This is in response to an editorial essay in Washington Square News. You can find that article here.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Despite this inclusion in our First Amendment, the prevailing Christian attitude is that the United States is a kind of de facto Christian nation. There is a sense of entitlement that Christians in this country have. This sense was evident in an essay titled “Anti-Christianity an ugly problem” by Adrianna Boris published in the November 4th issue of WSN. Citing only one instance of this so-called ugly problem, the essay predominantly opines that our country is a Christian country. However, its thesis seems to be that Christians are unfairly targeted by PC efforts. Are we singling Christians out? I hope not, otherwise we’d be letting a lot slip by. We treat all religions with the same constitutional indifference, but Christians are the ones that never stop complaining. No religion has any claim on our country. We are not one nation under God; we are one nation above all gods.
The only example given of anti-Christian behavior by the essay, whose title referred to this as an ugly problem, was the firing of a man from a Home Depot for refusing to take an “Under God” button off of his work uniform. Rather than arguing about the man’s personal freedoms, the author tries to convince us that “Under God” is less religious, and particularly less Christian, than we think. A website, religioustolerance.org, is cited as stating that this phrase is about American tradition, and that it isn’t “an attempt to promote Christianity”. Holding off on the implication that this means America has a tradition of being subservient to God, let’s first go over the single instance of anti-Christianity behavior that prompted Boris’s passionate plea for acceptance.
The case in question is that of Trevor Keezer who, after nineteen months of working for Home Depot, was fired for not complying when asked to remove his “Under God” button from his Home Depot apron. Keezer’s brother is serving in the armed forces, and Keezer claims the button is a show of support for our troops. However, he also admits that it expresses his Christian faith. Now, he plans on suing Home Depot for religious discrimination.
Home Depot released a statement explaining that they have “a blanket policy…that only company-provided pins and badges can be worn on [their] aprons.”
After being notified about violating this policy and told he would be sent home if he didn’t comply, Keezer continued to wear it. “It never crossed my mind to take off the button because I’m standing for something that’s bigger than I am. They kept telling me the severity of what you’re doing, and I just let God be in control and went with His plan,” he explained. Despite the severe warning, Keezer clearly valued a piece of flair more than his job.
So, does this one case mean we have an anti-Christianity problem brewing? Christians will likely say so, but they complain about everything. With the Holiday Season approaching, we’re sure to hear plenty of it. As part of the upcoming War on Christmas, we’ll be sure to hear such lines as: “Why is there a menorah in our courthouse nativity scene?” “Happy Holidays? Don’t you mean Merry Christmas?” and “It’s CHRISTmas, not Xmas.”
It’s as if Christians believe this country is their house. They’re the host, and all others are the guests, people to be respected and treated hospitably, but they don’t have any right to redecorate. The phrase “under God” is like a secret affirmation of this to Christians, telling them “Yes, we’re a Christian nation, but let’s pretend that we mean any and all gods.” Any good Christian knows that the god in “under God” is their god. After all, like religioustolerance.org said, it’s a show of our tradition. Boris’s essay explained this tradition as a “Judeo-Christian” one, claiming that our culture and society were founded on these morals. The author then goes on to explain how our country’s laws parallel many of the Ten Commandments, and says, “If these principles were not a part of our culture and law, chaos would reign.” Here she’s making the insulting insinuation that we might not have laws against murder if it weren’t for our nice Judeo-Christian moral traditions. Surely a people can only be civilized by such pre-medieval philosophies.
Of course, the truth is that our American tradition is one of refusal to accept any king or god imposing its rule on us. There is no special entitlement available to Christians. They have no superior claim to this country or its customs. Maybe when they realize that this Land of the Free isn’t a slave to their cult, they’ll start to understand what it truly means to be free.