H. Res. 888, which purports to promote "education on America's history of religious faith," contains seventy-five "Whereases," packed with the same American history lies found on the Christian nationalist websites, and in the books of pseudo-historians like David Barton. Between January 4 and March 11, I wrote nine posts systematically debunking most (I still have a few to go) of the resolution's countless distortions and lies:

Think the "Christmas Resolution" was Bad? Check Out H. Res. 888
More Reasons To Fight H. Res. 888
Congressman Randy Forbes -- David Barton's "Hero"
Borat "Star" Co-Sponsors House Resolution 888
Propagating the Gospel Among the Heathen? -- Another Lie from H. Res. 888
H. Res. 888 -- It's Got Lots of Footnotes!
35% of House Republicans Support Christian Nationalist History Revisionism
Ron Paul co-sponsors H. Res. 888
Randy Forbes and Military Chaplains -- More Crap From H. Res. 888

On the January 29 episode of David Barton's WallbuildersLIVE! radio show, Congressman Forbes vowed to file a discharge petition if the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), didn't vote his resolution up. A discharge petition bypasses the committee process by "discharging" the committee from consideration of a bill and bringing it directly to the floor. The petition, however, requires the signatures of a majority of the House, meaning that it will take 132 representatives in addition to Forbes and his 84 co-sponsors. This probably won't happen. Nevertheless, here's what Forbes has been up to, according to the "Washington Updates" on his website.

The same week I heard that the resolution was effectively dead, Forbes met with the relatively unknown, but somewhat influential, "Values Action Team."

According to Forbes's Washington Update for March 10-14:

American Culture and Values

Spoke to members of the Values Action Team about H.Res. 888, the Religious Heritage Resolution. Rep. Forbes spoke to advocacy groups in attendance about the importance of honoring our nation's vibrant religious heritage, and encouraged them to ask Members of Congress to sign on as cosponsors. H. Res. 888 is a resolution that honors America's religious and spiritual heritage and designates the first week of May as American Religious History Week. The Values Action Team was established in 1998 to provide a discussion and dialogue forum for Members of Congress and organizations concerned about family and social issues in the United States.

The Values Action Team (VAT), a group we probably should be watching closer than we do, was formed in 1998 as a result of a threat from James Dobson of Focus on the Family that religious organizations would walk out on the Republican Party if the then GOP controlled Congress didn't start aggressively pushing the "values" agenda that the "values voters" got them elected to push.

VAT, originally operated from the office of former House Majority Leader Tom Delay, is an offshoot of the conservative House Republican Study Committee (RSC). In response to James Dobson's 1998 threat, a "Values Summit" was held, and VAT was born. According to an RSC document describing VAT, "The goal of this group was to unite conservative Members with pro-family coalitions by establishing legislative goals, identifying key tasks for Members and coalitions to perform, and executing action items that would lead to conservative victories." Congressman Joe Pitts (R-PA) was chosen to lead the group, which began holding weekly strategy lunches, hosted by the Family Research Council.

According to a 2004 VAT document:

Key issues for VAT include:

• Pro-family tax bills (marriage tax penalty relief, death tax elimination, education savings accounts, adoption tax credit, parent tax credit)
• Life (abortion, assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell research)
• Education (school choice, local control, no national testing, dollars and decisions to the classroom)
• Parental Rights (notification for Title X, parental freedom of information in schools)
• Pornography (internet pornography, urging the prosecution of obscenity by DOJ)
• Religious Liberty (Ten Commandments Defense Act, religious freedom amendment)

From the same document:

Requirements for VAT Members:

• Strongly pro-life.
• Must assign one legislative staff member to attend weekly strategy luncheons.
• Be willing to follow-through with action items such as lobbying Members, signing letters, sending dear colleagues, etc.
• Be willing to address the Thursday VAT coalition meeting at least one time each year.

A VAT report is given by Chairman Pitts each week Congress is in session at the Republican Study Committee (RSC) meeting. As most VAT members also attend the weekly RSC meetings, it was determined that this was the more efficient way for Members to strategize on VAT issues rather than adding another meeting to their schedules. This has proven to be an effective way to better engage Members on pro-life/pro-family issues.

VAT Members' staffs meet weekly for a strategy lunch courtesy of the Family Research Council. The goal of these meetings is to strategize, educate, and assign action items for VAT Members and staff to complete.

Outside Groups

The VAT outside coalition group has had a large attendance over the past three years. Weekly meetings, held on Thursdays when Congress is in session, now draw over 30 pro-family outside groups. These meetings include briefings from Leaders and prime sponsors of House and Senate bills, strategizing, assigning action items, and distribution of resource materials.

Last week, Forbes reported that he wrote a letter to committee chairman Henry Waxman, described in his Washington Update for April 14-18:

Preserving America's Heritage

Wrote a letter to the Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee supporting H.Res. 888, the Religious Heritage Resolution. H. Res. 888 recognizes some of the many examples of how religious faith has influenced America's founding and subsequent history, and would establish the first week of May as America's Religious History Week to commemorate this aspect of our nation's heritage. Chairman Henry Waxman has so far refused to place H. Res. 888 on the committee's schedule for consideration because of its religious content.

So, that's why the resolution was stopped? -- "because of its religious content?" Sure...it couldn't be because it's full of Christian nationalist history lies, the debunkings of which were included in many of the thousands of letters and emails that people sent to their representatives and the committee members, thanks to the efforts of American Atheists, Americans United, the Secular Coalition, and other organizations and bloggers who started a widespread campaign against this resolution within days of my January 4 post exposing this legislative abomination for what it is. Naw...that couldn't be it. It's simply "because of its religious content." It's Christian persecution, dammit!!!

(It appears that Congressman Forbes intended to post the actual letter to Henry Waxman on his website, but whoever maintains the site screwed up the link to it. If and when they fix the link, I'll update this to add the letter.)

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