Christians in the closet

When President and Mrs. Bush designed their official Christmas card, they included one of their favorite verses from the Bible.

Thy face, Lord, do I seek: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living! Psalm: 27:8, 13 (RSV)

The card continued with these words:

May happiness be yours during his season of goodwill and may the New Year bring peace on Earth.

My wife and I were honored to receive one of the Bushes' cards. The first family's card expresses their heartfelt wish that goodness and peace become a part of all of our lives.

The first family's decision to include a verse from the Bible reflected their strongly held belief in God. Their card is protected by their constitutional right not only to believe, but to publicly proclaim their faith. This is the same Constitution that President Bush took an oath to uphold, with his hand on the Bible, 11 months ago.

Sadly, the left attacked the Bushes' Christmas card because of his use of "words from the Bible." News articles stated that it was the first time in the history of America that a president quoted scripture on a White House Christmas card. While protesting the use of these beautiful, biblical words on the Bushes' Christmas card, liberals have again shown that they believe in tolerance for everyone but Christians.

The following letter to the editor that the Austin American-Statesman published Thursday is a perfect example of the evilness of the left:

Religion Shouldn't Be Included

I am appalled that President and Mrs. Bush have sent out a Christmas card under the presidential seal that includes a religious verse.

Send out what you will when you are a private citizen and sending it as such, but not as the president of our nation. This diminishes his apparent concern for citizens of other cultural and religious persuasions by subjecting others to his beliefs.

I imagine that if President Bush's popularity was less than it is currently, he would never have pushed this point. It is an abuse of not only separation of church and state, but of his current power and popularity.

SUE ELLETT, Austin

The writer did us a favor by so clearly articulating her position. If the left can convince America that the president of the United States "abuses" his power by openly expressing his faith in God, no Christian will be safe.

The writer wants us to believe that Mr. Bush lost his constitutional right to tell the world that he believes in God when he entered public office. What a frightening idea. It is part, I'm sad to say, of a left-wing conspiracy to force Christians into the closet.

When President Bush nominated Sen. John Ashcroft for attorney general, the left's primary complaint was that John was a born-again Christian. Their fear was that his faith would guide his decisions as attorney general. Well, why believe in God if your beliefs won't influence your daily actions?

All across the nation, the left has launched a vicious attack on all public symbols of faith. They have stopped our children from praying in schools. They want to stop our children from praying at football games or graduation ceremonies. They have sued to remove the Ten Commandants from public buildings. They don't want crosses to be on public property. Some liberals who have infiltrated our schools have even given students failing grades for writing essays about Jesus.

Well, it is time for us to fight back. If you are a believer, the true test of your belief only comes when you confront evil. Those who would deny us our right to openly proclaim our faith are evil.

If we allow the left to continue with their unprincipled and unconstitutional attack on our right to believe, they will eventfully destroy all that is decent about this country. If we allow the left to make us feel ashamed to believe in God, we will deserve what we get.

This is a special time of the year. All over the world, people of different religions and beliefs celebrate or at least acknowledge the birth of Jesus Christ. Let us reaffirm our faith by telling the left we have a right to believe and we don't lose that right when we become public servants. Let us tell them repeatedly that all the First Amendment prohibits is for our government to choose one religion over others. Period.

The words on the first family's card are beautiful. Only a sick and warped soul could be "appalled" by such wonderful words. However, by sharing her sickness with the world during the week of Christmas, the writer reminded the rest of us of why we do believe in God.