Posted on 05/23/2004 11:54:30 PM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Calling the approval of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts "the straw that broke the camel's back," a group of Christian activists is in the beginning stages of an effort to have one state secede from the United States to become its own sovereign nation.
"Our Christian republic has declined into a pagan democracy," says Cory Burnell, president of ChristianExodus.org, a non-profit corporation based in Tyler, Texas. "There are some issues people just can't take anymore, and [same-sex marriage] might finally wake up the complacent Christians."
Burnell is leading the charge for a peaceful secession of one state from the union, and after originally considering Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina due to their relatively small populations, coastal access, and the Christian nature of the electorate, Burnell says South Carolina has been selected as the target location.
The plan initially calls for at least 12,000 Christians willing to be active in political campaigns to move to the Palmetto State.
"We're not an invading force, we're reinforcements," Burnell tells WorldNetDaily, saying it would be a waste to move to liberal-minded states such as Massachusetts, New York or California where conservative votes would be diluted.
According to the ChristianExodus website, which is slated for a major relaunch next month, "Christians have actively tried to return our entire land to its moral foundation for more than 20 years. We can categorically say that absolutely nothing has been achieved. If you disagree, consider this:
* Abortion continues against the wishes of many states * Children may not pray in our schools * The Bible is not welcome in schools except under strict federal guidelines
* The 10 Commandments remain banned from public display * Sodomy is now legal and celebrated as 'diversity' rather than perversion
* Preaching Christianity will soon be outlawed as 'hate speech' * Gay marriage will be foisted upon us in the very near future
"All these atrocities continue in spite of the fact that we now have the 'right' people in places of power. Indeed, the occupant of the White House is a professing Christian. The U.S. attorney general is believed to be a devout Christian. 'Conservatives' control both Houses of Congress, and Republican presidents appointed seven of the nine Supreme Court justices."
The idea of moving thousands of people to affect the voting in one state is not new. As WorldNetDaily has previously reported, the Free State Project has goals of restoring certain personal liberties and limited government – but without seceding from the union. Last year, a group of 4,500 libertarians decided New Hampshire would be the best state.
S. Carolina state flag
Burnell, a math teacher and cell-phone dealer, stresses he's not looking for bloody battles that took place in the American Revolution and the Civil War, but is rather seeking a "political divorce."
"It's got to be different today," he says. "It has to be peaceful, brokered."
But he admits if the federal government decides to use military force to stop the effort, "Then it can't happen."
Already a dozen people are actively working on the project, and some 1,500 by e-mails of support have been received.
If all goes according to plan, Burnell is hoping to have a constitutional convention by 2014, with a president of the new nation – still to be known as South Carolina – elected in 2016, which is also a presidential election year in the U.S.
He says the nation would be founded on Christian principles, and the people writing its constitution would have to hash out details to safeguard it as a Christian republic.
For now, Burnell prefers to shy away from specifics on the precise laws governing the country.
"Independence first, details later," he says.
Gay marriage is not a conservative issue. It's close to 70% that are against it.
When push comes to shove, I'll be with you. But I think our current form of government is the correct one. And I don't believe that it legitimately bans public religious expression. For example, I've been enraged by the attacks on our Mojave Desert Cross WWI memorial. I want Christmas parties back. I want the KJV back in the classroom, along with Shakespeare. Both are banned for their relevance to history and lack of respect for liberal biases.
Political correctness is going to be the death of our society, and no amount of "relegislation" is going to solve it. Secession might offer us relief, but it's a form of surrender. I want the Constitution to be applied, and I want a republic that follows its laws and refuses to ignore the traditions and beliefs of its people. And I'm willing to fight to defend what we've lost and help reinstate it. The lawbreakers are those handing out worthless pieces of paper. They call it a form of abolition, but each drop of ink is a bonfire of anarchy.
My friends, the ones who are seceding are the same sex civil clerks. They're hardly any better than the stamp tax collectors that helped start our revolutionary war.
Liberals have the schools and the media. They do not have a majority of the people -- yet. Their support is growing, though. How long do we wait? All I want is the original Constitution minus the re-writes. That's all. That's what this group wants. It's the best thing going. I did join.
Good luck! It's quite a strong statement to make. This country used to be a Republic. When it is again, your separatism won't be necessary at all. Right now, what's happening in MA and Kali is a form of anarchy.
Perhaps we could retry the idea, "Constitutional Republic".
1) It simply is not Biblical for Christians to segregate themselves from the rest of the world. ("Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matt 28:19). Christians are not to be "of the world", but certainly we are sent to be "in the world", to preach Christ.
2) What's missing in the U.S. is not Christian government, but Christians IN government, ensuring that the original "contract" (i.e. the U.S. Constitution) between the people and Government is enforced.
The Constitution has been used for toilet paper for about 100 years now. The true solution is to turn back that tide, i.e. to put honest men and women into government, to show Christ in our actions, providing the Holy Spirit the opportunity to change this nation through our example. Christian judges would not have broken their oath to uphold the Constitution, as evil men in black robes have for the past 100 years.
I swear the status quo is horrid, but I believe the struggle of American Christians is a trial permitted by the Lord. Certainly, our struggle is nothing compared to many of our brothers and sisters face daily throughout the world, i.e. even torture and death.
I believe we can bear up, and do the Lord's will without succeeding from the Union, and creating a "Christian" nation. Steady on, my Christian friends.
SFS
Just a thought...but how about 50 states receeding?
"an aetheist who believes in moral community standards"
Seems like an interesting concept--but whos standards? It would seem that if "Christians" have trouble discerning that,say, abortion is wrong, then what would be the community be that the aetheist should or would adhere?
"South Carolina is too small to be a Republic, and too large to be an insane asylum." -- James Petigru, 1860
...an effort to have one state secede from the United States to become its own sovereign nation.
Didn’t Florida try this 143 years ago - with disastrous consequences?
But SC could get UN help! That could turn out to be very interesting.
The French would come to their rescue!
As relatively impossible as it would be to take over New Zealand as a Christian nation, I suspect it would be easier.
Alaska might be easier except the USA would prize it's military options there and Russia expects to get it back in WWIII anyway.
Tasmania might be an option but there's a lot of freethinker types there, too.
Nepal might be interesting but with the Maoists and fierce Buddhists, it's probably not a remotely good option either.
Sri Lanka similarly.
Madagascar similarly.
A bit hard to grow crops in Antarctica still and all those rabid greenies wanting to have hands off on the place would be a nusance anyway.
Cuba seems to be taken.
Puerto Rico is rabidly hostile to anything sane plus having a plethora of ET's and government types running around above ground, below ground and under the sea. Messy.
Arizona might be possible but given all the influx of elderly liberal airheads from New England plus the masses of Mexicans flooding across the border . . . increasingly less attractive.
Idaho has attractions. But given Yellowstone blowing it's cork; a huge number of LDS and no small amount of rabid militia groups--there's more than enough complications to look elsewhere.
The Mormons are well entrenched in Utah. Besides, it's supposedly going to be mostly underwater by the time geologic changes settle down.
Iceland? Fiercely protective of their status quo.
Cyprus? Might even unite the Greeks and Turks to have a 3rd group to oppose!
Greenland? Farmingly challenged unless global warming goes bannas in a big rapid way.
Nova Scotia? Pretty parochial about their status quo, too. Besides, a little too close to the Rabid Frenchies.
Methinks that just about leaves . . . let's see . . .
some corner of Amazonia . . . . Argentine or Chilean highlands
or . . . . thinking . . .
. . .
ahhhhhh
HEAVEN!
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Oohh, I want my own country. I would be Benevolent Dictator For Life and I would outlaw all forms of taxation. I wouldn't want a whole state, though. Maybe a nice 800,000 acres or so with a good water supply and where it doesn't get too humid.
It didn't work last time because the seceeding states were motivated by a desire to perpetuate an immoral institution. As much as it has been claimed by some that the Civil War was fought over the issue of state's rights, the right they sought to preserve was the right to enslave other human beings.
I see this topic as completely different and with solid moral standing. How else but something like this will those of us who decry the pathetic "European" direction liberals wish to take this country in stand up for what we believe?
In an age when our children and young people are constantly bombarded with a liberal, European agenda, how, other than something as radical as this, do we counteract what our children hear on television and in our universities every day. Certainly, talking to each other in venues like this has done little to stem the tide.
I believe that should such a movement gain a foothold in any one state there would be a strong momentum in states with like-minded populations much as the populations of the old Confederacy quickly fell in line after South Carolina seceeded. I could imagine Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas and maybe Florida following on quickly. Out west, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah. If that happened would Kansas and Oklahoma be far behind? It may be a wild notion right now, but seriously, does anyone truly know of any other way to really stem the seemingly inexorable descent towards a radically secularist, European-style country.
We are all guilty if we sit back, watch it happen and do nothing.
"All these atrocities continue in spite of the fact that we now have the 'right' people in places of power. Indeed, the occupant of the White House is a professing Christian. The U.S. attorney general is believed to be a devout Christian. 'Conservatives' control both Houses of Congress, and Republican presidents appointed seven of the nine Supreme Court justices."
A good way to start towards this goal would be to practice Christianity instead of just preaching it.
Sounds like good advice for John Kerry.
I wouldn't have thought that these Christians believed in divorce.... LOL
Amen!
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