ACLU Wants Bible Distribution To End

Posted on November 29, 2007

Jay asked if I would write a little something about a plan in two North Carolina school districts to end a practice of allowing the people at Gideons International to distribute their bibles at the schools because of pressure from everyoneâ€™s favorite Communist front organization, the ACLU. Iâ€™m actually a bit reluctant about this because personally I am not a big fan of Gideons. I believe that their bibles are incomplete because the only ones that Iâ€™ve ever seen are their pocket New Testaments.

As a Roman Catholic, I find their bibles incomplete because without the promises contained in the Old Testament prophesies their fulfillment in the New Testament loses some impact. That said, the argument for allowing the bible distribution practice to continue has historical context and precedent.

James McHenry was one of the signers of the Constitution of the United States and a member of the Continental Congress. Fort McHenry, where in 1812 the battle with Britain occasioned the writing of our national anthem, was named for him. In 1813, McHenry became the president of the first Bible society in Baltimore. He believed the distribution of Bibles was necessary to the preservation of our country. He wrote:

“Neither, in considering this subject, let it be overlooked, that public utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Scriptures.

The doctrine they preach, the obligations they impose, the punishment they threaten, the rewards they promise, the stamp and image of divinity they bear, which produces a conviction of their truths, can alone secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions of government, purity, stability and usefulness.

In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions. Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses, and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience.

Consider also, the rich do not possess aught more precious than their Bible, and that the poor cannot be presented by the rich with anything of greater value. Withhold it not from the poor. It is a book of councils and directions, fitted to every situation in which man can be placed ….” SOURCE

First off, the education of children was never supposed to be a government function. At one time, the youth of this nation learned to read and write, add and subtract, under the direction of churches. But then some states began to fund what we know now as â€œpublic schoolsâ€. This is not forbidden by the Constitution but then again the Constitution doesnâ€™t give that authority to the national government. And under the 10th Amendment:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively; or to the people.

The states exercised their rights and began to fund a more regulated curriculum and took the responsibility for educating the children of their citizens. This was their right under the 10th Amendment. But there is no authority granted to the United States by the Constitution and any law or effort to do so by Congress or any other federal authority is therefore a violation of the 10th Amendment.

This said, at the foundation of this country each of the original states had a state religion. The first Amendment was authored to insure that the federal government wouldnâ€™t interfere with those state sponsored religious bodies. It doesnâ€™t prohibit the states themselves from establishing religion, just Congress.

The United States is a Federal Republic NOT as some would have you believe a democracy. What is democracy anyway? Mob rule. There is a reason why the great democracies of history all came to an end. And this country is traveling down that path in spite of the fact that we were never meant to be a democracy.

The political authority in this nation was supposed to be found at the state and local level. But since the 1930s and the expansion of the federal government with the New Deal, the people of this nation decided that the federal government needed to be responsible for every aspect of life. So if a town put up a nativity scene that somehow translated into the Congress of the United States making a law respecting the establishment of religion when in fact if anyone was respecting religion at all it is the local government. The same can be said for references to religion in public schools.

Public schools are run by local governments under regulation from the state. The monies used to fund these schools are in most states generated at the local and county level and stay in that county or locality. Unless a particular state constitution or local charter has a provision banning such respect for an establishment of religion at that authoritative level, the permitting of the distribution of bibles, public nativity scenes, the posting of the Ten Commandments on local or state government buildings or property should be perfectly permissible. Because my friends, no matter how you want to prostitute the authority of the federal government, none of these constitutes Congress making a law respecting an establishment of religion.

Let me remind you again of the power of a state or local government to do so.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively; or to the people.

The ACLU uses the threat of expensive court proceedings to bully local governments, state governments, and school districts into capitulating to their vision of America. A place where God, any mention of God, and the practices of religion is forced underground like some sort of secret society. It in a sense takes Christianity in particular back to the days of the persecutions of the early Church. Whatâ€™s next for the ACLU? Will they advocate the feeding of Christians to lions?