Proposed Resolution for the Texas Legislature

A Response to H.C.R. No. 58 by Phil Stephenson

According to the Internet, Texas state representative Phil Stephenson filed a resolution calling on the Texas legislature to mention the Judeo-Christian-Islamic god more and to post more copies of the Ten Commandments. This annoys me on a number of levels.
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/83R/billtext/pdf/HC00058I.pdf#navpanes=0

First, resolutions like this are essentially meaningless, and engaging in meaningless activities when the nation has Things To Do is a waste of time and money.

Second, I'm tired of people telling me, as this resolution does, what the Founding Fathers thought about something in an attempt to do an end run around the clear language of the Constitution. Understanding what the Founders thought about things certainly helps illuminate the Constitution, but it's only the words that made it into that document that bind us. And those words established a secular government, not a church.


Third, this is the kind of thing the modern political Christian does to create the illusion of a "war" on Christianity. It goes like this. 1) try to force your religious opinions on other people, 2) when other people object, claim that you're being "persecuted". We call that behavior "looking for trouble" and it's generally practiced only by adolescents or savages.

Fourth, I'm tired of hearing about your Ten Commandments. They don't apply to me. This is the point that Stephenson and people with similar views need to get through their heads. The Ten Commandments are a voluntary code adopted by most Christians and practiced by some. They're voluntary because they're religious, and in America we have the right to believe or not believe any religions we choose. If I'm not Christian, the Ten Commandments have no authority over me.

Fifth, this resolution doesn't help solve any problems. It doesn't enrich Texas or the United States. It doesn't support the free practice of Christianity. It doesn't support any genuine American values. All it really does is encourage the use of taxpayer money to advertise for one branch of Christianity. It probably wouldn't be a lot of tax money, but why expend any on such a narrow, private purpose?

Why don't we try a different resolution? Let's try one that could really make an improvement in Texas and America.

Proposed Resolution for the Texas State Legislature

WHEREAS, Modern science set forth a methodology of rational inquiry that has enriched humanity in general and America in particular; and

WHEREAS, A modern nation cannot prosper if its scientific education and progress are shackled by superstition or political correctness; and 

WHEREAS, It is clear from their writings that our Founding Fathers respected science, education, and the principles of the Enlightenment as fundamental American values; and

WHEREAS, Science is one of the pillars of American strength, and attacks against science and science education are therefore attacks on America; and 

WHEREAS, the Republican Party has attacked science and science education through repeated un-Constitutional attempts to push religious opinion into our schools and through the systematic and deliberate bearing of false witness against scientists and their work; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas should tell the Republican Party to quit acting like a bunch of primitive screwheads and move into the 21st century with the rest of us.