Sunday, March 18, 2007

Can't say 'Christian' at U.S. birthplace

There is no covering up the religious identity of the Pilgrim Fathers of 1620 but that the prior (1607) Jamestown settlement was also Christian is being covered up:

"Tour guides at the American birthplace of Jamestown, Va., are being prevented from explaining Christian history and are under orders to refer to items such as the Ten Commandments and Lord's Prayer only as "religious" in nature.

That according to California pastor and researcher Todd DuBord who says he was stunned on a recent tour of the historic town when "our guide responded to our inquiry by saying that she was 'unable to speak about the plaques. We are only allowed to say they are religious plaques.'" ...

"While the tour guides at the Jamestown Settlement and Museum were cordial and informative on many points, we were all caught off guard by their unwillingness (yes, unwillingness) to discuss Jamestown's religious roots. As one of the tour guides was leading us through the very heart of the replica of the community, the Anglican Church, we asked if she could speak about the significance of the three religious plaques on the wall in the front of the church: the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' Creed ... But his group was told the guides were only allowed to give a generic description as "religious."

So DuBord, who earlier documented similar efforts to edit Christianity from the historic references at the U.S. Supreme Court and Jefferson's Monticello estate, is now asking Jamestown officials to change its procedures, because at this point visitors get "absolutely no religious information from Jamestown guides about this first colony in America."

Source