Letter to the Editor: ‘Year of our Lord’ cultural, not religious
Dear Editor,
The university should not remove “the Year of our Lord” from diplomas in order to cater to a small group of individuals who are intolerant to any mention of God in the public arena. This has nothing to do with USU being a public vs. private institution, or because we live in Utah and those whacky Mormons are trying to force feed us some good religion, as many like to believe. Because the U.S. was established by Europeans, our country inherited the European practice of dating years from the birth of Christ. “The Year of our Lord” is included in Article VII of the U.S. Constitution. These words are a traditional way of dating important documents. Their use is ritualistic, not religious – even though they refer to a religious figure.
We’ve also adopted another element of the European dating system that has its roots in Paganism, not Christianity. The ancient Pagans worshipped the Sun, the Moon, and five planets they had knowledge of at that time. They named the seven days of the week to commemorate these gods. I’ve never heard anyone argue that the Constitution establishes worship of the Moon when it instructs Congress to begin session on the first Monday of December. I’m not Pagan, and I don’t take offense that some public aspects of American culture make reference to this or other forms of religion.
There’s no question secular forces in America led by the ACLU want to wipe out all vestiges of religious traditions in public, particularly traditions that have Christian origin. Battles are intensifying to remove “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance, and to remove religious holidays from school calendars. 86% of Americans call themselves Christian, so whether or not an American is Christian, he or she can recognize that Christian traditions are a part of American history and culture. Other countries value their unique cultural heritage. We shouldn’t overthrow elements of our own.
Glen Moore
USU Alumni