Year of the Bible

Should 2010—or any other year—be the Year of the Bible? It will if Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., has his way. He announced H.Con.Res.284, the National Year of the Bible Resolution, on his website.

"The Bible's tremendous influence in the shaping of American history and providing hope for all Americans is something that Congress and the president should formally acknowledge," Broun wrote on the site.

"The National Year of the Bible Resolution reminds us that our great nation was founded upon biblical principles and that religious freedom is guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. I encourage Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring this resolution to the floor so President Barack Obama has the opportunity to deisignate an appropriate year as 'The National Year of the Bible.'"

Threat to religious liberty

Broun's resolution illustrates why—all fear-mongering and hand-wringing to the contrary—Christians pose the greatest threat to religious liberty in America. Christians are far and away the largest faith group. And militant Christians like Broun comprise the group who most often bang the drum for removing religious liberty—at least liberty for people who differ from them.

Historical perspective

It is true that many of our foreparents came to these shores for religious liberty. Most of them came for their own religious liberty, and they didn't care so much for the liberty of others. That's why laws and statutes established government churches or at least government-endorsed churches throughout most of the colonies.

A true advocate of religious liberty, Roger Williams, was exiled from Massachusetts Colony because he refused to kow-tow to the official religion. So, he established the colony of Rhode Island as a haven where people of all kinds of faiths—and he named Quakers, Baptists, Jews and "people of no faith"—could live freely according to the dictates of their consciences.

Elsewhere, religious liberty wasn't a hot topic.

Founders' wisdom

Thank God that about 150 years later, when the United States was being formed, our Founding Fathers had the wisdom to adopt a secular Constitution and a First Amendment guaranteeing religious liberty.

If you don't understand why they established a secular government that both protected religion and protected itself from religion, read the history of 16th and 17th century Europe. The blood of religious wars soaked the continent. Our Founding Fathers realized the only way to protect this young nation from religious warfare was to guarantee religious freedom and to refuse religious favoritism.

Religious favoritism

And that's what Broun's resolution seeks to do. Favor the Bible over other religious texts. And favor Christianity over other religions.

That's not the job of government. (Ironically, why is it that folks who say they want limited government and don't trust government to meddle in their finanical affairs seem to be the same folks who want government interfering in religion and propping up Christianity?) If government favors any faith, all faiths suffer.

Broun's resolution probably won't get any traction. Let's pray it doesn't.