Revisit The First Amendment

Manifest Destiny

The Christian Nationalist would lead us to believe there is only one true religion, theirs, and that the United States has been chosen by God to enforce that notion.

American Christian nationalism is based on a worldview that America is superior to other countries, and that such superiority is divinely established. It posits that only Christians are "true Americans". Christian nationalism also bears overlap with the American militia movement. The 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff and the 1993 Waco siege served as a catalyst for the growth of militia activity among Christian nationalists.[95] Christian nationalists believe that the US is meant to be a Christian nation, and that it was founded as a Christian nation, and want to "take back" the US for God.[107][108] _wikipedia

Really? 

James Madison, who crafted the First Amendment, didn't believe that. He feared the consequences of one true religion, a state religion. I'll have more on that below. The problem of a state religion is exclusion. Only certain people will be included in this quest. The rest will be marginalized and persecuted.

More from Wikipedia:

Christian nationalism prioritizes an ethno-cultural, ethno-religious, and ethno-nationalist framing around fear of "the other", those being immigrants, racial, and sexual minorities. Studies have associated Christian nationalism with xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, political tolerance of racists, opposition to interracial unions, support for gun rights, pronatalism, and restricting the civil rights of those who fail to conform to traditional ideals of whiteness, citizenship, and Protestantism.[106]: 6  The Christian nationalist belief system includes elements of patriarchy, white supremacy, nativism, and heteronormativity.[106]: 7  It has been associated with a "conquest narrative", premillennial apocalypticism, and of frequent "rhetoric of blood, specifically, of blood sacrifice to an angry God".


In “Federalist No. 10,” part of a series of essays written to support the Constitution, Madison warned about the dangers of factions and intolerance. A dominant religious group could marginalize others. A “religious sect may degenerate into a political faction,” he warned. In his view, a religious faction with political power can create a political tyranny, especially when it claims to act in God’s name.


Madison understood that religious freedom did not mean protecting one faith against others. Religious freedom is best secured in a nation that respects religious diversity in all of its variety, including the right to no religion at all. The point was not to privilege any tradition but to protect all traditions.

A broader attack on our freedoms.

This administration and the Supreme Court are silencing entire voting blocs, attempting to squash freedom of expression, legislate a national religion, and silence the press, all while claiming it is part of the original intent of the founders of this country. A quick look at what was adopted as the First Amendment makes clear none of that is true. James Madison, the author of the Constitution, proposed more descriptive First Amendment.

Madison’s proposal for what eventually became the First Amendment is broadly consistent with the final product but in some respects more descriptive:

“The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed.

“The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.

“The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the legislature by petitions, or remonstrances for redress of their grievances.”

Thanks to Middle Tennessee State University and the Free Speech Center for the information about James Madison.

The Supreme Court has gotten it wrong before. Plessy v Ferguson codified segregation based on separate but equal. They were separate alright, but not equal. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) is widely considered the worst decision in U.S. Supreme Court history because it declared that Black Americans could not be citizens and ruled that the federal government had no constitutional authority to ban slavery in the territories. This overt racism, judicial overreach, and failure to peacefully resolve the slavery crisis pushed the country directly into the Civil War. (Wikipedia) The damage done took generations to fix. 

But what's happening now can be repaired if we, like those who came before us, do not stand idly by.  

But how?

Historian and Andrew Carnegie Fellow Timothy Snyder suggests ways to defend democracy with individual actions.

1. Do not obey in advance. 
2. Defend institutions. 
3. Beware the one-party state. 
4. Take responsibility for the face of the world. 
5. Remember professional ethics. 
6. Be wary of paramilitaries. 
7. Be reflective if you must be armed. 
8. Stand out. Someone has to. 
9. Be kind to our language. 
10. Believe in truth. 
11. Investigate. 
12. Make eye contact and small talk. 
13. Practice corporeal politics. 
14. Establish a private life. 
15. Contribute to good causes. 
16. Learn from peers in other countries. 
17. Listen for dangerous words. 
18. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. 
19. Be a patriot. 
20. Be as courageous as you can. 

Want to know more? Click here.

Abuse by the Ruling Class

 

The Conceit of the Ruling Class

Recent revelations of boarding schools for Native Children sent me searching for the reasons the US Government and their Christian partners used to justify this cruel practice. Focus now is on the mass graves of kids who were abused and tortured in the name of God. When they died from cruel neglect, they were buried without thought for their parents. But then, their parents were seen as inept and unimportant. The practice of separating children from their parents continued up to just a couple of years ago in South Dakota. In 2017 the ACLU reported since 2010, more than 1,000 Native-American children in Pennington County, home to Rapid City, have been removed from their families by state welfare workers and placed in foster care, disproportionately in non-Indian homes.

Oppression is always cruel

The colonizers justified their cruelty, their oppression, by invoking God’s will. They saw themselves as benevolent overlords. The enslaving of native people, the spread of smallpox, the barbarity of war, were all signs that God was on their side. It was pre-ordained. It was manifest destiny that this land was given to white Christians. Crystal Pardue brings the issue into focus.

It gets worse

"The European colonizers and conquerors did not misinterpret the bible. They did not twist the bible’s words. No, their actions were truly supported by biblical commandments, because the bible is violent and the Abrahamic god is “the most unpleasant character in all fiction,” fittingly described by author Dan Barker. The bible calls for, and Jehovah-God advocates for righteous violence — precisely what empowered the conquerors and colonizers to attack the First People."

Literal translation -A King James justification

Among conservatives in the Church is the desire to take the bible literally. The belief is, the words were all handed down through God to the men who wrote the books in the bible. The preferred translation among literalists seems to be King James Version. Conversely, I grew up in the Wesleyan tradition that encouraged interpretation of the bible through discussion and study.

Three Passages

“If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; . . . Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.”¹⁵ (Deuteronomy 17:2 KJV:)

Psalms 2:8 states “Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.”

Romans 13:2 says, “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.”

 

Taking these children away from their parents, and then burying them in unmarked graves comes from the conceit of the upper caste. Their whiteness and ethnicity (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant), they thought, gave them God’s endorsement. The Catholics were complicit in this lie by taking on the task of running these schools.

Maybe Christians aren’t listening

The bible is still used today to inflict widespread oppression and cultural cleansing throughout the world, all in the name of “saving souls.” Churches feel righteously justified to “spread the gospel” — but that will unavoidably mean the cleansing and eradicating of cultural practices that do not align with biblical doctrines (living in nakedness, matriarchies, and same-sex relationships, just to name a few). As a society, we need to talk about the ugly truth behind the world-wide spread of the gospel — a truth that includes genocide, a truth that includes oppression, a truth that includes racism, and a truth that includes silencing. - Crystal Pardue Christian Devils: How the Bible Was Used to Mobilize Oppression of Native Americans


The interpretations used to justify stealing children from their parents run up against contradictory passages within the Bible. The simplest is this one: "A new commandment I give to you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." - Jesus of Nazareth  My understanding is, there are no exceptions.

Patriotic Education / Mindless Zealots?

Teaching Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny.

Are you wondering what is meant by a Patriotic Education? The first paragraph below will be taught in our schools. The second paragraph will be cut from the curriculum. 

Manifest destiny is defined as “the concept of American exceptionalism, that is, the belief that America occupies a special place among the countries of the world.” The Puritans came to America in 1630 believing that their survival in the new world would be a sign of God's approval.

Manifest Destiny was the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America. ... US President James K. Polk (1845-1849) is the leader most associated with Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny inflamed sectional tensions over slavery, which ultimately led to the Civil War.

Does it matter?

Damn straight it does. By putting these these concepts in full context, students become critical thinkers.

There are five key critical thinking skills are: analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation, self-regulation, open-mindedness, and problem-solving. (zety.com)

According to Indeed.com, Critical thinking helps people better understand themselves, their motivations and goals. When you can deduce information to find the most important parts and apply those to your life, you can change your situation and promote personal growth and overall happiness.