One Davenport Under Our Constitution

^{Davenport, Florida — For those who like to keep up with what is being said to commissioners in the City of Davenport, here is my newest speech to them, below. Enjoy!}

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I know I’m not the first one in Davenport history to bring up this subject. I hope I will be the last. I will be talking about the separation of church and state.

We can all agree that our Founding Fathers were far from perfect, especially regarding the rights of minority populations, but they were indeed ahead of their time. In her article in the Four Corners Sun, Donna Fellows-Coffey wrote,

“the Founding Fathers … were emphatic that the separation of church and state was guaranteed in our nation’s government.”

Again, she wrote, the “separation of church and state was guaranteed.” With that said, I think we can all agree that America is very much still “a work in progress.” “A work in progress” is a phrase that Donna repeats several times in her article with reference to minority populations, such as women, Black people, and LGBTQ. There are, however, far more than just three minority groups in the United States, just as there are far more than just Christian religions in the world.

It is my opinion that the separation of church and state is a pillar of our democracy. For example, the U.S. Constitution was the first government document in history to declare that power comes from people, not gods. Our Constitution was the first not to mention a god or deity. In fact, religion is mentioned only twice: in the First Amendment, which bars laws “respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” otherwise known as the Establishment Clause, and in Article VI, which prohibits “religious tests” for public office.

Unfortunately, since about the time of our Red Scare in the 1950s, we have gotten away from these texts in our Constitution. For example, a Christian attorney in 1954, who was not a member of any minority group, was the first to suggest that we include the words “under god” in our Pledge of Allegiance, a verse recited by every public meeting of every government entity in America. The original Pledge, written in 1892, did not include the phrase, but the attorney fed on the inherent fear of Americans towards others and facilitated its passage much to the detriment of all minority and non-Christian religions throughout America. In spite of the fact that there is no law requiring anybody to recite what government politicians lead us to say, it is simply not right. Because the attorney’s words established the Christian god as the dominant religion in a verse held closely by government bodies, adding the words “under god” to the Pledge violated the Establishment Clause right from the get-go.

Another Red Scare example is our national motto, in god we trust. Our original motto was e pluribus unum, which meant out of many, one. It was changed in 1956. That is not a coincidence with the addition of the phrase “under god” to the Pledge in 1954. Did you know that even Davenport got rid of the May Day Festival on Lake Play due to the Red Scare, because it was known to be a Germany tradition?

All of these changes came from the same Red Scare.

Just a cursory look at the composition of our representatives, from Davenport to the federal government, tells us that the majority of representatives of the people of the United States claim to be Christian. With that said, I can tell you that representatives, who were not members of any minority group, probably were the ones to introduce prayer at our public meetings. Somewhere in the 1950s is my guess. It happens here too, at Davenport’s public meetings. Yet, no one questions how many residents are alienated from public meetings because of this practice.

To be clear, 35% of Americans are not practicing Christians with about 28% claiming no religion at all. 35% is a pretty large minority, and this number is only going to get bigger over time, as more and more people learn more and more about our world.

I have to ask every Christin in a leadership position: With so many Christian denominations and so many non-Christian religions, past and present, how can any religion claim to be the right one? And, why are you leading your audiences at every meeting with your own, personal religion?

Please consider eliminating the traces of the Red Scare from Davenport’s body of commissioners. At the very least, get rid of the Christian prayer at government meetings.

We are one nation, regardless of which god we aspire to or if we aspire to no god at all. We are all still one nation. E pluribus unum. One Davenport.

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Below is the article by Donna Fellow-Coffey that is referenced above.

Click on the image below to enlarge.