Little old me got one of those action alerts from the American Family Association in my inbox this morning…

If you are tired of the liberals trying to rid our country of its rich religious history, here is your opportunity to take a stand!

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has begun a campaign to defeat a resolution proclaiming the first week in May as “American Religious History Week.” Remember, this is a non-binding resolution, not a bill before Congress.

Representative Randy Forbes of Virginia has introduced a resolution proclaiming the first week in May as “American Religious History Week.”

The resolution, H. Res. 888, declares its two-fold purpose: “Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation’s founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation of the first week in May as ‘American Religious History Week’ for the appreciation of and education on American’s history of religious faith.”

I searched for the press release from Americans for the Separation of Church and State:

Throughout the Resolution’s 75 Whereas clauses, its authors make a number of dubious claims about America’s religious history. Most notably, the resolution focuses primarily on Christianity in the U.S. and fails to sufficiently acknowledge or celebrate the contributions of a great diversity of believers and non-believers throughout the history of the United States. Our country has been greatly enriched by religious pluralism, yet the narrow focus on Christianity and Christian ideals provides an inaccurate and close-minded account of our history.

Indeed, many of the statements set forth in this resolution are exaggerated, taken out of context, or misleading. For example, the resolution asserts that the Supreme Court affirmed repeatedly that the U.S. is a “Christian Nation.” Although this quotation can be found in the 1892 case Holy Trinity v. United States, it is a legal anomaly, and the author of the statement, Justice David Brewer, later clarified his words and rejected the notion that the nation’s laws are based in Christianity. The resolution also makes distortions, such as the claim that the date line in the Constitution, which states it was signed “in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven,” is evidence that the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were adding a “religious punctuation mark” to the document. In reality, this is standard language used at the time to date documents and can hardly be understood to validate religion or Christianity as a part of the Constitution.

This resolution inaccurately and unfairly distorts U.S. history and attempts to portray a recurring intersection of religion and government. In reality, our government is neutral on religious matters, allowing Americans enjoy to more religious freedom than any people in world history.

So… can both sides be right? Could AFA be right in saying some groups sometimes do attempt to ignore the impact religion has had on this country and history? Could Americans for the Separation of Church and State be right in saying the resolution unfairly leaves out the rich history and diversity of other faiths?

I think so.

Read the text of the resolution here.