Op-ed:
America is a Constitutional Republic and Must Remain So
By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on CPR Worldwide Media
cprworldwidemedia.net
“Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg
Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country.”
It started with this beautiful prayer becoming a 'ground zero' of
sorts between 'believers' and 'non-believers'...simple words said
voluntarily for decades by school children across this country. Then, in
1962, a group of seven parents from New York brought suit claiming that
the reciting of even this most innocuous of prayers violated their
First Amendment rights as they believed that any prayer said in public
schools showed that the government was establishing and promoting
religion.
Thankfully, the New York State courts ruled against the
parents saying that prayer was indeed constitutional as long as it was
voluntary...which in this case it was. But the parents pressed forward
and on appeal, and in their usual misguided wisdom, the Supreme Court
ruled that government-endorsed prayer said in public schools was indeed
unconstitutional as it was inconsistent with the 'Establishment Clause'
of the Constitution...as in the separation of church and state. And
their ruling went even farther saying that prayers said during school
commencements and athletic events were unconstitutional as well. Then in 1963, the SCOTUS ruled against allowing any and all Bible reading in
class, followed in 1980 with their (most grievous) decision that posting
the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms also violated the
Constitution...yet the Ten Commandments appear on the entrance to the
Supreme Court Building.
And so the battle lines were drawn.
And from that day forward our beloved America became divided NOT just
in the political sense of Democrat vs. Republican, but divided based
upon those of faith vs. the non-believers, and that is a division we can
ill-afford when 2016 is first and foremost all about numbers.
We know...or should know by now...that we have serious issues facing
our country...issues that can destroy everything our Founders and
Framers intended our great nation to be. And unfortunately, our problems
are coupled by having a traitor occupying the White House...a traitor
that knows how to play the game of pitting conservative against
conservative, and it's we conservatives that have allowed said
traitor...one Barack HUSSEIN Obama...to succeed in his goal because we
have NOT stood united as one to stop him, and that is NOT just sad but
downright scary.
Downright scary for sure...especially when the division involves those of us
who do believe in the one true living God of the Christians and the
Jews. And it becomes even scarier when one denomination vs. another
denomination and all vs. the non-believers...as in Evangelicals vs.
Roman Catholics...Roman Catholics vs. Born-Agains... Born-Agains vs.
Jews...Jews vs. atheists...any and all vs. anyone who does NOT believe
as they do. And what's suffering the most in this divisiveness...and the
one thing that should be uniting all Americans NOT just conservatives
but liberals as well is the U.S. Constitution. The very heart of this
country...the Constitution...has now become the touch point in a battle
between those of us Conservatives who want our Constitutional Republic
to stay as our Founders and Framers intended and those of us
Conservatives who lean more to what I'll call a 'Theocratic Republic.'
And whether they want to admit it or NOT that is indeed what some on
our side truly seem to want and are doing everything
possible...including trying to rewrite our founding history...to have it
become a reality.
So while the Constitution...the very foundation of our Constitutional
Republic...lays out the political system by which 'We the People' are
governed...a system where representatives are elected by those of us who
are eligible to vote...we are first and foremost a nation of
laws...laws stating that free men are all equal in the eyes of the
law...with that law being set down in and guided by the Constitution.
And the rule of law set down in the Constitution made sure that the new nation being created was
NEVER to be a theocracy...a government ruled by leaders having religious
authority...for that was the very governing system our Founders and
Framers so willingly left behind.
And herein lies the issue of a Republic vs. a Theocracy...a battle
cleverly orchestrated by the left to NOT only divide we on the right,
but also to squelch...if you will...the basic belief of most Americans
that there is something...someone...higher than us. This is NOT a simple
media-portrayed battle of a football player praying before a game nor
is it about the reciting of a simple school prayer now removed so as NOT
to offend non-believers...this battle has morphed...again courtesy of
the left...into a perception of the current what's referred to as 'soft'
persecution...now ongoing in the guise of censorship...becoming
so-called 'hard' persecution in the blink of an eye. And know that
'hard' persecution is seen by some moderate Republicans, as well as the
majority of those on the uber religious far right, as future physical
and violent attacks on America's Christian population.
And censorship is now running the gamut from the left's trying to
stifle Pamela Geller's First Amendment right to free speech as she
rightfully fights to keep the sharia out of America, to some wanting the
freedom to NOT only pray in public anytime or any place of their own
choosing, but to also have prayer as part of the school day as it once
was. And here is where the conundrum lies for while 'voluntary' prayer
said in America's schools, before government functions, or sporting
events, will NOT lead to a theocracy, 'forced' prayer very well could.
Let me explain...being that a national religion is NOT mentioned
anywhere in the Constitution...in fact nowhere can the words
Christianity, Christians, God, or Jesus Christ be found in the
Constitution... this translates into the reality that our Founders did
indeed intend for a 'separation of church and state.' At best we can say
that from quotes from the Mayflower Compact, from the preambles of many
state's constitutions as well as the preamble to the Declaration of
Independence, to the personal but none legal writings of our Founders
and Framers, the intention was that the Holy Bible and The Ten
Commandments were to be the moral code by which we live, but that the
Constitution alone was to be the all-important legal code concerning any
and all adjudicating of the laws of our land. However, and this is
critical, nowhere in the Constitution does it say that 'separation of
church and state' has to mean separation from prayer or religion itself.
From prayer or religion itself...but whose religion...whose prayers are we to say...if we are to say any.
And with many Americans across party lines believing that both prayer
and religion are meant to be a private matter between them and their
God, we still have many Americans who believe that their personal
religion and their personal religion alone...complete with their
religion's prayers...must be inserted into each and every aspect of our
government. Yet these are the very same people who want the government
out of their religion and that is the very basis of a theocracy.
So while the United States of America was indeed a country founded
upon Judeo-Christian beliefs, values, and morals...most especially upon
the above Jewish originated Ten Commandments... what denomination of
Christianity did our Founders want us to follow.* The truth is that they
wanted NONE...and why...because they were wise enough to know that the
different Christians factions all practiced their faith differently and
who was to say which faith's practices were better than the others,
especially when at this time in our nation's history one had to be a
member in good standing of their state's established church in order to
vote and hold public office. For example, in Massachusetts you had to be
a member of the Congregational Church, in Virginia one had to be a
member of the Anglican Church, and the other eleven colonies had their
own churches and restrictions as well...with all thinking they and they
alone were God's chosen church. And when you add in that our Forefathers
came to this country to escape the theocracies of Europe...to secure
freedom of religion NO matter one's religion or lack thereof...it
becomes apparent that a faith-driven nation...in other words a
theocracy...was NOT their intention.
Was most definitely NOT their intention as per what they laid down in Article 6, Clause 3 which states,
"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of
the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers,
both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by
Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test
shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust
under the United States."
Simply, and most importantly, these words stated in NO uncertain
terms that one's religious affiliation... or lack thereof...would NEVER
be used as a consideration in judging one's qualifications to hold
office, translating into equality of religions becoming the law of the
land. Equality...easily ratified as it should be...has seen the
Christian far right fighting this article as far back as the 18th
century, and their fight continues to this day...meaning if this article
were ever to be removed from the Constitution a theocracy would be
effectively put into place.
So this comes down to the fact that today's uber religious far right
cannot and must NOT be allowed to change our nation's past...especially
in regards to our foundation...to conform to their view...and their view
alone...of what should be America's future for their future is NOT one
of a Constitutional Republic but one of a Theocratic Republic...the very
thing our Founders and Framers worked so hard to protect the new nation
from becoming.
But again, as with a national religion, NO mention was made in the
Constitution to forbid prayer in and of itself even when said in a
public venue...and in today's volatile and dangerous world even the
SCOTUS would have to agree that a little prayer now and then couldn't
hurt...now could it.
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* I have left Judaism per se out of this discussion because Jews make-up
but 2.2 to 2.5 percentage of the American population even though The Ten
Commandments... the only thing ever written by the hand of God...are
Jewish in origin and are one of the cornerstones our Constitution.
Monday is Memorial Day and while many will go to the beach or enjoy a
hearty barbecue, let’s not forget the real reason for this most special
and solemn of days…a day to remember and honor those who put their lives on
the line for our beloved country…a day to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice
for a purpose they believed was greater than themselves…a purpose of
keeping "We the People" safe and free at home.
On Memorial Day there should be no hyphenated Americans (nor should there ever
be)…just Americans bowing their heads together in prayer as the flag of
these United States is raised throughout this great nation, and then
as it's solemnly lowered to half-staff. On this day let us remember the more
than one million American patriots who gave their lives in service to this
country. And when the flag is once again raised high at noon we must
also remember to not allow their sacrifice to be in vain for a nation that
forgets its true heroes is a nation that loses its soul.
Memorial Day is a day when many Americans will visit cemeteries or memorials
nationwide to place small flags at the base of the headstones of the
fallen to let them know they are not forgotten nor will they ever be.
Memorial Day is a day when the "Pledge of Allegiance" should take on a renewed
meaning, and should reawaken in us all the realization that we do live in the
greatest nation the world has ever known, and remind us that some things are
indeed worth both fighting and dying for.
Memorial Day is a day for prayers for those lost…a day for honoring their
memories not just with tearful remembrances but also with a smile…a day
to rediscover the meaning of what our military fights and dies for…our
liberty, our safety, our individual rights guaranteed us under our
Constitution, and the continuing American story of which we all play a part in.
