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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=teal face=Georgia><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:teal'>Dear Kerry Becker and Visionaries:</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=teal face=Georgia><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:teal'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=teal face=Georgia><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:teal'>Of the thousands of messages I have read
over the years on V2020, none has touched me as much as Kerry’s.
The grace, sincerity, and dignity he exhibited in his email is an inspiration
to me. Clearly, courage in the face of the enemy doesn’t stop when
one retires from the military. Take care of yourself, Kerry, and watch
your back. After years of experience, I can pretty accurately predict what
will follow. A former military officer from the Kirk will be assigned to
you. You’ll be invited to dinner, for a beer, what ever. Then
your minder will tell you how you have misunderstood what you read, or how the “enemies”
of the Kirk have tainted and deliberately lied about Doug. Your minder
will stay in touch for several months, always being friendly, generous, and
apparently “open-minded” until he finally thinks you are beyond
salvation, and then the personal attacks will start. I have no doubt that
you are more than capable of handling them. Thank you again for your courage
and integrity.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=teal face=Georgia><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:teal'>Rose Huskey</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=teal face=Georgia><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:teal'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b>
vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Kerry Becker<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, September 27, 2007
11:37 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Vision2020@moscow.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [Vision2020] Change of
Perspective, Limited Apology</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Faithful Readers,<br>
<br>
I am now about to do something that is hard for anyone, but especially hard for
an old soldier like myself. I admit that I have been wrong in some of the
opinions that I have previously expressed on this forum. <br>
<br>
Over the past several weeks I have been on an extended vacation during which I
have visited many fellow officers with whom I have served during my career of thirty
plus years in the military. Those with whom I visited are all, like
myself, conservatives, and think of ourselves as libertarians. The
defense of the freedoms guaranteed by our unequaled U.S. Constitution was a
main reason for many of us to chose careers in the military.<br>
<br>
Make no mistake. Do not be tempted to make any misinterpretation.
In what I am about to say I having no intention of lessening my belief in
freedom of speech, religion, press, etc. These freedoms make our great
country truly unique. One need only look at the countries of our enemies
to see how different they are from us in this regard. <br>
<br>
Freedom of speech and the press are our main means to seek the truth in the
complex world we live in. Anyone who expresses a belief of any kind does
not enjoy any immunity from comment on the truthfulness or inanity of such
expression. To allow immunity in any way would be to emasculate the
pursuit of truth. <br>
<br>
To make my point tersely. I have previously been a staunch supporter on
this forum of Christ Church and its various personages and their actions.
While I still strongly support their right to their beliefs and to the
expression of their beliefs, I no longer am able support those beliefs
themselves or the actions which are begot by such beliefs. <br>
<br>
I have previously believed that Christ Church was a Godly institution which was
trying to honestly bring goodness and Godliness into the world. I do not
believe this anymore. <br>
<br>
I confess to two things that helped bring about this change of perspective. <br>
<br>
First, every fellow retired officer with whom I visited on my vacation believed
as libertarians in the separation of church and state. The history of the
world as we know it tells us of the disastrous inhumanity, cruelty,
intolerance, suppression of personal liberty, and injustice that occurs when
one or another set of religious beliefs are advocated and enforced by a
government. But we need not depend on history for this lesson:
newsreaders today can see the horrible results on personal liberty by the
religious tyranny enforced by many mid-eastern and eastern nations regardless
of the name or nature of their particular religion. <br>
<br>
My officer friends put it this way. "There greatest threat to
personal liberty today are those organized religious movements who seek to
impose their particular strictures on our freedom of thought, expression, and
actions via political and governmental intervention in our lives."
Those kind of actions by the government in England were the motivation for the
founding of our country. Let us not forget that, ever. <br>
<br>
This is hard for me to say. I have been wrong about homosexual practices
and homosexual marriages or civil unions. While I personally find
homosexual relations distasteful to contemplate, I see now the the choice of
partners and pleasures is a matter of personal liberty guaranteed by the right
to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as stated in our
Declaration of Independence. I see now that I have no more right to
dictate another's gender preference and the concomitant unions that might
follow than I have to dictate what nail polish color someone might chose,
whether such choice of color offends me or not. <br>
<br>
<br>
Second, my officer friends, who know naught of Christ Church, urged me to
re-evaluate the statements of those opposed -- to try to find out for myself if
those running Christ Church are honest and well-intentioned, and to see if they
seek to impose strictures based on their particular religious interpretations
on the rest of us that would lessen our personal liberty. <br>
<br>
I have done so.<br>
<br>
I have found the statements of Christ Church as found in various of their
writings show them to be dangerous theocrats who, among other greatly limiting
things, seek to impose eventually the most harsh measures on all of us who do
not share their beliefs. <br>
<br>
Especially disturbing to a libertarian is their intention to impose the death
penalty on those they consider heretical -- anyone who would criticize their
particular religious tenets. This is America. Not Saudi Arabia or
Iran. The denial of the right to question any belief is the most
dangerous and arbitrary stricture a government can impose on its
citizens. It is the denial to continue to seek the truth, wherever it
might lead. <br>
<br>
(God, this old soldier hates to say this since he has been so critical of some
of Christ Christ's critics, and hates to admit that he has been hoodwinked due
largely to his own ignorance and lack of diligence...) I have found that
Christ Christ is neither a Godly nor a benevolent institution. Their
leader and many of their upper echelon are now in my informed opinion, liars,
hypocrites, manipulators, blood-suckers from their congregation, and
exceedingly unchristian, intentionally veering quite far from the basic, plain moral
teachings of Christ found in the most historically accurate parts of the <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>New Testament</span></i>. <br>
<br>
To the extent that my previous posts have defended Christ Church's right to
hold and to defend their beliefs, I offer no apology. They, and all of us
have that right. It is called freedom.<br>
<br>
To the extent that any of my previous posts have defended any particular tenet
or theological aberration of Christ Church, or any of the many despicable
actions that such have begotten, I humbly apologize for my previous ignorance,
lack of critical thought and investigation, and for my unjustifiably
overbearing attitude. <br>
<br>
Kerry Becker</span></font></p>
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