Ask and ye shall receive...
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WXIA-TV/11 Alive:
Posted on 09/26/2003 3:10:04 PM PDT by mhking
More than 200 people gathered in front of the Barrow County Courthouse this afternoon to support the county's decision not to remove the Ten Commandments from the government building.
The rally was organized by J.J. Harper, the self-proclaimed imperial wizard of the American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and members of the controversial African-American church, the House of Prayer.
The groups were protesting against the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a lawsuit to force the removal of a framed poster of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse. Barrow County commissioners voted in June to fight the ACLU over the poster, and county officials have said there are no plans to take it down.
Both groups -- at least for one day -- seemed to disregard issues of race in favor of supporting what they viewed as an attack of Christianity.
"Did somebody say they were black?" Harper, of Cordele, asked rhetorically. "I thought they were Christians, who have done nothing more than study the word of God."
About 100 House of Prayer members, including 50 children, attended the rally. The Atlanta-based House of Prayer is led by the jailed Rev. Arthur Allen, who is serving a two-year prison sentence for violating probation on a child cruelty conviction.
"This is not a Ku Klux Klan, House of Prayer, black or white issue, but a human issue," said House of Prayer member Vickie Hightower.
After the speeches, children with the House of Prayer sang songs such as "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" in support of the imprisoned Allen.
Barrow County Commission Chairman Eddie Elder, who strongly opposes taking down the Ten Commandments poster, apparently didn't mind that a Klan member was leading the rally.
County spokeswoman Lane Downs said, "He appreciates all the help he can get." Lane also said Elder doesn't mind the Klan rally as long as it stays peaceful.
Some protesters were more wary of the KlanÕs involvement.
"We started not to come," said Ten Commandments supporter Angela Woodall, who says she opposes the Klan but felt compelled to attend the Barrow rally for religious reasons.
Friday's rally is not the first -- or last -- public demonstration over Barrow County case.
Earlier this month, hundreds attended a rally led by Alan Keyes, a 2000 Republican presidential candidate and a former U.S. representative at the United Nations.
On Monday, the Christian Coalition of Georgia plans its own press conference and rally at the courthouse, the same day the Council for Secular Humanism and the Atlanta Freethought Society will protest against the religious display at the state capitol.
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Does the klan have any clout at all these days? If they do I don't see any evidence of it.
I disagree. I see this as a bad thing. I don't know what the House of Prayer is (someone enlighten me please), but if they are anything like the KKK, I see this as suckie groups trying to look good while they have evil intentions.
They know many good people are not pleased with thee events, and they are looking to draw those fringe elements not yet associated with them in.
The KKK does not have Christian values at their core, regardless of what they pretend. They should stay home.
The best thing groups like the KKK could do is disband. Short of that, they still have evil intentions.
Then I asked a question.
That is all.
Talk about no sense of history, sheesh
I my lifetime (and I'm pushing 52) they have never had any clout.
They have been the liberal boogey man since their last hurrah somewhere in Indiana, sometime in the 20's.
That was about it for any real power the Klan held (and in the 20s in the midwest they DID have real power). It hung on in some areas for a few years, had a small resurgence during the civil rights era, but now it's just a very small group of very uneducated and very angry and very trashy old men. I guess an individual here and there might still be capable of violence, but as far as any sustained threat to anybody, nah.
I'm a 36 year old Georgia native, and except for the occasional rally, which has become fairly rare in the last 10 years, the KKK is virtually non-existant here.
Matter of fact, IIRC the last time I've even heard about the klan was 10 years ago when Hosea Williams did his"Freedom March" thing in what was then very majority white Forsyth county.
On the other hand, "The House of Prayer" was recently involved in a child abuse case brought by the state because the Pastor would spank children during sermons, in front of the congregation.
Michael, didn't you say your wife worked on the house of prayer case?
Im skepticle to say the least i think the K.K.K. is using the lords name and the churchs works to get back at the A.C.L.U. for the past times they have benn thwarted by the A.C.L.U. not that they are any less guilty of racist crimes under wrong laws!
Yep. I can't say a lot about it for obvious reasons, but suffice it to say that the preacher (Rev. Arthur Allen) was in the wrong.
The spankings of the children were more akin to beatings. A parishoner would hold each of the child's four limbs, suspending them in air as a fifth person, usually someone else chosen by Allen, commenced to beating the child.
Allen and two of the parents were convicted on child cruelty charges and sentenced to probation. Among the terms were community service (which Allen decided not to go to) and the promise not to administer any more spankings in church (which Allen flat-foot refused to agree to, and continued to do in church).
Allen is presently serving his sentence (I think it's 2 years) in the Fulton County Jail. He was caught about a month ago after fleeing from the cops for a number of months.
The church obviously goes on, but without the good reverend.
Ask and ye shall receive...
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WXIA-TV/11 Alive:
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