The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest

Vol: 35 Issue: 24 - Tuesday, August 24, 2004

America, the Mythical
by Jack Kinsella

It would seem that the 1st Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and
religion are more pliable that one suspects the Founders intended. Take,
for example, the strange story of Lt. General William Boykin.

He was recently named Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
His mission is to reinvigorate the search for bin Laden, Mullah Omar and
other leaders of global terrorism.  Boykin is also a Christian.

The general delivered a sermon at an Oregon church in which he called the
terrorists who war against us 'demonic' and said they hate us because 'we
are a Judeo-Christian nation.'

General Boykin's sermon was secretly recorded by an LA Times reporter, who
promptly recast it as a 'speech' and selectively released quotes from it
to the mainstream media.

Within hours, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Howard Dean, the
Egyptian Foreign Minister, Osama bin Laden, the PCUSA and the rest of the
liberal world were screaming for Boykin's removal from office.

Ironically, the demands for the head of General Boykin were being made on
behalf of 'religious tolerance'.

Among the 'intolerant' remarks seized on by the mainstream was Boykin's
assertion that "We're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our
roots are Judeo-Christian, and the enemy is a guy named Satan."

Let's take that statement apart and see how Boykin offended the
'tolerant'.

Whether or not America actually IS a "Christian" nation is a matter of
some dispute, but the fact is that the terrorists think we are. Osama
bin-Laden's declaration of war was against Christian America and Zionist
Israel.

It wasn't a religious statement.  It was a statement of secular fact.

As far as America's roots being Judeo-Christian, it depends on how one
defines 'roots'.   The Pilgrims?  The Founding Fathers?  The Pilgrims came
to America in order to practice their Christian faith freely.  The
Declaration of Independence acknowleges a Creator.

Again, a statement of secular fact.

And if our enemy isn't a guy named Satan, who cares?  Unless the liberals
want to argue that Satan has been offended by Boykin's remarks, where is
the intolerance?

Not only was Boykin's freedom of speech been curtailed by calls for his
dismissal, but his comments were made in a church!

Assessment:

Let's shift gears, for a moment, and take a look at another example:

Under the law, issue advocacy groups have an absolute right to express
their political views, provided they do not coordinate their efforts with
any single political campaign.

Moveon.org has defended its anti-Bush ads by claiming their right under
the 1st Amendment, for example.

When the Swift Boat Vets, also an issue advocacy group, launched its
series of ads questioning Kerry's background, the Kerry campaign smeared
them as liars, questioned their motives, threatened legal action to
silence them, and having exhausted those efforts, blamed the Bush campaign
for NOT silencing them.

(Of course, if the Bush campaign DID tell them to stop, it would be an
'illegal coordination' -- Kerry knows that)

These are men who discharged their oath to defend the Constitution in
battle, many spilling their own blood.  Where is the outrage at efforts to
subvert their 1st Amendment rights?

Capping it all was the Kerry campaign's allegation that because the
veterans received donations from prominent Republicans, they should be
silenced.  (According to WorldNetDaily, of the top 25 contributors to 527
'soft money' groups, the top 23 are Democrats.)

Over the course of the last generation, the 1st Amendment has increasingly
been interpreted as protecting any speech or any religion except that
rooted in Judeo-Christianity or espousing conservative values.

The Koran can be taught in public schools, for example, but the Bible
cannot even be present in the classroom.

Liberal advocacy groups like the ACLU and  Americans United for Separation
of Church and State work tirelessly to keep God from playing any role in
American life, usually by claiming it offends some other religion or
culture.

And always, by cloaking themselves in the Constitution, the Declaration of
Independence, or the incredible, bendable, 1st Amendment.

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was passed in
1948 and serves as a global 'bill of rights'.   It guarantees all the same
things that our Constitution does, including freedom of assembly,
religion, movement, etc.

In clause 29 of the 30 clause document, it says, "These rights and
freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and
principles of the United Nations." (UNUDHR Art 29, para 3)

To recap: In the case of the rights contained in the UNUDHR, they are
granted by the UN, provided they are in harmony with "the purposes and
principles of the United Nations."

On the other hand, the Declaration of Independence says, "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."

If there is no Creator, America is founded on a myth.

"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath
shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of
the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither
were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish
heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."
(Romans 1:19-22)