In this day following another birthday of Christ, I can not help but think of what Christ means to the United States. The people of the United States, of course, as rational and intelligent as any people in the world, perhaps more so, love Christ and if not Christian, the idea of Christ. The Christians subscribe to His ideals just as Jews subscribe to similar ideals of Judaism, and try to emulate them--always with the realization, however, that they can only do their best as imperfect specimens of humanity. It helps to have reminders, and so we place icons in certain places in hopes they remind folks of our fundamental values. Never, in any history of which I am aware, has any of our “reminders” by themselves hurt or offended the pure of heart, or even the not-so-pure of heart. Some very irrational and not very bright people in this country, nevertheless, see these icons not as reminders of values, but dangerous icons to propagate religion and have denounced them and driven them from public places and classrooms. Silly!
The Leftists in this country have seemed always to respect the European law much more than our own, despite the fact that our great Constitution draws many more immigrants to this country than to all the nations in Europe. With respect to religious icons in Europe, the arguments in Germany over the headscarf and the crucifix could be considered classic. In fact, in Bavaria, in 1998, both icons collided in court, including a ban on wearing the headscarf in the classroom and a law requiring the placement of crucifixes in public schools. The argument ensued that “women wearing the headscarf are acting as missionaries for their faith, and proselytize in the classroom for values that are incompatible with fundamental German values.”
The crucifix, on the other hand, was not banned, although attempts were made to do so. The argument against the ban held that the crucifixes were not intended to propagate faith but they in fact represented German ethics and values because “universal human rights and democracy derive from Christian norms. The legislators accepted that the state must be neutral in religious matters, but they deny that this means it should be neutral with respect to fundamental values. On the contrary, public schools are charged with the task of educating children in the values on which the republic is based.”
The argument continued that “Christianity is an essential
part of the value systems of the occident. It is therefore a matter of public ethics to keep Christianity in the classroom. ‘We cannot allow a spiritual vacuum to emerge that would leave our society without guidance.’”
Perhaps our illustrious politicians and law-school-graduates should take another look at the damage they are doing to this great nation, and assess the vacuum in our younger minds who are now not enjoying the benefits of centuries of Judeo-Christian ethics and fundamental values. Not only can’t Johnny read, he cannot think responsibly and has a hard time with such basic concepts as Right and Wrong.
I am not an advocate of assuming the thoughts and arguments of other nations into our Constitution. In fact, I consider that a betrayal of the people and a corruption of Constitutional ideals. It is certainly a violation of the Federally mandated oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United Sates--an oath, by the way, from which I for one have never been relieved.
However, when our fundamental values are attacked almost every day by people who should know better but apparently do not, then we must go to the ends of the earth if need be, to demonstrate that they are wrong, wrong, wrong. And the most secular political system on earth, the fountain of political correctness, will not go beyond certain boundaries while our own smarty-pants trample and display their childish tantrums while snickering that there are no boundaries.
It is great to be a Christian, we have so many nice ideas for living good lives and loving our neighbors. I have no doubts that being a Jew would be just as exciting and meaningful. We all are family-oriented people and inter-marry because of our ethics and values. We want our children to have our values and to have meaningful lives that respect the world and other people. Henry David Thoreau said “Most men live lives of quiet desperation and go to their graves with the song still in them.” It is a shame that the song is suppressed by so many people who would rather find fault that find their niche. Mr. Thoreau also said “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” I would propose that the ACLU, Leftists, and others of that ilk and persuasion start accumulating their riches by leaving us the hell alone!
HJS
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