonial law. Nowadays, if such integration were even attempted, cries of church-state division injustice would be heard from every corridor of society.
Contrary to its original intent, the wall of separation is now used to advance a freedom from religion, rather than our First Amendment right to a freedom of religion. Instead of protecting both individuals and churches from state tyranny, the wall of separation has created a roadblock that seeks to prohibit Christianity from entering the halls of government, public schools and a horde of other community sectors. In court and culture, it has evolved into a pejorative law that seeks to minimize and even eliminate religion (particularly Christianity) from every civil arena.
We have viewed the wall of separation so long through this skewed lens that it has turned into an interpretive grid through which we have even reinterpreted our own nation's history as more secular than sacred. As a result, we shy away from our founders' Christian culture and neuter their religion in our textbooks, government and even at national landmarks.
A wall that restricts the 400-year celebration of our nation
From Plymouth to Jamestown, I've already addressed in another WND article how Christian history is being revised and removed from early American origins, often to cater to our overly tolerant and secularly biased nation. I even read this past week how the president's proclamation of the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown Settlement falls short of emphasizing our godly heritage.
Being friends of the Bush family, I know of their sincere Christian faith and appreciation of our national heritage. And I believe when the president visits Jamestown this Sunday, May 13, to celebrate our country's birth, he will have the spiritual fortitude to proclaim its Christian legacy, despite its unpopularity or possible absence in his script.
President Bush has the grit and backbone to declare the Christian mission of Jamestown, as stated in the Virginia Colony Charter of 1606 by King James I, who called for the "propagating of Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God." Such a religious declaration needs repetition by the president and all of us, now more than ever, especially in a day when most seem adamant to build up "the wall of separation between church and state."
A wall that must be torn down
Don't get me wrong. I believe in separating religious sectarianism from government. I believe in the Establishment and Free Exercises Clauses of the First Amendment. I don't believe, however, in an erroneous interpretation of the Bill of Rights, as well as Jefferson and Madison's interpretive words, which produces a secular-progressive barrier that bans any Christian influence in society and alters our religious origins.
If we as a nation are ever to march forward in victory, we must go back to the beginning to discover our Christian roots, and how much further back can we go than to the first English colony of America? As the first colonists prayed twice daily, my wife, Gena, and I prayed this past Thursday on the National Day of Prayer that the president and every Christian across this land would not be ashamed of the Gospel, but be proud to raise "the banner of Jesus Christ."
At the same time, we must raze today's incorrect interpretations about an impassable wall of separation between church and state, which even its alleged greatest advocate and author, Thomas Jefferson, did not totally espouse or uphold in office.
Mr. President, please tear down this wall! And continue to proclaim for the whole world to hear that we are a nation founded upon Christian liberty, beliefs and practice.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55566