News Release
For Immediate Release:  March 27, 2012
Contact:  Diane Gramley  1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355

Atheists Have Nothing Better To Do Than Try To Revise Our History

(Harrisburg) — The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) continues flexing its muscles trying to intimidate those who do not know our nation’s history and the foundations upon which it is built.   House Resolution 535, the Year of the Bible Resolution, was adopted unanimously on January 24, 2012 in the Pennsylvania State House.  Two weeks later liberal Democrats from Philadelphia apologized for their vote on the non-binding resolution saying they did not know what was included in the stack of resolutions they voted on during the January 24th session.   The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA) fully supports State Representative Rick Saccone’s House Resolution 535 and the members of the State House who continue to stand behind their vote.

“The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a misnomer; this group has its own religion and that’s secular humanism.  Their usual target is the Christian religion as is evidenced in their attacks on nativity scenes and now this attack on words on paper.  Apparently they fear that people will be educated once again on the Christian foundations of our nation and they’ve pulled out all the stops through a billboard campaign   and now a lawsuit  to make sure that doesn’t happen,” noted Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.

The lawsuit  falsely claims the PA House recognized Christianity as the “endorsed state religion” through passage of House Resolution 535, thus violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution.   The lawsuit itself attempts to rewrite history by taking out of context and denying the writings of our Founding Fathers when it came to God’s involvement in government.  In fact, Pennsylvania’s founder, William Penn said in his Frame of Government, “This settles the divine right of government beyond exception, and that for two ends:  first, to terrify evil doers: secondly, to cherish those that do well; which give government a life beyond corruption, and makes it as durable in the world, as good men shall be.  So that government seems to me a part of religion itself, a thing sacred in its institution and end.”

The atheist group must also not realize that the Preamble to the PA Constitution references Almighty God:   “We, the People of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance, do ordain and establish this Constitution.”

“All fifty states  reference God in their Constitutions.  Will the FFRF now target all of them to get them to remove those references?   This is a frivolous lawsuit intended to silence those who want to once again shine a light on the foundations of this nation — God and the Bible.  Pennsylvanians and Americans, in general, need to be educated on our Christian beginnings and the importance it played in our founding,” Gramley concluded.

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