Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/38540
6A Daily News – Saturday, August 6, 2011 Opinion D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Postal trick Editor: I really dislike all those Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer’s home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. 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Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Church and state, an ongoing saga Commentary I noticed that a federal judge in Texas dismissed a suit by the Free- dom from Religion Foundation, an atheist group headquartered in Wisconsin, but with national membership. The suit alleged that Texas Governor Perry should not have called for a prayer rally on August 6th in his capacity of Gov- ernor because it blurred the line between church and state. Perry invited people across the nation to join in the rally. None of the plain- tiffs in the case claimed he was calling the rally to anoint himself as a presidential candidate, but some had suspicions. He has made hints he would like to be a presi- dential candidate, however. Perry’s event is called The Response, and it has been widely labeled a non-political Christian prayer meeting to “seek God’s guidance and wisdom in address- ing the challenges that face our communities, states and nation.” Heaven knows we need all the help we can get, and it might be refreshing if God told us which side God is on instead of everyone claiming to be on God’s side. According to the New York Times, “Even in Texas, where Christian values and prayer have long been an accepted part of local and state politics, the governor’s event has drawn criticism from both Republicans and Democrats, as well as Jewish groups and civil liberties organizations.” The court ruled that no one was being ordered to attend, and that the plaintiffs in the suit were cer- tainly not going to be harmed…unless, of course, it is God’s guidance to declare jihad against those atheists, and that would fall outside their judicial purview. We are reminded by the report- ed atrocities in radical Islamic states that there are dangers when church and state are one. We also know from European history such dangers are not religion specific, or even denominationally specific. Our European ancestors began to realize those dangers almost four hundred years ago when the Peace of Westphalia was signed; that agreement ensured that Christians living in principalities where their denomination was not the estab- lished church were guaranteed the right to practice their faith in pub- lic during allotted hours and in pri- vate at their will. Things have evolved from there. Religion has played a central role in all civilizations since before we had history. Anthropologists point out that in the primitive soci- eties that have survived to this day we can observe religion’s impor- tance. Music, dance, and ritual all reinforce religion and the solidari- ty of those societies. In our past when war was a constant event, building solidarity was critical to the survival of primitive societies. Over time strong government and the rule of law has taken on the role of solidifying and stabiliz- ing societies, and with the advent of the world village, international trade, and all the technologies of modern society we find ourselves in an increasingly diverse and con- nected society. These days we hear a lot about the separation of church and state and about whether we are a Chris- tian nation or not. Politicians hide behind the name of God much as they do behind the flag. God, of course, is not named in the Consti- tution or in any of the amendments added to it over the years. I am not very good at splitting hairs to determine just what separation of church really is; the courts do that in their inconsistent manner on a case by case basis, and the judicial pendulum swings back and forth between cases based on the com- position of the court. Judging just what the separa- tion between church and state means is made even more difficult than most would like to believe because of the complex history of the relationship between church and state in the United States. For exam- ple it wasn’t until 1833 that Massachusetts became the last state to disestablish a denomina- tion, the Congregational Church. Originally only Vir- ginia and Rhode Island included full freedom of religion in their state con- stitutions. For much of colonial time “freedom of religion” meant freedom to practice the right reli- gion. Quakers were pros- ecuted in New England. Mary Decker, a Quaker was hanged in Massachusetts. Catholics were barely tolerated in many colonies and could not hold offices in most places. Pope Day was a time to burn an effigy of the Pope, and it was accompanied by rowdy behavior in many colonies. In colonial Virginia where the Church of England was state sup- ported, there were more than 150 serious incidents of persecution against Baptist ministers who dared to preach in that state in the period from 1760 to 1778. Steven K. Green has chronicled the evolution of the separation of church and state in our country; he separates this process into three stages. The first is the disestablish- ment of churches; the second was the elimination of special privi- leges for Christianity; the third was an ongoing attempt to remove all vestiges of Christian control over society. “God” was added to the pledge of allegiance in during the height of the Cold War in 1954, to let all those Communists know just how much we hated godless commu- nism. In its original form the pledge was quite simple, as writ- ten in 1892: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Its author was Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister. The motto “In God Joe Harrop We Trust” had appeared on coins and paper money as far back as 1864, but it was not adopted as an official motto until 1956 in another attempt to assert our difference from those Communists. It is interesting that on one side of a dollar bill contains both the official motto “In God We Trust” and the Great Seal which contains the Latin phrase “Novus Ordo Seclorum” which translates as “new order of the ages.” “Seclo- rum” is related to the word secular, as you might suspect. Above the pyramid on the great seal is “Annuit Coeptis”, which alludes to the belief that the eye of provi- dence favors our undertakings. The originally proposed word- ing was not Annuit Coeptis, but “Deo Favente”meaning with God’s favor, but for whatever rea- sons direct references to God were changed to references to provi- dence by Latin teacher Charles Tomson in 1782. Both references are from Virgil’s Aeneid, a non- Christian source written in the first century B.C. It is clear that our judiciary has a difficult job trying to find the proper border between church and state. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State.He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. blown-in or stapled prepaid reply cards in my subscription magazines. I find that they interfere with my perusing the articles. So before I read a new issue, I pull all those card stock pages and cards out. Now, the United States Postal Service is having hard times. Due to competition from electronic media and package delivery services, volume is way down from historic levels. Therefore, revenues are also down. This will invariably lead to increases in postage rates. So, to protest these annoying magazine cards and inserts, and to help save our Postal System and stabilize rates, I put all my unsigned magazine cards in the mail box. Help save the USPS. Please do the same. John M. Elko, Red Bluff Embarrassed Editor: Whether by design, accident or just plain ignorance this Administration and President has embarrassed humiliated and made this country the laughing stock of the world. He has insulted our closest allies, Eng- land and Israel, while trying to appease our worst enemies in the Middle East, such as, Iran- ian President Ahmadinejad and most recently the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the most radical groups worldwide. It would seem, in the mind of many, he has absolutely no clue of how to be presidential or how to act in a formal setting. His classic example is the embar- rassing scene where he flubbed the toast to the Queen of Eng- land. He continually denies and insults our closest, most loyal and most likely the only ally in the Middle East, Israel. The way he has handled the situation in the Middle East one has to come to the conclusion this administration is leading an anti-Semitic movement. One consolation is, after Obama’s meeting with Israeli Prime Min- ister Netanyahu, Obama addressed the joint meeting of Con- gress and received a cool recep- tion. The next day, or so, Netanyahu addressed the joint meeting of Congress and received 29 standing ovations and about fifteen interruptions for applause. Your Turn up to a professor of constitu- tional law. Without his teleprompter he has a serious problem speaking a coherent logical sentence. There never should have been any doubt that he would be proven incompetent as president. Just a few of In less than three years Obama has, embolden our ene- mies, undermined our friends and diminished our country to the point of default. He (Obama) has no available school records; he was touted as a genius/intellectual giant. His short time at the University of Chicago, some say as no more than a teaching assistant blown Obama’s more intellectual state- ments. “The reforms we seek would bring greater competi- tion, choice, savings and ineffi- ciencies to our health care sys- tem.” “What I was suggesting, you’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith.” “UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.” The best of all “I’ve now been in 57 states-I think one left to go.” Is this by accident, design, ignorance or affirmative action? Les Wolfe, Red Bluff