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The Los Angeles government, without a voter referendum, has taken upon itself to override the majority, history, and freedom in order to remove an image from its city seal. Not, mind you, the large pagan goddess splayed upon the center of the seal, but the tiny cross to the right of her. This city, founded by Catholics, will now remove part of its own past. Why? The ACLU-- American Civil Liberties Union-- has said that the tiny cross offends people, and that the church and state must remain divided.

Let us clarify things. The separation of church and state is not found in the Constitution at any point, even in the amendments. However, the very first amendment maintains freedom of religion.

I mention this not because a city decided to change its seal-- which it has the right to do, even if the reasons outrage its own people-- but because this dogged attack is just one of many by a union which says it protects civil liberties-- the kind of attack that kicks out a student from an SAT test because she is wearing a shirt with a cross on it, or the kind of repression that does not allow students to stay after school to pray by themselves. Christians and Muslims have gotten dealt a hard blow by secularists, whose belief in the absence of God from all matters of the state is crumbling part of the cultural heritage of America.

As a historian, I object. Some of the first settlers from England founded colonies because their own government was forbidding them to worship in their own ways. Part of the history of America is founded by religious groups-- just look at the names of some cities! Los Angeles, the angels. Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. San Francisco, Saint Francis. Saint Augustine, obvious. Should we rename them all?

Taking the Ten Commandments out of the courts-- when we are a common law society that hinges judicial decisions on historical precedents-- is utterly wrong. We should be adding to our understanding, not taking it away. It is as bad as when Protestants whitewashed Catholic churches, removing ages of historical tradition. Add the Magna Carta, the Code of Hammurabi, excerpts from The Republic, anything that has a precedent in our codes of law. Don't remove history because you disagree with it, personally-- have the foresight to realize this is part of a shared past, and strive to understand it.

Rewriting history has been one of humanity's greatest sins. It has been done by all peoples, including Christians, which I'm sure some will make it a point to tell me. Men are flawed. They think that if they can remove the evidence of a thing, it will not affect future generations. Do not murder is a commandment. I think it a murder to destroy our past. We'll only repeat it.

Which is what we are doing today. Repeating the past. Don't be fooled by false surroundings: we still harbor the kinds of beliefs that made abhorrent things popular. The ACLU would like Christian symbols no longer displayed by the government. It would like students in public schools never meeting to pray on the grounds. What's next? Muslim students removing their scarves on public property? Churches banned from public streets? Jail time for proselytizing?

How about banning openly religious students from public schools? Say, Jews?

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

I don't know if this is a losing battle, or a winning one. It seems to be the former, but then I am a pessimist about society. I have read too much about what mankind does, and I harbor no illusions that the United States of America is perfect.

At least I can still say this on the internet:

Heaven help us.

Copyright © 2004 by Vanessa Rose Phin