Options
Print
15 Comments
Post a Comment
Email
They Have Islamist Fanatics, We Have Secularist Fanatics
· Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The Muslim world is threatened by religious fanaticism. The Western world is threatened by secular fanaticism.
Both seek to dominate society and to use state power to do so. Both seek to eliminate the Other -- for Islamic fanatics, that means non-Muslim religions and secularism; for secular fanatics, it means Christianity and virtually any public invoking of God. The Islamists impose Sharia law; the American Civil Liberties Union and the left generally impose secular law. The Taliban wiped out public vestiges of Buddhism in Afghanistan; the ACLU and its allies seek to wipe out public vestiges of Christianity in America -- as it did, for example, in Los Angeles County, when it successfully pressured the County Board of Supervisors to remove the tiny cross from the county seal. A city and county founded by Catholics -- hence the name "The Angels" -- was forced to stop commemorating its founders because they were religious.
This fanaticism has been on display most recently in the state of Rhode Island. This past Christmas, the governor, Lincoln Chafee, renamed the state Christmas tree a "holiday tree." Though Christmas is a national holiday, for the secular fanatic, anything Christian -- or, as we shall see, anything that relates to religion or God -- must be banned from public life.
The latest expression of the secular equivalent of Islamism is the lawsuit brought against a Rhode Island high school, Cranston High School West, for allowing a banner, written by a seventh grader in 1963, to remain hanging on one of the school walls. An atheist student, along with the ACLU, brought the lawsuit and a judge ruled that it is unconstitutional for it to hang in a public school.
To appreciate how fanatical the student, the ACLU and the ruling are, you have to know the words on the banner. So here they are:
Our Heavenly Father
Grant us each day the desire to do our best, to grow mentally and morally as well as physically, to be kind and helpful to our classmates and teachers, to be honest with ourselves as well as with others. Help us to be good sports and smile when we lose as well as when we win. Teach us the value of true friendship. Help us always to conduct ourselves so as to bring credit to Cranston High School west.
Amen
The idea that this prayer violates the Constitution of the United States is as much a mockery of the Constitution as it is of common sense. Only a fanatic can welcome the removal of such a non-denominational, sweet, moral exhortation from a high school wall. America is indeed as endangered by the ACLU as the Muslim world is by Islamists.
Defenders of the judge's decision point to the U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1962 banning state-mandated prayer in public schools. The parallel is invalid. No student is asked, let alone compelled, to state what is on the Rhode Island high school banner. But arguments citing the Supreme Court ruling serve only to confirm my argument: that secular fanaticism has been taking over America. The New York State prayer that the Warren Court outlawed 50 years ago was as non-sectarian, as morally uplifting and as inoffensive as the Rhode Island prayer.
Here is it in its entirety:
"Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country."
After reading that one sentence, it is intellectually dishonest to maintain that the Warren court's decision was not an expression of fanaticism. One would have to deny that there could even be any such thing as secular fanaticism. Indeed, if it could have, the Warren Court would have declared the Declaration of Independence unconstitutional for its citing the Creator.
It is no wonder, then, that Alaska Airlines announced last week that it would no longer dispense along with meals its famous little cards with a verse from Psalms.
There are Americans who think that we are a better society without a state Christmas tree, and without high school students seeing a prayer to be kind human beings, and without the Alaska Airlines attempt to elevate American life in a small -- and, again, non-denominational -- way.
But the Islamist thinks he is improving Muslim life, too, of course.
COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM
Third-party content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Patriot Post.
Options
Navigation
Subscribe
Harvard Political Review notes: "The Patriot Post is leading a surprisingly well-organized charge into the world of Internet politics." It's Right. It's Free. Subscribe now!
The Right Opinion
Arnold Ahlert: Catholics vs. Obama
Michael Reagan: White House Website Gone Wild
Ken Blackwell: I'll Have Another
Jeff Jacoby: The Peace Process Battered Israel's Reputation
Victor Davis Hanson: The Bad/Good Idea of Removing Assad
Michael Barone: Cocooned Liberals Are Unprepared for Political Debate
R. Emmett Tyrrell: The Great Debate
Cal Thomas: The Media's Religion Deficit
Larry Elder: Why Jeremiah Wright Matters -- Still
Ben Shapiro: First, They Came for Cory Booker
Ann Coulter: Figures Don't Lie: Democrats Do
Burt Prelutsky: A President Not Fit for Man or Beast
Navigation
Grassroots Commentary
Policy and Analysis
- Heritage Foundation Insider
- Heritage Foundation Research
- American Enterprise Institute
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- The Cato Institute
- Hoover Institution
- National Rifle Association
- Ludwig von Mises Institute
- Citizens Against Government Waste
- National Center for Policy Analysis
- The Heartland Institute
Our Mission
"The Patriot's mission is to advocate for Essential Liberty, the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and to promote free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. Our objective is to provide Patriots across our nation with a touchstone of First Principles through brief, informative and entertaining analyses of relevant news, policy and opinion from reputable research, advocacy and media organizations, so they may better support and defend those Principles, and enlist others to join our ranks." —Mark Alexander, Publisher
The Patriot Post is not sustained by any political, special interest or parent organization, and we accept no advertising. Our mission and operations are funded entirely by the voluntary financial support of Patriots like you!
vin ienco
yeah thats right, cause its secularists that have committed over 18300 terrorists attacks since 911 and killed over 700 in january 2012.
fail article.
Posted January 31, 2012 at 7:50:38 AM
mmccrindle
Dennis,
The ACLU has become a vile liberal entity that fails to see our inalienable right to express our faith. To them government is god.
Islam hides behind a veil of being a religion but is in actuality a tyranical form of government that mandates intolerance and hatred.
It is no stretch to see that both have an agenda to slowly but surely destroy Christianity.
It is no stretch to understand that both should have no place in a free society.
Posted January 31, 2012 at 8:26:44 AM
Greg Dallas
I saw King Cakes displayed in the supermarket bakery yesterday. An attached card explained what a King Cake was, but without reference to Lent or any Catholic context. And the baby Jesus was referred to as "the infant." Absurdity, wherever you look.
Posted January 31, 2012 at 9:28:12 AM
mmccrindle
@ vin ienco -
I'll go ahead and say a prayer for your (damned) soul.
Please seek some better guidance from a real religion before you strap a bomb around your body and murder innocents if you are so instructed by a devout Islamist.
By the way, I don't think the 52 virgins you were promised by Muhammed are actually women.
Posted January 31, 2012 at 9:49:43 AM
rippedchef
hey vin-translation please.......
Posted January 31, 2012 at 11:22:22 AM
CaseAce
Thank you for pointing that out Vin! We would all be better off without them.
Posted January 31, 2012 at 11:59:08 AM
Will in Texas
I'm curious to know what the reaction to the removal of the prayer has been by the general population of Cranston H.S. It's a sad testimony and I hope the decision will be appealed to a higer court.
Posted January 31, 2012 at 12:23:31 PM
David Leonhardt
The article doesn't fail, it should be required reading to everyone. Judeo-Christian values are the basis of our great country, even if you don't agree with it, you can't dispute history, even though people do all the time
Posted January 31, 2012 at 12:32:15 PM
BoFromTexas
Does anyone really know what vin said? I can't seem to make sense of it.
Posted January 31, 2012 at 12:43:01 PM
PDK
I have advocated founding fathers American culture, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, over the American Union for some time now. I realize I am the man alone in the desert speaking to no one but myself.
However I must say, in those moments where one refreshes his spirit through imagination that I have entertained the idea of a liberal America, separated out from a conservative America, which in turn was then invaded by Islam.
This would be like a super bowl to me. Watching two mental groups fight for supremacy and the right to impose their tyranny on the other.
On one side, the liberals, and their team predicated on illusion born of immaturity, and on the other, the Islamics, and their team predicated on the inferiority complex pursuing its superiority.
Man this would be fun to watch.
It would tickle my funny bone to watch the hilarity unfold. People could bet on who they think will emerge the victor.
It of course is these two groups who present the greatest threat to liberty, although the Hipanic inferiority complex is not that far behind.
This was just a thought for fun.
Nobama 2012, vote republican. Thank you.
Posted January 31, 2012 at 12:49:59 PM
Joe
I think what vin is saying is that secularists don't kill people in the name of religion. I guess they just kill people in general.
Weren't Communists secular? I think they're responsible for killing about 100 million in the 20th century in the name of their "god"--the state.
Posted January 31, 2012 at 1:25:15 PM
Holmes Simons
Here’s an idea. Why don't you address the fact that in the White House is a man who is an ineligible deceiver, a black liberationist with Muslim sympathies, and a radical socialist whose behavior insults and demeans Americans as he bows to foreigners, sues American States, sides with foreign nations against this Country, fails to enforce US laws, and commits numerous unconstitutional acts.
Please contact me if you need assistance in finding RELEVANT TOPICS for your column. And, please, pass this suggestion along to your fellow political "pundits". All of you are avoiding the most pressing issue....…the destruction of the fabric of American Society by Obama and his miserable communist sycophants with the complicity of elected federal officials.
Posted January 31, 2012 at 1:34:41 PM
Stephen Bruce
The American Communist Lawyers Union - the ACLU - has been promoting the Socialist agenda for over 50 years and has been part and parcel to the degradation of the United States in general, and specifically in regard to belief in, and worship of, God in this country. If there was ever a need for an un-American organization list again, the ACLU would be #1 on it. There used to be a list of organizations that one had to disavow any contact with or membership in to hold a public position or be a member of the military. The ACLU could cause the revival of this list, and it would be necessary in todays society! GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Posted January 31, 2012 at 1:36:52 PM
Jeff
@ vin ienco
You're right...the Muslims can't hold a candle to the Secularists who have killed over 50 million pre-born babies since 1973 in the name of "Choice"!
Posted January 31, 2012 at 4:53:48 PM
DogmaAndPonyShow
Mr. Prager, this was meant as satire, right? Ha, good one! I can't stop laughing!
Posted January 31, 2012 at 7:41:44 PM