Blog Against Theocracy -- This Weekend!
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/4/5/15028/54829
[excerpt]
Blog Against Theocracy -- This Weekend!
By Frederick Clarkson Thu Apr 05, 2007 at 01:50:28 AM EST
topic: Taking Action section:Front Page printable version print this story
The Blog Against Theocracy blogswarm is this weekend! And I have been
hearing about a lot of people planning to participate. Blue Gal got
the whole thing started down in 'Bama, where they have a fair number
of theocrats running around -- like Roy Moore!. She was joined early
on by Neural Gourmet and Mock, Paper Scissors. I am delighted to
report that Talk to Action has been named as a "co-conspirator."
For more on the campaign, and what the coconspirators are saying about
it, follow me on the flip.
While Blue Gal is understandably sounding the alarm from Alabama,
personally, I live in the anti-theocratic stronghold of Massachusetts.
Way, way back, we had a theocracy here -- but we got over it. And what
with the ratification of the Constitution and all, there has been no
going back. It took us awhile, but we got with the program.
We managed to eventually distestablish our official state church, the
Congregational Church, in the 1820s -- we were the last of the
original 13 states to do it. So it happens that we know a thing or
two about what a nasty business theocracy can be -- having persecuted
religious minorities like Quakers, and executed a bunch of people we
suspected of witchcraft: we even used "spectral evidence" to make
some of our cases.
Been there. Done that.
We are so over theocracy here that the successor denomination to the
Congregationalists -- the United Church of Christ, the largest
Protestant denomination in Massachusetts, is deeply commited to
separation of church and state. It was also the first Christian
denomination to vote to support marriage equality at their national
meeting -- and recommend that their member churches do so as well.
Here in Massachusetts, we view all this as great progress. And because
it's Massachusetts -- the former Puritans now have the religious
freedom to marry same sex couples if they want to -- but no one is
forcing anyone either. Unitarians and Reform Jews perform a lot of
same sex religious marriage ceremonies as well.
But I digress.
The simple fact is that there is an active theocratic political
movement in the U.S. I have been writing about it for 25 years, and I
think it is one of the most successful and powerful political
movements in American history. True, the religious right has had some
set backs of late; and the movement's founding generation of leaders
is fading from the scene; but the movement has new leadership coming
up and big institutions it didn't have just a few years ago -- and I
believe it will continue to play a major role in American politics for
the rest of the lives of everyone reading this.
The Blog Against Theocracy blogswarm is an opportunity for us to flex
our antitheocratic muscles a bit. At least the ones between our ears
and in our fingers. Unlike some people, who think that blogging isn't
really "taking action," I am of the view that the excercise of those
muscles can be pretty damn important.
Last week Mainstream Baptist was the first among us to announce his
intention to blog against theocracy -- on Easter Sunday. I followed up
with a further discussion of the campaign, then in its early stages.
Now Blog Against Theocracy weekend is upon us.
Here are a few words from the co-conspirators:
Mock, Paper, Scissors
....a blogswarm is when bloggers descend on a single topic and
"catapult the propaganda" (as the Decider once said), with the hope
and intention that it might influence the larger society. In other
words, if we lowly citizens make a big enough squawk, we might be able
to give the media a goose, who in turn might give the dark overlords
in Washington DC pause to reconsider the error of their ways.
As Blue Gal says, there are no rules to this.
So please join us in the fun:
If you have a blog, sometime during Easter weekend, post an entry
against theocracy and in favor of the separation of Church and State.
You can check this post here at MPS for ideas, or go to our good
friends and allies at
First Freedom First for more background material.
http://www.firstfreedomfirst.org/
I designed the logo above, feel free to download it and use it on
your blog.
If you do not have a blog, join me here and comment, Comment,
COMMENT.
If you do not have a blog, this might be a great time to start.
You have a voice, use it.
[end excerpt]
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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 · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
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.. . . 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.
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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