Atheists in the Capitol's foxhole ~ By Chuck Norris

By Chuck Norris Posted: July 20, 2009 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 I'm a fighter for the freedoms of speech and religion. They are our constitutional rights – what the First Amendment is all about. But those freedoms don't give atheists the entitlement to eliminate or revise America's religious heritage in the new $621 million taxpayer-provided Capitol Visitors Center, or CVC, in Washington, D.C. In July, the House and Senate passed identical resolutions, approving the engravings of the National Motto ("In God We Trust") and the Pledge of Allegiance in prominent places in CVC – 580,000 square feet facility under the Capitol where 15,500 guests visit each day. Spearheading the measures were leaders like Rep. Daniel Lungren, R-Calif.; Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va.; and Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who have also drawn attention to the oversight of religious heritage in the CVC. The YouTube video of Rep. Forbes addressing the House on this matter ("Our Judeo Christian Nation") has received to date more than 2.5 million hits, making it one of the most widely viewed floor speeches in YouTube history. Some of the 19 omissions and inaccuracies in the CVC can also be seen on Sen. DeMint's YouTube posting "War on God." Forget for a moment the fact that the national motto is on all of our currency. Forget for a moment the fact that the pledge is recited every day in a myriad of settings across this land. Forget for a moment the fact that the Capitol is exceedingly rich in religious history and usage, including its usage for church services all the way up through the Civil War – in 1867 the Capitol was the largest church in Washington with 2,000 people attending weekly. (Rick Tyler, the founding director of Newt Gingrich's Renewing American Leadership, has done an excellent job documenting the Capitol's religious history and the subsequent inaccuracies and omissions in the CVC.) How could anyone have anything against the engraving of our nation's motto, which is above the very speaker's rostrum in the House of Representatives? How could anyone have anything against the same for the Pledge of Allegiance, which has been recited each day since its inception in both houses of Congress? Engraving the motto and pledge in the CVC sounds so basic and reasonable, doesn't it? Apparently not to the Freedom from Religion Foundation, the nation's largest group of atheists and agnostics, who filed suit in an effort to prevent the engraving of "In God We Trust" and the Pledge of Allegiance within the CVC. The Freedom of Religion Foundation is suing to prevent these engravings because, it says, that "both the motto and the words 'under God' in the pledge were adopted during the Cold War as anti-communism measures. Engraving them at the entrance to the U.S. Capitol would discriminate against those who do not practice religion and unfairly promote a Judeo-Christian perspective." (I guess that also transforms our currency with "In God We Trust" on them into Christian tracts?) How preposterous! Some members of Congress who supported the measure are already denouncing the lawsuit as ludicrous. "This lawsuit is another attempt by liberal activists to rewrite history and deny that America's Judeo-Christian heritage is an essential foundation stone of our great nation," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. Rep. Daniel Lungren, R-Calif., said he was expecting a lawsuit but called the claims "patently absurd." [CONTINUE READING]