First up from the God machine this week is a strange fight over dating. Not the kind where two people go out for dinner and a movie, which might seem more likely to generate some kind of religious controversy, but literally how best to assign dates to historical periods of time.
A bill in the Missouri Senate would require the state’s dating standard to include the initials A.D. and B.C., which stand for “Anno Domini” and “Before Christ.”
The sponsor, Republican John Loudon of St. Louis County, says there’s a national move to replace the initials with the secular monikers “C.E.” and “B.C.E.,” which stand for “Common Era” and “Before Common Era.”
The purpose of the bill is to preserve what Loudon calls an American tradition.
“NASA has adopted it,” Loudon said. “It’s definitely coming to a neighborhood near you, textbooks and so forth, we’re just wanting to preserve another American tradition that’s under attack.”
What some religious conservatives choose to pick fights over never ceases to amaze me.
First, “B.C.” and “A.D.” aren’t exactly “American traditions,” given that they were in use before the United States even existed. Second, C.E. and B.C.E. have taken on broader academic use, but that hardly represents an “attack.”
And third, people, especially students, should be familiar with C.E. and B.C.E. as dating methods, given that they’re more likely to appear in university coursework and in college placement exams.
Does everything have to be a culture-war fight?
Other items from the God Machine this week:
* My friends at Faith in Public Life noticed a very interesting trend the night of the Iowa caucuses.
There’s a large hole in this conventional wisdom, though: Faith was effectively barred from consideration as a factor in Obama’s victory. The CNN entrance and NBC exit polls both asked Republican caucus-goers if they were “born-again or evangelical,” and neither one asked that question of Democratic caucusers. Democrats instead were instead asked if they were union members.
Thirty three percent of Iowa evangelicals voted for Kerry in 2004. The Religion Newswriters’ Association named “Democrats court people of faith” the #2 religion story of 2007. Winner Barack Obama is well known for thoughtful discussion of his faith.
So why are CNN and NBC still treating evangelicals as the Republicans’ property? Their polls don’t even account for the possibility that evangelicals can play a significant role in the Democratic caucus. That’s some serious institutional bias.
Good point.
* And finally, the fine folks at Americans United for Separation of Church and State (full disclosure: my former employer) are launching an interesting ad campaign.
For the first time in a presidential election and on the eve of the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries a new series of television and newspaper ads is being launched to urge presidential candidates to protect religious freedom.
At a time when presidential candidates in both political parties are injecting religion into their campaigns at unprecedented levels, the new ads are designed to help provide a clearer understanding of where candidates stand on key issues at the intersection of religion and politics. The ads are scheduled to lead up to the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries later this month.
First Freedom First, a joint project of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and The Interfaith Alliance Foundation, is launching the new print and TV ads to encourage voters to ask presidential candidates their positions on a wide range of issues, from end-of-life options to protecting the right of all Americans to worship…or not.
The first advertisements feature legendary actors Jack Klugman and James Whitmore and are designed to remind candidates and voters that religion has a place in American life, but not as a political tool.
The First Freedom First Web site features ten sample questions for voters to ask candidates, such as “Do you think public schools should sponsor school prayer or, as a parent, should this choice be left to me?” and, “Do you think my pharmacist should be allowed to deny me doctor-prescribed medications based on his or her religious beliefs?”
Sound like good questions to me.