(Today in History – Robert Heckendorn)

(Today in History – Robert Heckendorn)

It was a non-violent revolution in which the revolutionaries carried only red carnations and convinced the soldiers to trade their guns for carnations. Only four people were killed.

While reading excerpts from William Byrd II’s The History of the Dividing Line (ca. 1841), I read about a place in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina called The Great Dismal Swamp. I kid you not. It cracks me up that he didn’t name it Byrd Swamp or something that would edify him and the surveyors who were working together to demarcate the boundaries between Virginia and North Carolina. No, Byrd proved his sense of humor by using a descriptor to name the swamp. The Great Dismal Swamp seems like something that belongs in Harry Potter’s world, not US History.

Brother: Continue to listen. You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind, and if we do not take hold of this religion which you white people each, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right, that we are lost. How do we know this to be true? We understand that your religion is written in a book. If it was intended for us as well as you, why has not the Great Spirit given it to us, and not only to us, but why did he not give to our forefathers the knowledge of that book, with the means of understanding it rightly? We only know what you tell us about it. How shall we know when to believe, being so often deceived by the white people?

BROTHER: You say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion why do you white people differ so much about it? Why are you not all agreed,–as you can all read the book?

BROTHER: We do not understand these things. We are told that your religion was given to your forefathers, and has been handed down from father to son. We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers and has been handed down to us their children. We worship in that way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we receive; to love each other, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion.

BROTHER: The Great Spirit has made us all, but he has made a great difference between his white and red children. He has given us different complexions, and different customs. To you He has given the arts. To these He has not opened our eyes. We know these things to be true. Since He has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that He has given us a different religion according to our understanding? The Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for is children; we are satisfied.

Notice that there are only three references to “God”

1. Paragraph 1: “Nature’s God”
2. Paragraph 2: “Creator”
3. Last Paragraph: “divine Providence”

People who insist on claiming that the US was founded as a Christian country would do well to remember that the Puritans left England in order to escape religious persecution and that the Declaration of Independence does not mention the Christ or allude to a “Christian” God.

JFK reading the Declaration of Independence:

In the background the noise on the TV got louder and I looked up.  There, on the stage was a tall, thin man with a mellifluous voice.  I put my bookmark in place and leaned forward, barely noticing when my pizza arrived.  Gone now are the words from my memory but I remember the tiny spark of hope.  An unknown man, a great orator was speaking in a way that made me begin to believe that there was hope for the Democratic Party and for the country, for me.  I knew then and there that this was a man destined for great things and was the one to pay attention to in the future.  It’s the first time in my life that I remembered the name of the keynote speaker.

I don’t remember the words but I remember the name, Barack Obama, presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate for 2008.