I’ve been invited to discuss matters pertaining to the separation of church and state on Iowa Public Radio‘s “River to River” with Ben Kieffer tomorrow, Monday, June 2, 2014, from noon to 1pm.
HOW IN THE NAME OF IOWA could Governor Branstad sign this? How is the even a part of the Governor’s duties?
The governor of our great state of Iowa recently signed a proclamation calling on the people of the state of Iowa to pray and fast and repent according to the text of the Bible.
Again, we’re not talking about the Governor of Kansas or Kentucky, but of Iowa.
Here’s the video.
Hemant Mehta has offered his thoughts on the matter, but allow me to offer a few of my own.
Proclamation signed and issued by the Governor of Iowa, Terry Branstad, inviting Iowans to pray, fast, repent, and unite (lit. “come together”) under the teachings of the deity YHWH so that the deity will “heal our land”.
The Christian equivalent of Sharia law is alive and festering in fundamentalist circles, and those who support the idea of baptizing of our civic administration are scheming increasingly creative ways to sneak religious language and practices into our supposedly secular government.
“NOW, THEREFORE, I, Terry E Branstad, as Governor of the State of Iowa, do hereby invite all Iowans who choose to join in the thoughtful prayer and humble repentance according to II Chronicles 7:14 in favor of our state and nation to come together on July 14, 2014.”
Now I know that some will come to the governor’s defense and point out that this is a non-binding “proclamation” and not a law, and that the text of the proclamation merely “invites” Iowans to pray instead of “requiring” them to do so. But this is still the Governor of a state calling on residents to pray and repent “according to II Chronicles 7:14”.
And it is the second part of the above line – “according to II Chronicles 7:14” – that should give us an even greater pause. To be sure, it is a problem for the governor of a state to call on his residents (many of whom are not Jewish or Christian) to participate in acts of devotion and worship to the god YHWH. But when we examine the actual context of the verse invoked in this proclamation, it is all the more troublesome.
The Governor of Iowa issued an executive proclamation specifically employing the text of 2 Chronicles 7:14 to call Iowans to a day of prayer to the Hebrew god YHWH. But please also note that he called on Iowans to participate in “humble repentance according to II Chronicles 7:14.”
And to what precisely are Iowans repenting? “Repentance” implies the leaving behind of our present ways and the turning or returning to the teachings of the god YHWH. Thus, Governor Branstad just signed a proclamation calling on Iowans to return to the specific teachings of a specific god, so that he will bless our land.
What is troubling is that the context of the verse invoked in his proclamation – that of 2 Chronicles 7:12-18 – specifically states that the reason we should we pray to this deity and do what the deity has commanded, is so the deity will “forgive our sin and heal our land.”
Read it for yourself:
2 Chr. 7:12 Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.
2 Chr. 7:13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 2 Chr. 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chr. 7:15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
2 Chr. 7:16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
2 Chr. 7:17 As for you, if you walk before me, as your father David walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances,
2 Chr. 7:18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I made covenant with your father David saying, ‘You shall never lack a successor to rule over Israel.’
Does the Governor of Iowa believe that prayer, fasting, and repentance to the teaching of YHWH will “heal the land” of Iowa? Perhaps he does. Should the Governor of Iowa be calling on the residents of Iowa to participate with him in this act of sympathetic magic? Absolutely not!
What is all the more troubling is what specifically the verse invoked in the proclamation is calling upon King Solomon to do. Again, context is key in reading the Bible!
Did the Governor realize that the context of 2 Chronicles 7:14 is the building of the temple to YHWH in Jerusalem?
Again, let us look at the verses that appear on either side of 2 Chronicles 7:14:
2 Chr. 7:11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king’s house; all that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the LORD and in his own house he successfully accomplished.
2Chr. 7:12 Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.
2Chr. 7:13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 2Chr. 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2Chr. 7:15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
2Chr. 7:16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem now stands where the Temple in Jerusalem once stood.
Does the Governor of Iowa realize that invoking the text of 2 Chronicles 7 in an executive proclamation may be seen my somemany as a call to re-establish the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, which would necessarily involve the destruction of the third holiest shrine in Islam, the Dome of the Rock?
Because this is precisely what many fundamentalist Christian and Jewish organizations want to do: rebuild the Third Temple! And this becomes a much bigger problem when Governor Branstad employs a verse that is regularly employed by religious zealots to call for the destruction of the Dome of the Rock and the re-establishment of the Temple to YHWH in Jerusalem.
Yet, this is precisely the context of the passage referred to in the proclamation! Is Governor Branstad calling on Iowans to “pray” to YHWH, and to “repent” to his teachings so that the Temple that YHWH has “chosen and consecrated” will stand forever?? That’s what the verse implies. That is the verse’s context.
This is a clear violation of the principle of separation of church and state, which was first introduced by Thomas Jefferson and made abundantly clear in our US Treaty of Tripoli, which spells out explicitly that:
“The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion“.
I discuss this further in posts responding to claims that the United States was “founded as a Christian nation.”
Let me say this once more clearly:
We were NOT founded as a Christian nation. We we founded as a secular nation by many Christians, but we were NOT founded as a “Christian nation”.
And our Founders had the foresight to see the problems that would arise should the civic government ever engage in favoring one religion over another. This is because the sameFirst Amendment that allows the freedom of religion for Christians also allows the worship of other gods – a clear violation of the very teachings not to worship other gods referred to in 2 Chronicles 7:14! (Cf. Deut. 13:12-16; Exod. 20:3-5; Matt. 4:10; Matt. 22:36-38; 1 Cor. 10:14) The hypocrisy is palpable.
Invoking the First Amendment of the US Constitution to defend the signing of an executive proclamation citing 2 Chronicles 7:14 is like invoking the Second Amendment in issuing a proclamation calling for the confiscation of all firearms. It is the epitome of irony.
Allow me to offer a parallel example from a different religion to demonstrate my point that this is not only a violation of the principle of separation of church and state, but why so many Iowans may have such a strong reaction to the Governor’s involvement with this particular religious decree.
What if a Fundamentalist Islamic group, let’s say, the Islamic Family Leader, invoked the same First Amendment of the US Constitution to ask the Governor of Iowa to issue a non-binding proclamation that called Iowans to repentance to God and cited Qur’an Sura 9:3:
“So if you repent, that is best for you; but if you turn away – then know that you will not cause failure to God. And give tidings to those who disbelieve of a painful punishment.“
or Qur’an Sura 9:5(b):
“But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah (alms), let them [go] on their way. Indeed, God is Forgiving and Merciful.”
Simple enough, right? Same basic message of 2 Chron. 7:14: beautiful holy verses calling on Iowans to “repent” so as not to incur the wrath of God.
So what if Governor Branstad issued a similar non-binding proclamation that invoked these Qur’anic verses? My guess is that this would anger some in the Christian community, who might begin asking questions about the separation of church and state.
And of course, those objecting might actually go and read the larger context of the Qur’anic verses cited in the Governor’s proclamation, and would find that the proclamation deliberately neglected the context of the words coming just before the verse cited in the proclamation, Sura 9:5a:
“And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists (which likely includes Christians who believe in a triune God, which the Qur’an repeatedly derides as polytheism. Cf. Qur’an Sura 4:171) wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush.”
Do you think some people might object to this?? Might Christians object to a Qur’anic verse calling on Muslims to ambush and kill non-believers at least as much as many Muslims might object to Governor Branstad invoking averse that celebrates the establishment of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem where the Dome of the Rock now stands? Do you understand how this might make some Iowans unhappy?
Thismust be the litmus test for invoking religion in state matters. If Christians would object to the Governor of Iowa invoking a Qur’anic verse in an official proclamation, why would they expect others not to object to his invoking a verse from the Bible?
When the elected leader of a secular state calls on citizens of his state to engage in acts of devotion and worship (e.g., prayer, fasting, repentance, etc.) to one god and not to another, the elected leader engages in favoring one religious tradition over another. And while the elected leader may not be “establishing” one religion as the official state religion, by favoring one religion over another, and by calling on citizens to participate in one religion and not another, and by invoking a verse from one sacred book of scripture over another, the elected leader violates the principle of separation of church and state.
Besides, Jesus called on his followers to AVOID large public prayer performances, and instead said,
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matt. 6:6)
By signing this proclamation, Governor Branstad gains absolutely nothing except a scandal over issues of church and state (and perhaps a sizable campaign contribution or political reconciliation).
In closing, I’d still like to offer Governor Branstad the benefit of the doubt, and believe that he (or at least his advisers) failed to read the “history and purpose” section of the still “under construction” Prayer 7-14-14 website, which is written in the first person by an anonymous author who claims God was speaking to him in visions and dreams.
ScreenCap of the “History and Purpose” page on the prayer7-14-14.com website as of May 30, 2014.
Here’s a section from the “History and Purpose” page of the Prayer 7-14-14 website (see screen cap image at right):
“Since 2011 God has been speaking to me through dreams, visions and His word about our Nation. Below I have referenced one dream and given two references, in scripture, that show God speaks through dreams and visions and tells us we need to be able to discern the times.. [sic]
Acts 2:17-21
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, SAYS GOD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS…I WILL SHOW WONDERS IN HEAVEN ABOVE AND SIGNS IN THE EARTH BENEATH; …THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS, AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE COMING OF THE GREAT AND AWESOME DAY OF THE LORD. AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS THAT WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED!
MATTHEW 16:1-4
WHEN IT IS EVENING YOU SAY, ‘IT WILL BE FOUL WEATHER TODAY, FOR THE SKY IS RED AND THREATENING.’ HYPOCRITES! YOU KNOW HOW TO DISCERN THE FACE OF THE SKY, BUT YOU CANNOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES….
ON 4-20-13 God spoke to me through a dream and His word…
In the dream I was writing on a red, white and blue shirt, “Something will start to churn in you today.” I wanted to change the word to move, but I heard a voice say “NO, it is churn.” I happened to be reading through Hosea again for the third, fourth or fifth time, and I was starting at Chapter 11 that day. When I got to verse 8, you can see below, it said His heart CHURNS (just like in the dream)within Him and His sympathy is stirred.
I knew God was is pursuing America to turn back….” (red highlights mine)
Did the Office of the Governor of the State of Iowa really issue a proclamation sponsored by this group??
Sigh.
It is my hope that in the future, elected state officials will refrain from issuing calls for Americans to engage in acts of worship to any god. And if they do persist in this practice, that elected officials would refrain from invoking highly problematic verses from holy books that members of other religious groups might find wholly offensive and alienating.
When the Founders of our nation did mention a deity, they did so in narrowly defined contexts, referring to it, for example, as the “Creator” or as “Nature’s God,” and deliberately refrained from mentioning any specific religion, or from invoking or citing holy scriptures specific to any particular religious tradition.
There is no mention of Jesus or Christianity in the Declaration of Independence. There is no mention of Jesus or Christianity in the Constitution. We were not founded as a Christian nation. God did not write the Constitution. And when a deity was referenced (other than the standard “Year of Our Lord” dating convention), it was in a theistic or Deistic fashion, and not a specifically Christian one. This should serve as a template for those elected leaders who insist on referring to a deity as part of their civic duties.
Calling on citizens to engage in acts of worship to a specific deity and invoking the religious tradition affiliated with that deity only creates problems for the elected official and paints him or her as a tool of fundamentalist religious zealots, who hope to infiltrate our secular government and introduce religious law that our Founders sought to avoid at all costs.
To learn more about the presence of Christianity in our founding documents, take this quiz.
In Iowa, the name of the county issuing a vehicle’s license plate is printed on the bottom of the plate. This is usually not a problem, unless for instance, you’re making a confession of faith, at which point you may have a problem:
Well, now we know.
Mankind has searched for years, and while God is said to have had many names throughout history such as YHWH, Allah, Vishnu, Ahura Mazda, Zeus, El, Osiris, Apollo, etc., few knew his name was actually “Johnson”.
Then again, perhaps we’re reading the license plate incorrectly. Biblical scholars have known for centuries that many of the earliest Canaanite religions were fertility religions, which worshiped gods like Ba’al or Dagon in the hope that their crops and family would be fertile. Obviously, the owner of this car worships a different fertility god.
And who knows? Maybe the owner just really loves the ol’ People’s Republic??
Posted on February 24, 2014 by bobcargill (@xkv8r)
Tel Azekah digital model
I’m giving a lecture tonight for the Iowa chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America entitled “New Approaches in Digital Archaeology at Tel Azekah, Israel.”
Info for this AIA Iowa Society Lecture Program is as follows:
Title: “New Approaches in Digital Archaeology at Tel Azekah, Israel” Presenters: Robert R. Cargill, Ph.D., Asst. Prof of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Iowa
Cale Staley, MA Student, Department of Religious Studies, University of Iowa Location: Room 116 of the Art Building West, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA Date: Feb 24, 2014 Time: 7:30 PM
Abstract: This presentation examines the University of Iowa’s 3D, virtual reconstruction of Tel Azekah, located in the Elah Valley just west of Jerusalem after its initial two seasons of excavation. The presentation offers a new methodology for the systematic digital cataloging, visualization, and reconstruction of archaeological excavations as they progress.
About the Presenter: Robert Cargill is Assistant Professor of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Iowa, where he has taught since 2011. He came to Iowa from the University of California, Los Angeles Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. While at UCLA, he also served as the Instructional Technology Coordinator for UCLA’s Center for Digital Humanities. He is part of the Public Humanities in a Digital World cluster of faculty.
Sponsored by: The AIA Iowa Society Lecture Program, with the support of the Office of the State Archaeologist, the University of Iowa Departments of Anthropology, Classics, Religion, Art and Art History, and the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History.
The weather in Iowa City, IA on Jan 6, 2014 was -15 with a wind chill of -41.
The weather in Iowa City, IA on Jan 6, 2014 was -15 degrees Fahrenheit, but with the wind chill, the temperature feels like -41 degrees.
Let me explain to all my friends and colleagues in southern California what -41 degrees actually means.
It means that you have to add 73 DEGREES (41 + 32 = 73) just to get to freezing!
Look at it this way: the difference between the wind chill right now in Iowa City and the point at which water freezes is the same as freezing (32) +73 degrees = 105 degrees!
To put that into perspective, where I used to live in SoCal, it’s the difference between the coldest day of winter and one of the hottest days of summer.
You have to add THAT MUCH HEAT just to get to freezing right now.
That’s what -41 wind chill means: adding the range of ALL WEATHER in Los Angeles just to get to freezing.
This makes going to the local grocery store a little more treacherous.
After a month in the University of Iowa Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and after a month of daily trips to and from the NICU, Quincy and Rory Kate have come home.
Both are healthy, gaining weight, and making sleep for periods of more than 3 hours quite impossible. The twins were born on May 11 at 34 weeks. This meant that the past month has been an exercise in patient vigilance and a trusting reliance on doctors, nurses, friends, and family. The trips to and from the NICU only made the birth of the twins all the more logistically inconvenient. BUT, the medical staff at the UI hospitals helped nurture premies born at 5 lb. 1 oz. and 4 lb. 14 oz. to a healthy 7 lb. 2 oz. and 6 lb. 4 oz. respectively.
I’d like to thank all of my friends and colleagues who passed on thoughts, prayers, and well wishes during this period. I’d especially like to thank my mother, Sharon Costales Cargill, who moved here to Iowa City in March to help us with our growing family. She has been invaluable and we could not have done this without her.
I’d also like to thank the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics doctors, nurses, PAs, and staff. Not only did they oversee a flawless delivery of twins, but their constant care and commitment to the twins has been a true blessing. They deserve all the credit for their tireless efforts.
This entire experience has been a lived example of the intersection of humanity (in the birth of the twins) and science and technology, which provides life-saving healing and care that was simply unimaginable or attributed to the realm of the “miraculous” even only decades ago. I am thankful for science and technology and those involved in them, to those doctors and nurses who dedicate their lives to the personal well-being of others, and I offer my deepest appreciation to those untold thousands of donors who contribute substantial funding to this kind of scientific and medical research that saves young lives.
I am proud to be associated with the University of Iowa and the wonderful research that is going on here. It is my hope that in caring for Quincy and Rory Kate, some young resident doctor or nurse in training was able to hone their craft and develop a deeper appreciation for the delicate existence that is newborn human life.
On behalf of Roslyn, Talitha, MacLaren, Quincy, and Rory Kate, I’d like to express my deepest appreciation to all those who made the past month a little bit easier for us. Your kinds words on Facebook, Twitter, my blog, email, phone calls, text messages, cards, and letters offered tremendous encouragement. Your gifts were both humbling and much needed. The coordinated meals provided by the Caring Connection at First Presbyterian Church (thank you Liz Hall) and the visits from Sam Massey (you are awesome) and his team, Uncle Jordan Smith and Cory Taylor (for bringing contraband burgers and fries on multiple occasions), a visit (and a fridge stock) from Rick Bennett, and an extended stay from Ruth Anne Bennett (who provided custom curtains for the nursery), all allowed us to spend even more time with the twins. Again, we appreciate your time and efforts in this difficult, yet joyous time for us.
Posted on February 27, 2013 by bobcargill (@xkv8r)
Azekah alum Benjamin Sitzmann has put together a number of wonderful videos that captured daily life on the archaeological dig at Azekah last summer (2012).
If your German is up to speed, watch the video below:
Or, you can watch this shorter version, with brilliant stop-motion cinematography of Azekah and the many other holy, natural, and archaeological sites we visit on our weekend trips:
Of course, if you want evidence that this is truly an international experience, you can check out the video I made for my son MacLaren’s first birthday, which shows Azekah excavators wishing Mac happy birthday in 14 different languages:
If you or someone you know is interested in digging at Azekah this summer as part of a team of students from the University of Iowa, please feel free to contact me at robert-cargill@uiowa.edu.
Posted on December 12, 2012 by bobcargill (@xkv8r)
Eric Hoover writes for the Chronicle of Higher Education:
Last week the University of Iowa added an optional question to its application for undergraduate admission: “Do you identify with the LGBTQ Community?” The university has also given applicants a third gender option, allowing prospective undergrads and graduate students to identify themselves as “transgender” instead of “male” or “female.”
This is good move on the part of my university, and I foresee optional questions like this one – that are NOT used in evaluating admissions, but DO allow students to self-identify as a part of a minority group – becoming commonplace on other national universities’ applications.
It will allow the University’s various social services to better identify and assist those students who want to be recognized as LGBTQ students to receive desired social services.
Likewise, it affirms that there are, in fact, gay, transgender, and intersexual students in America, and recognizes them (again, should they desire to self-identify and be recognized) as equals along with their peers, all of whom possess diverse, personal characteristics including race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran.
I am very proud of my university for, among other things, leading the way with regard to issues of equality and student psychological health.
XKV8R: The (Retired) Blog of Robert R. Cargill, Ph.D. 