The Christians are Coming, The Christians are Coming!
Many of you may have heard of a group of Ultra-Conservative Christians which calls itself Christian Exodus. This group, founded by Californian Cory Burnell, intends to take over the government of South Carolina and convert it into a 'Christian' State - governed by their interpretation of the Bible. Burnell and his family, by the way, still live in sunny California. The group recently held their convention in Greenville, SC, 20 miles from where I grew up and where all of my family now lives.
Link to full details in local paper here.
I would strongly suggest reading the entire article, but I have pulled a few jewels to comment on from the article for now.
"Bob Hervieux of Simpsonville, who moved from Massachusetts last month, said the group's focus on the rights of states and "their desire to glorify God in all that they're doing, within government" attracted him. "We've got church, we've got family, we've got government, so government shouldn't be excluded. They want to tie those things together."
Comments like this one from flag-waving, gun-toting, red-state Americans always amaze me. The absolute ignorance of the basic framework of our constitution is incredible. Of course, some speakers of the group had more than just the complete abolishment of the 1st Amendment in mind.
"Burnell said that with national power, Christian Exodus would seek to determine whether the 14th, 16th and 17th amendments to the U.S. Constitution were "ratified properly, and if not, put them up for proper ratification."
Considering that life's only certainties are 'death and taxes', I think the 16th amendment is probably safe, but what problem do they have with the 14th? Perhaps they want African Americans to again only count as 3/5 ths of a human being. This certainly would help the conservatives and christians in elections, considering the voting patterns of African Americans.
A hint at the motivations for this objection are voiced by this speaker, John Cobin, at the convention:
"We like guns -- they're part of our checks and balances against the evils and intrusions of an interventionist state. That's right to shoot them when they come down your street in South Carolina. I hope you'll have the courage to die for liberty," he said.
"They're going to come up with a SWAT team and ask for your weapons, and you should pull it out immediately, take aim, and fire," Cobin said.
Lincoln, Cobin said, "didn't free a single slave. He was a maniacal, shifty politician who's responsible for the (Civil War) deaths of 600,000 people."
The only positive aspect of this convention, from a secular point of view, is that interest from followers of this group seems to be waning. From most newspaper accounts, there were never more than 50 individuals at any one time in the audience and I imagine a lot of those may have been children. Another positive aspect is the attention and almost unanimous ridicule that this group is getting from sensible people across the nation.
This story, as I have mentioned, hits close to home for me. Each time I return to see my family in the Upstate of South Carolina I am astounded at the attitudes I encounter in the newspapers, television reporting and simply from the people who live there. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that my home state could not be a better candidate for takeover by religious zealots and bigots.
Tagged as:
christian exodus
South Carolina
religion
11 Comments:
WARNING! WARNING! DANGER! DANGER! You have another Waco brewing in your own back yard. DO NOT do anything to humor, appease, or otherwise encourage these moronic shitheads or the end result will be bloodshead. You can laugh all you want, but these types represent a real threat to public safety, and need to be watched closely and reported to the authorities at every provocation. These are not your average Christians, they have graduated to Nazi. Their leader is a criminal (Sedition, Treason, Conspiracy to commit, Fraud, Bunco) and a racist, elitist liar masquerading as a moral and ethical person. Like so many before him who have clothed themselves in the mantle of the "good shepherd", he is a wolf.
At the very least, I think anyone who has any clue at all as to our constitution can agree that these people are UN-AMERICAN.
It is interesting also that one of the priorities for this group in their gradual takeover of S.C. is to get the Sherrifs job into their column. Why do you suppose that is?
This is certainly a sinister group of people.
It sounds like they want to remake America as a Christian theocracy. Theocracy has worked so well in the middle east!
I agree that this group represents a threat and should be treated accordingly.
It seems that this is one of those Ku Klux Clan style societies out to exert a more militant form of christianity.
In reply to Beast,
I have always thought that the mindset of militant conservative christians is almost exactly that of the KKK and other racists groups.
In the conservative southern baptist church that I grew up in, one pastor used the word 'nigger' from the pulpit in order to get a laugh and another stated that there would be no black people in heaven.
I think that fascism is fascism and if you can demonize one group (homosexuals, atheists etc) then it is no great leap to harbor that attitude toward other minority groups.
Alan:
I definitely agree with you.
Myself, I was also brought up in a baptist environment. My church, Harvester Baptist Church, has ties wit h the Swainsboro baptist church in America.
I have written my atheist testimonial on my blog (http://cyclops686.blogspot.com/2005/05/why-i-am-atheist.html)
Demonizing any particular group of people is not only wrong, it demeans the institution of freedom and equality.
Racism is an age-old problem. And ironically, the so-called bastions of morality (i.e church) are the worst perpetrators of racism.
I think that this "movement" only had a few families move to the state. I'd be surprised if they get many more.
Being a believer in California myself I sympathize with the frustrations of the conservatives of all stripes. And there is somewhat a concern here for the dumb accuasations that are hurled willy nilly by some of you as much as the group cited.
"These are not your average Christians, they have graduated to Nazi. Their leader is a criminal (Sedition, Treason, Conspiracy to commit, Fraud, Bunco) and a racist, elitist liar masquerading as a moral and ethical person."
The same goes for trying to brand them racists by injecting the "N" word.
Now I tried going onto the link for the newspaper and couldn't find the article.
Now if these people were to begin spreading violence like Hitlers' Brown Shirts, I would worry big time. But what they are doing is creating their own community, isolating themselves. I think that's kooky and opposite of what Jesus told his followers to do, but it's a little early for ya'll to let paranoia set in.
The community should just keep an eye on them. They could be as harmless as the Amish or develop into a Jones Town.
What's UN-AMERICAN? People can choose where they want to live. That's what America is all about!
Takeover SC? You better worry about illegal aliens!
Christian Theocracy? Hahahaha! Don't be silly! They are i-s-o-l-a-t-i-n-g themselves.
"This is certainly a sinister group of people." (paranoia again).
They probably are building a nuke!
"this is one of those Ku Klux Clan style societies"
No, that society already exists in SC.as does the American Nazi Party etc.
finally Alan said 'I think that fascism is fascism and if you can demonize one group (homosexuals, atheists etc) then it is no great leap to harbor that attitude toward other minority groups.' Isn't that exactly what you're doing?
Remember, when you point your finger at someone there are three pointing back at you.
R.W.
Why don't you Google 'Christian Exodus' and look at their site or read some of the articles written about them. They do indeed intend to 'take over' South Carolina.
Also, they are hardly isolating themselves. Taking over a freaking state is not called isolation dude.
And finally, if atheists or homosexuals were trying to suspend the constitutional rights of an entire state, then I would certainly consider them worthy of criticism, just as this bunch of weirdo Christians deserve it.
It certainly makes your brand of Xtianity clear that you find time to come here and defend these nuts and don't find the time to actually research the group. Just keep your head in the sand R.W. It is probably best that way.
Who was it that said, "When fascism comes to America it will be carrying a cross and wrapped in a flag"?
He was right.
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