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Saundra,<br>
<br>
I admit that I don't like that they can apparently do as they wish
downtown. I don't know if they have the right people as part of their
church, or if they have some kind of influence they shouldn't have.
Maybe the rules aren't as clear-cut as we'd like to think and they are
simply using existing loopholes. I don't know. <br>
<br>
I also disagree with not only their theology but their idea that they
are above the law. That's one of the dangers of organized religion of
any type. When you have God on your side, or so you think, you tend to
think you are special. I would be condemned to death if their biblical
society ever came to be because of my past studying of the occult and
because I'm not a professing Christian. Yet, they aren't pushing for
laws to do that. So it's just talk.<br>
<br>
It's a case of "hate the sin, love the sinner". The individual Christ
Church members, especially those that aren't elders, should be treated
with the respect due anyone else. What I'm objecting to here, I've
come to realize, is barging in on their festival. You have lots of
kind people (at least the ones I've met), simply having fun. They have
their families there, their children are playing together, etc. Why
target them with this protest? Let them have their fun. <br>
<br>
Now, as has been pointed out to me, if people have protested the
officials in Moscow that appeared to allow the rules to be bent or
broken and nothing has come of it - then what do you do? I say,
whatever you do, leave the individual Christ Church members alone
unless you are talking about the guys that make the decisions there.
Take up your fight, again, with the powers that be in Moscow. Talk to
the press (again).<br>
<br>
Just make sure that it's their undue influence that you are protesting
and not their theological beliefs. They have the right to believe as
they wish, it's their actions that have to be looked at. If they ever
start trying to pass laws that state that heathens or gays or
adulterers should be executed, then I'll be right beside you to fight
it.<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
<br>
Saundra Lund wrote:
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<p class="MsoPlainText">Hi Paul & Visionaries:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><sigh> It's a good question, but I
sometimes
feel like people haven't been paying attention over the last few years.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">I'm a Christian, and I absolutely do *not*
agree with the
Kirk's . . . theology. I don't believe in forced salvation (if they
can't
win us over by conversion, then they want the teeth of the law to force
the
rest of us to act/behave as they think we ought to behave), and it
really
disturbs me the way God's word has been perverted by Kirk hierarchy. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">However, IMHO, of larger concern is the Kirk
hierarchy’s
refusal to follow the "secular" rules and laws the rest of us are
expected to follow. The rules are for others, not for them. Lying
under oath -- no problem. Lying to government officials -- again, no
problem.
Thumbing their noses at planning and zoning regulations -- absolutely
no
problem. Failing to live up to the very limited requirements of tax
exemption – they excel at that. Parking where they have no right --
no problem. Withholding information vital to the safety of our
community’s
children – absolutely no problem. And on and on and on the list
goes. In essence, while there are wonderful individual Kirk members,
Christ Church itself has proven time and again that it is the
quintessential
Bad Neighbor.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">My dear friend Rose Huskey blogged on this
very topic
recently -- you might want to read what she had to say:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="http://cleaning-house.org/?p=591">http://cleaning-house.org/?p=591</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">I'm sure she won't mind if I repost here:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Nests of Pests<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Temperatures in Moscow hover in the 90’s
during the
dog days of August but that’s not why many community members are
boiling.
For the past three years we have endured the civic embarrassment
generated by
the pseudo-Ceilidh, pseudo-Calvinistic jamboree known as the Trinity
Fest.
Members of the Confederation of Reformed Evangelicals aka CREC, view
Moscow as
their Rome, Jerusalem, Mecca, and Ganges River. They gather in August
to sit at
the knee of Massa Doug Wilson, (the brains behind the beards) greedily
ingesting the racist, sexist, homophobic preaching disgorged from his
pie hole.
It has been my habit to refrain from going to town during the week that
Doug
attempts to claim Moscow as his papal seat. However, this year I will
join with
friends to acquaint (or reacquaint as the case may be) CREC visitors
and Kirk
members with long-standing community values. Flyers have been posted
throughout
downtown Moscow and in the windows of supportive businesses asking
folks to:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">[T]ake a stand
for traditional
American values of tolerance and diversity as we gather to voice our
collective
community opposition to the racist, sexist, homophobic agenda of Christ
Church,
New St. Andrews College, The Confederation of Reformed Evangelical
Churches and
the Association of Classical and Christian Schools.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Uninformed readers might (mistakenly) believe
that it is,
at best, ironic to take a stand for tolerance and diversity while
simultaneously opposing a “religious” celebration. The following
analogy might help to clarify my position. Suppose you wake up one fine
morning
and notice - in a dark corner of your closet - a sweet little nest of
spiders.
On the whole you like spiders (Charlotte’s Web was your favorite
childhood
book), so you adopt a live and let live attitude toward the little
critters.
Five or six days later you have an opportunity to take a closer look at
mama
spider. She is a glossy black color, and son of a gun, has a red hour
glass on
her belly. This is not what you had in mind when you believed your
closet was
big enough for you and the spiders, was it? An apathetic reaction is
not in
your best interest. Silently acquiescing to bigotry is as risky and
stupid as
deliberately sharing your closet with black widow spiders. And while
the
Brotherhood of the Kirk always exacts a price from their critics the
cost of
going along to get along is much too high for me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Rose”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">HTH,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Saundra Lund<br>
Moscow, ID<br>
<br>
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to
do
nothing.<br>
- Edmund Burke<br>
<br>
***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2007 through life
plus 70
years, Saundra Lund. Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce
outside
the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
author.*****<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com">vision2020-bounces@moscow.com</a>
[<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com">mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com</a>] On
Behalf Of Paul Rumelhart<br>
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 7:19 PM<br>
To: Bill London<br>
Cc: v2020<br>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Trinity Festival protest<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Doesn't freedom of religion trump simple
dislike for the
church or some of it's members? If there are irregularities with how
they
were granted permits or something, then that should be looked into.
But
why disturb their festival? What is their political and economic
agendas
that these activists are protesting? <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Granted, people have a right to protest as
long as they
keep it civil and follow the law. It's just that I have never
understood
why people are so opposed to them. Most of the objections I've heard
have
to do with zoning laws and permits for the NSA school. That sounds
like a
problem with the authorities and not Christ Church. There are lots of
comments about their theology (Southern slavery, odd ideas about how
they think
a "biblical" society would work, etc), but so what? They have
every right to believe as they wish, whether or not I think the lot of
them
have been standing too long in the hot sun with no hat.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">I don't agree theologically with them at
all. But
who am I to try to tell them they can't expand themselves?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">I have great respect for you all as community
leaders, I
just think you going too far sometimes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Paul<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Bill London wrote: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> Protest
Planned for Christ Church Trinity Festival<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> A
group of local activists invite the community to join their
demonstration of
opposition to the political and economic agenda of Moscow's Christ
Church and
the church's Trinity Festival, announced spokesperson Selena Rosewater.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"> The
group will meet in Friendship Square in downtown Moscow at 7:30pm on
Friday,
August 3, and then march to the Trinity Festival event at the Kenworthy
Performing Arts Center.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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