Bill would establish a state religion in North Carolina

[laura oz]

George Washington took seperation of church and state so seriously that he would not discuss anything about his faith.

A course in US history at SODRT would benefit these people greatly. A half understood idea in a fanatical mind is a dangerous thing.

[Kellbells]

Hello from NC District 12! Best part of living here? I recently moved from Charlotte to Greensboro. I'm roughly 90 min from my old home. But I'm still in the same district.

Yes, Raleigh and Charlotte are much more liberal but the rest of the state cancels them out. It's embarrassing. A church in Winston Salem (Green Street UMC) has vowed as a congregation to not perform any weddings until same sex marriages are legal. And this crap is what happens on Easter Sunday. Parenting FAIL.

http://mobi.journalnow.com/winston/pm_5 ... d=aEF8FGOw

[debrand]

I totally understood where you were coming from.

And we are we just going to let the south secede (sp) from the union? FFS!

Only if we demand that those states that secede also pay for the relocation costs for those of us who want to leave. It is surprising many fellow North Carolinians that I meet online who are arguing for same sex marriage, health care etc.

I think that it would make for a stronger United States if some southern states left the union. Of course, those southern states would be hell to live in for anyone who wasn't the right skin color, sex, sexual orientation or religion. So give some of us an exit strategy.

If the south leaves, remove the military, destroy the buildings that remain on those bases so they can't be reused, force the residents to get green cards to work outside of their 'nation' and give them no federal help at all

[debrand]

I've always wondered how this would work if it actually happened, given that American Christianity tends to be really schismatic. People are constantly spinning off new variant sects due to (what seems to my jaundiced eye) very trivial differences in doctrine. If we go by strict numbers of believers and if Wikipedia is correct, the official North Carolina faith would be "Baptist".

But that's only slightly more than a third of their population, and I can't imagine their 10% Roman Catholics, 22% Mainline Protestant, and 12% "Other Christians" would be delighted about embracing the Baptist faith.

Maybe we can convince some representative to pass a bill demanding that Christianity and its specific attributes be defined. Can you imagine the infighting that would occur?

[salex]

I've always wondered how this would work if it actually happened, given that American Christianity tends to be really schismatic. People are constantly spinning off new variant sects due to (what seems to my jaundiced eye) very trivial differences in doctrine. If we go by strict numbers of believers and if Wikipedia is correct, the official North Carolina faith would be "Baptist".

But that's only slightly more than a third of their population, and I can't imagine their 10% Roman Catholics, 22% Mainline Protestant, and 12% "Other Christians" would be delighted about embracing the Baptist faith.

It would work about the same way it works everywhere. Murder, mayhem, institutionalized bigotry, etc.

NO reason to pass this kind of law if you don't want to oppress someone else.

[Anxious Girl]

Wow...The Republic of Gilead draws ever closer.

But Christians could NEVER be terrorists. (Despite the Crusades, genocide of the Native Americans, witch hunts that were popular in Christianity untill the late 19th century; recent late 20th and early 21st century abortion bombings and the Inquestion!) Only MUSLIM people are terrorists, because they bomb people. Bombing abortion centers and killing abortionists doesn't count, because they killed babies! Like Jesus said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! We're so pro-life! :roll: /sarcasm

[NjoyingNsanity]

I live just over the state line in Virginia, and if it weren't for Roanoke and most of eastern Virginia I could totally see Virginia trying to do the same thing. Living in a rural community you do come to realize that what the Christian right really wants is a theocracy. They would gladly welcome a Republic of Gilead or a Christian Taliban I've personally talked to local Tea-Party members that believe things that make my head spin in their backward-thinking let's just bring back the Inquisition type logic. To be honest what they would really be thrilled with is a feudal system with a Christian nobility and everyone else treated as less than human slaves. You would be fine so long as you were white, wealthy, straight and the right type of Christian everyone else however would be screwed. I've talked to people who thought gays, Hispanics, African Americans, drug addicts and single-moms should be put into prison work camps. Christians who claim to be pro-life, but advocate the death penalty for gays and people on disability. I've talked to people who think we should re-adopt the Jim Crow laws, or take a page from the South African government's apartheid laws or they're all for the re-instating slavery.

I take heart in the knowledge that once in power they would rip each other apart over a difference in doctrine, so things probably wouldn't last too long if they did manage to secede. I kind of find it amusing that many of them are not at all ignorant of Civil War history they just think the Confederacy lost last time because of a lack of industry. I hate to break it to them, but the south is still far more agricultural than industrial even today, and that once again they would find themselves getting their asses handed to them by the Union.

[Joan of Snarc]

It drives me crazy that politicians waste time and money on a bill that is going nowhere. Even if it passes the NC legislature, it will be blocked by the courts. It amazes me that some people have no problem touting the constitution when it comes to guns but, bring up Christianity, and it doesn't mean jack.

First Amendment doesn't count. Second Amendment counts double.

Sorry, you must have missed the memo.

[EyeQueue]

It drives me crazy that politicians waste time and money on a bill that is going nowhere. Even if it passes the NC legislature, it will be blocked by the courts. It amazes me that some people have no problem touting the constitution when it comes to guns but, bring up Christianity, and it doesn't mean jack.

But...BUT! They're laser-focused on the economy, y'all!

[MamaJunebug]

I should probably just go to a link provided above, but I"m antsy: Is Scott Brown or Petey Bradrick involved in this, does anybody know?

[Ahavaleah]

My father-in-law is the former Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Raleigh-Cary, and his good friend is the current director. I will be making them aware of this new bill.

I used to work at the Greensboro federation- I bet I know your FIL :) small world...

And as a former North Carolinian, this shit pisses me off.

[laura oz]

I live just over the state line in Virginia, and if it weren't for Roanoke and most of eastern Virginia I could totally see Virginia trying to do the same thing. Living in a rural community you do come to realize that what the Christian right really wants is a theocracy. They would gladly welcome a Republic of Gilead or a Christian Taliban I've personally talked to local Tea-Party members that believe things that make my head spin in their backward-thinking let's just bring back the Inquisition type logic. To be honest what they would really be thrilled with is a feudal system with a Christian nobility and everyone else treated as less than human slaves. You would be fine so long as you were white, wealthy, straight and the right type of Christian everyone else however would be screwed. I've talked to people who thought gays, Hispanics, African Americans, drug addicts and single-moms should be put into prison work camps. Christians who claim to be pro-life, but advocate the death penalty for gays and people on disability. I've talked to people who think we should re-adopt the Jim Crow laws, or take a page from the South African government's apartheid laws or they're all for the re-instating slavery.

I take heart in the knowledge that once in power they would rip each other apart over a difference in doctrine, so things probably wouldn't last too long if they did manage to secede. I kind of find it amusing that many of them are not at all ignorant of Civil War history they just think the Confederacy lost last time because of a lack of industry. I hate to break it to them, but the south is still far more agricultural than industrial even today, and that once again they would find themselves getting their asses handed to them by the Union.

A few years ago I saw a mocumentary called The Confederate States of America. It was imagining what the south would have been like had we won the war. It was oddly fascinating and incredibly disturbing at the same time.

[Katiebug]

As a mainline Protestant from a liturgical faith tradition (ELCA), I have a feeling we'd be the "wrong" type of Christianity for these nutjobs.

[Mama Mia]

Only if we demand that those states that secede also pay for the relocation costs for those of us who want to leave. It is surprising many fellow North Carolinians that I meet online who are arguing for same sex marriage, health care etc.

I think that it would make for a stronger United States if some southern states left the union. Of course, those southern states would be hell to live in for anyone who wasn't the right skin color, sex, sexual orientation or religion. So give some of us an exit strategy.

If the south leaves, remove the military, destroy the buildings that remain on those bases so they can't be reused, force the residents to get green cards to work outside of their 'nation' and give them no federal help at all

Excellent idea ! I will happily vote to pay for re-location, and will even vote to help re-locate the far-right wing nuts who are constant bitching about living in California - let them go off to the new Confederate Theocracy of Teabagistan.

I'm sick of having my vote count for so much less than these red states due to each state getting two senators no matter the population.

[Shoobydoo]

Remember who the pilgrims were- the Puritans. They wanted freedom for *their* religion, not freedom for everyone's religion. And that attitude still prevails in much of the US, I'm sorry to say.

This, so much. And honestly, the whole pilgrim mythos as taught in the US is DEEPLY flawed. The pilgrims did not come to the US to flee religious oppression. They actually came here from Holland, not England, where they DID have freedom to practice their religion. They just thought their children were becoming too dutch and worldly and packed everything up to stop their kids from defecting from their crappy religion. They came to America basically to force their teenagers to stick with the parent's way of life. The culture of the US makes so much more sense when you realize that this country as founded by people who came here looking for money and religious zealots who thought Europe was too liberal for them.

[alba]

Hello from NC District 12! Best part of living here? I recently moved from Charlotte to Greensboro. I'm roughly 90 min from my old home. But I'm still in the same district.

Yes, Raleigh and Charlotte are much more liberal but the rest of the state cancels them out. It's embarrassing. A church in Winston Salem (Green Street UMC) has vowed as a congregation to not perform any weddings until same sex marriages are legal. And this crap is what happens on Easter Sunday. Parenting FAIL.

http://mobi.journalnow.com/winston/pm_5 ... d=aEF8FGOw

Good for them! The church, not the asshat who has no problem with his kid spewing hate speech :roll:

[salex]

To be honest what they would really be thrilled with is a feudal system with a Christian nobility and everyone else treated as less than human slaves. You would be fine so long as you were white, wealthy, straight and the right type of Christian everyone else however would be screwed. I've talked to people who thought gays, Hispanics, African Americans, drug addicts and single-moms should be put into prison work camps. Christians who claim to be pro-life, but advocate the death penalty for gays and people on disability. I've talked to people who think we should re-adopt the Jim Crow laws, or take a page from the South African government's apartheid laws or they're all for the re-instating slavery.

Here are their hereso, among others. americanvision.org/countyrights/?p=95 Joel McDurmon and Gary Demar promote this in depth.

? The answer to that question is found in the medieval feudal system of government (“feudalism†is not a bad word, despite many modern liberal scholars).

[alba]

Here are their hereso, among others. americanvision.org/countyrights/?p=95 Joel McDurmon and Gary Demar promote this in depth.

No? I'd consider any system by which people are rewarded privilege on the basis of birth with no opportunity to better their station a problem. Then again, I'm a dirty liberal.

[Becket70]

This comes a week after two legislators in NC came up with the "Healthy Marrige Act", which would extend the waiting period for divorce to two years (it is currently one year). It would also mandate (I thought that was a dirty word to Tea Party types) that the parties undergo counseling as well as take classes in how divorce affects children. Their law probably will not pass but it is another example of instrusion into people's private lives. I have no problem with discouraging divorce but legislating to make divorce more difficult is a whole other kettle of fish.

[formergothardite]

I hate my home state sometimes.

[notacleverpony]

The more I see from these dominionist fundiegelical fuckers, the more relevant this song becomes:

3sPZILnTMWs

Let's go to Canada!

Let's leave today!

Canada, O Canada,

I s'il vous plait!

[rward]

No? I'd consider any system by which people are rewarded privilege on the basis of birth with no opportunity to better their station a problem. Then again, I'm a dirty liberal.

Why do these people always think they'd be the lords and not the serfs?

I'm reminded of The Handmaid's Tale, and how horrified Serena was to actually have to live in the world she worked so hard to create.

[GeoBQn]

Ding, dong, the bill is dead.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/0 ... 16154.html