In his American Dispatch column, Todd Starnes writes:

Jesus just got kicked out of public schools in Henry County, Georgia. 

The school district fired off a directive to school administrators ordering them to eradicate anything remotely religious from all public school buildings.

On the main page of The Pearcey Report, I draw attention to three elements in the Starnes story. First, "The Dictators" -- that is, the federal government, which is dictating to a local state school district what its educational policies ought to be.

Second, "The Slaves" -- that is, the oppressed "students at public schools in Henry County, Ga." And third, "Masta" Rodney Bowler -- because slaves have "mastas," and in this case that masta would be the Superintendent Rodney Bowler, trying to whip those students (and their parents, etc.) into shape, into servile obedience to the dictators in that Big White House in Washington, D.C.

When someone on Facebook responded by asking, "Does that directive include anything Islamic? Humanistic?" I replied:

"The edict made no mention of the Koran or prayer rugs," Todd Starnes writes.

The deeper point is a deeper flaw in the secularist attack -- that is, the false proposition that the "Establishment Clause stipulates that the government may not promote or affiliate itself with any religious doctrine or organization," as the communications director for the school district puts it -- and totally mangles it.

This mangling is horse hockey from the mouth of secular mythology.

In fact, the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment LIMITS CONGRESS ("Congress shall make no law ..."), not the American people and not the individual states -- such as Georgia, for example.

There is supposed to be a diversity of power exercised among the individual states, not a monoply of Federal State Power imposed by Washington, D.C., dictators.

Central to the whole purpose of the Declaration and U.S. Constitution is to protect free Americans from a monopoy of Federal Gov't power -- which has no [Constitutional] authority, as written, to tell the States or local schools boards how to run their schools.

We are a free people, not an enslaved people.

What we are witnessing is the imposition of an extremist secular dictatorship in total opposition to the enduring and defining mainstream of the American ethos, as set forward in the Declaration and Bill of Rights.

"This is an attack upon human freedom and upon human dignity," I concluded. "Our job is to absolutely and totally cast that ugly, inhumane, and extremist dictatorship into the deep blue sea."

Kate Scanlon reports at the Daily Signal:

Former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran has filed a federal complaint that he is a victim of religious discrimination after losing his job after his writing about his views on homosexuality attracted attention.

Cochran, who is also a deacon at Elizabeth Baptist Church, was terminated after controversial passages about homosexuality were discovered in his book, Who Told You You Are Naked?, self-published in 2013.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Cochran was fired by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed after his objection to Cochran’s description of homosexuality as "vile, vulgar and inappropriate at work."

The complaint was filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Cochran by his attorney, Jonathan Crumly, who alleges that Cochran’s termination is in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"Americans are guaranteed the freedom to live without fear of losing their jobs because of their beliefs and thoughts. We are continuing to evaluate all available legal options to vindicate Chief Cochran after his unjust termination," Crumly is quoted as telling the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

"Crumly is affiliated with Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that defends freedom of religion," Scanlon reports.

Comment: Both the U.S. Constitution (1st Amendment) and Declaration of Independence (liberty, the pursuit of happiness) recognize Kelvin Cochran's unalienable human right to speak freely and publicly regarding the vile, vulgar, and inappropriate phenomenon of homosexuality.

What the mayor and his politically correct true believers in secularism are demonstrating is their hatred of real diversity, their hatred of real liberty, and their hatred of the transhistorical norms of freedom as expressed in the founding documents of the American experiment. 

Moreover, Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta (photo) is actually the one who is discriminating. He discriminates not only against Mr. Cochran, but also against the knowable Creator and against the Creator's verifiable norms for human freedom and dignity.

In the real world, as opposed to that of secular superstition, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. No mayor, governor, Congress, or president can reject the norms of freedom and yet maintain a free society.

In the real world, when you pull a flower up by its roots, "liberating" it from its soil, its source of life, that flower is effectively dead unless returned to its source of life. The bloom may last a while, and the ignorant may believe the bloom of life continues as before.

But the executioners know better. As do any who know the relationship between life and the source of life. 

Surely, the city of Atlanta can find a mayor who knows the difference between life and death, freedom and nonfreedom, the wrongful discrimination against the Creator and his blessings, and the rightful and compassionate critique of ethical breakdown.

Come on, Atlanta. Come on, Georgia. Up your game. Get in the fight for human freedom and dignity.

Down with authoritarianism masquerading as liberation. Up with liberty in community with God and neighbor. 

Former Atlanta fire chief Kelvin Cochran is behaving as a man freed by truth to express that truth, and live that truth, across the whole of life, including public life.

This is his birthright under God. He takes it with him wherever he goes. Into the firehouse, it is his birthright. Into the house of government, it is his birthright. And in every public space, it is his birthright.

For he is a man. He is not a slave. He is a human being, he is not a slave. Wake up, Mr. Mayor. Wake up, Atlanta. Wake up.

At Fox News:

The decision by one of Britain’s largest hotel chains to remove Bibles from its rooms has sparked complaints from Christians.

Travelodge, which operates 500 hotels, says the Bibles were removed for "diversity reasons," citing the country’s increasing multicultural influences, the Daily Mail reported. The chain reportedly said that despite the recent uproar, the decision to remove the Bibles was made in 2007.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The company said in a statement that the move was designed so as “not to discriminate against any religion.” 

 

"The Church of England is not happy with the hotel’s policy," Fox News reports. "[It is] both tragic and bizarre that hotels would remove the word of God for the sake of ergonomic design, economic incentive or a spurious definition of the word 'diversity,'" Fox quotes the church as saying in a statement.

"Tim Stanley, a U.S. historian, makes the point that no one ever lodged a complaint to Travelodge about the hotel room Bibles, and," according to Fox, "says in an op-ed for the Telegraph, 'It’s an act of cultural vandalism upon a tradition that goes back 126 years'."

Todd Starnes writes:

Stop feeding starving children, or else!

The American Humanist Association [AHA] sent that message to a school in Robbinsdale, Minn., accusing them of violating the U.S. Constitution by allowing students to participate in a community service project at a church that involved preparing meals for impoverished children in Haiti.

The humanists got their britches in a bunch after the family of a student at the School of Engineering and Arts objected to the project being held at Calvary Lutheran Church.

"The school has clearly violated the Establishment Clause,” Starnes quotes AHA attorney Monica Miller as writing in a "threatening letter to the school and district officials."

According to Starnes, the lawyer wrote, "By sending public school children under your authority to a religious environment -- to work with a religious organization that is on a religious mission -- is a violating of the First Amendment principle of church-state separation."

Sorry, but this use of the First Amendment is humanist horse-hockey. Utter propaganda.

Nowhere does the U.S. Constitution forbid schools and churches from working together to help others in the name of Jesus.

Nowhere does the U.S. Constitution forbid even individual states from establishing their own denominational state church, should the good citizens, say, of Minnesota, decide on such a course of action.

And nowhere in the U.S. Constitution can you find the phrase "church-state separation."

What the Constitution forbids is the federal government ("Congress shall make no law . . .") from sticking its intrusive nose into the choices that a free people under God decide to make as they seek to live lovingly and truthfully in community with God and their fellow man, their neighbors, their communities. Even if those neighbors live in communities in places such as Haiti.

What is forbidden is the establishment of a national Christian state denominational church, so that there is not a monopoly of ecclesiastical and governmental power wielded by, say, the Baptists or Anglicans in unity with the political power structure of the day.

That would be too much power consolidated into the hands of too few people. It's the sort of thing that a free-thinking people do well to attend to if they would learn the lessons of history.

What is the point of the Constitution? To set up a form of government that enfleshes and protects the rules of freedom as set forth in the Declaration of Independence.

And what is at the heart of human freedom and dignity in the Delcaration? None other than the Creator. Not as a private feeling, but as public truth.

What says the Declaration?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

This is not the Creator "religiously" domesticated, as some propagandists seem to envision -- that is, some kind of fairy-tale figure locked away safe and sound inside church walls and prayer closets.

No. This Creator is a public figure. This Creator is pro-verification, pro-evidence, and pro-reason, and this Creator expects human beings created in his image to apply the principles of human freedom and dignity across all of life.

Humanists are trying to impose their propaganda and ahistorical secular superstitions upon the American people. They are trying to consolidate all power under the control of a religiously secular state, with its freedom-denying tentacles choking every aspect of our daily lives.

The result is not enlightenment, but darkness. Not humanness, but inhumanity.

"This is a new low even for humanists," Starnes concludes. "It takes a special kind of godless thuggery to take food out of the mouths of starving children." 

Related
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Todd Starnes writes at Fox News:

The parents of a six-year-old girl said their daughter was humiliated when a teacher interrupted the child’s one-minute speech and told her to sit down because she’s "not allowed to talk about the Bible in school," attorneys for the California family allege.

The incident occurred Dec. 19 inside a first grade classroom at Helen Hunt-Jackson Elementary School in Temecula, Calif. The previous day the teacher instructed boys and girls to find something at home that represented a family Christmas tradition. They were supposed to bring the item to school and share the item in a classroom presentation.

According to Starnes, "Brynn Williams decided to bring the Star of Bethlehem that adorned the top of her family’s Christmas tree. She also worked on a one minute presentation to explain that her family’s tradition is to remember the birth of Jesus at Christmas time."

"Our Christmas tradition is to put a star on top of our tree," Brynn is quoted as saying. "The star is named the Star of Bethlehem. The three kings followed the star to find baby Jesus, the Savior of the world."

But "before the child could utter another word, the teacher intervened, according to Robert Tyler, the general counsel for Advocates for Faith & Freedom -- the law firm representing the Williams family," Starnes writes.

According to Tyler, "Brynn’s teacher said, 'Stop right there! Go take your seat. . . . Bryn was not allowed to finish her presentation by reciting the Bible verse, John 3:16."

"Tyler said the little girl was the only student in the class not allowed to finish her presentation," Starnes writes.

Related
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You might have heard: The revolutionary good news that landed ashore Planet Earth that first Christmas morn "confronts cults of faith, secularism, religion, and politics." I have written about that here. By way of introduction, consider these four passages to provide an overview of the "elements of a 'Merry Christmas!'":  

1. Good-Bye Stereotypes: "First, in contrast to pagan, religious, media, and secular stereotypes, Christmas is about real people living and working in a real world. The inaugurating events of Christmas occur in and around Bethlehem of Judea. They concern watchful shepherds, pregnant women, and surprised husbands. All are flesh-and-blood people. All are individuals who think, act, wonder, emote, and make choices in situations of life that are less than ideal. . . ."

2. Escape From "Warm Fuzzies": "But humans today are increasingly asked to live in a fragmented world of image, feeling, and PR. A candidate for president of the United States can tell Americans that Christmas is the season of miracles, but what about the rest of the year? Is God alive December 25, but dead by January 1, not able to survive the party? In contrast to warm fuzzies delivered by admakers, politicians, and ministry machines, the Christmas of history is about the objectivity and unity of truth in the midst of tremendous challenge. . . ."

3. Hemingway Avenue: "The third element of Luke 2:20 specifies that Christmas is about the visual and aural validation of answers from God. Rather than a religious truth or spiritual technique that escapes the world, Christmas lives down the street. It is alive to the real world and is one of those things that can be “heard and seen.” Hemingway, who grew to hate generalities but love discrete facts, could have given the manger scene an address in one of his novels. . . ."

4. Test Everything: "Christmas is about enfleshed truth that is accountable, a body of information and series of events that can be rationally considered, verified out in the external world, and discussed among regular people as facts of life. Among the facts are Bethlehem, Mary, Joseph, a baby, and a manger, none of which are feelings. The facts also include the angels and the veracity of what they said to human beings, for what the shepherds saw and heard in Bethlehem was 'as it had been told them,' the fourth element from Luke 2:20 under consideration here. . . ."

We thank you all, dear readers of The Pearcey Report, for visiting us throughout the year. To all of you and yours: Best wishes, thoughts, and prayers for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Ginni Thomas writes at the Daily Caller about Dr. Carol M. Swain, professor of law and professor of political science at Vanderbilt Law School:

"As a black person, it bothers me that the America I know and love I feel like is being destroyed by a black man. I don’t understand why,” she said, discussing her serious concerns about President Obama’s legacy in an interview with The Daily Caller.

"It bothers me that so many black people have been deceived into supporting programs and policies that are killing them,” she continued.

She worries most about Obama’s governance and how it erodes constitutional freedoms.

"I value my free speech. You know, I take that clause [of the Constitution] very seriously," Swain said. "And, what I see in America right now is our freedom of speech, our freedom of religion, freedom of association -- all of that being totally eroded.

"And when I look at the Fourth Amendment about the search and seizure, I see we have no protection. We are living an Orwellian experience where we are almost under 24-hour surveillance. We never know when we are having a private conversation."

According to Thomas, Prof. Swain "credits American exceptionalism and God’s hand for her rise from a family of 12 children that was born in rural poverty in southwest Virginia.

"But now, Swain now thinks 'we have all of these forces pulling us away from faith to secularism'."

Related
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Ken Klukowski reports at Breitbart.com:

The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: "Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense. . . . Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis."

"The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith," Breitbart reports.

On Nov. 23, 2012, I wrote on Twitter, "You do realize that 'Christian' Obama is in the process of criminalizing Christianity."

I then illustrated this on Facebook with reference to Obamacare, writing also on Nov. 23, 2012: 

Obamacare requires the funding of pro-abortion provisions. 

Obamamare will fine people who embrace science (the human biology of the fetus), ethics (it's wrong to kill the innocent), the Constitution (there is no basis for the federal gov't to impose its "healthcare" upon the states and the people).

The verifiable data we have vis-a-vis the Christian worldview embraces science, protects the innocent, and favors freedom.

This worldview, as such, cannot therefore be reduced to activities inside prayer closets or to singing 18 verses of "Just as I am."

Community with God and man is intended to be lived out across the whole of life. [emphasis added]

We now already have massive demonization from Obama, the Democrats, and the formerly mainstream Democrat media.

The purpose of demonization is to destroy -- reputations at first; much more later, if necessary.

Fines for not complying with Obamacare will be in force.

What do you think will happen if companies and individuals or companies refuse to pay fines?

Well, stiffer fines. Court. Jail. Possibly more.

This is one of the paths to the criminalization of Christianity currently underway.

Jesus of Nazareth commissioned his followers to take the Good News regarding God's answer to the problem of human brokenness into all parts of the world: "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15-16).

In view of this statement from the Pentagon, we now have the Department of Defense of "Christian" Barack Obama repudiating Christ, repudiating the explicit, normative, publicly actionable, and verifiable teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.

Memo to Obama: The scope of Christ's commission to share with our fellow human beings the Good News from the Creator (who is the basis of unalienable rights), regarding the real-world solution to the brokenness of the human condition, includes all of life, including military life, even at the Pentagon.

Obama is a mere creature. Neither he nor his servants has the authority to countermand this commission from Christ himself. The extremism of Barack Obama against God, humanity, and freedom becomes more evident with each passing day. A free-thinking people, and a freedom-thinking people, revolts.

Related 
Extremism In, Extremism Out: Obama’s Soldiers for Secularism 
What Is "Mainstream" America?
Secularist Washington-Centrism Is Un-American
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George Neumayr writes at American Spectator:

Whoever put together the recently reported Defense Department materials classifying Catholics and Evangelicals as extremists can be excused for simply reflecting, if a bit overenthusiastically, the ideology of the boss. Obama’s anti-Christian secularism is the order of the day. Why wouldn’t that philosophy seep into DOD materials?

The military is dismissing this slide show for a U.S. Army Reserve presentation, which placed the Catholic Church in the same category as al Qaeda, as an isolated incident. An Army spokesman told the press it "was produced by an individual without anyone in the chain of command’s knowledge or permission," who "was not a subject matter expert, and produced the material after conducting Internet research."

Research into what? Obama’s speeches and writings on the benighted quality of Christianity, all of which rest on the premise that it is extreme? Did he read Obama’s memoirs, which dismiss passages of the Bible as extreme? Had he read Obama’s comment that to "base our policy making" on Abrahamic commitments "would be a dangerous thing"? . . .

"When historians look back on his presidency, they will likely record that he considered his greatest enemy to be not radical Islam abroad but traditional Christianity at home," Neumary writes.

"Winning the culture war through the 'fundamental transformation' of the country has always been of more interest to him than winning wars against Islamic terrorists. As he has proudly noted, 'ending "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" was a topic in my first meeting with Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen, and the Joint Chiefs'.”

Neumayr concludes, "The 'individual' who put together the U.S. Army Reserve presentation deserves if anything a promotion. As a product of Obama-era brainwashing, he understands that the military no longer exists for God and country but for Obama and his state secularism, which views Americans who still bitterly cling to their Christianity as extremists."

Related
What Is "Mainstream" America?
Secularist Washington-Centrism Is Un-American 
"I Pledge Allegiance to Obama"?