Religious Hostility on Display at U.S. Capitol

Today, the U.S. Capitol unveiled what one congressman has called a “$600 million godless pit,” a palatial underground visitors’ center which is at the heart of an ongoing debate over the place of America’s religious heritage in the nation’s capital. Not only does the basement of the House and Senate’s home have new galleries, theaters, and gift shops, but, as 108 congressmen rightly argue, it should also include an honest and complete portrayal of America’s religious roots.

Initially, planners had scrubbed references to “In God We Trust,” the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Founders’ faith. The Architect of the Capitol, who is responsible for the renovations, came under fire from the building’s own residents, the U.S. Congress, for omitting such basic references to the Almighty. Although some of the concerns were addressed before the center opened this afternoon, dozens of leaders and organizations like FRC are still troubled by the politically correct nature of the exhibits, which are historically incorrect.

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) have been the most vocal opponents of this spiritual “whitewashing” of America’s most recognizable symbol. A last-minute plaster job tries, poorly, to hide the inaccurate reference to “E Pluribus Unum” as our national motto (”In God We Trust” was established by Congress as the national motto in 1956). Even the U.S. Constitution is said to be grossly misrepresented in the exhibit. As the Heritage Foundation’s Matt Spalding writes, the excerpts on display are a “temple to liberals’ ‘living Constitution.’”

We join the chorus of citizens, who, as patrons of this Visitors Center, demand fidelity to the Founders and a more accurate portrayal of the important role of faith in American life. To help sound the alarm, contact your congressmen and ask them to restore Christianity to its place of prominence in the U.S. Capitol.

Additional Resources
Contact Your Elected Officials

Thanksgiving Tribute (Updates All Week)

Following is a collection of great thanksgiving posts, which will be updated all week. (Newer additions at the bottom):

• David Barton: Celebrating Thanksgiving in America
• Don’t Quit U. (Yorktown University): Podcast November 24th - The Meaning of Thanksgiving
• Newt Gingrich: What Every Child Should Know About Thanksgiving
• Rush Limbaugh: The Real Story of Thanksgiving (Transcript and Podcast)
• Michelle Malkin: Giving thanks for self-reliant Americans
• Robert Spencer: Be Thankful that You are Free
• Maggie Thornton: Slaughtering the Eagle: Change we Wanted???
• The New Conservative: The War on Thanksgiving!?!
• Tom McLaoughlin: Thanks to Whom?

 

(If you have a link you think should be included in this list, please post it in the comments section, and we’ll do our best to get them all linked in the post.)

 

Economic Serfdom

America is facing a 1929 style depression and it did not happen simply because the stock market crashed, the grossly inflated real estate market imploded and financial industry fell into the credit market black hole it had created for itself. The signs had been there for a long time. Every American airline of any size was operating in or just out of bankruptcy. American manufacturing jobs were streaming out of the country leaving no blue collar wage base to support the economy. American auto manufacturers were operating at or near bankruptcy before this all happened. And, America’s energy needs and energy policy simply could not be balanced without shipping much of the accumulated wealth of generations to foreign powers.

A few years ago, I taught a Bible study for Christian CEO’s. I used Larry Burkett’s Business by the Book as my textbook. I tried to teach them, among other things, that you have to pay your employees a living wage, not only because the Bible says so, but also because your employees and your fellow businessmen’s employees are the primary market for your own goods and services. If they can’t afford them then you have no market to sell to.

But, I could not disabuse these otherwise very smart executives of some very shortsighted attitudes toward their employees. Blinded by the short term numbers, many simply could not see that the GOP international free trade scheme could not work in the long run because there are other countries in the system that will not play by the rules. They will use slave or near slave labor to create cheap products to sell into your market while protecting their own. And, if you let them, they will even outsource your best service jobs and ship their unemployment problems to you to compete for the few remaining domestic jobs in your country.

Henry Ford was a controversial character. Sometimes on some issues he was just dead wrong. But, he understood the power and magic of the American economy better than any many living or dead to date. When his company was faced with a union problem and hot competition he took an unusual step. In a day when the average wage was less than three dollars per day he raised that of his workers to five. In a day when the average worker worked twelve hours per day he cut his workers workday to eight and ran three shifts around the clock to make up the difference. And, instead of continually raising prices on his product he continually strove to improve quality while lower price. The result was the American economic miracle that gave us the golden age of industrialism.

Henry Ford’s strategy worked because it was Biblically sound. He did not muzzle his ox and he treated his workers with economic respect. The result was that he created his own domestic market for his products and started the nation down a path toward the highest average standard of living on earth.

The American economy is a pyramid. The base of the pyramid is industrial workers. We no longer have that base. America imports its products now instead of making them. So, instead of investing in ourselves and our neighbors, we are supporting the base of other nation’s economies. Until American capital learns that the guy at the bottom of the pyramid is also the foundation of it, we are going to continue to enrich other nations while squandering decades of accumulated national wealth abroad.

The current American economic system is recipe for tyranny. As American jobs continue to be shipped abroad, chasing the lowest wages, the entire market for American and everyone else’s goods shrinks in America. We have been able to finance this imbalance until recently by spending the accumulated wealth of generations. But, that source of funds is now dry and the American lifestyle within one generation will look a lot like that of the nations we have shipped our jobs to. A few people will have become fabulously wealthy and the rest of the population will have become economic serfs.

Cornell University College of Engineering Staff Stifle Student Free Speech; Updated: Police Force Return of Signs; Updated: Students Defend their Story

UPDATE 10/24/08: We received the following today from Tristen Cramer:

CORNELL COALITION FOR LIFE STANDS BY EARLIER STATEMENT
Pro-Life Student Organization Responds to University Administration

In response to statements made by Cornell University’s administration, the Cornell Coalition for Life (CCFL) stands by their earlier press release as a fair and accurate description of the events of Wednesday, October 22.

“It is incredible that putting up signs explaining that a baby’s heart first beats 25 days after fertilization and other biological facts could lead to this situation. We are surprised and disappointed to see that the administration has decided to issue a statement denying that the staff members acted improperly instead of simply apologizing and admitting that the Elena Campaign should not have been removed in the first place,” stated Tristen Cramer, senior at Cornell and former president of CCFL.

The “Elena Campaign”, a series of educational signs detailing the biological facts of fetal development, was improperly removed by a staff member of the College of Engineering at approximately 9AM on Wednesday. Despite the fact that the president of CCFL immediately
provided proof of administrative approval for the display, the signs were not returned to the organization until an hour and a half later.

Though the staff then admitted that the proper approval was in place, the students were strongly encouraged by the Associate Dean of Administration not to resume the display because of an “unwritten policy” regarding opinionated displays on the Engineering Quad.

UPDATE 10/22/08: From Adam Kissel, of FIRE’s The Torch:

Thanks to a quick-thinking administrator outside the College of Engineering and to the Cornell Police, the violation of the students’ expression rights lasted scarcely two hours. But who knows how long Warren and Dove would have held out if the police had not come to enforce the students’ rights.

ORIGINAL POST 10/22/08: Facilities Staff Remove Previously Approved Pro-Life Display

We received the following from Tristen Cramer, a senior at Cornell University:

Less than one hour after the Cornell Coalition for Life (CCFL) set up their “Elena Campaign” signs in the Engineering Quad, the signs were abruptly removed by Dawn Warren, an administrative assistant, and taken to the Facilities Office of the College of Engineering. The “Elena Campaign” is a series of light-hearted educational signs with pictures and text detailing the biological development of an unborn child. Though CCFL had gone through the proper administrative avenues to get approval for the display, Warren removed the signs without permission because she did not personally approve of the content.

Tristen Cramer, senior at Cornell University and former president of CCFL stated:

“It borders on the absurd that the facilities staff at the College of Engineering finds photos depicting biological fetal development to be controversial or offensive. Furthermore, it speaks volumes that this member of the Cornell staff chose to censor speech she disagreed with rather than facilitating an open discussion about the issue.

“The Cornell community should be aware that our right to free speech regarding relevant current issues is hindered by this so-called ‘unwritten policy.’”