Religious, political videos pulled from city-owned TV after Democrats
complain
Miriam Raftery
Published: Monday October 16, 2006
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/test_1016.html
http://www.eastcountydemocraticclub.org/files/Letter%20to%20City%20of%20El%20Cajon%20requesting%20The%20Big%20Buy.pdf
Religious, political videos pulled from city-owned TV after Democrats
complain
Miriam Raftery
Published: Monday October 16, 2006
Videos created by David Barton, Vice Chair of the Texas Republican Party
and a close colleague of disgraced former House Leader Tom DeLay, have been
removed from a city-owned TV station in El Cajon, California, RAW STORY has
learned.
The videos were pulled in response to a written complaint filed by Raymond
Lutz, president of the East County Democratic Club, alleging that the
videos promote Christianity and offer a slanted view of history from a
Republican perspective. However, the City of El Cajon has denied Lutz's
request to provide equal time for alternative views by airing "The Big Buy:
Tom Delay's Stolen Congress."
Lutz has since testified before the El Cajon City Council to again request
equal time and ask for logs showing how often the videos were aired.
The videos were produced by WallBuilders, http://www.wallbuilders.com/
an organization founded by David Barton. WallBuilders' stated goals include
"educating the nation concerned the Godly foundation of our country" and
providing information to public officials as they "develop public policies
which reflect Biblical values." WallBuilders describes its videos as
"historical" and dedicated to "presenting America's forgotten history and
heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional
heritage."
"I find it amazing that this City is airing a program to train Pastors and
Christians," Ray Lutz, told members of the East County Democratic Club,
after discovering a video titled "The role of Pastors and Christians in
American History" on the city's public access TV station, Channel 24. "What
about other religions? Why should this be paid for by the City?"
Other programming on the city-owned station included WallBuilders'
"American History in Black and White," a video which portrays Democrats as
opposing integration in the 1950s while presenting Republicans in a
favorable light with respect to African-Americans. "This is an outrage,"
said Lutz, noting that in more recent times, the Democratic Party has been
supportive of minority rights while Republicans have obstructed measures
such as integration, affirmative action and voting rights.
The City authorized payment of over $2,500 a year for the videos, which may
be purchased online for $19.95 apiece, raising the question of whether
taxpayer funds may have inadvertently wound up funding Tom DeLay or the
Republican Party.
Listed by Time magazine among the 25 most influential evangelicals, David
Barton http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=David_Barton
has also been employed by the Republican National Committee as a political
consultant. A close ally of the Bush administration, he was paid
http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/expenddetail.asp?txtName=BARTON%2C+DAVID&Cmte=RNC&cycle=2004
$16,000 by the RNC in election-related spending during the 2004
presidential election cycle, while WallBuilders itself
http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/expenddetail.asp?txtName=WALLBUILDERS&Cmte=RPC&cycle=2004
received more than $24,000 for Barton's travel expenses. Barton also
traveled the country telling pastors that they could endorse political
candidates from the pulpit, a clear violation of IRS rules.
Barton argued in his book, The Myth of Separation, that America's founding
fathers never intended separation of church and state, and he has dedicated
his efforts to eliminating that separation. Barton also published a 1996
handbook called Impeachment: Restraining an Overactive Judiciary, which,
according to an April 2005 article in The Nation,
http://www.refuseandresist.org/culture/art.php?aid=1882
was timed to boost Tom DeLay's legislative effort to authorize Congress to
impeach judges.
Barton spoke in 2002 at a Worldview Weekend for activists seeking
"Christian Dominion" in America, along with DeLay. According to Americans
United for Separation of Church and State, a religious liberties watchdog
group, Barton "followed DeLay"
http://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5572&abbr=cs_
and "was responsible for bringing the majority whip to the event."
WallBuilders' founder has also been linked to groups with racist and
anti-Semitic views, according to The Nation. Barton has spoken
http://candst.tripod.com/boston1.htm at a retreat sponsored by Scriptures
for America, an organization that has been linked to neo-Nazi groups,
spread anti-Semitic and racist literature, and distributed a booklet called
"Death Penalty for Homosexuals." He has addressed at least two gatherings
of Christian Identity, a group that maintains
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/41435 blacks are "mud people" and Jews
are the "spawn of Satan."
WallBuilders and Barton did not return phone calls requesting comment for
this article. It remains unclear how many other cities or municipalities
nationwide may be broadcasting similar content on public airways.
The videos have been airing for approximately four years, according to
minutes from El Cajon City Council meetings. The city has failed to produce
logs requested by Lutz in letters to city officials. However, the City has
agreed to remove the WallBuilder videos. A request from Lutz for "equal
time" to air "The Big Buy," a film about corruption involving Delay, was
declined. The City also turned down Lutz's request to broadcast information
on Democratic Club meetings, although City policy allows for dissemination
of information on non-city sponsored community events.
Asked why the City would allow videos with Christian and political content
to be aired five weeks before an election, City Manager Kathi Henry
replied, "I did view this as a problem and that's why they are not on there
anymore." Those videos apparently violated the City's own policy against
airing materials that promote religious beliefs, she acknowledged.
Henry said that Lutz's request to air videos with an alternative political
viewpoint were denied "just because they were political in general," and
added that she does not see a need to present balance to what has
previously aired.
The controversial videos were first proposed for airing on El Cajon's
station by Councilman Bob McClellan in May 2002. McClellan introduced a
motion asking then-City Attorney William Garrett to draft a policy for
programming on the City's Government Access Channel.
"My recommendation was for the City Council to ‘consider if they wished
to air the videos,' It was never my recommendation that they do so," said
Garrett, adding that staff had "concerns" about the videos and advised that
appropriations would need to be made for the costs. Despite such concerns,
Council approved Garrett's draft by unanimous vote.
In November 2003, the Council voted to increase the number of broadcast of
the "America's Godly Heritage" videos and appropriate $2,800. Councilman
***** Ramos expressed concerned over religious promotion as a result of
airing the videos and spoke on the need for separation of church and state.
Ramos opposed the motion, which was passed 4-2, with Mayor Mark Lewis and
councilmembers Kendrick, McClellan and Santos all approving. Mayor Lewis
and Kendrick, both still in office, did not return calls for this article.
McClellan defended the videos as historical, adding, "We are doing a
service for our people to reeducate them on the true history of America."
Asked if he was aware that WallBuilders was founded by the Vice Chair of
the Texas Republican Party, a man who has publicly stated that he is
dedicated to tearing down walls separating church and state, McClellan
replied, "I believe that also. It's not in the Constitution. It's not in
the Declaration of Independence. It's in a letter Thomas Jefferson
wrote…His letter stated that Congress would never establish domination in
the United States, but Christian principles were free to circulate
forever."
Asked if he believes only Christian views should be allowed in government,
he added, "I think all religions. In fact one of our early members of
Congress was John Randolph from Roanoke, Virginia. He was a Muslim."
David Blaire Loy, who is with the American Civil Liberties Union in San
Diego, commended the City of El Cajon for responding to citizen concerns by
taking down the videos. But he expressed concerns over McClellan's
statements
"We are very concerned with civil liberties and particularly religious
freedom," the ACLU spokesman concluded. "To the extent that any member of
government is expressing opinions that may endanger protection of religious
freedom, as embodied in the establishment clause of the First Amendment,
that's troubling to us."
He concluded, "The Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and also
freedom of religion. Part of that is protecting religious freedom by
keeping government out of the business of religion." While he defended
McClellan's right to express his viewpoint, he voiced concern over the
prospect of government promoting one religion over another. "We would be
troubled when any branch of government is potentially involved in
infringing Constitutional freedoms," he concluded.
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the US and a couple from overseas as well]
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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