Prayer is Our Inheritance

Prayer is Our Inheritance

In pursuit of the truth - http://www.cinopsbegoneblogspot.com - Memorial Day, May 25/14

Our recent Presidents, the 40th was especially gifted in his ability to communicate great truths to the American people. Ronald Reagan said:

"Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscious ... Without God there is a coarsening of society; without God democracy will not and cannot long endure... If we ever forget we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under."  Barton, Myth 249

Outstanding letter to the Editor, Orange County Register, May 22,23, 2014:

" I think UC Irvine Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky is wrong ["Court Obliterates wall that should separate church, state," Opinion, May 7],

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights prohibits the establishment of state-sanctioned religion. They do not guarantee happiness or a life free of discomfort or anxiety. If publicly requested divine guidance (prayer) offends your sensibilities, don't participate. No one is required to participate. No one is required to participate, nor should they be.

The Founding Fathers never envisioned a separation of church and state. The entire premise of our independence and the foundation of our society is predicated on divine blessings. The idea that our rights are derived from God, and not man, is the cornerstone of our society. Without this guiding principle the rights of man become the rights of tyrants and despots. We are inextricably bound to religious values, for without this guiding principle our nation's birth is illegitimate.

The elegant, profound statement from the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," affirms that the ultimate authority is beyond humanity's realm.

Freedom of religion, not from religion, is what the Founding Fathers bequeathed to the nation. Freedom to worship, or not worship, the legacy of our founding: "Congress shall make no law respecting and establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

No one is required to participate in any religious ceremony or even in a moment of silence. As long as they do not disturb others, they can count sheep or do long division, and the state can not object.

The idea of any spiritual reference should be forbidden from the public square is ludicrous. Atheism and agnosticism are belief systems unto themselves. Trampling the rights of others to satisfy the secular minority is a misinterpretation and abuse of our laws.

It is disingenuous to suggest that generic spiritual expressions and references to a creator and creation are offensive since our existence confirms the act of creation, and creation implies a creator.

Whether the ultimate goal of these secular devotees is more sinister than simple narcissism is immaterial. Their beliefs and heightened sensitivity have no precedence over another's. Denying creation is counter-intuitive and equally offensive.

Our society is based on Judeo-Christian values as codified in the Ten Commandments. This is not a slight of other religious or secular beliefs. It is nothing more than an acknowledgement about the divine origins of our rights and freedoms.

If successful, those who would deprive us of our moral compass will they have spawned a society far more objectionable than they can imagine. 
Mike Rodgick, Trabuco Canyon, California

Happy Memorial Day,

George H. Kubeck