Happy Epiphany!

Most people are not aware that January 6th was the day that the early Church celebrated both the Baptism of Jesus and Christmas. This article by St Mary's Orthodox Syrian Church in Niranam, India provides a great explanation on how this feast day evolved over the ages, and today how many Western churches celebrate only the 3 wise men coming to give honor to the infant Jesus.

Rev. George Docherty

The New York Pastor who pushed for adding the phrase "Under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance died November 27th.

"On Feb. 7, 1954, with President Dwight D. Eisenhower sitting in Lincoln's pew, Rev. Docherty urged that the pledge to the flag be amended, saying, "To omit the words 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance is to omit the definitive factor in the American way of life."

He borrowed the phrase from the Gettysburg Address, in which Lincoln said, "this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom."

...

The phrase "under God" could include "the great Jewish community and the people of the Muslim faith," in his view, but he drew the line at atheists.

"An atheistic American is a contradiction in terms," he said in his sermon. "If you deny the Christian ethic, you fall short of the American ideal of life." "