Separation of Church and State

For months now, controversy has been raging in the town of King, North Carolina ever since a local veteran objected to the fact that a Christian flag was being flown at a veteran's memorial in the city's Central Park.

City officials eventually received letters from both the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and decided to remove the flag until they could work out a policy that was constitutional with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund.

And the decision to remove the flag in the interim set off protests: 

Many of the marchers’ T-shirts simply read, “Put our flag back.” Waving U.S. and Christian flags, and singing “Amazing Grace,” more than 5,000 people marched and rallied in the city of King yesterday morning to tell its city council to return the Christian flag to the Veteran’s Memorial in Central Park.

“The council didn’t get the opinions of the town of King and Stokes County,” said Pamela Swain Deszern, of Rural Hall, formerly of King. “This community stands together to support the Christian flag. It stands for God, peace, love, purity and the blood of Jesus.”

Working with the ADF, city officials finally came up with a policy last week that they felt was a fair and constitutional compromise: 

An attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund said that the city’s plan for returning the Christian flag to the Veteran’s Memorial is a fair compromise.

...

The King City Council approved a policy Monday night that eventually would allow a Christian flag to fly again at a memorial at the city’s Central Park as a part of a limited public display of religious flags recognized by the U.S. military.

Members of the Army Chaplain Corps wear four symbols on their uniforms — the Christian cross, the Jewish tablets and Star of David, the Buddhist dharma-chakra and the Muslim crescent, said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the U.S. Army.

There are also 41 religious symbols that can be placed on grave markers at Arlington National Cemetery.

The city’s new policy will lay out which flags and symbols would be displayed at the memorial.

But, of course, the idea of allowing any non-Christian flag to fly is simply unacceptable:

A group formed to return the Christian flag to the King Veteran’s Memorial may file a complaint against the city to protest a policy that would allow additional flags to be displayed at the site.

...

Many of the foundation’s members are concerned that the city may allow religious flags such as the Muslim Crescent and Star flag, the satanic flag and Wiccan flag, all of which are recognized by the U.S. military, to be flown at the memorial, James said.

“There is room for expansion for this memorial,” [said Stephen James of King, an organizer of King Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Foundation.] “No one has asked for another flag to be put up there. But someone asked for our flag to be taken down.”

Under the compromise proposal, flags would fly one at a time on a rotating basis ... and so, as Americans United reports, Christian activists are working on a plan to completely monopolize the process for years to come:

This plan was revealed on the Facebook page, Christian Flag-King. The page serves to “educate, inform and update the King community and supporters to restore and keep the Christian flag flying at the Veteran’s Memorial in Central Park.” It has more than 4,000 members.

On Nov. 4, Christian Flag-King reposted a comment from Pastor Kevin Broyhill, who explained how the city can keep its sectarian bias in place. He wrote:

“The city will set the stipulations of who can fly a flag in honor of their loved one who has served in the Armed Forces. That is where the word ‘limited’ comes in. It restricts who can participate which will eliminate outsiders from taking over the pole. The idea is for Christians to fill up the reservation list and tie up the pole for years to come. This will ensure that the Christian Flag keeps flying. Calvary [Baptist Church] will buy several Christian Flags for people to use so that everyone doesn’t have to buy their own flag. We’ll even put it up for you!”

• Brady Swenson @ RH Reality Check: The Assassination of Dr. Tiller.
• Alvin McEwen: Why can't the religious right stop denigrating gay suicide victims?
• Bruce Wilson @ Talk To Action: Grayson Foe Daniel Webster Credits Success To "Hedge of Thorns" Prayer.
• Nick Baumann @ Mother Jones: The Ken Buck Rape Case.
• George Zornick @ Think Progress: GOP Senate Candidate Ken Buck: ‘I Disagree Strongly With The Concept Of Separation Of Church And State.’
• PFAW: New TV Ad Asks: “Who’s Controlling Ken Buck?”

Sharron Angle

Terrorism: Angle refuses to apologize to Canadian Ambassador who condemned Angle for saying that terrorists are crossing into the US from Canada (AP, 10/19).

Latinos: Says that Latino students, and herself, look Asian (NYDN, 10/19).

Ad: Claims that Harry Reid is in “the conga line” with Michelle Obama (Slate, 10/19).

Fundraising: Spent over $5 million on fundraising (Salon, 10/18).

Palin: MissesTea Party Express kickoff with Palin, who praises Angle and slams Reid (Nevada News Bureau, 10/18).

Ken Buck

Religious Right: Claims that homosexuality, “like alcoholism,” is a choice (KDVR, 10/19).

Poll: New data shows Buck losing lead, in dead heat with Bennet (HuffPo, 10/19).

Women: Stands by comparison of rape allegation to “buyers remorse (Daily Kos, 10/18).

Carly Fiorina

Religious Right: Courage Campaign asks Fiorina to refuse support from National Organization for Marriage in internet ad (YubaNet, 10/19).

Government: Can’t name spending programs she would cut (LA Times, 10/18).

Palin: Skips rally with Sarah Palin and Michael Steele (NYT, 10/17).

Experience: Fortune magazine exposes Fiorina’s failed record running Lucent Technology (Fortune, 10/15).

Ad: Boxer hits Fiorina for backing Palin, offshore drilling, and repeal of assault weapon ban (Boxer, 10/15).

Joe Miller

GOP: NRSC spends $162,000 on ads to help Miller (WaPo, 10/19).

Ethics: Admits he broke ethics rules while working for Fairbanks; judge set to rule on disclosing more information (ADN, 10/19).

Security: Miller’s security firm under investigation for arresting reporter (Alaska Dispatch, 10/19).

Immigration: Cites East Germany as a success in wall-building (Mediaite, 10/19).

Debate: Skips debate with McAdams and Murkowski (ADN, 10/18).

Christine O’Donnell

Constitution: Questions Separation of Church and State, stumped on the content of 14th and 16th Amendments (ThinkProgress, 10/19).

Taxes: Chris Coons claims that O’Donnell can’t prove assertion that the Democrat wants a $10,000 tax increase (News Journal, 10/19).

Media: Jeffrey Shaffer looks into “Christine O'Donnell and the rise of cable TV politics” (Christian Science Monitor, 10/19).

Rand Paul

Poll: Democratic poll shows Paul trailing Conway by 2% (WaPo, 10/19).

Debate: Heated debate with Jack Conway, might back out of next one (McClatchy, 10/18).

Religion: Conway ad on “Aqua Buddha” spurs debate on religion (NYT, 10/18).

Marco Rubio

Debate: Crist dubs Rubio an “extreme right-wing candidate” in debate (Miami Herald, 10/19).

Outside groups: American Crossroads spends big to back Rubio (The Ledger, 10/18).

Palin: Campaigns with Sarah Palin and Michael Steele on Saturday (Politico, 10/18).

Pat Toomey

Outside groups: Club for Growth, formerly led by Toomey, set to expand pro-Toomey ad campaign (Washington Independent, 10/19).

Tea Party: AP looks into how Toomey won backing from both the tea party and GOP establishment (AP, 10/19).

Poll: Loses lead, now in dead heat with Joe Sestak (LA Times, 10/19).

A few weeks back, we noted that right-wing pastors in Iowa were mobilizing to oust three Supreme Court Justices who are up for retention because of the Court's ruling in favor of same-sex marriage earlier this year.

The leaders at Cornerstone World Outreach in Sioux City have been very active in this effort, so much so that Americans United for the Separation of Church and State have already asked the IRS to investigate the church for violating election law.

Today, the Iowa Independent reports that one of Cornernstone's members has posted a "parody" video claiming that the next step for the Iowa Supreme Court will be to legalize incest:

Tim Hicks, who created and posted the video on YouTube, is a member of Cornerstone World Outreach in Sioux City. In fact, nearly half of the videos he’s posted on YouTube are of the church’s pastor, Cary Gordon. The church is facing a possible IRS investigation over its campaign to convince other pastors around the state to encourage their congregations to vote against retaining three state Supreme Court justices on the ballot this fall.

Hick’s video, which is entitled “Vote no on judicial retention,” is a parody of commercials for the online dating website eHarmony. The narrator of the video says the Iowa Supreme Court is the authority on marriage, all while a married couple discusses how they’ve known each other their entire lives. By the end, it is revealed that the married couple are brother and sister, and they thank the Supreme Court for allowing their marriage to happen.

In comments below the video, Hicks said he maid it to reveal “the obvious next steps for liberal judges to take. What will they legalize next … polygamy, NAMBLA, a feller and his horse?”

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Today, People For the American Way released out latest Right Wing Watch In Focus report examining the slate of extremist GOP Senate candidates running for office this year.

Entitled "The Rogues' Gallery: Right-Wing Candidates Have A Dangerous Agenda for America and Could Turn the Senate," the report examines the radical agendas and views held by Joe Miller, Carly Fiorina, Ken Buck, Christine O'Donnell, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Roy Blunt, Sharron Angle, Kelly Ayotte, Richard Burr, Rob Portman, Pat Toomey, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, and Dino Rossi, plus the role that Sen. Jim DeMint has played in dragging the GOP further and further to the right.

Here is the introduction:

Republicans in the U.S. Senate have already broken all records for unprincipled partisan obstructionism, preventing the administration from putting people into key positions in the executive branch, blocking judicial confirmations, and delaying and preventing Congress from dealing with important issues facing the nation, from financial reform to immigration. Now a bumper crop of far-right GOP candidates threatens to turn the "deliberative body"into a haven for extremists who view much of the federal government as unconstitutional and who are itching to shut it down.

Fueled by the unlimited deep pockets of billionaire anti-government ideologues, various Tea Party and corporate-interest groups have poured money into primary elections this year. They and conservative voters angry about the actions of the Obama administration have replaced even very conservative senators and candidates backed by the national Republican establishment with others who embrace a range of radically right-wing views on the Constitution, the role of government, the protection of individual freedoms, and the separation of church and state.

Recently, Religious Right leaders have been grousing that Republican candidates arent talking enough about abortion and same-sex marriage. But this report indicates that anti-gay and anti-choice activists have little to worry about, as the right-wing candidates profiled here share those anti-freedom positions even if theyre talking more about shutting down federal agencies, privatizing Social Security, and eliminating most of the taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans. A number of these candidates oppose legal abortion even in cases of rape or incest.

Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina is helping to lead the charge with his Senate Conservatives Fund. DeMint, an absolute favorite of both the Tea Party and Religious Right political movements for his uncompromising extremism on both economic and social issues, is at the far right fringe of the Republican Party and has committed himself to helping elect more like-minded colleagues. Sarah Palin, also popular among both Tea Party and Religious Right activists, has also injected her high-profile name, busy Twitter fingers, and PAC cash into numerous Senate races.

Among the right-wing insurgents who defeated candidates backed by national party leadership are Christine ODonnell of Delaware, Joe Miller of Alaska, Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sharron Angle of Nevada, Ken Buck of Colorado, and Mike Lee of Utah. Others, like Carly Fiorina of California, came through crowded primaries where right-wing leaders split their endorsements, but have now coalesced around her candidacy.

And thanks to the conservative Supreme Courts ruling in the Citizens United case, which said corporations have the same rights as citizens to make independent expenditures in elections, right-wing candidates across the board will be benefitting from a massive infusion of corporate money designed to elect candidates who will oppose governmental efforts to hold them accountable, for example environmental protections and government regulation of the financial industry practices that led the nation into a deep recession.

This In Focus provides an introduction to a select group of right-wing candidates who hope to ride a wave of toxic Tea Party anger into the U.S. Senate. The potential impact of a Senate with even half of these DeMint-Palin acolytes would be devastating to the Senates ability to function and the federal governments ability to protect the safety and well-being of American citizens.

Be sure to read the whole thing.

Meet the GOP’s extreme nominee for Delaware's open seat in the House, Glen Urquhart.  Since Mike Castle vacated the seat in order to (unsuccessfully) run for Senate, the Republicans nominated Urquhart in a tight primary election. A wealthy real estate investor who self-financed his campaign, Urquhart campaigned as a social conservative with the backing of the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and the National Conservative Fund, along with Tea Party groups such as the 9/12 Delaware Patriots.  Here is Urquhart’s opinion regarding the separation of Church and State, where he misattributes Thomas Jefferson’s quote that the US Constitution creates a “wall of separation between Church & State” to… Adolph Hitler: 

Do you know, where does this phrase separation of Church and State come from? Does anybody know? ... Actually, that's exactly, it was not in Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists. He was reassuring that the federal government wouldn't trample on their religion. The exact phrase 'separation of Church and State' came out of Adolph Hitler’s mouth, that’s where it comes from.  Next time your liberal friends talk about the separation of Church and State ask them why they’re Nazis.

Rick Santorum, ousted from the U.S. Senate by Pennsylvania voters in 2006, has been busy denouncing “islamofascism” from his perch at the right-wing Ethics and Public Policy Center. Now he seems to be plotting a run for the presidency. Santorum, a Catholic, is pushing himself into the public eye with an attack on John F. Kennedy and one of that president’s most famous speeches, in which the nation’s only Catholic president told a gathering of Protestant ministers in Houston that he believed in the separation of church and state.

I realize that it is probably a fruitless endeavor to try and expose the utter ridiculousness of Glenn Beck's new "university," but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

TPM's Jillian Rayfield signed up for the first day of "classes" and here is what she was taught:

We signed up for the $9.95/month "university." Last night's class was subtitled "Black-Robed Regiment," and "Professor" and right-wing historian David Barton talked for half an hour about happier times in American history, when clergy were a welcome and influential part of American politics.

...

So what did Barton talk about? As Beck said in his introduction, our nation's idea of the separation of church and state is "not what you've been sold."

Barton elaborated. He began by talking about Alexis de Tocqueville's concept of "American Exceptionalism," noting that "there's gotta be a reason we're different" from other democracies. That's where the "Black-Robed Regiment" comes in. These, according to Barton, were the preachers who influenced the bulk of the Declaration of Independence:

The Declaration of Independence is nothing more than a listing of all of the sermons that folks had been hearing in church in the decades leading up to the American Revolution.

Media Matters posted an audio clip from Barton's lecture and what is most remarkable about it is that it is just the standard pseudo-history that he always peddles. In fact, you can find the exact same presentations all over YouTube ... for free.

In fact, here is one such clip from a program where Barton teaches the same thing, but I want to focus on something else - namely, the claims he makes beginning at the 7:26 mark because if perfectly encapsulates Barton's absurd "teachings":

Isaiah 33:22 sets for three distinct branches of government, just as was adopted in the Constitution. And the logic for the separation of powers was based on teachings derived from Jeremiah 17:9. And the basis for tax exemptions for churches, exemptions given to us by the Founding Fathers themselves, can be found in Ezra 7:24. And there are many other examples of American government adopting Biblical patterns and precedents.

Let's take a look at these passages, shall we?

Ezra 7:24 comes from a letter written by King Artaxerxes in which he orders "all the treasurers of Trans-Euphrates" to provide Ezra with what he needs:

You are also to know that you have no authority to impose taxes, tribute or duty on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants or other workers at this house of God.

According to Barton, that is how our Founding Fathers decided not to tax churches.

Isaiah 33:22 comes for an extended denunciation of Jerusalem for having turned away from God and promises of a glorious future if they will repent:

For the LORD is our judge,
the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
it is he who will save us.

That, according to Barton, is how the Founders came up with the idea for three branches of government.

But those are downright plausible claims in comparison to Barton's statement that our concept of separation of powers came out of Jeremiah 17:9 in which the prophet is proclaiming God's word that he judges men based on what he finds from searching their hearts and minds:

The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

So according to Barton, it is this passage that gave rise to our system of separation of powers.

Does that even remotely make sense? 

This is the man that Glenn Beck has tapped to lead his "university" and this is the sort of nonsense that Beck fans are paying good money to "learn"? 

Amazingly, that is exactly the case.

Just yesterday I was wondering when, if ever, Janet Porter was going to return to action, having seemingly ceased operations since her radio program was dropped by VCY America due to her increasing involvement with Dominion Theology. 

Today, we got our answer.

As we noted shortly after Porter was dropped by VCY, VCY's flagship program "Crosstalk" dedicated its show to discussing the alarming rise of Dominionism among the Religious Right with guest Sarah Leslie, who is an an author, researcher, and member of the board of directors of Discernment Ministries.  It was Discernment Ministries' blog, Herescope, which had been chrolincing this rise of Dominionism and Porter's increasing ties to the movement ... and so today, Porter has used her WorldNetDaily column to attack them for getting her fired:

The "separation of church and state." I could be reading from the constitution of the former Soviet Union, a decision by Ruth Bader Ginsburg or a fundraising letter from the ACLU. But instead, I'm repeating a philosophy of "Christian" groups like Discernment Ministries and their website, "Herescope."

No kidding. There remains a very vocal group of self-proclaimed Christians who believe their "spiritual gift" is criticism and their role is to join the ranks of the ACLU and police the streets for Christians who dare step outside the four walls of the church into the light of day.

They insist Christians must stay within the church singing from the same page of the same hymnal, perfectly pious and free from those not legalistically aligned … all while our nation and our freedoms are burning to the ground. No, they're not involved, just like the Christians who "sang a little louder" from their hymnals so not to hear the screams from the trains headed for the concentration camps.

Porter has dedicated her entire column to attacking Discernment Ministries as a bunch of "cultural Nazi's" who want to see hymns "re-written to praise Barack Hussain Obama":

We now have two generations who are lost in the lies of humanism, evolution and homosexuality, facilitated into fornication and abortion, trapped in pornography and devastated by divorce. Congratulations.

If you're still having a hard time discerning what to do, here's a helpful hint: if you find yourself on the same side as the ACLU, homosexual activists, the baby killers and the enemies of God, chances are, you're on the wrong side.

Considering that Leslie was the head of Iowa Right to Life in the 1980s, Porter's attacks ring hollow, as does her claim that neither she nor her allies "support a 'dominion theology' that seeks to establish a theocracy," especially given that the 7 Mountains Theology under which she organized her May Day 2010 rally has this as its goal: 

A government can potentially function as a virtual theocracy, but only as the individuals in power allow themselves to be puppets (i.e. servants) of the theocracy (God’s rule and reign). The goal is to bring the influence of heaven to bear on whatever political machinery that exists ... One of the primary roles of future government leaders will be to instruct in righteousness. The more God’s judgments are poured out on earth, the more explicitly will they be able to give that instruction.