The Bahamas celebrated a national holiday known as Columbus Day yesterday, October 12, 2007.

As Father Sebastian Campbell leads a chorus of nay sayers about recognising Columbus Day and replacing it with Heroes Day, the Nassau Institute, publishes an essay by Thomas Bowden at the Ayn Rand Institute that indicates their stated position about Columbus is wrong.

I agree.

Here’s a little snippet from the latest commentary at the Nassau Institute, where week’s topic is Columbus Day Celebrates Western Civilization.

It is fitting that we have set aside a day to honor the Great Explorer. On one level, Columbus Day honors the man himself for his many virtues. Columbus was a man of independent mind, who steadfastly pursued his bold plan for a westward voyage to the Indies despite powerful opposition–a man of courage, who set sail upon a trackless ocean with no assurance that he would ever reach land–a man of pride, who sought recognition and reward for his achievements.

We need not evade or excuse Columbus’s flaws–his religious zealotry, his enslavement and oppression of natives–to recognize that he made history by finding new territory for a civilization that would soon show mankind how to overcome the age-old scourges of slavery, war, and forced religious conversion.

Click here to read the entire article.

Happy Columbus Day by the way!