Liberty First
From the horse’s mouth:
In our city as well as many across the country our local officials have adopted a program called Character First. It is a thinly veiled religious program created by a near cultish like evangelist named Bill Gothard.
I along with a small group of multi denominational Christians formed a coalition to put an end to our city’s support of this program. Later a few atheists, who saw what we were trying to accomplish, joined us and that is essentially how the Libert1st group got its start.
The short version of this story is that our government officials tried to use intimidation and indirect threats to keep our opposition muted. It was not until that moment I realized how important the First Amendment was to a (so called) free society. I also realized that in another country or time these people of faith (or not) could have been jailed for speaking out against the government’s brand of faith so openly. And believe me if they thought they could of got away with it they probably would have jailed us. 😉
This one event cemented in my mind how essential it is for the individual to be allowed to dissent from popular opinion. The First Amendment applies to everyone equally and there is no safety valve for those who may be offended by its use. If you allow the state to silence a Christian because you, the minority or the majority of people may be offended by what they have to say you are setting a precedent that may never be able to be undone.
Here is a link Liberty First.
Update: The above mentioned program (Character First) wants kids to chant during class time:
MEEKNESS vs. Anger – Yielding my personal rights and expectations with a desire to serve
OBEDIENCE vs. Willfulness – Quickly and cheerfully carrying out the proper direction of my authorities
FLEXIBILITY vs. Resistance – Being willing to change plans or ideas according to the wishes of my authorities
DEFERENCE vs. Rudeness – Limiting my freedom so I do not offend the tastes of those around me
HOSPITALITY vs. Loneliness – Cheerfully sharing food,shelter, or conversation to benefit others
GENEROSITY vs. Stinginess – Carefully managing my resources so I can freely give to those in need
AVAILABILITY vs. Self-centeredness – Making my own schedule and priorities secondary to the wishes of those I serve
June 20th, 2003 at 1:55 am
Wow. Really and truly, Mr. Uncle, even you have to admit: this chart could be simplified with no loss of accuracy by simply calling it Progressives vs. Conservatives. I mean, check it out — it’s almost funny: willfulness, resistance, rudeness, stinginess, etc…. Are there terms that more accurately could describe DeLay, Limbaugh, Hannity, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, and, of course, Dubya?
I admire that chart greatly; it wonderfully articulates why I can’t imagine not being a progressive.