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Wednesday, February 18, 2009 FAITH UNDER FIRE Christianity being wiped from tales of U.S. history Tour guides at Jamestown, Monticello don't include Jesus' name in explanations Posted: November 15, 2006 1:00 am Eastern
By Bob
Unruh Editor's note: Yesterday, the Supreme
Court's effort to erase the Ten Commandments from its history was
documented. Today we find out where else Christianity's influence is
being wiped from historical stories: When Pastor Todd DuBord visited historical sites in the Washington,
D.C., area recently he was thrilled with being on the site of so many
events important to the founding of the United States.
He, and his wife, Tracy, were on a tour that visited Jamestown,
Monticello, Mt. Vernon, Ford's Theater, the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, the
U.S. Supreme Court Building, the Holocaust Museum, Korean War Memorial,
World War II Memorial Vietnam Memorial, Washington Memorial, Jefferson
Memorial and Lincoln Memorial.
But as a history buff, he noticed quickly that one influence from the
nation's early years was left out – not just once or twice – but
repeatedly.
(Story continues below)
DuBord, pastor of the Lake
Almanor Community Church in California, said when visiting the
Jamestown Museum and Settlement, and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, he
noticed any of Christianity's influences on American history were ignored,
or belittled.
His entire research compilation is available
online. And he's written letters to the various organizations that
manage the sites, asking them to correct the information they provide to
visitors.
DuBord's message from July 23, 2006, on this issue can be heard
immediately, and for free, on the church
website at www.lacconline.org.
During his visit at Jamestown, he said, the tour guides several times
said the first settlers arrived in America "to make money."
"While this is partially true, it was not only totally overstated by
its emphasis and repetition, but there was absolutely no hint of the
religious purpose given and stated under the Virginia Charter of 1606,
which called for the 'propagating of Christian religion to such people as
yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and
worship of God.'"
He said there also was absolutely no mention of the fact the colonists'
first act, after having landed at Cape Henry on April 27, 1607, "was to
erect a large wooden cross and hold a prayer meeting, conducted by their
minister, Reverend Robert Hunt."
"As colonist George Percy noted back then, 'The nine and twentieth day
we set up a cross at Chesupioc Bay, and named the place Cape Henry,'"
DuBord pointed out to the history experts.
"In fact, it seemed whenever there was an opportunity to address any of
the religious characteristics or zeal of this first community, they were
avoided," he said.
Later during the tour, when visitors were being led through the very
heart of the replica of the community, the Anglican Church, the guide was
asked about the significance of the various religious plaques, such as the
Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments, on the wall at the front of the
church.
"Our guide's response was that she was unable to speak about it, a
clear reference to all of us that she was trained to minimize the
religious aspects of the settlement. We were all appalled, and shared so
with her, especially understanding that this was an educational tour and
that the religious education was being eliminated from the heart of a
people who were devoutly Christian," DuBord said.
A similar situation developed at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home.
"Again, while our guide was cordial and informative about many matters,
when asked about the religious faith of Thomas Jefferson, he abruptly and
actually quite arrogantly said, 'We all know Jefferson was a strict deist
[a person who believes in a Creator who does not involve Himself in the
daily affairs of men], who ardently fought for the separation of Church
and State,'" DeBord wrote.
"His added comments left everyone believing Jefferson was essentially
(what might be called today) 'a liberal democrat,' and especially one who
would have never allowed any mixture of religion in government," he wrote.
The facts are that Jefferson used his political position to establish
churches and distribute Bibles, DeBord found. "For example, in an 1803
federal Indian treaty, Jefferson willingly agreed to provide $300 to
'assist the said Kaskaskia tribe in the erection of a church' and to
provide 'annually for seven years $100 towards the support of a Catholic
priest.'"
Jefferson also set aside government lands so that Moravian missionaries
might be helped in "promoting Christianity." And Jefferson once was
chairman of the American Bible Society.
Jefferson's "differences with American clergy" were not about
eliminating Christianity from government, but to make sure a single
denomination didn't become government, DuBord said.
"Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come
under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus….I am a
real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus,"
Jefferson said.
"While it is true that Jefferson was an advocate for the separation of
the State from the Church, he was not attempting to neuter the government
from any or all religious or even Christian influence," DuBord said
history shows. "Religiously speaking, Jefferson was raised Anglican
(Church of England), which is partially why he (as well as others) opposed
the tyranny of king, priest, or whomever."
According to DuBord, Jefferson believed, as President Ronald Reagan
once said:
"If Jefferson intended to utterly void religion from national laws and
legislatures, then why would he have attended church services in the
Capitol Building? (Which there were back in his day). And why would he
warn our country from abandoning God with these convicting words to our
nation (words now also inscribed on the wall of the Jefferson Memorial):"
DuBord wrote.
That, DuBord noted, "sounds to me more like a preacher than a
politician!"
"No one can say these things and be a strict deist at the same time,
because Jesus' doctrines included in the belief in the immanency of a God
who will never leave us or forsake us, always willing to intervene and
help us in our times of need," he said.
DuBord grew up without religion, but during seven years of academic
study at Bethany University and Fuller Theological Seminary accepted that
the claims of Christianity are true.
He's served in various prison, drug and alcohol rehab ministries and
worked as a youth pastor and associate pastor before assuming his duties
in Lake Almanor.
His messages can be downloaded at http://www.wnd.com/redir/r.asp?http://www.iTunes.com
by typing in "almanor" or "dubord."
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