Press "Enter" to skip to content

Daugaard Celebrates Columbus as Example of Good Christian Heritage

Governor Dennis Daugaard proclaims all sorts of things. Along with the September 12 Special Session on sales tax and gubernatorial inauguration, in just this month alone Governor Daugaard has proclaimed Concrete Pipe Week, Pain Awareness Month (not that we need a separate month to be aware of certain pains), Bretta Norden Day (in honor of a good government employee who helped South Dakota collect more taxes), Susan Nemec Day, Hunting and Fishing Day (set for September 22, on which date youth get to shoot ducks and license holders may shoot antelope and deer with arrows and grouse, partridge, rabbit, squirrel, crow, common snipe, and mourning dove with bullets), and Christian Heritage Week:

Governor Dennis Daugaard, proclamation of Christian Heritage Week, 2018.08.13.
Governor Dennis Daugaard, proclamation of Christian Heritage Week, 2018.08.13.

I’m not sure one can politely or theologically introduce a statement about our nation’s admirable commitment to “principles of religious freedom” by citing “the writings and accomplishments” of Christopher Columbus, who sailed to glorify and enrich of Spanish monarchs who banished Jews from their country, who perhaps sought riches to fund a crusade against Islam, and who, upon stumbling upon the New World, forced enslaved indigenous people to convert to Catholicism.

Governor Daugaard pulls his ill-advised, insensitive language from dominioonist agitprop that has floated around government halls for the last few decades and is part of the Wallbuilders’ push for theocracy. Citizens interested in good theology, not to mention reconciliation with our Native brothers and sisters, should perhaps ask the Governor to consider his religious and historical proclamations more carefully.

56 Comments

  1. Donald Pay 2018-08-15 10:19

    The problem with Christianity is the goddamn Christians, some of whom are listed in the Proclamation. In seeking “God” to found this nation, these fine gentlemen (and one token lady) must not have found him.

    I’m not sure why politicians sign these things. I wonder how many of these proposed Proclamation don’t get signed. What if Daugaard didn’t sign this one? It wouldn’t have made any difference in anyone’s life.

    If a Governor of a South Dakota, a state that dropped a day to honor that “Christian” Christopher Columbus in order to honor Native Americans, didn’t at least edit out Columbus, that tells me he didn’t take any time to care about “Christian Heritage,” or the heritage of the state of South Dakota. I bet he spent as much effort actually thinking about this proclamation as he took in his morning poop.

    We would all be better off if all of these proclamations for days and weeks and months were flushed down with the Governor’s stool.

  2. Donald Pay 2018-08-15 10:35

    I was left off this proclamation, goddammit, but I’m in good company, because so was Thomas Jefferson, whose writings on Christianity are decidedly, shall we say, heterodox, and who therefore understood the necessity for government to stay the hell out of religious matters, and vice versa.

  3. OldSarg 2018-08-15 10:47

    It’s always somebody else that hurts you cry babies. Read the Constitution it says “Freedom “of” Religion not Freedom “from”. This is why you guys are losing and will continue to lose. You sound like a bunch of whimpy babies.

  4. Donald Pay 2018-08-15 10:52

    OldSarg, thanks for that Christian response.

  5. mike from iowa 2018-08-15 11:27

    Establishment clause clearly states OldSawniebean is full of baloney. Congress cannot establish a religion protects citizens FROM religion, Gumby.

  6. mike from iowa 2018-08-15 11:30

    And that phony deity you subscribe to told you in no uncertain terms to take your piety and practice it in the closet with only your lord and saviour as an audience. That closet is where you guys get yer gay conversion therapy- in the closet.

  7. Ryan 2018-08-15 11:31

    OldSarg, it doesn’t say either one. Nice try, though.

    You don’t think it is worthwhile to call B.S. when our idiot governor does idiotic things that alienate lots of the population? You came here to complain that people expect our elected officials to have a little bit of tact? You come across as the only childish one here.

  8. Roger Elgersma 2018-08-15 12:35

    It could also be said that since God saved some Natives in all states and all states have reservations, that God wanted to remind us of the autrocities that we did. We could just as easily killed them all but that was not Gods choice. In the Bible when there was a massacre, if there were some good people, God would save a remnant rather than let them all get killed.

  9. bearcreekbat 2018-08-15 12:50

    Roger, decendants of the Midianites might take issue with one of your points, as it appears that virgin female children were spared not because they were good, but as sex slaves to be a reward for slaughter of all other Midianites, especially non-virgin women and little boys, good or bad. On the other hand, this could well be a reminder of the evil that can be justified by religious views.

  10. o 2018-08-15 13:17

    OldSarge, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . .” is the bit of the First Amendment before the section you paraphrase.

    My only question is which other religious heritages will be recognized by the state for their own observance week?

    Why do conservatives believe government should stay out of business — should not pick winners and losers; but when it comes to religion, choosing the winner is fine?

  11. OldSarg 2018-08-15 13:36

    o, You forgot “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”.

  12. Porter Lansing 2018-08-15 13:36

    Religious winners? A thousand raped boys and girls in Pennsylvania sure weren’t winners. Pedophile Catholic Priests have been raping their way across rural America and Indian reservations for two centuries (protected by the Church and their faithful). Is there any wonder they hate women’s rights?

  13. Edwin Arndt 2018-08-15 13:42

    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,,,nor prohibiting the free
    exercise thereof. That means we are not confined to the closet to exercise our religion.

  14. Jason 2018-08-15 14:00

    Porter. It was dumb of you to bring up the priests in this thread because you are going to lose against the number of teachers that are pedos.

  15. Jason 2018-08-15 14:02

    The proclomation affects zero people in South Dakota.

  16. mike from iowa 2018-08-15 14:19

    Edwin Arndt- remember that higher law felon Ollie North crowed about as he was shredding Iran Contra records with his secretary Fawn Hall? That higher law is the one that told you to pray in solitude with HIM as the only witness.

    The constitution and the courts are the powers that tell you your religion does not belong in public schools.

  17. Ryan 2018-08-15 14:31

    Jason, giving a few days a year the nickname “Genocide Heritage Week” affects only the people in south dakota who think that genocide should not be celebrated by our government.

    If our idiot governor went on TV and said that allah or buddha or the insane clown posse is the god of all south dakotans, that would also not affect anybody, but I have a pretty good idea that lots of people would get pissed off.

  18. Jason 2018-08-15 14:33

    You’re guessing?

    Google educator sexual abuse and get back to us.

  19. Jason 2018-08-15 14:36

    Ryan,

    It still wouldn’t affect a single South Dakotan.

  20. Jenny 2018-08-15 14:54

    Is there a Catholic Priest out there that hasn’t molested a child? This Pennsylvania Catholic Priest pedophilia scandal makes me sick and saddened to the core and anybody out there that still practices Catholicism should be disgusted enough to demand change and not depend on the Vatican to do it.
    Not that I ever would, but no way would I ever send my kid to a Catholic school and consider her safe from these scandals that are still happening and being covered up. She is much safer in a public school.

  21. Edwin Arndt 2018-08-15 15:12

    All right, Mike, Mathew 28: 19 and 20;
    Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
    Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to obey all things whatsoever I have commanded
    you, and lo I am with alway, even unto the end of the age.

    One can’t do all that in the closet.

  22. mike from iowa 2018-08-15 15:18

    Most of the world’s population aren’t bound by kristian non-sense. In America the constitution is the supreme law of the land.

  23. Loti Bova 2018-08-15 15:44

    Although I am Native and Catholic, I definitely would not consider Christopher Columbus “renowned”. I do not approve of the Proclamation giving any credit to ole Chris.
    I would definitely recommend he rethink and redo this Proclamation.

  24. Ryan 2018-08-15 15:59

    Jason, are you OK with our government doing, saying, and offering support of whatever it wants so long as it doesn’t physically affect people? That would be weird, man.

  25. Donald Pay 2018-08-15 17:16

    In reality, this country was NOT founded on the principles of religious freedom. There was a long history of religious persecution and intolerance that was brought over from Europe. Various sects, when they had the majority in a community, often passed laws that discouraged practicing any religion other then the one in control. Sometimes those who were persecuted for their beliefs in Europe were the persecutors in the colonies. Certainly the Baptists had their time in the barrel, and so did the Quakers and the Catholics. This country went through a long history of trying to cleanse itself of religious intolerance during the colonial period, just as we had to cleanse ourselves of slavery after the Revolution. If we are going to celebrate “Christian Heritage Week,” at least let’s be clear about the hate and intolerance and anti-Christian behavior brought forth upon this great continent by people who sign proclamations like this one.

    After the Revolution there were still laws in most states establishing a religion. Even after the First Amendment was passed, it took time to cleanse the new nation of religious intolerance, and the job is not finished, as indicated by Christian Heritage Week Proclamations. Yes, we had the First Amendment, but that was hardly dispositive, and the good “Christian” people certainly didn’t apply freedom of religion to Indigenous religions. That intolerance resulted in an awful history, of which the most clear example is the Wounded Knee Massacre. Of course lately the good “Christian” people in South Dakota have decided Muslims will have their time in the barrel of hate and intolerance, just as Jews have been often the subject of hate.

    Christian Heritage Week is anti-Christian and anti-historical.

  26. El Rayo X 2018-08-15 17:33

    I must have missed the previous 23 Annual Christian Heritage Weeks. What is this one doing to elicit so much response?

  27. mike from iowa 2018-08-15 18:03

    Wasn’t it Kurtz used to refer to Catholic priests as kiddie diddlers? Maybe he was on to something.

  28. Porter Lansing 2018-08-15 18:07

    Kurtzie had a lot to say about Jason (when he was going by the name Miranda).

  29. jerry 2018-08-15 21:09

    Jenny, good stuff there. Yes, by all means, let’s celebrate the Christian heritage while we see clearly how they abuse children and neglect the law. I guess it says someplace in the Book that child abuse and pedophilia are part of the big feller’s plan. Daugaard is proclaiming his support for pedophilia and child abuse with perfect timing, well played gov, well played. When these politico guys do that, it is clear they are seeking a higher office than governor.

  30. o 2018-08-15 21:09

    OldSarge, no, I did not forget the free exercise thereof (my post addressed that). The point here is that this document is NOT an individual exercise of faith, it is a government sanction and promotion of christianity which, I’m my view, rubs up too close to the establishment prohibition directed to the government.

    By all means, I hope the Governor, in his role as an individual citizen, enjoys the free exercise of his chosen religious beliefs –same as all in the US have the First Amendment right to enjoy. I think you are deliberately mudding the water to blur the very clear line between these two actions and to blur the difference between official government action and individual rights.

    I would also take Donald’s point on the founding principles of the US one further — the US was founded on property rights.

    Finally, from a literature/history standpoint: Columbus (as we know him) is a myth created by Washington Irving.

  31. Debbo 2018-08-15 21:58

    Mike, yes. Larry called them “Holy Roman Kiddie Diddlers.”

    The worst thing is, Vatican Inc is STILL protecting the institution over the children. They declare bankruptcy to limit the amount of money available for the children/now grown adults to get help. They actively lobby legislatures to block laws that will better enable their victims to get redress. They do not turn over their criminals to the police, as they are supposed to do. Etc.

    The criminal enterprise goes on and on. What I want to know is, when are those slimy, disgusting child traffickers going to be RICOed out of business entirely and into prison?

    It will be the best thing to ever happen to the individual churches. They can recreate their denomination in a locally accountable way with democratic procedures. They can still do great things around the world, and a great deal less evil.

  32. Jason 2018-08-15 23:10

    Debbo,

    Google educator sexual abuse and get back to us.

    It’s far worse than Catholic Priests.

    Any person in the church protecting a child abuser should go to prison.

    My issue is you thinking only Religions protect the sexual abusers. The vast majority of sexual abuse is protected by the Mother or family members. Yes, I am assuming the Male is committing the abuse.

    Debbo, You are doing a disservice to children who have been sexually abused right now but just blaming Churches.

    Nobody is to blame but the individual person who committed the abuse.

    I am guessing that you don’t help a single person in your life.

  33. Jason 2018-08-15 23:14

    Ryan wrote:

    Jason, are you OK with our government doing, saying, and offering support of whatever it wants so long as it doesn’t physically affect people? That would be weird, man.

    Yes and no.

    What if I was offended that Columbus day turned into Native American day?

    What if I was offended about every “Federal” holiday we have?

  34. Ryan 2018-08-16 03:03

    Jason, columbus day and native american day aren’t overtly religious and aren’t contemplated by the constitution. I would agree that religious holidays being federal holidays is something worth challenging, such as christmas.

    The point is, physical effect or not, the populous isn’t supposed to have to deal with this cult bull$hit coming from our government. We get enough of it from private citizens who like to tell people what to do as it is.

  35. Porter Lansing 2018-08-16 05:24

    Privilege is when 300 Priests rape 1000 boys & girls and no one asks:
    – Where are the moderate Christians?
    – Where were they radicalized?
    – How can we stop Christians from destroying our society?
    – Now. Imagine if it were 300 Imams.
    – Saying it again! Terrorrism has no religion.
    – Qasim Rashid Esq.

  36. Jason 2018-08-16 09:29

    Ryan,

    Native American day could be considered racist.

    The NCAA took away the Sioux name from UND.

    ND had to change its highway signs because they had an Indian on them.

  37. Jenny 2018-08-16 10:04

    You’re right, Porter. If this had been a huge Muslim Pedophilia ring exposed, OMG the outroar it would have gotten!!
    The Catholic church have wanted alter boys for hundreds of years taking part in Church. Now we know why.
    No outcry from church going Catholics. They have been too brainwashed to think there is a huge sick problem in their Church.
    “No comment” from the Vatican. I’m very disappointed in Pope Francis. He’s probably being told to shut up or something, I hope they don’t poison him or something. He’s been outspoken to change the church so I wouldn’t be surprised if dies in his sleep soon.

  38. Jenny 2018-08-16 10:14

    Catholics need to stop thinking their Priests are Gods, and they also need to stop hailing to the International pedophilia ring known as the Vatican.
    Catholics think their Church can do no wrong. When I was a little girl I had nightmares about going into that creepy little confessional room with the creepy black curtain, and being with an old Priest to tell him your “sins”.
    I was never abused but something about it gave me the creeps. Smelling the alcohol on a Priest’s breath, thinking Priests are so different and weird. A little innocent girl’s intuition – now it all makes so much sense.

  39. Dicta 2018-08-16 10:35

    Hello, Catholic here. I don’t think priests are gods. I don’t hail to the Vatican. I think my church can, and consistently does, do wrong. Any other mega-wide brushes you’d like to paint me with?

  40. Jenny 2018-08-16 10:43

    Get mad Dicta! Demand change in your church! Allow women to become Priests, let Priests marry. Zero tolerance for secrets! One strike of a Priest messing around with a child, send him to jail.

  41. Porter Lansing 2018-08-16 10:48

    Sadly, nothing will change. The church has owned state lawmakers for centuries. Until the people rise up and demand accountability, pedophilia will continue.

    ~ A web of legal barriers stands in the way of prosecuting most of the cases, and efforts to ease those barriers have repeatedly run into political opposition and fierce lobbying by the church and other groups.
    The nearly 900-page grand jury report is unlikely to lead to any new criminal charges or civil lawsuits over the abuse that it catalogs, because the statute of limitations has expired on those cases. Current state law allows victims of abuse as children 12 years to sue after they come of age at 18, meaning they must do so by age 30. Criminal complaints must be filed by the time the victim is 50. Those rules leave the vast majority of abuse survivors, who came forward later in life — the grand jury said they include people as old as 83 — with no legal recourse. Only two of the cases in the report have so far led to criminal charges. – NYTimes

  42. Ryan 2018-08-16 13:34

    jeez you guys jump on me all the time about changing topics, and somehow this thread became about pedophiles and changing the rules of the catholic church.

    Jason, the NCAA is a nonprofit organization and is not bound by the prohibitions in the constitution that apply to state action. They made a business decision that stereotypes in human mascots might not be universally appropriate. And the North Dakota Department of Transportation decided to change their signs – nobody made them do it.

    As for Native American day…I think you could be right. It might be racist if you really push the definition of racist to an extreme. It provides attention or recognition or some sort of hypothetical favor to one class of people based on race which are not offered to all other races uniformly. The same might be said for black history month. There is certainly some gray area there I think.

  43. mike from iowa 2018-08-16 13:40

    What if I was offended that Columbus day turned into Native American day?

    What if I was offended about every “Federal” holiday we have?

    Wait. What? You mean you’re not offended? I don’t believe it.

  44. o 2018-08-16 14:18

    Up until 9 years ago, President’s day was racist — now it is just sexist.

  45. Francis Schaffer 2018-08-16 22:11

    It isn’t too big a stretch to bring Catholicism into this debate as the Vatican sent many missionaries to convert the natives after Columbus. Of course, most native people’s were exterminated and the Vatican ended up with much treasure.

  46. Jason Hill 2018-08-17 16:03

    So it’s ok to have black history MONTH and replace Columbus day with indigenous people’s day(which is fine), but if you declare a Christian Heritage week your worse than Satan himself?
    Pot meet kettle.

  47. mike from iowa 2018-08-17 16:43

    Black History and Indigenous People Day do not drag religion into the picture like proclaiming kristian anything does.

  48. o 2018-08-17 17:27

    Jason, would you be OK with the state proclaiming Muslim Heritage Week?

  49. Porter Lansing 2018-08-17 18:02

    A friend in London noted … “There are more pedophiles in Christianity than there are terrorists in Islam.” Since the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report only lists the 300 Priests as the ones they can absolutely prove. There are probably three times that many that have only been accused by victims, investigators said.
    I tend to agree with my English friends appraisal.

  50. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-08-18 07:28

    Jason Hill misses the point. He mistakes my post as evidence to justify the mystical Christian persecution complex. The point is really that citing Christopher Columbus as a paragon of Christianity makes Christianity look really, really bad.

  51. Francis Schaffer 2018-08-18 13:06

    I am about at page 500 of the Pennsylvania Grand jury report, very bad, very damning of the bishops, clergy, law enforcement, lawyers. Worse than I had thought possible.

  52. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-08-19 10:25

    Francis, that reading is a hard way to spend one’s weekend. But studying those Catholic priests as exemplars of Christian heritage is similar to Daugaard’s citation of Columbus as an exemplar of Christian heritage.

  53. jerry 2018-08-19 17:12

    Da governor Daugaard is looking to the future of when these guys show up with this statue to argue his point.

    “The 7 1/2-foot figure is a symbol of pluralism, legal equality, tolerance and reconciliation for Satanists, Greaves explained to NPR on Friday.

    And the reason he had hauled it out of storage to that particular site was to protest another monument permanently installed on the grounds: the Ten Commandments.

    The Satanic Temple, a national organization with 15 chapters in the U.S. and one in Canada, objects to exclusively Christian religious displays on public property. It argues that public spaces should be free from religious messaging or be opened up to representations of all faiths, including Satanist icons.

    “We have as little interest in forcing our beliefs and symbols upon you as we do in having the beliefs of others forced upon us,” he said from a lectern at Thursday’s rally.”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=102&v=yXq835Omy7c

  54. grudznick 2018-08-19 18:44

    Mr. jerry, that is a particularly tantalizing blogging. Are you say Satan is on the beach, trying to catch some rays?

  55. Debbo 2018-08-19 19:32

    Jerry, I read about the goat statue too. The supporters say it’s not really about Satan. They’re just trying to make a point with those who insist on foisting their version of Christianity on everyone else.

    If they can put 10 commandments monuments and “In god we trust,” etc, up in public spaces, they can put their goat statue up and call themselves Satanists to really tweak the Christianists.

Comments are closed.