SO—WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

By Edwin Cooney

A few days ago, someone sent me a piece that appears designed to reinforce my sense of outrage with our modern “socialistic and secular society.”

The piece repeatedly inquires “did you know?” and states that the Supreme Court building is bedecked with religious icons depicting Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. It also states that the Ten Commandments are engraved on the lower portion of the court’s two front oaken doors. In addition, it notes that there are Bible verses engraved on buildings and statues all over Washington, D.C. and that 52 of the 55 signers of the Constitution were members of the orthodox churches of their colonies. Further, it reminds us that the taxpayers have paid the clergy to open and close Congress on a daily basis since 1777.

The next little zinger was a quote from James Madison which tersely reminds posterity (that’s you and me) that: “We have staked the whole of all our political Institutions upon the capacity of mankind for Self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” Thus, big government is immoral and local or state government is moral government!

Finally we’re reminded of the following: Thomas Jefferson worried that the courts would overstep their authority and, instead of interpreting the law, would begin making law -- thus establishing an oligarchy, the rule of the few over the many.

The piece closes asserting that if I agree with its sentiments, I should pass it on and if I don’t, I could delete it. My dilemma is that if all of the above is true, there’s little to argue about -- except that 39 not 55 men signed the completed Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17th, 1787.

The obvious question is -- is that all there really is to know about American history?? For example, did you know that in 1797 President John Adams assured the Moslem nations of North Africa that the United States was not officially a Christian nation because it allows for the practice of all religions?

Did you know that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson emphatically denied the divinity of Christ?

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson -- using a razor blade -- systematically cut out all references in the Bible to Christ’s divinity and works as a healer and that in fact there exists a Jefferson Bible?

Did you know that Theodore Roosevelt considered “In God We Trust” on our money as blasphemous? His explanation was that it was sacrilegious to associate God with money.

Did you know that American capitalists, not the poor, were the original proponents of “big government”? Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and even John C. Calhoun sought federal money all their political lives to finance the transportation and moneymaking institutions in their states.

What I object to in pieces such as the one from which I extrapolated the above quotations is the righteously angry tone in them. Even worse is the suggestion that America was founded by wise, selfless and righteously moral men to whom our current leadership can’t even begin to compare. I could enumerate some of the personal sins of Madison, Jefferson -- and certainly the sins of the Supreme Court from its inception, but to what end?

Too many people teach history as though they’re teaching theology and, in this observer’s opinion, that’s reckless instruction. Additionally, they appear to really be telling you something about today when they cite yesterday’s idealism and let yesterday’s slumbering sins lie. Among many truths is that neither America’s past nor future will ever be ideal because, like the rest of humanity, Americans are imperfect.

Whatever may be your fate or wherever you find your eternal home, you can be absolutely certain of one thing: you’ll never get there on your American passport! After all, “Providence” -- as Adams and Jefferson would identify our “Creator” -- created and continues to love all the rest of humanity!

I’m trying to recall whether I deleted that little gem or passed it on.

Whoops! I may soon have a very long nose!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY