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.
1) I meant to type "Saturday Sabbath.
2) the correct spelling of "hermenuetic" is "hermeneutic". (I don't usually make too big a deal about typos since I make quite a few when I type and post fast, but the word "hermeneutic" is an important one).
Nope. Lambert, Montana. The weather is as bad as North Dakota, the prairie provides the scenery, and there are few of the customary diversions. The big lunch spot is the local bar and grille. Winter sessions, of course.
No, we're just engaged in mass murder of unforn babies here in the U.S.--around 40 million since the Roe v Wade decision. That's all....just 40 million.
But I guess we're supposed to be better than those other governments that have murdered far less.
Just take everything east of the western Continental Divide, and west of the Eastern one, from Hudson's Bay to the Bay of Campeche, call it America, and let the rest of it find a new name.
We have a winner!
I've always been president of the United States of My House.
This is progress? I'd hate to see what he defined as regression.
What's happening in the U.S. is totally unacceptable to me. Yet what can I do about it? Elect new representatives? They have no power. Only the judiciary has power. We are stuck with them for the rest of their lives. They can legislate for us. They can raise our taxes. They can do anything they darn well please. Freedom is gone in America. There is a faux freedom left, one that says you can do what is right in your own eyes. But there is no real freedom as established by our founders. Representative government is dead. We can work through our representatives to get what we want only to have the courts knock it down. And it doesn't matter how old and firmly established the law. It's ridiculous. There is zero respect for the order handed down to us by earlier generations -- our parents and grandparents. The judges today are much "wiser" than anyone else who ever lived. We the people just have to sit back and take it. I'm tired of taking it.
Sorry to burst your secular bubble but the problem IS secularism. That fact that you even use a phrase like "separation of church and state" which is not in the Constitution just shows how well the libs have succeeded in framing the debate. To paraphrase Nixon: "We are all secularists now."
I consider gay marrige just the latest in a slew of offensive liberal agendas to cross my path. Whatever motivates Conservative Christians to unite is good.
As for America being a Christian nation that is unfortunately no longer true.
Roe v. Wade is just another brick in the wall.
Theocracy doesn't scare me, it's just another liberal bugaboo like McCarthyism. I would narrow down freedom of religion to freedom of Christian denominations.
Illegal aliens=problem.
Blacks? I don't have a problem nor do I know any conservatives that DO have a problem with that.
I think there would be an assumption that that is mostly who we would attract. But I certainly would not make it illegal to be another religion, or no religion at all. I would never agree to that. That's what makes the Christian foundation of our nation so beautiful. We respect each other's religion and welcome the values and morals they all share. Freedom of religion is essential as originally defined, not as it is defined today.
You need to learn your history better.
Oh, that's the fault of Christians. Right. Bush 1 has NO ONE to blame for losing except himself. Read my lips.
Excellent post.
Like all libertarians you do not understand the difference between freedom and license. Virtue is the best defense of Freedom, something that libertarians don't seem too keen on.
We may be talking about a fine line here. Many different folks came to this country when it was an explicitly Christian nation. And while I understand the freedom of/from religion aspects of the debate, something needs to be stated explicitly from the gitgo so that Christianity does not come under attack from the new government.
The point is to allow personal faith and morals to support freedom. We can never get there through coercion.
I agree, but I would definitely support an amendment defining the Nation as specifically christian, based on the gospel of Jesus Christ, though not preferring on particular denomination above another.
Sounds like this nation will be as exciting as Branson Missouri. Its all yours, you can have it. I'll be in the fun country.
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