Pressing their message
As quoted in your story, "Court action backs prayer ban," the Rev. Steve Corts, chairman of the N.C. Partnership for Religious Liberty (what a misnomer) says of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, "It creates a chilling effect on religious speech in America." Oh, if only it were so.
Christians in America have more freedom of speech than probably anywhere in the world, so much so that they like to claim this is a Christian nation. They have inundated the culture to such a degree that people with no religion or different religions are casually cast in doubt and often treated as second-class citizens. Christians can freely press their message on TV, radio, the Internet, newspapers, billboards, street corners — and they do so all the time. In the South, "What church do you attend?" is as ubiquitous a phrase as "Have a nice day." They can pray pretty much anywhere they want.
Yet they won't be happy until the government tells them how special they are.
Of course, they're following Jesus' Great Commission, which wasn't to go out and listen to people — it was to go out and preach.
Essentially, Jesus gave his followers an order to pester people, and they take that responsibility seriously. I don't expect this court ruling to hinder them in any way.
JANE FREEMONT GIBSON
Winston-Salem
Dead on arrival
In reference to the sales-tax proposal ("Perdue to push higher sales tax," Jan. 18), don't we have the area's highest tax on gasoline already? Do we need to be the highest in sales tax, too? I hope this proposal is simply dead on arrival.
Education funding is why the lottery was established. Now they say it's not enough. I think every legislator and executive should take a pay cut to come up with the additional funds, if really needed.
VINCENT CIMMINO
Kernersville
A lot of money
I see Forsyth County is apparently going to get a bill for $200,000 from the ACLU for legal fees ("Court action backs prayer ban," Jan. 18). That sure is a lot of money to spend on prayer. Will Tebowing be next?
WILLIAM SAMS
King
Dismayed
After seeing the article "Creative Corridor art submissions go green" (Jan. 14) in the Journal, I am dismayed at the prospect of a big green baby with solar eyes and disco diaper representing the "City of the Arts."
Having worked as a business partner/art director for many years in this town, I am hard pressed to figure out what the baby symbolizes or the meaning behind it. I also can't help but think that this will become a "big source of amusement" if it comes to represent Winston-Salem.
I have seen a lot of the plans the Creative Corridors Coalition has come up with and have been very impressed by the creative vision the group has had up until this point.
I hope the group will consider extending the project and reaching out to more of the members in the art community for submissions. A piece as serious and representative of this need not be taken lightly or hurriedly.
ROBYN BILFELT
Winston-Salem
LTE #1 & #3: LTE #1 is correct. Steve Corts is just another christian control freak. He should take care of his own business and leave everybody else alone.
ReplyDeleteI'm not interested in his opinions, only that he come through and pay the ACLU's legal fees, as promised.
What a waste of money...would have been better used as a down payment on a day center for the homeless.
As to Tebow, I despise all grandstanding by athletes. Since he was the only QB in the NFL this year to complete fewer than 50% of his passes and otherwise had an anemic season, he probably won't be around much longer.
LTE #2: Economics should be a required part of the NC high school curriculum. If all of the administrators and legislators worked for free, it wouldn't begin to make a dent in our state budget woes.
LTE #4: Knowing the folks on the committee, I don't think that we have to worry about the green baby.
. . . I don't know Rush. I'm still stinging from the "OH" banners all over Winston.
ReplyDelete. . . or was it "W"?
ReplyDelete. . . or "Q"?!?
ReplyDeleteIt was "O". As bad as that was, it wasn't as bad as the 1980s slogan "We're doing it in Winston-Salem".
ReplyDeleteAnd I want to say that Forsyth County has the highest rate of syphilis in the state.
Delete@Rush: O-M-G!!! I wasn't here in the 1980's. But when I moved here there was always someone who would point out the "phallic" building that was erected in D-T W-S.
DeleteŎ! How could we incorporate that wonderful fact into our promotional efforts?
ReplyDeletewell, the syphilis and the dildo building somehow fit together. Something is cooking here.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not. I don't know about ya'll, but I see alot more than just the one erected building.
ReplyDelete. . . am I the only one?
ReplyDeleteWe're getting dangerously close to Bucky territory here...
ReplyDelete. . . and please, let's not refer to anymore Buckyisms.
ReplyDeleteDotNet:
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: The ruling had nothing to do with freedom of speech, religious or otherwise. It was about the Constitutional limits on govt when it comes to showing preference towards one religion. People of all faiths are free to evangelize according to the dictates of their faith as long as they are acting as private citizens and not on behalf or as an employee of the govt.
LTE 2: We do have the highest gas tax, but we are far from the highest sales tax. Have you been to Myrtle Beach lately? So your fast food meal would go back to $5.35 instead of $5.30. Is all that extra money you're currently saving from the drop of the penny sales tax making a huge difference in your financial picture now? The cumulative amount has made a difference in our education budget. The lottery was to pay for school building and structural maintenance instead of the classroom. As for dropping legislature pay to make up the difference, I suggest some research and some basic math lessons.
LTE 3: Supposedly, some group has agreed to pay the court costs, but it remains to be seen whether or not they will come through.
LTE 4: Well, the way some people around town whine about "takin' away prayer" and "them illegals", and "don't touch my tax dollars", perhaps a big green baby is an appropriate symbol.
"perhaps a big green baby is an appropriate symbol."
DeleteHa!
I think it is a "big" supposedly some agreed to pay court cost. If I recall correctly, the group agreed to pay the county's cost to appeal, but it specifically stated it would not pay any cost to the ACLU.
ReplyDeleteThe Alliance Defense Fund, a national conservative christian organization, conducted the case for the county, because the county attorney refused to handle it, citing previous USSC decisions. But the ADF would not cover the cost of the ACLU's bill.
DeleteSo Steve Corts, son of Mark Corts, founder of the fumblementalist Calvary Baptist Church, and chairman of the NC Partnership for Religious Liberty (ironic title) agreed to pay the ACLU's bill if the county's appeal lost. He claims to have raised $300,000 toward that goal, so he should pay off. We shall see.
He and County Commissioner Gloria Whisenhunt, who is a member of Calvary Baptist, have been whining ever since the decision was announced about religious freedom. They don't care about other people's religious freedom, just their own.
Interestingly, the city council, not involved in the case, had continued to open their meetings with a prayer, but on the day that the USSC's decision was announced, they announced that they will discontinue that practice and replace it with a moment of silence.
That won't be enough for Whisenhunt and her crybaby pal Debra Conrad. They will be pushing for a nonsectarian prayer, which is, of course, meaningless, to open county commissioner's meetings.
?. O.T. Calvary Baptist was founded in 1919 and Mark Corts didn't become pastor until 1964 after one year of being interim pastor. He was the planner of the Church on Peace Haven though.
DeleteOne of NC biggest gay bars opened across the street from Calvary Baptist in the mid 70's, The Power Company. The owner, Jim Kennedy, moved it to Durham after a "mysterious" fire gutted the place.
DeleteGod works in "mysterious" ways...
DeleteYeah...the Peacehaven neighborhood really went downhill when those Calvary deviants moved in.
Deletea woman in Florida asked Rick Santorum about President Obama:
ReplyDelete"He is an avowed Muslim. He has no right to be President of the United States. Why isn't somebody doing something about it?"
all that wimp could say was that he was trying his best to get him out of office.
Homophobe, racist, and moral coward.
DeleteSantorum answered: It's not my job to stand up for the President.
DeleteYes, but one might think you would stand up for the truth, Rick. I guess not.
Arkansas Democrat's cat killed, painted with "liberal"
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/arkansas-democrats-cat-killed-painted-liberal-211435575.html
Back in October, Romney was saying foreclosures should run their course and hit rock bottom. Now that he is campaigning in Florida, he has changed his tune. And someone should tell him that if he doesn't know how to wear blue jeans and keep his hands out of his pockets, he really shouldn't. He looks more awkward than a new born calf.
ReplyDeleteWell, well, Catholic leaders are now calling Newt out for his race baiting remarks.
even better, they called him immoral for it.
DeleteIs the fact that Newty is immoral news? Or is it that finally someone has said it out loud?
Deletehahaha, that's the truth. I think what struck me was that it came from his own church.
DeleteAs to Romney's latest flip-flop, go over to Waffle House and order a "Romney". It's the special of the day.
DeleteIf I were doing TV spots for any Romney opponent, I'd just have a series of side by side shots, one showing what he said last week, the other showing what he said this week. About 4 or 5 of those in one commercial should get the point across.
So much material, so little time.
DeleteIf I were Newt, I wouldn't take communion. I'd be afraid the host and wine would burn my tongue.
DeleteI seem to recall that once upon a time in the 1960s a small, but brave group of white southern Methodist ministers, including one from W-S, got together and publicly condemned George Wallace for the same thing.
ReplyDeleteOf course, Newt's 2nd wife and others who know him have told us that Newt will say or do anything to get what he wants.
So remember where he was...South Carolina...the most backward, racist state in the union.
Newt, the Tiffany Populist.
ReplyDeleteMuch more to be said about that as the campaign wears on...the candidate for the most powerful job in the Western world has to bribe his latest mistress/wife so that she will let him run.
ReplyDeletePathetique...what it says about him and what it says about her.
Good evening, folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE1: the writer is taking some literary liberties. JC did not say go pester people, but to preach. Then, if folks were uninterested in the presentations, go elsewhere. Rev. Corts might ponder that instructiions.
Yes, we need the high sales tax, along with the fuel tax. I can afford the extra dime for a 10-pack of Stella Artois. Now, the educational bureaucracy can use a draconian overhaul, but the system still needs the dough.
ReplyDeleteLTE3: the appeal was idiocy. We taxpayers have been I'll-served.
ReplyDeleteJust in case anyone is suffering from the illusion that today's clowns are something new, here's part of a page from an issue of "Life" magazine in 1939, an article examining that era's nuttiest fruitcakes.
ReplyDeleteRoosevelt's Jewish Ancestry
LTE4: a green baby? Why waste time and effort on a logo in the first place? A green baby? I guess Captain Pike of the USS Enterprise got that slave gal after all.
ReplyDeleteYou lose me when you reference Star Trek, but I actually went down to Associated Artists gallery and viewed the "green baby".
DeleteAnd guess what...I liked it...terrifically creative... I would like to see someone fund its construction, but not at Civic Plaza or whatever they call it. Better in some cool corner of downtown.
I wasn't certain what this was all about, but my friend "Mister Know-it-all" at the library showed me today. It is a project called "Creative Corridors" which has to do with connecting downtown to the surrounding neighborhoods and is quite interesting.
There is an extensive , and quite expensively produced, book that explains it all. Go down to the NC Room at the library and ask to see it. It will take a while to comprehend, but might be time well spent.
Ah yes, the Nazis called FDR "Rosenfeld." Kinda like morons on blogs calling people repugs and demon craps, juvenile and vapid.
ReplyDeleteHi OT. Yes, the Nazis called FDR "Rosenfeld ." Reminds of the bozos who refer to repugs and demon craps. Juvenile and vapid.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the double post, battling a tenuous wireless link.
ReplyDeleteTenuous, huh? One of my favorite words. It sort of describes life as it is today, doesn't it.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, here is an upbeat pic, quite extraordinary, in fact.
ReplyDeleteBig Sur
In the pic you are seeing, left to right, Fritz Richmond (the world's best living jug player), Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, John Cooke (singer-songwriter, photographer, great-grandnephew of Ralph Waldo Emerson, son of British journalist and TV producer Alistair Cooke and road manager of the one and only Janis Joplin), Nancy Carlen (folk musician and founder of the legendary Big Sur Folk Festival), and Joan Baez, all on stage at the same time.
All that's missing is Bob Dylan, who wasn't there.