This has been pretty much a local event which most of us are used to here in the Bible Belt so I haven't paid it too much mind until I read about it HERE on Yahoo news and realized, like the nutjob in Florida, we have gone national.
Since it has hit a national audience, I guess it is time to comment. The city of King is located outside the city of Winston Salem, NC. Neither city is that large but they are both bustling little communities. They are also the kind of towns where you'll find supporters of God, Country and Glen Beck in abundance.
The little town of King has a public war memorial where names are engraved and flags fly. Not long ago a veteran noticed the so-called "Christian Flag" flying at the memorial and he complained about it to the ACLU. This brave man who fought for his country thought the local government should uphold and honor the First Amendment separating church from state. The city, when faced with a lawsuit they would most assuredly lose, took the flag down.
And then the firestorm began as the Kristian Krazies came out of the woodwork spouting off about losing their religious freedoms (although I haven't seen one church shut down or one church event cancelled) and their constitutional freedoms (ironic isn't it that they wish to quell the very Amendment which gives them the right to annoy the rest of us).
So now they are camping out at the site, flying their flag on a wooden pole and having a regular party out there. At least they're all in one place where the law can keep an eye on them.
I need an alternative universe...
As I've said countless times, such things are a mental disease caused by stupidity and ignorance and smoking too much propaganda. There isn't any hope that they'll change their minds, either spontaneously or in response to a good thrashing -- it will only cement their crusade for glorious martyrdom.
ReplyDeleteIf there's any lesson, it's that democracy has to be limited as well as protected against the tyranny of the majority. Ours was intended to be and by trying to bring everyone directly into the process, we've done ourselves some damage.
Rocky, I picked up this quote from your linked article:
ReplyDelete"We've let our religious freedoms and constitutional rights be stripped away one by one, and I think it's time we took a stand," King resident James Joyce said.
The Constitution reads …
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion …
Curious indeed! Your reference to KKK in the title was not lost on me. Good job!
Ah, the wonders of Parochialism...
ReplyDeleteEveryone is exactly like us and anything that forces us to accept a bigger universe outside our little parochial burg is an attack!
That is why the Republicans have it so much easier...they base their support on remembering parochialism while the Democrats are about change, diversity, and the future...
That is why America is having such a hard time with globalization...the world maybe flat but great portions of this country are in coves and valleys....
The South has risen enough lately, lowering us even further in the esteem of nation. If this is the best we can do, we need to sit down and shut up.
ReplyDeleteBut, but, but Nance ...
ReplyDeleteWe need You and Rocky and Sheria and Tnlib, and Sobe to stand up and speak out. We need your voices to rise above theirs, and y'all do it so well.
Oh my word, I didn't realize that we had garnered national attention. I didn't know that there was a Christian flag until this nonsense started.
ReplyDeleteI've got to ask some of my friends who are Muslims if there is an Islamic flag. If not, maybe we cold put a little something together and join the protest to fly religious flags at the public memorial. What's that noise? The sound of little feet running as the so-called champions of rekigious freedoms gather up their s*&t and go home.
I didn't know there was a Christian flag either. There ought to be a Dinosaur Nation Flag. That'll fix 'em. And maybe even an anthem ending,
ReplyDelete"One nation under dinosaurs, with jagged incisors and razor-sharp talons for all."
Capt said,"If there's any lesson, it's that democracy has to be limited as well as protected against the tyranny of the majority." Good point!
ReplyDeleteOcto - I knew you would pick up on the reference.
I do not have a problem with people practicing their religion - whatever gets you through the night. I'll defend their right to worship even though I don't prescribe to the notions of organized religion. In my experience the majority of people who self identify as religious or spiritual are pretty inoffensive.
Then we get the Kooks who I like to call the Kristian Krazies mostly because I know that their heart is not in anything spiritual or religious; they are simply looking for a person or cause on which to spew their toxic vomitus of hate and lies and anger. They could care less what the Bible says or what the Constitution says. They are not patriots or Christians, they are just disruptive maggots chewing out the heart and soul of America.
"The South has risen enough lately"
ReplyDeleteYeah, like a backed up toilet.
Same with me -- I hadn't heard of a "Christian flag" until I saw that story in the news. I asked several friends about it and none of them had heard of it either.
ReplyDeletePeople say the war in Afghanistan is our longest war. Not true. The Civil War started in 1860 and it's still raging 150 years later.
I think that flag is a new concoction. The only Christian flag I've seen was the crusader flag.
ReplyDeleteTotal agreement about the civil war. It's been the cold civil war since 1865 and sometimes it's not all that cold.