“We are as gods and might as well get good at it.” – Whole Earth Catalogue statement of purpose, 1969
by Andrew Walden
When it comes to arrogance and hypocrisy, the gay-atheist eco-religionists of the Star-Advertiser rarely outdo themselves. Today is one of those rare occasions.
In an article titled, The clashing of church, state: Religion-based tactics fire up Hawaii's election season -- causing concern for some but fueling moral claims by others, the Star-Advertiser speaks as if its pretence of secularism was not just another religion. To make their case, they trot out all the tired old secular humanist voices of Honolulu’s left (aka Neil Abercrombie’s base). Their core argument: Our religion must rule over yours.
Their statements echo Neil Abercrombie’s threat to religious freedom in Hawaii--“as governor I will not let this continue”--made in response to an Island Values’ radio ad which pointed out that Neil Abercrombie has for years not proclaimed a religious preference:
Today the forces of intolerance are organizing in Hawaii and politicians are all to willing to exploit feelings of fear and mistrust to gain votes. As governor, I will not let this continue. I will not let people draw battle lines between us based on beliefs or backgrounds.”
What power does Abercrombie think he has to do this “as Governor” that he does not have today?
Hawaii media immediately began spreading the unsourced claim that Neil Abercrombie is an Episcopalian. To date nobody has produced a sourced statement from Abercrombie announcing himself to be Episcopal.
Make no mistake. This is part of a continuing attack on efforts to register church-goers to vote. This is also an attack on the Republican “youth movement” which is renovating Hawaii’s long-dormant GOP. The Star-Advertiser is run by the same Star-Bulletin editors who came out in opposition to church-based voter registration in an unsigned editorial October 13, 2009 titled, “Religion risky for GOP.” It is highly unusual for a newspaper to editorialize against voter registration. Perhaps the only previous examples might come from pro-segregation southern newspapers editorializing against efforts to register blacks to vote. That is the kind of company the Star-Advertiser/Star-Bulletin keeps.
Dave Koga reports:
When it comes to religion and politics in Hawaii, (self identified leftist and UH Manoa political science professor Neal) Milner says, the decision by Gov. John Burns in 1970 to let abortion become the law without his signature stands as "the model for how these things should work."
Christians bowing to the demands of the atheist religion--that is “how these things should work.” The Star-Advertiser and leftist Milner present this as a shining example of ‘objectivity.’ Who could possibly be fooled by such transparent nonsense?
"There has always been religious discourse in American politics," Milner says. "It was important in Vietnam. It was important to the civil rights movement.
"But there has always been a line -- an imaginary line that doesn't get crossed -- and that is how much you emphasize the rightness of what you believe in comparison to what your opponent believes. It can become dangerous when you move into the framework of 'I'm on the side of God and you're not.'
Really? Does this quote cross the line? “I decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute. Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow, but to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” -- Dr Martin Luther King Jr "Rediscovering Lost Values," Feb. 28, 1954
How about this one? “I just want to do God's will. And he’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land!” -- Dr Martin Luther King Jr speaking in Memphis, TN the night before his assassination, April 3, 1968
"Once you start to demonize -- once it becomes good versus evil -- and once you start taking that conversation public, then you've crossed the line."
The Star-Advertiser and Neil Abercrombie are arguing that only they can draw lines. You cannot. They make the rules against drawing lines—they don’t follow them. They are enlightened, conscious, and progressive. They are smarter than you are and are therefore entitled to rule over you. Only they should be allowed to “take that conversation public.”
The Rev. John Heidel, president of the (leftist) Interfaith Alliance Hawaii, says that's not the message his group is hearing. Heidel says religion should have a role in informing government but shouldn't try to manipulate it.
Then explain Islam Day, Mr Interfaith.
Heidel sees a slippery slope if religious litmus tests and definitions of morality (other than his own) are allowed to influence policymaking.
He thinks there is a "real danger" that Hawaii could descend into the kind of political and religious rancor he sees on the mainland. "Look at the mood of America," Heidel says. "Just look at the number of people who believe (President) Obama is a Muslim and who are afraid of that, as if they should have any reason to."
Actually the number of people who believe Obama is a Muslim is 18% in a recent Pew poll. Another 18% of the public believe that the media deals fairly with all sides of an issue. This is similar to the number of people who believe that Elvis is still alive. It is, however, substantially less than 50% of Manhattan who believed that George Bush was complicit in the 9-11 attacks. And, of course, Manhattanites are enlightened, conscious, and progressive. Other polls show similar percentages of Democrats nationally who have become 9-11 trooothers.
In the last century atheists have a proven track record of “manipulating governments” worldwide and the result has been mass murder. Does the name Josef Stalin ring a bell? How about Mao Zedong—WW2 comrade and hero of UH Manoa Ethnic Studies Department co-founder Koji Ariyoshi? Mao murdered 70 million Chinese people.
But what about the eco-religion? How many people believe in global warming? How many people eat “organic”-the halal food of the eco-religion? And what are these people doing to force governments all around the world to bend to their ignorant, irrational, divisive, and destructive eco-religious dogmas? How many human being have died of Malaria because of the founding act of the eco-religion—the 1972 DDT ban? The death toll could be anywhere between 38 and 114 million.
There is nothing new about “religion-based tactics.” The Star-Advertiser and Neil Abercrombie are concerned only because another religion is using them.
Hawaii faces a clear choice. We can recoil at the prominently-placed complaints of the micro-minority and seek to appease them even as they burn up the little remaining credibility of their dying print media--or we can continue to move forward in registering church goers to vote and in revitalizing the Hawaii GOP.
There is no third choice.
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SA: The clashing of church, state: Religion-based tactics fire up Hawaii's election season -- causing concern for some but fueling moral claims by others
REALITY: