Chipping Away At Our Moral Fiber

How is it that when it comes time to elect a politician, to form a union, or even a group deciding what restaurant to eat at, the majority rules?

However, when it comes to religion, the majority does not rule. 85% of the people in the United States believe in God, but a minority of people keep chipping away and God is being taken away from the majority.

Anti-Christmas Message in Washington State Capitol Holiday Display

The State of Washington accepted an application from an atheist group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, to place an anti-religion message as part of the state's official holiday display in the state capitol rotunda steps from a traditional nativity scene.

The atheist group's sign reads:

"At this season of the winter solstice, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation's co-president, Dan Barker, defended the display's provocative message, calling it, "free speech." "Non-believers are a part of the fabric of America and we claim our place at the table to exercise free speech and freedom of religion, which includes freedom from religion," he said.

Well, you may have already read about that or have heard about it and you say well that is just Washington State not the United States. Wrong, totally wrong, continue on:

Friday I mentioned the new Capitol Building.

The Capitol Visitors Center finally opened. The 580,000 sq. ft. facility, located under the east lawn of Capitol Hill, features two "orientation" movie theaters, two gift shops, a museum, an auditorium, 26 public restrooms and the largest cafeteria in Washington.

Lawmakers will use the facility to hold press conferences, luncheons, and even to vote when the House or Senate needs renovating. The floors will be made of Tennessee marble, the walls of Pennsylvania sandstone and several doors of pure bronze.

The plaza above the center, paved with Virginia granite, will hold Presidential inaugurations and allow state funerals to proceed to the front of the Capitol rotunda.

The budgeted cost was $265 million and a completion date of 2004. But the cost came in around $680 million as it opened this week in 2008 and guess what has been left out.

The history of faith.

The phrase "In God We Trust" and the Pledge of Allegiance are missing.

There's a beautiful display of the speaker's chair in the House -- a replica of the House of Representatives there in the visitors center with the speaker's chair and the flags on both sides.

In the actual House, above the speaker's chair, carved in marble is "In God We Trust." The replica has everything except "In God We Trust" on it.

Even the photos of the actual speaker's chair were cropped where "In God We Trust" doesn't show.

Carved in marble in one of the columns was "Our national motto, E Pluribus Unum." The only problem with that is our national motto is "In God We Trust." It was passed by Congress. It's legally our motto.

Exhibits portray the federal government as the fulfillment of human ambition and the answer to all of society’s problems.

This is a clear departure from acknowledging that Americans’ rights ‘are endowed by their Creator’ and stem from ‘a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.’

Instead, the CVC’s most prominent display proclaims faith not in God, but in government.

Visitors will enter reading a large engraving that states, ‘We have built no temple but the Capitol. We consult no common oracle but the Constitution.’

This is a misrepresentation of our nation’s real histories by refusing to honor America's God-given blessings.

The secularization of America is out of control and the problem with that is right on the heels of secularization comes socialism -- we've seen it in Europe -- and you can follow that through history. Socialism follows and then loss of a lot of our freedoms.

Our freedom is built on faith in God and when we lose that sense of history, we lose a whole lot more than just a little bit of history.

It's time for the leaders of all the churches, no matter the denomination, to band together as one voice. They all believe in God - they just have a different interpretation of the method to reach those beliefs.

The churches have not banned together with each other and raised their voices, rather they are independent and instead of shouting, their voice is just whispering.

It is time for the majority to get a backbone to speak and speak loudly before it is too late.

Maybe it's time for the churches to invite a layman to speak at the pulpit every once in a while to give them a reality check as to what may be missing from their sermons.

Or maybe at the very least it is time for the leaders of the Churches to read blogs like this one as a wake-up call.