Comment by Gaytor on May 6, 2009 at 1:44am

http://action.secular.org/t/5367/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27204

Sorry, can't get the hyperlink to work

Comment by Rev. James Thomas Hicks, D.D. on May 6, 2009 at 9:27am

This is my specialty. I think my Representatives & Senators know me by name now.

Comment by Rev. James Thomas Hicks, D.D. on May 6, 2009 at 9:56am

Got 'em emailed & weaseled some into the other districts.

Comment by Johnny on May 6, 2009 at 11:47am

Action Alert: Oppose the Creation of Spiritual Heritage Week

Today, Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia, the Founder and Chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, and twenty-four other members of the House of Representatives, co-sponsored a resolution in Congress that would “affirm the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history and express support for designation of the first week in May as America's Spiritual Heritage Week for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith.”

The resolution, H.RES. 397, would put Congress on record as “recognize[ing] the religious foundations of faith on which America was built are critical underpinnings of our Nation's most valuable institutions and form the inseparable foundation for America's representative processes, legal systems, and societal structures.”

TAKE ACTION NOW: Email your member of Congress and ask them to refuse to co-sponsor this resolution and oppose all efforts to move this resolution forward.

In addition, the resolution “rejects, in the strongest possible terms, any effort to remove, obscure, or purposely omit such history from our Nation's public buildings and educational resources” and justifies the need to keep “under God” in the pledge.

Last year, when a similar measure was introduced, 93 members of the House of Representatives co-sponsored this legislation.

Your elected officials need to know that these "Christian nation" resolutions distort America's history and exclude the history of atheists, humanists, freethinkers and other nontheists who have made significant contributions to our nation.

Their denial of the secular nature of our government means that these members of Congress are not only disagreeing with Americans who know that we are not a Christian nation (and never have been), but they are also disputing our President who recently promoted America’s secular heritage abroad during a trip to Turkey.

In this new era of promoting science and evidence, no representative should feel compelled to support the agenda of the Congressional Prayer Caucus and their attempts to infuse personal religious values into public policy.

TAKE ACTION NOW.

Comment by Johnny on May 6, 2009 at 12:07pm

Additionally...
H. Res. 397: Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation of the first week in May as "America's Spiritual Heritage Week" for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith.

Sponsor: Rep. James Forbes [R-VA] (there are 24 cosponsors, all republican)

See the full text of the resolution...

This resolution is in the first step in the legislative process. Introduced bills and resolutions first go to committees that deliberate, investigate, and revise them before they go to general debate. The majority of bills and resolutions never make it out of committee.

Last Action: May 4, 2009: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Comment by Pam on May 6, 2009 at 2:19pm

They obviously don't realize that history repeats itself.

http://members.au.org/site/News2?abbr=cs_&page=NewsArticle&...

What makes their resolution any more valid?

Comment by Johnny on May 6, 2009 at 2:55pm

Awesome find Pam!!

Here's a nice pull-quote from that article:

Recommending a vote against it in 1874, the House Judiciary Committee cited "the dangers which the union between church and state had imposed upon so many nations of the Old World...."

Comment by Johnny on May 8, 2009 at 12:23pm

An excerpt from an AU article about the events on the National Day of Prayer:

Allies of the Religious Right used the occasion as a chance to attack church-state separation. Rep J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) again introduced the same tired resolution he introduced last year affirming that the “religious foundations of faith on which America was built…[are] inseparable for America’s representative processes, legal systems, and societal structures.”

In other words, Forbes thinks there is no separation between religion and government.

Forbes claimed that the resolution will be a successful bipartisan effort but in fact, it most likely will not even see debate on the House floor. The “bipartisan” support includes 32 registered Republican cosponsors and one Democratic representative Mike McIntyre of North Carolina.

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