Oppose Spiritual Heritage Week

Today, Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia, the Founder and Chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, and twenty-four other members of the House of Representatives, co-sponsored a resolution in Congress that would “affirm the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history and express support for designation of the first week in May as America's Spiritual Heritage Week for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith.”

The resolution, H.RES. 397, would put Congress on record as “recognize[ing] the religious foundations of faith on which America was built are critical underpinnings of our Nation's most valuable institutions and form the inseparable foundation for America's representative processes, legal systems, and societal structures.”

In addition, the resolution “rejects, in the strongest possible terms, any effort to remove, obscure, or purposely omit such history from our Nation's public buildings and educational resources” and justifies the need to keep “under God” in the pledge. 

Last year, when a similar measure was introduced, 93 members of the House of Representatives co-sponsored this legislation.

Our elected officials need to know that these "Christian nation" resolutions distort America's history and exclude the history of atheists, humanists, freethinkers and other nontheists who have made significant contributions to our nation. 

Their denial of the secular nature of our government means that these members of Congress are not only disagreeing with Americans who know that we are not a Christian nation (and never have been), but they are also disputing our President who recently promoted America’s secular heritage abroad during a trip to Turkey. 

In this new era of promoting science and evidence, no representative should feel compelled to support the agenda of the Congressional Prayer Caucus and their attempts to infuse personal religious values into public policy.