Terry Kemple War Against Separation of Church and State
Terry Kemple's organization Community Issues Council spent $500,000 on billboards in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. My first question was where the hell did Kemple get $500,000? He is the only employee of Community Issues Council. Retired businessman Gregg Smith came up with the idea and the cash for the billboards.
The one problem with the billboard is Washington never said or wrote those words. Kemple admits Washington did say the quote. That isn't going to stop him from running his billboard and misleading people.
Others carry the same message but with fictional attribution, as with one billboard citing George Washington for the quote, "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."
"I don't believe there's a document in Washington's handwriting that has those words in that specific form," Kemple said. "However, if you look at Washington's quotes, including his farewell address, about the place of religion in the political sphere, there's no question he could have said those exact words."
Common sense dictates one doesn't help his cause with false quotes. Kemple is so loopy that he doesn't care. He just wants to tear down the separation of church and state. Bithers don't let facts interfere with their agenda. Why should Kemple?
Labels: christian right, first amendment, religion, terry kemple
posted by Michael Hussey @ 7:56 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Indeed that Washington quote can not be verified, although many have said it is in keeping with his beliefs and that he could have said such a thing. Still, it's a bad idea to quote sloppily.
Just as it's a bad idea to quote the First Amendment lazily (or in a misleading fashion). The Religion Clauses say “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" That's it. Not "separation..." phrase there. When Thomas Jefferson used the separation phrase he used it as a metaphor to describe one aspect of the First Amendment, not as a summary of its meaning.
As this post shows:
Words Have Power - to Enlighten or Confuse
common usage today relies overwhelmingly on the separation phrase, while leaving behind "Establishment Clause" or "Establishment of Religion." But why not? After all, one can say "separation of church and state" and use it to mean just about anything.
The billboard campaign uses several other quotes that ARE accurate. All are in the same tone as the unprovable Washington quote. The general point the signs are making is very valid. It's a part of history that we are not told, or even that is denied by some.
Have you no actual understanding of the birth of our country? The WHOLE reason why this country was established was to escape government involvement into personal lives, like in England. Letting any sort of religion, be it christianity, judahism or heaven's gate be the one religion. Hardly any of the founding fathers were bible following believers. Jefferson himself wasn't happy with the bible so he wrote his own version.
They followed classical readings and governments so closely that they knew what would happen if there was one declared religion. Look at Rome, after Constantine ordered that Christianity be the only religion of the empire it began to fall apart.
Jefferson never spoke ANYTHING in metaphor. Only time he did were in him quoting others. The first amendment is as clear cut. It's the Hamiltonians thinking everything is a metaphor.
It prohibits congress and the government from being favorable to one denomination. Picking one religion over another would be un-American. We are the land of the free, free to worship as you please. Saying that it was meant as a metaphor is a contradiction of what this country is.
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