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No government in this country has the right to make any religious proclamation. The argument that the Bible is being celebrated as literature or history is specious; no book that is simply literature and/or history is given its own week. This proclamation was from start to finish a religious position advocated and promoted by the chief executive officer of a city government. [Author's note: the reference is to a proclamation by then-Mayor Cynthia Dunham of Gilbert, AZ. Gilbert, like neighboring Mesa in which I live, is heavily Mormon. Unlike Mesa, Gilbert is extremely racist and bigoted.] To allow any government to make such proclamations is to sanction the creation of a de facto religious establishment, forbidden by the First Amendment.
Were there no religious significance to the act, it would not have been performed -- no one has suggested proclaiming a "Locke Week" -- yet John Locke's works were admired by Jefferson and have had much direct influence on the drafting of the Constitution. It's non-inclusion is because Locke's works have no religious content. Self-justifying doubletalk by anyone supporting the proclamation will change none of this, nor will it reflect any position other than as I have described it. The existence of such drivel gives me half a mind to run for public office myself (which many would say is all it takes in Arizona). |
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