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OPINION: Secular humanism can't nudge out other 'religions'

Tim Adams | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years AGO
by Tim Adams
| May 29, 2016 10:00 AM

The tedious attack on Christianity and its influence in our government by opinion writer Rodrik Brosten in a Feb. 25 letter was juvenile, but must be answered lest the ignorant and simple-minded think that no answer signifies truth.

But first I want to talk about secular humanism. Justice Hugo Black stated in Torcaso v. Watkins that: “Among the religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are ... Secular Humanism.” But humanists say no, no, no, this is just an “obiter dictum” or “said in passing”; this has no legal force because it’s just a footnote in the case — humanism isn’t really a religion. And they think in so doing they can hide in the tall grass of public ignorance and pretend their belief is totally neutral in religious terms and their complaint justified that Christianity has no place in the public square.

However, Senior District Judge Anser Haggerty issued a ruling in American Humanist Association v. United States citing existing legal precedent that “The court finds that Secular Humanism is a religion for Establishment Clause purposes.” Thus, it becomes evident that if intelligent design cannot be taught in schools then neither can evolution because it’s the creation doctrine of humanism — a religion. Otherwise Christian believers and believers in intelligent design are being forced into an inequality before the law.

As of this ruling the local school board should order that both intelligent design and evolution be presented as possibilities and examined in the class room using classical logic and evidentiary proof of claim to arrive at their best conclusion.

For anyone not afraid of the truth go to http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danbury.html to learn the whole truth about Mr. Jefferson’s letter — now in the possession of the U.S. government after being restored by the FBI. I have decided not to quote the founders to prove the influence of Christianity in their lives and legal work, but you can go to http://christianity.about.com/od/independence day/a/foundingfathers.htm to read the quotes.

I will say that the spirit of the Bible permeates the form and fashion of the government created by the founders as it did the population as a whole. Fifty two of the 55 founders were members of the established orthodox denominational churches in the colonies. After studying the ancient forms of government in Rome, Greece, Persia, Sparta, etc., and having studied in the Bible, and experienced in life, that the nature of man was fundamentally evil, they fashioned a government of separate powers that would hold each power in check.

Out of the Bible they learned that all men are created equal before the law, that they are to love their neighbors, that a man is innocent until proven guilty in a fair trial and that a person’s property is inviolate without probable cause for examination or confiscation including the property of his life. Man was to be free to worship, speak, assemble, and defend his life with weapons equal to his enemy’s. So at the demand of the people, they created a Bill of Rights that would honor God and bring true justice to the affairs of man.

This was unheard of in the history of mankind; suddenly, law was to be king, not some inbred moron with delusions of grandeur who could bludgeon or bankrupt a man on a whim. It is the spirit of Christianity in our laws that set Mr. Brosten free to mock God and Christ in public and live to tell about it. He should try that in any country not created by Christian men.


Adams is a resident of Kalispell.

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