So how does everyone feel about House Resolution 847?

Question

This Resolution was about Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith.

It reads: Whereas Christmas, a holiday of great significance to Americans and many other cultures and nationalities, is celebrated annually by Christians throughout the United States and the world;

Whereas there are approximately 225,000,000 Christians in the United States, making Christianity the religion of over three-fourths of the American population;

Whereas there are approximately 2,000,000,000 Christians throughout the world, making Christianity the largest religion in the world and the religion of about one-third of the world population;

It originally included this text: Whereas identify themselves as those who believe in the salvation from sin offered to them through the sacrifice of their savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and who, out of gratitude for the gift of salvation, commit themselves to living their lives in accordance with with the teachings of the Holy Bible.

Obviously that last bit was stricken. You can read more: http://www.abroch.com/2007/12/24/just-in-time-for-christmas-house-resolution-847/

Or check out the votes here: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll1143.xml

Vishal - you're right. Thanks for adding that!

I'll add this up here just in case it's missed. Basically this resolution resolved that the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;
(2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;
(3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;
(4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;
(5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and
(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world.

Answer 1

I think we have a whole lot of House cleaning to do. Also, the text of the "bill" demonstrate that the morons in the House could use refreshers in Constitutional government and world demographics.

This calls for a total House cleaning in November, 2008. The roll call identifies 372 candidates for removal.

Answer 2

You left out what I think is the most important part:

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;
(2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;
(3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;
(4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;
(5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and
(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world.

If the bill does get passed into law, I would say that (1) and (2) explicitly violate the first amendment. (Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...)

Answer 3

doesn't congress have better things to do with their time? How about

(1) recognizing humanity as one of the great species of the world;
(2) expressing continued support for humans in the United States and worldwide;
(3) acknowledging the international importance humanity and the proper feeding thereof;
(4) acknowledging and supporting the role played by humans in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;
(5) rejecting bigotry and persecution directed against Humans, both in the United States and worldwide; and
(6) expressing its deepest respect to humans throughout the world.

That one I could get behind.

In answer to the question, I feel angry. They - a government that is meant to have no religious affiliation - have just elevated a religion above all others. I feel dissed, dismissed and downright pissed.

Answer 4

"Whereas there are approximately 2,000,000,000 Christians throughout the world,"

It does depend rather on who's counting.
Many Christians groups do not recognise other Christian groups as Christian,
and in American it's easy to find preaching denouncing the nominalism of those who "think they are Christians but are not."

In the UK the figure is anywhere between 6 and 60%, depending exactly what counts as truly "Christian."

But the clause:
(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world.

Is especially interesting.
Does it imply lesser or no respect for other religions?
(I'm past any hope for real respect for those holding no religion).

Answer 5

I thinks it's full of nothingness. A complete waste of time.

I believe the orignal idea behind the resolution was to officially recognize the significance of Christmas, but the resolution went way beyond that. The federal government should not give special treatment to any religion (even if it's the one I practice).

Answer 6

It scares me, especially with a Baptist minister, a pentacostal and a Mormon each gaining a lot of support in the presidential race. It also makes me laugh every time some fundie claims Christians are being "persecuted" in this country. Hello, I pretty sure this is the ONLY religion the government has actually seen fit to pass a bill protecting and recognizing as important, and they're the MAJORITY in this country! )O(

Answer 7

We have spent 1.4 TRILLION dollars on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and these clowns are debating religion ? We've lost about 4000 people in Iraq alone. What a waste of time.

Answer 8

Unneeded, a waste of taxpayers money, panders to the religious right and insults the non-Christians of this country. (Is ther a reason we're not recognising the importance of other holidays?!?) Doesn't congress have kids to insure or a deficit to fix or something?

Answer 9

So, is this the Congresses way of saying "Don't Mess with Christmas"....???

Good thing it bears no weight in law...but what a waste of time!!!

Answer 10

This is exactly why I'm a vocal atheist. My taxes are being wasted so a bunch of religous goofs can spend time talking about junk like this instead of how better educate children.