On America's Greatness

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn spoke at the rally for the ten commandments monument in Stigler Oklahoma this afternoon. He said, "The greatness of America depends on its faith, nothing else. . . . We can either deny our heritage, or we can embrace that heritage." He commended the residents of Haskell County for standing up to the ACLU by fighting to keep a granite ten commandments monument that was placed on their courthouse lawn last year.

Before Coburn arrived, the rally began with a call for people to join the "battle" against Satan (i.e. the ACLU) and featured short speeches/sermons by a number of local Assembly of God and Baptist preachers. The rally ended with an altar call for anyone who saw the light to come to Jesus.

In my eyes, America's greatness resides not in it's faith (nations can't have faith, only people can have faith), but in the religious liberty that it extends to everyone -- not just those of the majority faith, but to those of minority faith.

Unfortunately, the understanding of religious liberty among many in Haskell County Oklahoma was expressed by the rally organizer who encouraged people to stop cowering to minorities and stand up for their faith in the public square, a preacher who said the ACLU should go to North Korea, and a preacher's wife who indicated that those who disagreed with them were free to move elsewhere.

All who spoke at the rally did so with genuine sincerity, conviction, and resolve. While the tone was neither hostile nor angry, the message they insist on sending to the world demonstrates 1) extreme insensitivity to persons with different religious convictions 2) a lack of understanding of the U.S. Constitution and 3) a mythological understanding of American history.

I'll write more on this later.

Technorati Tags Ten Commandments, Stigler, Oklahoma, Tom Coburn, ACLU, Church and State