I've noticed and appreciated the reasons noted by other bloggers; one of my favorites was "I'm thankful I'm not eating MREs in Fallujah," though there are people in Fallujah - indeed,all of Iraq - not eating enough to live, and unaided by their US occupiers, and I can't summon any gratitude for that.
I am of course grateful for the health of my family, and for my own: four years ago today I wasn't walking, and was preparing for a bout of steroids to allay the MS exacerbation. But I wanted to keep writing about the First Amendment, to be what Rachel used to call a "free speech tourist" (misquoting Mark Knopfler).
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
Today, we're on the very first clause.
The news keeps giving me, and us, many reasons to refocus on the genius of what that crowd of deists and freethinkers and liberal Christians who founded this country had in mind. Especially when bogus lawsuits filed by fundamentalist whackjobs with organizational clout are out there spinning the media, claiming that feeding Christian propaganda to fifth-graders is just "teaching the Declaration of Independence."
Digby has provided, today, a wonderful set of excerpts from our founding documents that illustrate that, at the very least, the Founders were tolerant of tthe populace's Christianity, while warning against any government obeisance to same. James Madison:
What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."
I'm deeply thankful for a government founded on his principles. And for those working to keep them alive.
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