Wednesday, October 31, 2007

147. CHRISTIAN EXODUS

From the Archives

(September 2005) Christianexodus.org wants to “reestablish a constitutionally limited government founded upon Christian values” by relocating 2,500 families to two SC counties—I guess because SC is not filled with ENOUGH Christianist wackos already!!. Their stealth objective is to gain the electoral majority needed to put their officials in every public office so that they can then dictate how every other citizen can live her/his life.

Here’s their spiel:
ChristianExodus.org is coordinating the move of thousands of Christians to South Carolina for the express purpose of re-establishing Godly, constitutional government. It is evident that the US Constitution has been abandoned under our current federal system, and the efforts of Christian activism to restore our Godly republic have proven futile over the past three decades. The time has come for Christians to withdraw our consent from the current federal government and re-introduce the Christian principles once so predominant in America to a sovereign State like South Carolina.

Notice their past three decades. Many religious extremists seek to overturn spousal and child abuse laws that were put into place in these last 3 decades (God, you see, granted men absolute dominion over their families and women, so they have the God-given right to do with us as they will. See?).

Check out the Family Protection Act from the 1980s for a real sobering overview of these principles.

Randall Terry also props up specious reasoning as fact with lines such as Look what we’ve seen since the second wave of feminism. More violent crime, more child abuse, more divorces, rampant sexual immorality concerning the past 3 decades. What he fails to mention is that the feminist movement pushed to criminalize spousal and child abuse and introduced domestic-violence shelters into our landscape. The movement also encouraged women to leave violent relationships even as it pushed to punish abusive parents.

Protections such as these just irritate the crap out of those "women must submit graciously to men" folks—I mean, how dare we tell them whether or not they can backslap their wives!

There’s more violent crime today because men who beat their wives and children are more likely to be charged with a crime. But, when you factor in these new laws, violent crime is actually LOWER than it was in the oh-so-chaste 1950s.

Sensationalistic reports of violent crime, on the other hand, are all too comonplace.

My pals who grew up in SC speak of the state as rabidly fundamentalist and oppressive, so I worry that this exodus group will encounter minimal resistance there. Still, occasionally visit queers who have stubbornly decided to stay in Greenville (which abuts the area Exodus wants to resettle).

Greenville is also home to the infamous Bob Jones University. Remember the flap that ensued when Bush visited Bob Jones University, with its strict no interracial dating policy?

This university has separate pink and blue sidewalks where males and females walk and a chain-link fence with razor-wire keeps students locked inside/interlopers out. Girls are required to wear knee-length or longer dresses—no pants—and boys' hair must not touch their collars. No facial hair or long sideburns either. And visitors must agree to these policies as well in order to step foot on the grounds.

I can’t help but think about the two gay men in Greensville who have a huge Christmas in July party every year—we're talking hundreds of queers decorating Christmas trees in the tropical heat of summer. A huge event. Will they be forced out? Ostracized? Outlawed? Lynched?

This will surprise people, but this squatting approach strikes me as democracy in action in some ways. Sure, I don’t want to abide by laws I don’t believe in and have done my time at protests and civil disobediences to make my voice heard. And I will continue to fight for equal rights for ALL citizens, not just the mainstream ones.

I am more than a little suspicious of people who rely on stealth invasion to try to force their bias onto others though.

Still, maybe concentrating superstition in a few pockets of the country could free the rest of us up to just move on with our lives though.

Saw this commetary on the Web: “These groups are clever. They are going beyond the ‘intentional community’ model that we’ve seen to date. It is difficult to create an intentional community trying to live with a common set of moral values if your values are not reflected in the laws you must abide by” though.

And lets don't forget that the Bill of Rights is under threat because these groups are so well organized and willing to pretend to be something they’re not in order to achieve their goals.

So much for honesty. The Golden Rule.

Christianexodus got it’s idea from the Free State Project, which started in 2001. This project currently has 6,600 committed participants who are ready to move or have already moved to NH. (Their goal is 20,000 people.) It’s a simple concept: Find a like-minded state, move there, and set up a government that’s run the way you believe it should be run, passing laws that explicitly reflect your own values.

They’ll gain the electoral majority they need to put dozens of officials into every local office from the city council to the school board and then (if they have their way) expand from there.

Also from the Web:

Christian Exodus believes the federal government has extended its reach way too far into the lives of Americans, and has far exceeded the powers reserved for it by the Constitution. They also share many of the Christian right’s viewpoints on hot-button issues (they’re against gay marriage and legalized abortion, they think kids should be able to say Christian prayers in school, and that the Ten Commandments should be displayed prominently in courthouses). But they don’t consider themselves part of the Christian right. They’re anti-war and anti-Bush, and founder Cory Burnell went so far as to describe President Bush as “that big-government liberal.”

Here’s their splash page:

WELCOME TO THE CHRISTIAN EXODUS
ChristianExodus.org is coordinating the move of thousands of Christians to South Carolina for the express purpose of re-establishing Godly, constitutional government. It is evident that the U.S. Constitution has been abandoned under our current federal system, and the efforts of Christian activism to restore our Godly republic have proven futile over the past three decades. The time has come for Christians to withdraw our consent from the current federal government and re-introduce the Christian principles once so predominant in America to a sovereign State like South Carolina.

THE PROBLEM
Christians have actively tried to return the United States to their moral foundations for more than 30 years. We now have a "Christian" president, a "Christian" attorney general, and a Republican Congress and Supreme Court. Yet consider this:
• Abortion continues against the wishes of many States
• Sodomite marriage is now legal in Massachusetts (and coming soon to a neighborhood near you)
• Children who pray in public schools are subject to prosecution
• Our schools continue to teach the discredited theory of Darwinian evolution
• The Bible is still not welcome in schools except under unconstitutional FEDERAL guidelines
• The 10 Commandments remain banned from public display
• Sodomy is now legal AND celebrated as "diversity" rather than condemned as perversion
• Preaching Christianity will soon be outlawed as "hate speech"
Attempts at reform have proven futile. Future elections will not stop the above atrocities, but rather will exacerbate them and lead us down an even more deadly path.

THE SOLUTION
So what can be done? ChristianExodus.org offers the opportunity to try a strategy not yet employed by Bible-believing Christians. Rather than spend resources in continued efforts to redirect the entire nation, we will redeem States one at a time. Millions of Christian conservatives are geographically spread out and diluted at the national level. Therefore, we must concentrate our numbers in a geographical region with a sovereign government we can control through the electoral process.

ChristianExodus.org is orchestrating the move of thousands of Christians to reacquire our Constitutional rights and, if necessary to attain these rights, dissolve our State's bond with the union. Click on our Plan of Action page to find out how we can experience God-honoring governance once again.

If you are tired of government-endorsed sin, then stand up and be counted! Register a user account to join the discussion forum, and submit a membership form to join the movement.

That about sums it up.

BEST-OF SPAM SUBJECT LINES: “Why let people know about your intimate life?”

Well, that IS the question, now isn’t it?

No comments: