- Another instance of US taxpayer subsidy generosity eroding their own religious heritage.
- Aside from Sen. Joseph McCarthy, no other patriot can we recall ever originating from the state of Wisconsin.
By Michael May 21, 2013
A Madison, Wisconsin-based atheist group called Freedom From Religion which is a member of the Atheist Alliance continues to attack local governments in the South and other rural, traditional areas over religious activities and symbols. As noted in recent SNN articles, the Northern Progressive group has threatened a rural county in North Carolina because short prayers are often said to start county meetings. In similar fashion, the Madison atheists also forced a middle school in southern Ohio to take down a picture of Jesus which had hung on the school’s walls since 1947. These are just two recent examples of the group’s activism apparent contempt for local self-determination. Now the group is striking again, attempting to force the mayor of a Tennessee town to stop holding its traditional, annual prayer breakfast. Matthew Lane covers the story for the Times News of Kingport, Tennessee:
The Freedom from Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., sent a letter to Mayor Dennis Phillips on May 1 urging him to immediately stop using city resources and taxpayer funds to plan, organize and promote the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast. The prayer breakfast took place the next day on May 2.
…The Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast — a free event open to the public — included prayers for the city, state and nation, the local business community, elected officials and the education community. Between prayers, the Milligan College Concert Choir sang hymns and city employees and community leaders engaged in Scripture readings.
…Phillips said all of the funding for the event, including the auditorium rental and the caterer (Pratt’s) came from donations, sponsorships and ticket sales. According to city records, the Kingsport Chamber Foundation rented the Civic Auditorium that day for $340. Christ Fellowship Church funded the tickets for any city employee who chose to come to the event, according to city emails.
“No one is forced to come to the prayer breakfast or listen to the prayer breakfast or believe the same things. Our prayer breakfast is a group of individuals who are assembled to pay homage to our ministers,” Phillips said. “My plans are we are going to continue doing it.”Though the Times News article is quite favourable to the Northern activists (describing them as a ’national [sic] nonprofit organization with more than 19,000 members, who strive to promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism’) and quotes their rhetoric about constitutional concerns, SNN has noted that the Freedom from Religion people openly mock religion on their website and state in clear terms that they are atheists. They make jokes about being ‘hell bound’ and refer to God as an ‘unpleasant character of fiction.’ One has even written a book titled God is Not Great. It is clear from their own words that this group’s primary concern is not any constitutional principle but rather a desire to attack religion in general and Christianity in particular.
Why should Northern Leftists in Madison, Wisconsin have any influence in the way that people in Kingport, Tennessee? Why should they be able to sue to prevent local governments in North Carolina from saying a prayer or schools in southern Ohio from hanging a picture of a Jesus on their wall? Clearly in the United States of America today there is no respect for local autonomy or self-determination. Regional and local culture are not respected by people who live far away and have an agenda that they wish to force upon everyone. Independence would end this nonsense. The people of Tennessee and Wisconsin are quite different and have views on government and society which run counter to one another. In the present system one is going to force their views upon the other. That is the essence of US democracy; the group with the larger numbers will rule over the other group. Given that Southerners and traditionalists in general are a minority in the USA and that the Federal courts is quite hostile to Southern values and rights, independence makes sense. If Tennessee were free then the Kingport mayor could tell the Madison atheist group to take a hike when they sent him a harassing latter – and there would be nothing that the Northern Progressives could do about it. The same is true of the people in North Carolina and southern Ohio. Their interests are not served by being in a union with the folks in Madison. The system has failed. It prevents self-determination rather than ensuring it. It’s time for independence.
For the full IRS Form 990 on the US taxpayer-subsidized FFR Foundation, its officers, donors and compensations, click here
Also see: Wisconsin atheist group threatens NC county over prayers, Jesus portrait, the Feds & local control of education, Northern crusader-ism, Southern opposition and The latest Yankee moral crusade: Anti-bullying
Southern Nationalist Network
