horsegoeswest : H. Res. 397: Affirming the ridiculous
HGW points out another stealth theocracy bill wasting Congress’ time, and the taxpayers.
Basically a dog and pony show. The more insidious bits are at the end of the long resolution:
Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives–
(1) affirms the rich spiritual and diverse religious history of our Nation’s founding and subsequent history, including up to the current day;
(2) recognizes that 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;
(3) 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
(4) expresses support for designation of a ‘America’s Spiritual Heritage Week’ every year for the appreciation of and education on America’s history of religious faith.
The takeaway is the efforts to undue the decades of damages and infringements on the 1st Amendment would be severely hampered by this little piece of legislation. If not an outright counter, it would be a stepping stone to the right-wing wetdream of a theocracy underpinning US laws and leadership.
Representative Forbes (R-VA) has a flowery piece he used to introduce HR397 to the 111th Congress. You can read it here. Suffice it to say, it’s full of poor suppositions and outright misdirection.