Subject: Officials Declare War on Our Nation's Christian Heritage
Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2007 10:29:45 -0800

Vision Forum Press Release: Officials Declare War on Our Nation’s Christian Heritage as Part of America’s 400th Birthday — Vision Forum to Host Alternative Celebration FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JAMESTOWN, Virginia, Mar. 8 /Christian Newswire/ — As America turns 400 this year with the founding of Jamestown in 1607, officials leading America’s 400th birthday commemoration have banned the term “celebration” in conjunction with their efforts and sought to discredit the Christian influence of the Jamestown Colony in keeping with politically correct dogma. Countering the claims of the Left, Vision Forum Ministries is hosting an alternative event on June 11-16 in Virginia’s historic triangle that will celebrate God’s providential hand in the founding of America four centuries ago. “For nearly two centuries, our leaders have recognized the importance of celebrating the providential goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ through our nation’s birth at Jamestown in 1607,” observed Doug Phillips, President of Vision Forum Ministries, “But this year during America’s Quadricentennial, officials are intent on belittling our nation’s Christian past and painting the Jamestown settlers as blood-thirsty cannibals, environmental terrorists, and worse. They have even gone so far as to ban the word ‘celebration’ because, after all, as one official stated, ‘You can’t celebrate an invasion.’” The Jamestown 2007 is hosting ten signature events as part of their year-long effort to commemorate the Jamestown Settlement. These events include a diversity of politically charged topics that implicate the Jamestown founders in everything from “environmental injustice” to genocide. At one of the signature events launching the official commemoration, “The State of the Black Union Jamestown Conference,” Rev. Otis Moss — as part of a panel discussion with the Rev.’s Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson — invoked a highly charged comparison to Nazism and the Ku Klux Klan. Moss declared that the Jamestown settlers were guilty of a mass “holocaust” and “lynchings.” “This leftist spin coming from event organizers and their featured guests concerning the legacy of Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, and the rest of the Virginia Company is grossly misleading and utterly irresponsible,” said Phillips. “The message of these speakers is certainly a sharp contrast to the message of hope presented by the great educator Booker T. Washington, who delivered a keynote at the 1907 Jamestown celebration, and who evaluated the Jamestown legacy in terms of the journey of black Americans from paganism to Christianity.” Motivated by a desire to encourage the children of today with a message of hope from the historic record of God’s providential faithfulness, Vision Forum Ministries is hosting a week-long celebration: The Jamestown Quadricentennial: A Celebration of America’s Providential History in Virginia’s historic triangle on June 11-16. “The event is in the spirit of the best of America’s historic jubilee and centennial celebrations,” Phillips said. The Jamestown Quadricentennial: A Celebration of America’s Providential History will include orations by some of America’s leading Christian historians and teachers, Faith and Freedom mini-history tours, dramatic reenactments, fife and drum music, boat and balloon rides, a memorial dedication, and more. The week-long event will culminate with a large celebration event on the grounds of Fort Pocahontas — located a short distance from Old Jamestown Island, where the original colonists settled in 1607. “We recognize that history involves bumps and bruises. Jamestown is certainly an example of imperfect men who were used mightily by God to lay the foundations of a Christian people. However, unlike the politically correct scholars and outspoken revisionists who are at the center of the state-sponsored Jamestown 2007 events, we are not embarrassed by our nation’s Christian heritage,” remarked Phillips, “And it is our prayer that grateful Americans from sea to shining sea will join us in Jamestown this June as we offer hope to this generation, even as we remember the many providences of God in the lives of our forefathers.” To learn more about the Jamestown Quadricentennial: A Celebration of America’s Providential History, visit www.jamestown400th.org. Press Contact: Wesley Strackbein, Vision Forum, 210-340-5250 ext. 222, wesley@visionforum.org   This e-mail was sent as a special service of The Vision Forum, Inc. If you received this e-mail from a friend and would like to subscribe, click here. To help ensure that our e-mails are delivered to your inbox, please add familyvision@lists.visionforum.com to your address book. Please let us know if you have changed your address or if you wish to unsubscribe from our list. This message was sent to: ctdm@hotmail.com. © 2007 The Vision Forum, Inc., 4719 Blanco Rd., San Antonio, Texas 78212. All Rights Reserved.