FLASHBACK: Anti-Biblical Barbarism
In light of the newest Christophobic offensive against religious liberties at the U.S. Air Force Academy, I rummaged through my archives and found a piece I wrote back in 1996 that is just as relevant today as it was then. Feel free to substitute the particulars of Barry Lynn's anti-crusade where appropriate - the peroration is timeless.
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Elgin, Texas, a town twenty miles east of Austin renowned for its bricks, barbecues, and its one church per hundred residents, would appear to be well-protected against the secularist onslaught against religious liberties. In the last month, that line has been breached.
On behalf of five intolerant Elgin High School students and three of their busybodying parents, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in federal district court against the Elgin school district, the high school's athletic director/football coach, Eddie Baca, and three coaches in other sports. The defendants stand accused of "violating the students' First Amendment rights" by "mixing religion with school activities."
Let's stop the narrative for a moment and ask some seemingly pertinent questions. Was there any coercion involved? Were the students in question threatened physically, or with disciplinary action or bad grades, if they didn't attend religious services conducted by the defendants? Were the students harassed, constantly badgered day after day, in an effort to wear down their resistance? In short, were Coach Baca and his colleagues trying to (as the term used to be understood) force their religious beliefs upon their charges?
The ACLU has done its best to make it look that way. Its suit alleges that the coaches played Christian music on a radio in the locker room (I suppose Judas Preist or Poison would have been an improvement), arranged for a religious lecture at a school assembly (no mention at all that it was mandatory), posted Bible verses on players' lockers, led teams in prayers (again, voluntarily), and "pressured" students to attend Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings. How students were "pressured" is not explained.
Tellingly, the plaintiffs have offered to settle the suit out of court if the coaches admit to "wrongdoing." Their thuggish tactics have already spooked the local school board into line, voting unanimously on March 25 to sign an agreement bringing the school into compliance with the law "separating religion from public school activities." Of course, no such law actually exists this side of constitutionality, but the ACLU apparently doesn't consider that lack to be an obstacle. And to their everlasting credit, the coaches are refusing to be bullied.
"The allegations are really a gross misrepresentation of what happened," says Baca, 39. He insists that neither he nor any of the other coaches forced their beliefs upon their athletes, and accuses the ACLU of "exploiting kids" for its own ends. Says Irvin McCorkle, pastor of the CoonNeck Community Church, "The ACLU has to butt out of everybody's business. This is basically a Christian community, but I don't know of one church that tries to force anyone to believe."
The consequences of the coaches' stand have not been long in unfolding. The Elgin school board is threatening to terminate the contract of baseball coach/math teacher Brad Osborn. His dire offense? Witnessing to one of his players. But for Coach Baca's part, he says he won't change the way he coaches, suit or no suit. "I'll still care about kids. The only thing this will affect is that now, when the team wants to pray [note who initiates the team prayers] after games and before games, the players will have to do it without us around."
Pastor McCorkle was in error. Elgin, Texas WAS a Christian community. If the ACLU has its way, official secularism will be imposed there as it has nearly everywhere else across the once-fruited plain.
* * *
Sometimes the persecutors do more than shout.
Several years ago, ACT-UP radicals invaded St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and desecrated the Host. Millions of Christians around the world believe that Christ is really present in the sacrament of communion. And this isn't an exclusively recent phenomenon; America has had anti-Catholic riots throughout its history (bet they don't teach THAT in public school history texts). "Know Nothing" mobs once dumped one of the stones intended for the Washington Monument into the Potomac because it had been generously donated by the Pope. In the spirit of that infamous tradition, ACT-UP's church invasion set a new low for efforts to offend the deeply held religious beliefs of an entire community.
Catholics are not alone in the crosshairs. In suburban Washington, D.C., the Montrose Baptist Church has twice been torched. No one has been charged with arson (natch), but church members have cited the congregation's strong pro-life stance and its high profile during the 1992 Maryland abortion referendum as making it a likely target in liberal Montgomery County. Montrose is just one of at least twenty-six churches in California and a number of southern states that have been victims of arson attacks. The current wave of church bombings began in the spring of 1993 and have accelerated since January 1995. Funny, isn't it, how this brand of anti-Christian terrorism hasn't received so much as a word of mention in what some laughingly call the "mainstream" press?
But then the federal government itself, the supposed guarantor of civil liberties, including the First Amendment right to the "free exercise" of religion, treats religion as a suspect classification. Christian employees of the Federal Aviation Administration are still finding their request to start a prayer group stymied by bureaucrats who welcome homosexual groups with open buttlips. Similarly, the Department of Transportation is trying to squash a prayer and fellowship employee group because it seeks to label homosexual behavior a sin. The 50-member Christian organization has been discriminated against for more than fourteen months in its bid for official status because it rejects a "nondiscrimination" clause that includes "sexual orientation." But group leaders do not bar homosexuals from joining, but actually welcome them. They simply refuse to give them leadership positions because doing so would sanction sinful actions. If this sounds unfair to you, imagine the uproar if GLOBE (the Gay/Lesbian/ Bisexual Employees group, a DOT employees organization which has received preferential treatment) was required to admit Christians, put them in leadership positions, and conduct prayer meetings.
Moreover, the Clinton administration has recently moved to terminate tuition assistance (for the poor and middle class!) which has been provided since 1929 for Americans serving in Ecuador. The parents who chose [note that verb] the Alliance Academy, a Christian School, were pleased with the quality of the education provided, and the spiritual and moral guidance their children received there. But now, with the opening of a completely secular private school in the capital, Quito [with heavy U.S. assistance, no doubt], parents have been ordered to pull their kids out of Alliance and enroll them in this secular school, or lose their subsidy. Nothing discriminatory or heavy-handed in that, is there?
Anti-Christian bigotry has no place in the United States of America. To the enemies of the Church, the words of Irving Kristol give fiery warning: "The real danger is not from a revived Christianity...but from an upsurge of antibiblical barbarism that will challenge Christianity, Judaism, and Western Civilization together."
Amen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elgin, Texas, a town twenty miles east of Austin renowned for its bricks, barbecues, and its one church per hundred residents, would appear to be well-protected against the secularist onslaught against religious liberties. In the last month, that line has been breached.
On behalf of five intolerant Elgin High School students and three of their busybodying parents, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in federal district court against the Elgin school district, the high school's athletic director/football coach, Eddie Baca, and three coaches in other sports. The defendants stand accused of "violating the students' First Amendment rights" by "mixing religion with school activities."
Let's stop the narrative for a moment and ask some seemingly pertinent questions. Was there any coercion involved? Were the students in question threatened physically, or with disciplinary action or bad grades, if they didn't attend religious services conducted by the defendants? Were the students harassed, constantly badgered day after day, in an effort to wear down their resistance? In short, were Coach Baca and his colleagues trying to (as the term used to be understood) force their religious beliefs upon their charges?
The ACLU has done its best to make it look that way. Its suit alleges that the coaches played Christian music on a radio in the locker room (I suppose Judas Preist or Poison would have been an improvement), arranged for a religious lecture at a school assembly (no mention at all that it was mandatory), posted Bible verses on players' lockers, led teams in prayers (again, voluntarily), and "pressured" students to attend Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings. How students were "pressured" is not explained.
Tellingly, the plaintiffs have offered to settle the suit out of court if the coaches admit to "wrongdoing." Their thuggish tactics have already spooked the local school board into line, voting unanimously on March 25 to sign an agreement bringing the school into compliance with the law "separating religion from public school activities." Of course, no such law actually exists this side of constitutionality, but the ACLU apparently doesn't consider that lack to be an obstacle. And to their everlasting credit, the coaches are refusing to be bullied.
"The allegations are really a gross misrepresentation of what happened," says Baca, 39. He insists that neither he nor any of the other coaches forced their beliefs upon their athletes, and accuses the ACLU of "exploiting kids" for its own ends. Says Irvin McCorkle, pastor of the CoonNeck Community Church, "The ACLU has to butt out of everybody's business. This is basically a Christian community, but I don't know of one church that tries to force anyone to believe."
The consequences of the coaches' stand have not been long in unfolding. The Elgin school board is threatening to terminate the contract of baseball coach/math teacher Brad Osborn. His dire offense? Witnessing to one of his players. But for Coach Baca's part, he says he won't change the way he coaches, suit or no suit. "I'll still care about kids. The only thing this will affect is that now, when the team wants to pray [note who initiates the team prayers] after games and before games, the players will have to do it without us around."
Pastor McCorkle was in error. Elgin, Texas WAS a Christian community. If the ACLU has its way, official secularism will be imposed there as it has nearly everywhere else across the once-fruited plain.
* * *
Sometimes the persecutors do more than shout.
Several years ago, ACT-UP radicals invaded St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and desecrated the Host. Millions of Christians around the world believe that Christ is really present in the sacrament of communion. And this isn't an exclusively recent phenomenon; America has had anti-Catholic riots throughout its history (bet they don't teach THAT in public school history texts). "Know Nothing" mobs once dumped one of the stones intended for the Washington Monument into the Potomac because it had been generously donated by the Pope. In the spirit of that infamous tradition, ACT-UP's church invasion set a new low for efforts to offend the deeply held religious beliefs of an entire community.
Catholics are not alone in the crosshairs. In suburban Washington, D.C., the Montrose Baptist Church has twice been torched. No one has been charged with arson (natch), but church members have cited the congregation's strong pro-life stance and its high profile during the 1992 Maryland abortion referendum as making it a likely target in liberal Montgomery County. Montrose is just one of at least twenty-six churches in California and a number of southern states that have been victims of arson attacks. The current wave of church bombings began in the spring of 1993 and have accelerated since January 1995. Funny, isn't it, how this brand of anti-Christian terrorism hasn't received so much as a word of mention in what some laughingly call the "mainstream" press?
But then the federal government itself, the supposed guarantor of civil liberties, including the First Amendment right to the "free exercise" of religion, treats religion as a suspect classification. Christian employees of the Federal Aviation Administration are still finding their request to start a prayer group stymied by bureaucrats who welcome homosexual groups with open buttlips. Similarly, the Department of Transportation is trying to squash a prayer and fellowship employee group because it seeks to label homosexual behavior a sin. The 50-member Christian organization has been discriminated against for more than fourteen months in its bid for official status because it rejects a "nondiscrimination" clause that includes "sexual orientation." But group leaders do not bar homosexuals from joining, but actually welcome them. They simply refuse to give them leadership positions because doing so would sanction sinful actions. If this sounds unfair to you, imagine the uproar if GLOBE (the Gay/Lesbian/ Bisexual Employees group, a DOT employees organization which has received preferential treatment) was required to admit Christians, put them in leadership positions, and conduct prayer meetings.
Moreover, the Clinton administration has recently moved to terminate tuition assistance (for the poor and middle class!) which has been provided since 1929 for Americans serving in Ecuador. The parents who chose [note that verb] the Alliance Academy, a Christian School, were pleased with the quality of the education provided, and the spiritual and moral guidance their children received there. But now, with the opening of a completely secular private school in the capital, Quito [with heavy U.S. assistance, no doubt], parents have been ordered to pull their kids out of Alliance and enroll them in this secular school, or lose their subsidy. Nothing discriminatory or heavy-handed in that, is there?
Anti-Christian bigotry has no place in the United States of America. To the enemies of the Church, the words of Irving Kristol give fiery warning: "The real danger is not from a revived Christianity...but from an upsurge of antibiblical barbarism that will challenge Christianity, Judaism, and Western Civilization together."
Amen.
posted by JASmius at 9:17 AM
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