Happy Day Plumbing Inc.

  

  

Reclaiming Responsibility

   The Constitution, Article VI declares that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." But political fundamentalist politicians, preachers, and talk show hosts show their contempt for the Constitution and make religion a litmus test for public office.

When politicians violate the Constitution to be elected, they are guilty of an unamerican act. Americans cannot consent to seating in any office, swearing in God’s name "to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." This not only unconstitutional and unamerican, it is also a crime. Perjury is the only crime that is committed by swearing "so help me God."

Politicians are on notice that values voters will bear any burden and pay any price to deny a seat in our government to lawmakers who are guilty of this criminal act and unamerican act.

This is the United States of America where every holy man has a right to declare the truth as he sees it. He may be a pope robed in the authority of the Church, a wizard in loin cloth crouching over a bowl of chicken blood, or a televangelist dressed like a banker (prior to the financial crisis).

But no one can declare a fact. The Constitution’s First Amendment prompted Thomas Jefferson’s immortal metaphor, "a wall of separation between church," the difference between everyday facts and eternal truths. Our founders treasured this distinction as conscience freedom.

They repealed England’s church-based state, and the First Amendment outlawed religious coercion. Facts are the currency of exchange in the public square, and the Fidelity Board displays each political fundamentalist preacher, politician, and talk show host’s record of fidelity to the facts. Of course, they have an inalienable right to retreat to the Flat Earth Society’s Big Tent.

Political fundamentalist preachers lying about facts–not interpretations or opinions–in the Bible hold three American institutions hostage:

 The Public School System: The most famous hostage is Texas State Board of Education, and the Texas governor who not only promotes political fundamentalism’s values agenda, but also swears that he will "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. So help me God.

 The Republican Party: Political fundamentalist preachers became indispensable to the party. To be indispensable to a source of power is to own the power. Patriotic, conservative, loyal Americans deserve better and every citizen–regardless of one’s political persuasion–help to restore the party’s tradition of conservatism. A sound government depends on the balance of progressive idealism and innovation with the conservative circumspection and reserve. 

 

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC): The facts show that political fundamentalists led a coup and purged the SBC’s officers. It is essentially the state church of the South, presently weighing two options, withdraw Baptist children from public schools or make them in the image of the Texas governor and his State Board of Education. The SBC needs to restore its founders’ faith. President Lincoln described it as believing the members of the church would be more patriotic, and the citizens of the state more religious, by keeping their respective functions entirely separate.  

Sexual Predators: The SBC expels churches that ordain women or gays, hire either as a staff member, or appoint a gay to a committee, but it conceals sexual predators and even transfers them to other churches, turning carnivorous wolves loose in another unsuspecting flock.  

 Some good America with the best intentions support political fundamentalist preachers, politicians, and talk show hosts, who vow to "take back our country." Whose country is this? From whom will they take it? For whom will they take it? By which authority will they take it?

They claim the authority of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the founders’ documents, and the Bible. Thousands of these leaders declare our values and fight to make religious laws to enforce them. For example, four role models: Rev. Rick Scarborough–truth, Rev. Paige Patterson– absolute integrity, Rev. David Barton–our godly heritage, and Dr. James Dobson–a civil war for values that will not end until one side wins and other side is eliminated from memory.

America’s values voters respectfully request these eminent Americans to "show us the facts."

Mark Twain wrote that we have "only one really effective weapon" against a colossal humbug. We can debate it for centuries, but "only laughter can" demolish it at once." Furthermore, he said, "Laughter which cannot be suppressed is catching. Sooner or later it washes away our defenses, and undermines our dignity, and we join in it – ashamed of our weakness, and embittered against the cause of its exposure, but no matter, we have to join in, there is no help for it." In his day a humbug was a sham or fraud. Today infidelity is a humbug of biblical proportions.

Mr. David Brooks, a conservative New York Times columnist, expressed concern that "we lack an appropriate approach for religious discourse." This concern is, of course, un-Tea Party. It require a sense of honor and a sense of humor–a new adventure along the trail in the American experience. With excitement and hope I anticipate that registered voters, working together on the Fidelity Board, will develop it as an American institution and manage its collecting of facts.

First, the Fidelity Board operates like an accounting system, showing each political fundamentalist’s fidelity-infidelity rate–similar to a credit rate. Any registered voter can post a political fundamentalist’s claim with a fact that challenges the claim. The one whose claim is challenged can file a fact to support the claim or concede it is inaccurate. All registered voters can file a fact to support the claim or the challenge, or just cast a secret ballot for the one they prefer.

So the public can review of each humbug in each political fundamentalist’s account, a tally of each account and a tally of all accounts. Although, only registered voters can vote or file facts, everyone can review each or every political fundamentalists’ humbug account.

Second, I lay this manuscript on the anvil for registered voters and its fiercest critics to hammer until they correct any and all errors in it. When I conclude they have finished I will revise and publish it for America to keep on its coffee table and review the facts with honor and humor.

Mr. Ralph Reed as executive director of the Christian Coalition wrote,"I want to be invisible. I do guerrilla warfare. I paint my face and travel at night. You don`t know it`s over until you`re in a body bag."

By stealth, deceit, and character assassination the clouds are gathering. The melodrama is overwhelming, distracting the rest of us from the infrastructure they are building: From sea to shining sea from Canada to Mexico they have a network of faith-based organizations. Led by dynamic leaders, representing themselves as God called men–televangelists, megachurch preachers, the friendly fundamentalist pastor down the street; church schools, universities, law schools, public schools teaching the Bible–and the addresses of millions of church members–they are committed to political fundamentalism’s values agenda, to make religious laws to enforce fundamentalist values.

The rest of America has no plan, no concerted effort, never doubting and fully trusting the Constitution and its First and Fourteenth Amendments–as political fundamentalists’ infrastructure obliterates the wall of separation between church and state. From 2000 until 2008 they counted the days until they could elect one more president who would appoint one more Supreme Court Justice committed the their values agenda. God had promised them victories grander than the high court ruling that gigantic corporations have freedom of speech and speak freely with millions of dollars.

Rev. Franklin Graham with his father’s credibility said the seed of Muslim are in our president, but the reverend admits that the president says he is a Christian and the reverend takes him at his word. Sen. Mitch McConnell, Republican Leader in United States Senate, follows this same provocative line. Rev. Rick Scarborough grasps a snickersnee, lambasting the president for removing his shoes upon entering the ancient Blue Mosque in Turkey. I know Rev. Scarborough, and I believe he would display decency, if indeed he ever visited home or a mosque where removing one’s shoes is a token of respect. Across the theological spectrum a vast majority of America’s pulpits are silent. While political fundamentalist preachers mislead their congregations regarding a constitutional requirement, mainline religions are mum. They are worse than culpable.

America deserves leaders who do not advertise that they want any president to fail. We elected General Eisenhower who was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness. Rev. Billy Graham told him that Americans want a president who is a Christian; so he promised to join a church after the election.

Never in over 222 years of electing presidents and other public officials has any respectable person demanded that a president show his birth certificate, his baptismal record, prove his citizenship, and prove that he is a Christian.

The Republican Gov. Lingle of Hawaii vouched that the president was born there. Two newspapers reported his birth and the date. Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino issued a statement to confirm the president’s birthplace and birthday. Rev. Joseph Farah was laughable, asking have you seen her, and since when do Americans take the word of an un-elected bureaucrat, on matters of import such as whether the president of the United States is qualified? The reverend might read and pray over Proverbs 6:16-17; 12:22, that the lord hates a lying tongue, hands shedding innocent blood, devious thinking, feet running to mischief, and sowing discord. These are abominations.

Ruthlessly and needlessly tearing down an American official is tearing down America.

Its misrepresentations of facts in the Bible–not interpretations–provide ammunition for those who subvert public education, scientific progress, and the nation’s democratic processes.

The Associated Baptist Press reported that the SBC has been on both sides of the issue of building a mosque two blocks from ground zero, and also on both sides of the issue of a Catholic church in Boerne, Texas expanding a building in a historical preservation zone.

SBC’s venerated leader, the late Rev. W. A. Criswell, was on both sides of the issue of abortion after Roe v Wade. He was on both sides of the wall separation of church and state, forcefully defending the wall when a Catholic, Sen. John F. Kennedy, campaigned for president, but declaring it a figment of some infidel’s mind when the political exigencies changed.

After General Washington presided at the Constitutional Convention, he sent our freshly minted government to the Constitutional Congress. His cover letter described the Constitution in one sentence, and I believe it included this list of values among others. "Individuals entering into society, must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest." To him a sense of ownership in the common values and common cause of the republic was not socialism but the best of the American Dream.

Hopefully, it can redirect those who vow to take back our government, but it challenges American voters who are willing take personal responsibility for our government.

A Christian Nation Election: America’s voters are cordially invited to monitor elections of six past-presidents. George W. Bush, our own values president, will run against each of our first five presidents: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. The issue is "America is a Christian Nation." The voters will decide the winner in each election [See "Five Christian Nation Elections– WWDBD –What Would David Barton Do?"].

Constitutional Convention: James Madison Notes are the best record we have, and we will read what the founders said each time religion was mentioned [Illustrations H and I].

The Federalist Papers: After the Constitution was sent to the states for ratification, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote eighty-five papers, encouraging the people to accept it. We will review what they say about religious subjects [Illustration J].

The American Journal of Public Health, September 17, 2009, reported an analysis of data at the United States Centers of Disease Control, by Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance. It found 45,000 (15 times as many, as 9/11) die each year without health insurance. When the Fidelity Board is developed for maximum performance, while Congress or a committee debates a vital family issue, it will show the amount of money each lobbyist has invested in each vote.

The Health Care Reform Act: Health is the family value with the highest priority, but partisan politics confuse what we need to know. To escape the smoke and mirrors, I looked for a source that is reputedly reliable. In this instance, the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation. A cover letter for the report includes this data. CBO and JCT now estimate that the legislation would yield a net reduction in deficits of $138 billion over the 10-year period [2010-2019], correcting a mistake that CBO made in its earlier assessment. Despite the favorable budget projections, Republicans vow to repeal healthcare. So America’s values voting taxpayers can review the Act’s provisions and decide which ones they would repeal [Illustration Q].

"Mr. Conservative," in retirement and posthumously, the late Sen. Barry Goldwater had a stated: "I don’t go along with their incivility." Furthermore, "They are a detriment to the country. They`re acting like jerks too, not conservatives. ... They`re driving decent people out of public service. And they`re turning off voters. It`s dirty politics, and it should end."   

 

 

 



 

Debt as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 5, 1979, in a tryst at the Holiday Inn at Lynchburg, Virginia, political conservatives and Christian fundamentalists conceived, and in 1980 they brought forth political fundamentalism. In 1981 they began celebrating a new birth of freedom in a spree of free lunch fiscal policy of spend-and-borrow-and a campaign to make religious laws to force all Americans to conform to their values.

Invoking the Prince of Peace, Dr. James Dobson wages and romanticizes a raging values war that cannot end until one side eliminates the other from memory. He is serious. The first shot was fired after the Gerald Ford administration revoked the charitable tax exemption of the segregated Bob Jones University. After the Civil Rights Act became the law of the land, some churches opened racially segregated Christian schools. A judge commented that racial segregation is not a charity. Alas, a tax exemption for Christian segregationists was in jeopardy; so they called an emergency meeting.

During a conference call to add complaints and unify supporters, a voice on one of those lines asked, "How about abortion." Thus, abortion was a political asset before it was a family value, and it headed their wish list of family values. So they declared the culture war on the American way of life, demanding forced school prayer, opposing gay rights which the Constitution`s First and Fourteenth Amendments protect, and boycotting business that do not mention Christmas their religious freedom.

The severest casualties of political fundamentalists` culture war are the Fidelity Board`s first priorities: the takeover of the Republican party. The Constitution Article VI prohibits a religious test for any public office, but they fight to elect lawmakers pledged to make religious laws. They dumb-down public schools, famously the Texas State Board of Education. After a coup they purged the Southern Baptist Convention`s officers. Previously it was a stalwart advocate for separation of church and state, but since the purge, they teach students to "impose" their religion on the culture. Reporting more members than they have, increases their political clout, and they conceal sexual predators.

Political fundamentalist preachers, politicians, and talk show hosts set their standards which often measure their claims. When registered voters question a claim or action, they file it with a fact to challenge it on the Fidelity Board. This opens an account for the person challenged. Other registered voters confirm the claim or action is a fact or humbug (Mark Twin`s word for a sham or fraud). A confirmed claim is removed from the account, and confirmed humbugs in the account are published. The public has access to the data in each account, and the reporters have direct questions to ask.

This is how it works. You obtain a humbug icon at the website, www.fidelityboard.com, and you simply click your humbug icon to attend their performance on the stage at the public square. The Fidelity Board displays any accounts you want to review and focuses its spotlight on new humbugs and infidels. With the fascination of a computer game, it celebrates their heroic achievements with the rockets` red glare, bombs bursting in air, bands playing Sousa`s marches, liberated school teachers dancing in the halls, and Christians pounding pastors` doors and demanding the facts. Mark Twain said laughter demolishes a colossal humbug. Appropriately he leads everyone in raucous laughter.

Grandma races the teenagers to be first to click the humbug icon to join the fun.

 

 

Outline

 

To the Reader ......................................................................................................................................................................xi

Preface ...............................................................................................................................................................................xvii

 

 

Back Cover

 

Part 4

 

ONLINE
 

www.fidelityboard.com

 

Freedom Riders USA

 

Values Voters` Clubs of America


 

 

To the Reader

Before you finish reading this Guide to the Values Voters` Fidelity Board, you will make a decision: Would you buy a used car from some of the most visible preachers in America, from some of the most powerful politicians in Washington, or from me?

Honoring the basic principle of our republic, democracy distributes responsibility. Health is the foremost family value, and the rest can be in any order: opportunity to work and earn a living wage; a sound education that equips us and our children to compete in a free market economy; living a peaceable life in society with religious freedom; contributing to domestic tranquility; and retiring with dignity.

According to a toast in Boston "the Lowells speak only to Cabots, and the Cabots speak only to God." They speak in téte-à-tétes at Harvard`s Porcellian Club (pork-eaters club). On the other hand, in Washington the Boehners speak only to the Mitchells, and the Mitchells speak only to the Coburns (and some prominent philanderers) at the best little consensual house in Washington at 133 C Street.

From sea to shining sea and from Canada to Mexico these elite leaders have a network of faith-based organizations, led by dynamic leaders who present themselves as God called men-televangelists, megachurch preachers, the friendly fundamentalist pastor down the street, church schools, universities, law schools, public schools teaching the Bible-with the addresses of millions of voters. They are committed to political fundamentalism`s values agenda, to make religious laws to enforce fundamentalist values.

The Values Voters` Fidelity Board researches politicians and preachers` speeches, publications, and web sites-respectfully-un-Tea Party. We do not debate to prove a point but cooperate to confirm that each value that each leader claims is a fact or a humbug.

If perchance, promoters of family values has an account of insufficient values or overdrawn humbugs, Fidelity Boarders do not condemn them. They are celebrated. Click your humbug icon to behold the celebration: the rockets` red glare, bombs bursting in air, Strauss marches, liberated school teachers dancing in the halls, people pounding pastors` doors demanding the facts, and Mark Twain knew the only way to destroy a humbug is to laugh at it until the one who claimed it laughs with us.

We may forget but the Fidelity Board never forgets. If our leaders need a friendly reminder, Fidelity Riders with a large screen displaying the celebration on the streets near the local offices of lawmakers and the offices of faith-based organizations. The neighbors and the media are cordially invited to behold the Fidelity Board`s report on a big screen.

This could be the consummate civil rights movement: for religious freedom-freedom to think and decide without governmental or ecclesiastical coercion. Our Constitution`s First Amendment is our priceless guarantee of freedom. The Constitution framed our government, and the first ten amendments guarantee our personal freedom that no majority in our government-ten-to-one or a million-to-one-can deny us.

These ten amendments constitute our Bill of Rights. Each one speaks in negative terms, telling our public officials, "Thou shall not," eighteen times, no, not, and nor. Only one amendment lacks a negative word, but it is nonetheless, negative for prosecutors, the right to a speedy public trial before a jury and the right to face one`s accusers.

Americans fought the War for Independence against England`s church-based state and won the rights guaranteed in the first ten amendments, and Americans fought the Civil War (my ancestors were among the losers) and won the rights guaranteed in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. During times of stress someone chronically proposes to amend and limit a guarantee of freedom. Politicians looking for a way to add votes, tend to inflame public hysteria. Benjamin Franklin had this mentality in mind, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

James Madison, who was almost five-feet and four inches tall and barely weighed 100 pounds, was a gigantic force. Before the Constitutional Convention, he finished his homework and became the chief architect of the Constitution. As the people deliberated ratifying the Constitution, he wrote more than a third of the Federalist Papers, encouraging them to ratify. When the nation`s First Congress convened he was the chief architect of our Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments. Twelve years previously he had written, "Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects? [sic] that he same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?"

This Guide has two objectives, to establish an accounting system for the nation`s voters to post to each humbug claim to the account of each political fundamentalist preacher, politician, and talk show host. Then every family, school, and lawmaker can have up-to-the-minute information to prepare for elections when Congress or its committees debate vital issues for America`s families.

I do not intend to manage the Fidelity Board. Instead I want to turn it over to a nonpartisan, nonsectarian, nonprofit group(s) to manage with all voters across America participating-and we will watch each other and confirm one another`s decisions are factual. Transparency is the ideal. We will chase it relentlessly. We may never touch its coattails, but we will be better for trying.

The second objective is for voters to scrutinize this manuscript without mercy. In due time I can publish a book they have edited. Then any concerned voter can have a guide that does not rely on the opinions of scholars, preachers, politicians, talk show hosts, or myself. I believe this manuscript offers an unprecedented collection of essential information for the typical voter. With their advice it can become a companion of the Values Voters` Fidelity Board.

Assembling the complete Fidelity Board is a matter of timing and financial support. Without the latter, the time of completion will be prolonged. Early or late, America will have online the Fidelity Board`s record of political fundamentalists` claims-an encyclopedia misguided leadership, if you please.

The Constitution and the founders` documents have served us well for over 200 years. Nonetheless, "a strict construction of the Constitution" has recently become a code for misrepresenting the Bible to read misleading ideas into the Constitution and the founders` writings. To the best of my ability I will apply procedures I learned in fundamentalist institutions of higher learning-identify what the founders wrote, "chapter and verse." You are urged to correct my errors on the Fidelity Board.

The ball is in Fidelity Boarders` court. They will serve it to political fundamentalism. Facts level the court. America will never be the same, but let us return to the present.

To be doctrinally correct (politically correct "in the world") I must read a selection of sacred texts and inerrant scriptures for the record before I speak my piece.

St. Mark of Twain, the patron saint of conventional wisdom, wrote the only way to dispose of a colossal humbug is laughing at the humbug until the one who claims it laughs with us.

St. Thomas of Paine, the patron saint of common sense, one might say, was a hellfire and brimstone evangelist for the Revolution; although he did not believe in hellfire. His Epistle to Summertime Soldiers drew a line that had not been so definitive since Joshua challenged the people to "choose this day whom you will serve." This inflammatory epistle declares, "Infidelity does not consist in believing or disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe."

St. Barry of Goldwater, the patron saint of conservatism, spoke unequivocally in his Gospel to the Americans, "I don`t go along with their [Washington Republicans] incivility." Furthermore, "They are a detriment to the country. They`re acting like jerks too, not conservatives. ... They`re driving decent people out of public service. And they`re turning off voters. It`s dirty politics, and it should end."

Sounding like a Hebrew prophet he declared, "I don`t have any respect for the Religious Right. There is no place in this country for practicing religion in politics. That goes for [all] political preachers. ... I`m a Conservative. If they succeed in establishing religion as a Republican tenet they could do us in." The Hebrew Bible informs us that the difference between a true and false prophet is the one whose prophecy comes true. Goldwater`s prophecy came true.

St. James of Madison, the patron saint of church and state wrote, "The civil Government ... functions with complete success ... increased by the total separation of the church from the State. ... therefore ... a perfect separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance. ...[A] perfect separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance; and I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together. ... What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. ... During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."

St. John of Adam, the Beloved Disciple: "The United States of America have [sic] exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature ... It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses."

The last two quotations are from James Madison`s Memorial and Remonstrance to Religious Assessments in 1785, and by John Adams` A Defence [sic] of the Constitution of Government of the United States of America in 1787-1788 while he was in London as minister plenipotentiary to England. They predate Jefferson`s immortal metaphor written in 1802 by seventeen years and fourteen years-a wall of separation between church and state. The reader is encouraged to read both of these documents which are available on the Internet. The preceding quotations are a few among many by our founders and sample of the centuries of public officials and religious leaders who defended a separate church and state [Exhibits 7-12].

Returning to our premier saint, St. Mark of Twain, and his unfortunately obsolete word, humbug. It was current usage both for and against the Lincoln administration. Political Fundamentalism is a humbug mutation, the consequences of preachers letting the money changers back in the temple and sleeping together. Now they are carriers of the most virulent form of politically transmitted humbug, PTH.

When political fundamentalists itch the Republican party scratches. Of course, home is where one can scratch where it itches, but my Texas governor, the Honorable Rick Perry, scratches on the podium during closed-door sessions, "Pastors` Briefings," with political fundamentalist preachers. These are fascinating events according to The Dallas Morning News. My governor`s political supporters with deep pockets laundered $1.2 million to finance these divine bashes through the Niemoller Foundation. The newspaper reported this is a tax exempt charity with three trustees a Houston preacher, his wife, and another. Apparently these big givers can claim a gift to a politicizing, proselytizing charity on their income tax returns.

This humbug evolved and was transmitted to three prominent institutions, the former conservative Republican party, the Southern Baptist Convention, the former stalwart advocate of separation of church and public schools, and our most democratic American institution, public schools, formerly committed to educating rather than indoctrinating our children. American needs the balance of conservative and progressive ideals in our government, as it was before humbugs infested it. Our patriotic duty is to debug the Republican party and the public school which my governor defends against all coming humbuggers.

Southern Baptists might consider debugging the Southern Baptist Convention, the victim of a coup and hostile takeover by political fundamentalists. Consequently they became a major source of transmitting humbug values that infect our public schools, as well as a powerful force for making religious laws to enforce their religious values. Thus, they abdicated their 400-year commitment to separation of church and state.

Political fundamentalists insist the Bible is more than a book of faith that it also contains inerrant science, history, medicine, law and economics. Their reach is more than their grip. Switching metaphors, all their eggs are in one basket. These leaders set their own standards, but when their own standards measure their own claims, they have no legitimate standing in the public square.

One example is inerrant indeed: The earth was not round until 1,500 years after the most recent parts of the Bible were written. To believe the Bible is scientifically inerrant is to believe the earth is flat. Of course, the Bible never says the earth is flat; in Bible days this was obvious. Nor do we go around talking about the round earth; this too is obvious [more inerrancy in the chapter, "Paige Patterson`s Integrity"].

Fundamentalism is not simply a religion but a strategy with common characteristics appearing in various religions. It always worships the true God and reads inerrant scriptures. Its downfall begins when it presumes religious or racial supremacy or American Exceptionalism. The exclusive claim that God has a protective curtain around America lacks a thread of supporting evidence. Its only rationale is misinformed prejudice or the bigotry of a closed mind. It became necessary when white Christian Eliminationists needed to justify a continent-wide genocide of brown nature worshipers. Manifest destiny. Political fundamentalism`s Great Commission is a coup to take over the republic and found a theocracy governed by fundamentalists.

The garden variety fundamentalism is my heritage. Its strategy is simple, to read the Bible, believing every word is inerrant and praying that God will help us trust and obey. Preaching the inerrant word and beseeching God to save lost sinners is sufficient. Minding other people`s business is condemned as gossip, but resisting this temptation is a theory of evolution with zillions of gaps.

The second variety instructs a suicide bomber to "Keep a very open mind. Keep a very open heart of what you are to face. You will be entering paradise. You will be entering the happiest life, everlasting life. ... You should pray, you should fast. You should ask God for guidance, you should ask God for help . . . Continue to pray throughout this night. Continue to recite the Quran." ⁽¹⁾ With guidance and blessing by their God they killed almost 3,000 people, September 11, 2001, another day of infamy to live in perpetuity as 9/11.

And a third variety is homegrown with similar consequences as FOX News reported. It happened seven years and forty-four days prior to 9/11, on July 29, 1994. Mr. Paul Hill rose at 4:00 a.m. and fervently prayed, clutching his Bible. With God at his side, he drove to a woman`s clinic. When Dr. John Britton arrived with his wife and bodyguard, Mr. Hill killed both men and wounded the woman. He lay aside the shotgun, awaiting arrest by the police. As he lay on the Gurney to be executed, he stated, "I expect a great reward in heaven. I am looking forward to glory."

The most visible fundamentalist preachers in America deny that hate speech in the pulpit precipitates hate crime. If anyone else hinted that their preaching had no impact, they would complain, again, of "a war against Christians." Seldom, if ever, have they preemptively condemned murdering doctors, nurses, and patients at abortion clinics, or and mugging, torturing, and killing homosexuals. Nonetheless, while Congress deliberated including homosexuals in laws against hate crime, a number of them defended hate speech.

The holy trinity of family values promoters, Dr. James C. Dobson, founder and former chairman of Focus on the Family, Mr. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and Mr. Gary Bauer, president of American Values, recorded a video, defending hate speech.

Dr. Dobson stated for the record, "It is a very dangerous piece of legislation. What they have in mind is muzzling the church."

Mr. Perkins agreed, "The bill has a hidden agenda that could very well lead to the type of speech that pastors teach on Sunday … It creates a federal hate crime when there is an act of violence against an individual based on his protected classes [sic], which includes sexual orientation. It starts with hate crimes, then it progresses to hate speech, which will silence the pulpits of America."

Mr. Bauer added, "It suggests that a crime is somehow worse depending on what the person is thinking or saying. This is just another step in this … really well-thought-out program on the Left to silence those of us that speak for the values of the overwhelming majority of the American people."

President Bush pledged to veto the legislation. "That took a lot of courage. I really appreciate the president having the courage to do that," Dr. Dobson gratefully remarked. "It`s very important for people to contact their senators, but also their representatives."

President Obama signed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. This constitutes major civil rights legislation, October 28, 2009, making violent acts, assaulting, mugging, and murdering people because of their sexual orientation, a federal hate crime.

So what does the Bible say about homosexuality? It is one of fifty-four acts, several socially acceptable, some dietary, others accidental, and a few are criminal [Exhibit 4]. Reputable medical and psychological associations state that homosexuality is not a voluntary choice of a lifestyle: The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Members of the United States Senate, megachurch pastors, and missionaries, nonetheless, supported the "kill the gay" law in Uganda.

And what does the Bible say about abortion? Nothing, "not a mumbling word." Evangelical scholars conceded that the Bible does not mention abortion. The American Medical Association, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and American Medical Women`s Association oppose risks imposed by legal obstacles to abortion. ⁽²⁾ Anti-abortion is simply a religious doctrine which is devoid of support-biblical, constitutional, and Medical [Exhibits 2 and 3].

This book is intended to initiate a conversation among three groups, one does not want to talk about the subject, another is somewhat unfamiliar with the authoritative sources cited, and a third is quite familiar, active, and committed to supporting its particular views. Because controversial ideas are vital ideas, the text in this Guide is deliberately aggressive to stimulate public discourse.

To help our communication, let us limit our discussion to unmistakable items we cannot deny - facts. The Values Voters` Fidelity Board does not debate to prove a point. Fidelity Boarders cooperate to confirm facts. The Fidelity Board does not consider opinions or personalities. A free society will thrive as long as our public spirit is balanced with an equal desire to mind our own business.

Some of our friends make the Bible and faith political issues. We respect their inalienable right to affiliate with the religion that best expresses their convictions and the party that most represents their political preferences. So we do not question either their truth or their faith. If as a matter of faith they deny facts, they are entitled to an additional inalienable right, to dwell in the Flat Earth Society`s Big Tent.

Instead, we set a precedent, checking facts in the Bible to evaluate what we feel or what we were taught. Suppressing facts is not faith but fear. We, who grew up in a Christian fundamentalist family or culture, are well aware that the Bible is decisive, not only in religious discourse but also in politics and the public schoolroom. When my governor supports the Texas State Board of Education, presuming the Bible is more than a book of religious faith, that it contains inerrant science, history, medicine, law and economics, Texas children are not adequately equipped to compete and prosper in a free market economy.

In eight pages, "Rev. Paige Patterson`s Integrity," this Guide finds facts in the Bible that make dots. Connecting them to we see can the picture: Neither the State Board of Education nor its foremost protector, Gov. Rick Perry, has no biblical leg to stand on. They presume beliefs about the Bible, which facts-not interpretations but unmistakable facts-disprove. Naturally this can be disappointing and traumatic. Reacting to disappointment is either a learning experience, a blame game, or a pity party. The first reaction is rewarding, the second may harm the innocent, and the third is self-destructive.

What the Constitutional Convention said about religion: We review James Madison`s Notes of the Constitutional Convention, the best record we have. The Constitution`s framers complimented his objectivity. When the Convention adjourned, General Washington sent our new Constitution to Congress with a cover letter. One sentence describes how we can live together in a democratic republic: "Individuals entering into society, must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest."

Federalist Papers: To encourage the people to ratify the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay published eighty-five papers. They were later bound in a volume, The Federalist Papers. Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt applauded it as a historical monument to governing a republic. It crossed the Atlantic, and Europeans celebrated it as a brilliant resource for information on a successful government. This was a fascinating turn of events; previously the European leaders spoofed our precedent-setting Constitution as the American experiment. We will review what the Federalist Papers say about religion. Also, this Guide has more than seventy pages of Exhibits and Quotations which the reader may find quite valuable for a continual reference.

George Washington`s Diary: You will read excerpts of George Washington`s diary, "Where and How My Time Is Spent," including the times he attended church services. You will also read what pastors of churches he attended, during the Constitutional Convention, while he was president, when he retired to Mount Vernon, and after he died, who answered inquiries about his religious beliefs.

Thomas Jefferson`s Correspondence with the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut is currently controversial: his immortal metaphor, "a wall of separation between church and state." You will read their letters, and excerpts from a document that few have heard about and fewer have read, the minutes of the annual business meeting of the Danbury Baptist Association, October 7, 1800, authorizing the letter.

Jefferson wrote a reply and asked Attorney General Levi Lincoln to review it. Lincoln scratched out some of the letter and scribbled in additions. Jefferson revised the letter and sent it to the Association, on January1, 1801. He then filed a copy of the one with Lincoln`s marked up revisions and the one he sent to the Association. During its business meeting the Association officially authorized a committee of pastors and deacons, naming each one, to send the letter to Jefferson as President, and Jefferson responded as President to the Committee. Christian Statesmen, such as Dr. James Dobson and Rev. Rick Scarborough insist the letter was not official but to Jefferson`s friends, and Rev. David Barton wrote an entire book and more publications, professing that a wall of separation between church is only a myth. These gentlemen represent themselves as not only Bible-believers but also believers in Bible inerrancy; so we confidently anticipate that these good Christians will confess-as the inerrant Bible requires-to millions of people whom they have misled.

If this evidence fails to convince those who disparage the very idea of separation of church and state, saying it was concocted by liberals in the1960s, Exhibits 7-12 can convince an honest doubter that the founders believed the Constitution`s First Amendment constituted "a wall of separation between church and state." So far I have found thirty-one of our forty-four presidents who mentioned separation of church and state-seventy percent-and everyone who mentioned it embraced it. These Exhibits include numerous public officials and centuries of religious leaders, advocating separation of church and state.

The Aitken Bible: Much is made about Congress authorizing and buying the Aitken Bible. The professed time was during the Revolution, while the colonies were still a possession of England`s church-based state, and before "We the People of the United States, ratified the Constitution. You can read online the report on the Aitken Bible by Margaret T. Hills, the American Bible Society`s Secretary for Research. She records that a committee of Congress voted to recommend the purchase, but the recommendation passed by a margin of only one vote. Immediately another motion passed to reconsider the motion "Saturday next."

Ms. Hills reports that nothing more is known about this motion, but she says it is doubtful that "the beleaguered Congress ever took steps to affect its implementation." Five years after Robert Aitken petitioned Congress to authorize and fund him publishing the Bible, he published 10,000 copies. By then the Revolution was ending, and people could buy Bibles from England for a lower price. He requested Congress to give him a fourteen-year exclusive patent to sell these Bibles, but Congress declined. A New York clergyman sent a letter to General Washington, suggesting that he present a Bible to the soldiers. The general "replied that this worthy suggestion came too late, for Congress had already ordered the discharge of two-thirds of the army." Mr. Aitken was ruined financially.

WWDBD: What would Rev. David Barton Do? Suddenly we change the subject and let the fun begin, as observers of five Christian Nation Elections. We ask what would this gentleman do, who is political fundamentalism`s "nationally renowned" authority on this Christian nation`s founding.

Our own values president, George W. Bush, will run in five Christian nation elections against our first five presidents, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe. Rev. Barton, his publications, and his Wallbuilders web site, will decide the winner.

The dress code is strict, a sense of humor and sense of honor.

America will never be the same.

See ya, at the election!

 

Preface

 Vice President Gerald R. Ford called Democratic Majority Leader Thomas P. "Tip" O`Neill, at 2:45 P.M., August 8, 1974, to inform him that Richard Nixon would resign the following day at 10:00 A.M., and Mr. Ford would be sworn in as president. They were not only political adversaries but also close friends, golf buddies, and Ford wanted to let Mr. O`Neill know to be sure he was present.

As their conversation was closing Mr. Ford remarked, "I`ll be counting on your advice and assistance." Mr. O`Neill replied, "Well, Jerry, the first piece of advice I`ll give you is not to choose a Democrat for Vice President. There`s been some talk about a bipartisan ticket. It`s a nice sentiment, but we both know this country doesn`t work that way.

Then Mr. O`Neill recalled, "There was a moment of silence, as neither of us wanted to hang up." So he remarked, `Jerry, isn`t this a wonderful country? Here we can talk like this, and eighteen months from now I`ll be going around the country kicking your ass in." They laughed, but how little did they know. When Mr. Ford swore to "faithfully execute the office of president" the next day, he would soon honor his oath, enforcing a certain law would inflame a culture war.

That was thirty-six years ago, and ass-kicking is not the same. No longer is it hard-nose political debate. It is destroying a human being, a fellow American with a different view. Try to imagine House Republican Leader Ford instead of House Republican Leader Boehner bellowing "Hell no you can`t," about issues he knows are not in a bill. Visualize Mr. Ford going outside and agitating Tea Partiers and onlookers who became a rampaging mob, throwing bricks, vandalizing offices, breaking windows, and hurling hateful epithets at officials elected by the American people.

Sen. Everett Dirksen was the Republican Leader in the Senate when it debated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, proposed by a Democratic president. His leadership was crucial for passing it into law-with the Democratic president`s blessing. When Southern Democrats in the Senate filibustered, the Senate needed sixty-seven votes to close the debate in that era. Sen. Claire Engle, dying with cancer, came on a stretcher. The tumor had destroyed his voice, but when his name was called, with some effort he slowly lifted an arm and pointed to his eye to signal that he voted "aye." This scene stirred millions of Americans` hearts. Doubtless many were misty-eyed.

In 2010 a reverse scene of statesmanship developed on the same spot in the Senate where Sen. Dirksen stood to pass the Civil Rights Act. Sen. Tom Coburn called on the people to pray that someone could not be present to vote, meaning the aged and ill Sen. Robert Byrd. His absence would leave the vote for cloture one vote short. The weather was freezing and snow was on the ground at 4:00 A.M. when the plucky senator showed up in a wheel chair. When his name was called he shouted "aye" and defiantly raised a fist. This was his last vote.

Today Sen. Mitch McConnell is Senate Republican Leader, and he lines up his members to vote en masse to put our government on hold and sacrifice the people on the altar of a political victory, defeating the president. When they controlled Congress, they voted for tax cuts and deficit spending that created a financial crisis. A reprehensible, shoddy example of sacrificing the people`s interests, occurred after Sen. McConnell made six speeches in the senate, demanding a deficit reduction commission, but when the president proposed it, the senator filibustered, and Republican senators who cosponsored the bill withdrew their support.

Who are the conservatives? Are they President Ford and Sen. Dirksen, and twentieth-century and nineteenth-century Republicans, nineteenth-century Whigs, or eighteenth-century Federalists such as George Washington and John Adams? Or are they the survivors of the religious purge that began thirty years ago, who surrendered to sectarian corruption to be elected? To continue surviving they pay the fiddler and dance as if they love the tune, regardless of what religious fundamentalists play. This is the Grand Old Party`s base? Actually few traditional Republican conservatives remain, and they are conspicuous by their absence on the dance floor. How long will the floor bouncers let them sit?

What has changed since Mr. Ford and Mr. Dirksen were the Republican Leaders? The seeds of change were sown when Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon were president, but it was neither Vietnam nor Watergate. Mr. Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After he signed the Civil Rights Act, a monumental law by any standard, his assistant, Mr. Bill Moyers, tried to congratulate him, but Mr. Johnson was morose and sadly replied that he had just signed away the Southern vote for Democrats for the foreseeable future.

Mr. Nixon helped fulfill this prophecy with the "Southern Strategy" attracting prejudiced Democrats. To say the least this switch was historic irony. The Civil War erupted with Democrats claiming states` rights and fighting Republicans to preserve slavery and seceding from the union. But a Democratic president passed civil rights laws to implement the former Republican president`s emancipation proclamation and to deliver its promise to the slaves` descendants 100 years later.

Because the Civil Rights Act outlawed segregated public facilities, Christian fundamentalist churches opened Christian schools, presuming they were beyond the law, "safe in the arms of Jesus," so to speak. Suddenly they realized the sky had fallen without Chicken Little announcing it.

The Ford administration had notified the racially segregated Bob Jones University that its charitable tax exemption would be revoked. President Ford honored his oath to "faithfully execute the office of president" and enforced the law of the land, the Civil Rights Act. Court battles lasted a decade, and one judge stated the obvious, segregation is not charity.

The brethren huddled to devise a game plan to protect Bob Jones University and to keep the taxpayers` subsidy for segregated Christian schools. Mr. Paul Weyrich had spent more than a year, trying to persuade them to be politically involved, but they hesitated to make abortion a cause. "The IRS threat against segregated schools enraged the Christian community. That, not abortion, Mr. Weyrich recalled, galvanized politically conservative evangelicals into the Religious Right and goaded them into action. "It was not the other thing [their values agenda]." However, he deceptively shifted the blame of discomfiting these fundamentalist preachers to the Carter administration.

After they contributed the winning margin of votes in 1980, they became indispensable. To become indispensable to a source of power is to own the power. They could veto candidates for the Republican nomination for president or the party would regret ignoring their wish. Soon they were recognized as the Republican party`s base, and some even boasted they were the Christian party.

Consequently Mr. Ford was the last traditional conservative to serve our nation as president without accepting or advancing political fundamentalism`s values agenda. The dregs of the election of 2008 in the Tea Party`s cup are religious, racial, and economic supremacists.

Mr. Ford`s current successor in the House of Representatives is Mr. John Boehner, and Mr. Dirksen`s present successor in the Senate is Mitch McConnell. These gentlemen voted for a free lunch fiscal policy of spend and borrow. In thirty years they multiplied all our national debt that accumulated in the previous 192 years, from the first day George Washington was in office until Jimmy Carter`s last day [Graphs]. The 192 years include the Great Depression and all our wars beginning with the Revolution (the federal government assumed the states` debt), the War of 1812, the Civil War, numerous Indian wars, the Spanish American War, the Mexican War, World War I, World War II, and the wars in Korea, and Vietnam.

Traditional conservative Republicans and Southern Baptists, were the first casualties in the culture war. The public school is collateral damage, famously the Texas State Board of Education. Gov. Rick Perry sold Texas for less than thirty pieces of silver: political fundamentalists` vote. And he pitched in Texas children, the future oil and cattle barons in the Republic of Texas, of course, after he does what he advocated for Texas to secede from the United States [See chapter, "Rev. Barton`s Legacy: Governor Rick Perry of Texas and his Texas State Board of Education"].

The other casualty of the culture war is the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest, richest, most powerful Protestant denomination in America. It owns four of the ten largest seminaries that train pastors and church staffs to "impose" their values on the culture. Political fundamentalists launched a coup, purged its officers, and took over its institutions, agencies, and assets. They applied the proven methods of successful coups in nations around the world, starting with a couple of instigators, carefully recruiting core supporters, and rising to a crescendo of rhetoric and a frontal attack.

Upholding the Constitution means the people are unconditionally committed to defend everyone`s inalienable right to affiliate with the religion that best expresses their convictions and the political party that propagates most of their policies. These are our civil liberties that everyone shares equally. George Washington expressed it best, and his words will be repeated for emphasis, "Individuals entering into society, must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest."

To debate or reframe a debate with religious, racial, or intellectual supremacists, whether they are liberals or conservatives, is futile. Voters participating on the Fidelity Board do not debate to prove a point. They cooperate to confirm that each value claimed by each political fundamentalist is a fact or a humbug.

This manuscript has two objectives, and both depend exclusively on registered voters who participate on the Values Voters Fidelity Board. The speed of implementing the complete plan outlined on the Fidelity web site depends on the timing of financial support.

The Fidelity Board is an accounting system, publishing each political fundamentalist`s claim of a value that is not a fact. You click your humbug icon to review any record any hour of any day.

So I invite you to share my popcorn and watch the fast-moving scenes in the melodrama on the stage at the public square. You will hear some of the most hilarious lines. If preachers, politicians, and talk hosts who have no clothes, appear on the stage, it will be because they voluntarily stripped.

 

 

Part one

 

We lack an appropriate approach for religious discourse. -- David Brooks.

 

 

Rules for Researching Facts

Scrubbing and rinsing our opinions from the facts to is a challenge. A fact is neither left nor right, conservative nor liberal, fundamentalist nor atheistic, sectarian nor secular, Republican nor Democratic, capitalist nor communist, divine nor satanic, biblical nor unbiblical, Catholic nor Protestant, Christian nor Muslim, moral nor immoral, lawful nor criminal.

An act may be moral or immoral but the act is, nonetheless, a fact, regardless of the reputation of the one who acts, or the authority of an institution authorizing it. A saint might perpetrate a pious fraud, or a serial killer might state an eternal truth.

No one can declare a fact. A fact is or is not. One might say a fact is self-evident.

To retain status as a Fidelity Boarder, one is always respectful and focused on the facts without indulging in obscene or hostile remarks, reflecting on anyone`s character, or bringing up someone`s past. No one disrupts or engages in diversionary tactics or tries to stack the vote. In such instances they forfeit their voter`s registration and have a humbug credited to their account. This decision based solely on the judgment of those operating the Fidelity Board, and it is final without an appeal. Nevertheless, such offenders still have access to review the accounts, watch the cartoons, and see the displays on the Fidelity Board.

 

Show Me the Facts

Some of the most visible political and religious leaders in America represent themselves as the people of faith, the values voters, and the called men of God. If we want to discuss their claims, they demand that we debate their highest authorities of all, which are nonetheless undebatable and unseen: the "inspiration and illumination of the Holy Spirit" and seeking the mind of the Lord by "fervent prayer."

Four years ago I sent a cross-section of twenty-four political fundamentalists a survey, The Moral State of the Union. To create a paper trail, I sent it by certified mail with a return receipt requested, and I received twenty-four signed receipts. This completed a trail one direction; so I sent each one cash to pay the postage to return the survey and to pay for the certified mail with a receipt requested. The letters of those who replied are posted on the Values Voters` Fidelity Board.

The survey included quotations of the Bible and our founders, but no one dared to check that any quotation was a fact. Although they often condemn the morality of Americans in general, half of them kept my money and the survey [Exhibit 1]. Nonetheless, the survey demonstrated that they cannot pass a fact-test in America`s most trusted political and religious documents.

Since a private request was unanimously evaded, a public request is essential. Values voting taxpayers are invited to join in researching books, periodicals, email, web sites, and public statements. When they discover a questionable claim of a value, they file it on the Fidelity Board and respectfully request the one who made the claim to show the fact that confirms the claim.

Rather than a futile debate, this Guide produces the facts in specific scriptures and founders` documents, rather than interpretations and opinions. These facts demonstrate that numerous claims of a value are both unconstitutional and unbiblical. The latter is most significant to Bible-believers who trust the leaders` interpretations. We defend their right to identify and propagate their own religious truth.

After General Washington presided at the Constitutional Convention, he sent our freshly minted government to the Constitutional Congress. His cover letter described the Constitution in one sentence, and I believe it included this list of values among others. "Individuals entering into society, must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest." To him a sense of ownership in the common values and common cause of the republic was not socialism but the best of the American Dream.

To us he entrusted this experiment and assigned us to the laboratory of democratic processes to complete the work that he and his founding brothers initiated. When the Constitutional Convention adjourned and as those who framed our new form of government were departing, Mrs. Eliza Powell called out to Benjamin Franklin, "Well doctor what do we have, a republic or a monarchy?" "A Republic, Madam" replied Franklin, "If you can keep it." Franklin`s answer was an admonition to those who would make religious laws to "impose" their religious values on America. Again, salvation by legislation is no way to run a government.

Hopefully, his warning can benefit those who are vowing to take back our government, but it challenges American voters who are willing take personal responsibility for our government.

A Christian Nation Election: America`s values voters are invited to monitor elections of six past-presidents of the United States. George W. Bush, our own values president, will run against each of our first five presidents: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. The issue is "America is a Christian Nation." The voters will decide the winner in each election [See "Five Christian Nation Elections- WWDBD -What Would David Barton Do?"].

Constitutional Convention: James Madison Note are the best record we have, and we will read what the founders said each time religion was mentioned [Illustrations H and I].

The Federalist Papers: After the Constitution was sent to the states for ratification, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote eighty-five papers, encouraging the people to accept it. We will review what they say about religious subjects [Illustration J].

The American Journal of Public Health, September 17, 2009, reported an analysis of data at the United States Centers of Disease Control, by Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance. It found 45,000 (15 times as many, as 9/11) die each year without health insurance. Commonwealth Fund financed a study which found that France has the best record, and the USA has the worst in preventable deaths, 101,000 per year (33 times as many as died on 9/11). A primary care physician at Cambridge Health Alliance, estimated that "one dies every 12 minutes."

America`s voters can calculate the number of uninsured Americans who needlessly died while Republicans obstructed healthcare legislation. When the Fidelity Board is developed for maximum performance, while Congress or a committee debates a vital issue, it will show the amount of money each lobbyist has invested in each vote.

The Health Care Reform Act: Health is the most essential family value, but partisan politics have clouded what we need to know. For full disclosure of the painfully obvious, I confess that I mathematically challenged. I am confident until math is more complex than 2 + 2 = 5. Then I am confused. To escape the smoke and mirrors, I look for a source that is reputedly reliable. In this instance, the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation. A cover letter for the report includes this information.

CBO and JCT now estimate that the legislation would yield a net reduction in deficits of $138 billion over the 10-year period [2010-2019], correcting a mistake that CBO made in its earlier assessment.

Before the bill was passed, Sen. Jim DeMint stated that if Republicans defeated the healthcare bill, it will be President Obama`s Waterloo. It will break him. Sen DeMint did not surprise me but Sen. Tom Coburn was astonishing. Standing before the U. S. Senate, he called on the people to pray that "someone," meaning the late Sen. Robert Byrd who was aged and ill would not be present for to vote.

Although my odometer says four score years, and I thought that I had witnessed everything a Southern Baptist might try, I was shocked. Sen. Coburn is a Southern Baptist deacon, and he was calling on the American people for an imprecatory prayer, a curse, on Sen. Byrd. The weather was freezing and snow was on the ground, but the plucky Sen. Byrd arrived in a wheelchair. When his name was called, he smiled, raised his hand defiantly, and shouted. "Aye." Alas, the good Lord let down this exemplary Baptist deacon as well as Sen. DeMint and Sen. Sam Brownback, who had gathered with a group to pray for divine intervention.

Despite the favorable budget projections and the highest priority is health, the Republicans vowed to repeal the healthcare law. So America`s values voting taxpayers will review the Act`s provisions and decide which ones they would repeal [Illustration Q]. Immediately, the attorney`s general in fourteen states filed a lawsuit against the health reform act. I have read several lawyers`s opinions and asked the opinions of two whom I know and respect. The consensus is that the lawsuit is based on inaccurate legal interpretations. However, the activist political fundamentalist majority on the Supreme Court has demonstrated that it can declare facts and reinvent precedents.

Repealing health reform Some of our distinguished leaders vowed to repeal the entire act. You will confront some tough challenges, bypassing the smoke and mirrors on both sides of the aisle, the reader will decide which provisions of the Health Reform Act you would repeal.

An Appropriate Approach for Religious Discourse: This, of course, is un-Tea Party. David Brooks, a conservative New York Times columnist, expressed concern that, "we lack an appropriate approach for religious discourse." "Mr. Conservative," in retirement and posthumously, the late Sen. Barry Goldwater had a similar concern: "I don`t go along with their incivility." Furthermore, "They are a detriment to the country. They`re acting like jerks too, not conservatives. ... They`re driving decent people out of public service. And they`re turning off voters. It`s dirty politics, and it should end."

Sounding like a Hebrew prophet he declared, "I don`t have any respect for the Religious Right. There is no place in this country for practicing religion in politics. That goes for [all those] political preachers." His campaign slogan in 1964 was, "In your heart you know he is right," Here was a politician who could be both blunt and respectful, debating, say, the liberal Sen. Hubert Humphrey on the floor of the U. S. Senate. These two opposites remained cordial friends as long as they lived.

At the end of the day after their debate, imagine these senators having a drink and watching a live television debate in the House of Representatives, "the people`s house." House Republican Leader, John Boehner, has the floor, shouting violent rhetoric at the top of his voice and punctuating his speech with increasingly louder screams, "Hell no! ... Hell no! ... Hell no!"

Both senators would be appalled and agree that he brought shame to the people`s house. But this did not satisfy our Leader. Appearing before a crowd outside, he agitated them, and vandals broke windows and damaged offices. They shouted despicable racial and sexual epithets at congressmen. One of his acolytes called another congressman a "baby killer." Previously a Republican congressman disrupted the State of the Union address by the President of the United States, saying "You lie." They demonstrated not only that Mr. Brooks overstated any quest for an appropriate approach to religious discourse, but also that Sen. Goldwater`s vivid expressions were inadequate to convey their venom.

In Arizona a Baptist pastor, Rev. Steven Anderson, announced from the pulpit, "I pray for Barack Obama to die and go to hell." Despite the financial crisis and a national emergency, some talking heads, shouting heads, and weeping heads enable this outrage, hoping the president will fail.

They supported laws, leading to the financial crisis, beginning thirty years before he was president [page after front cover and back cover]. Who could be so unpatriotic to hope that any president would fail? Who could remorselessly put the nation on hold in a financial crisis? If any of this is false why would my pastor, my representative, my senator, or my governor fail to tell me.

They have a Divine Right;

They are American Exceptionals;

Or They are Religious or Racial Supremacists.

With God on their side, those who represent themselves as the "people of faith" are well aware that people of civility and common decency do not mud-wrestle to prove they are right. The Constitution Article VI states that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." But supremacists have a code, "a strict construction of the Constitution" and a divine right to declare it does not mean what it says but says what they mean.

Public discourse of religion has become extremely divisive, and reframing the debate of religious absolutes is impossible. But acknowledging everyone`s right to define religious truth and limiting our discourse to facts gives us the dots to connect. This honors their religious freedom without evading facts that make a difference and without imposing religious opinions on others.

The Values Voters` Fidelity Board facilitates an appropriate approach for religious discourse. We do not debate to prove a point but cooperate to confirm that a claim is a fact or a humbug. The Values Voters` Fidelity Board is an online accounting system for political fundamentalists` humbugs.

Infidelity is a humbug of biblical proportions.

The Fidelity Board is a tool for a continuing civil rights movement. When Americans of all persuasions internalize the Constitution`s First Amendment they can secure the ultimate guarantee of freedom. As an ongoing history of political fundamentalists` false claims, the Fidelity Board is a always a developing encyclopedia. No longer will America`s voter need to rely solely on pundits.

Fidelity Riders: Political fundamentalist governors, senators, or members of Congress may ignore the Fidelity Board, but it does not ignore these leaders. Fidelity Riders ride to state capitals and congressional districts to a street near a leader`s office. With the Fidelity Board on a wide screen they display the great leader`s record. The neighbors and the media are cordially invited to attend.

A political fundamentalist politician may be in Washington, and a political fundamentalist preacher may be touring the Holy Land. But when they come home, reporters will have new questions to ask, and the neighbors may suggest that they click the humbug icon and come to Jesus.

The reader is not cynical to observe that some who walk among us may not face the facts, but they have an inalienable right to dwell in the Flat Earth Society`s Big Tent, forever and ever. Amen.

This book`s title suggests a range of deceptions: Lie -To be honest you and I lie. Lying is a social grace, "Come on in, great to see you! (Golly I wish you were not here.); Damn Lie, is a humbug, taking advantage that costs someone money, reputation, something valuable); Infidelity is lying, cheating, deceiving those who trust us most-professing to believe what we do not believe.

Let us begin with my opinionated neck on the chopping block. America`s voters are cordially invited-urged-to take a whack as often as they have a fact to chop therewith! So here we go.

Regardless of the particular religion or government, political fundamentalism runs in cycles, and each manifestation contains some common basic elements. Combining the power of religion with the power of government brings a leader as close to absolute power as is humanly possible.

As if we do not have enough frustration with a federal bureaucracy, imagine a fundamentalist federal bureaucracy. This would be a theocracy managed by a network of televangelists, megachurch preachers, and your local fundamentalist pastor down the street. They take the Bible literally and devoutly believe God called them to rule the world with him. Then they assume he promised them a permanent reign when they have a committed majority in all three branches of our government.

Lord Acton, frustrated by his own church`s power, wrote incisively, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Professing "America is a Christian nation" chronically corrupts the nation`s vital institutions.

Republican Party: The first institution corrupted was the Republican party. Regardless of your political preference, America lost when Republicans lost their party to political fundamentalism. To lose the party of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and Barry Goldwater is to lose an essential weight on the balance of conservative and progressive ideals in government. Sen. Goldwater predicted, "If they succeed in establishing religion as a Republican tenet they could do us in."

Legitimate conservatives can restore the Republican Party to its traditional conservative values. The purpose of this Guide and the Fidelity Board is not partisan advice, but hiring corrupt experts to train voters must change for the good of the country [see "David Barton`s Godly Heritage"].

Public School: Their next target is our most democratic institution, the public school. Fundamentalists attack the schools because they do not teach fundamentalist science, history, depriving children of information they will need to compete and survive in the economy.

Separation of Church and State: Their ultimate attack is on the wall of separation between church and state. Texans boast of the most dominating culture warriors. Rev. David Barton wrote The Myth of Separation. Rev. Rick Scarborough declared separation is a bald face lie, alleging that secularist professors concocted this lie in the 1960s. After a Texas Republican Convention adjourned, he said he bowed his head and thanked God that Christians are getting it. In America we are the church, and we are the government. These gentlemen may be right, but we have elected forty-four presidents; and so far, I have found thirty-one (70%) who mentioned separation of church and state. Everyone of them embraced church-and-state separation, and not one denied it [Exhibit 7].

Southern Baptist Convention: The last corruption to note is the ultimate and could possibly be first. The largest Protestant denomination in America has a history reaching back to Roger Williams. In 1644 he was first American preacher to employ the mighty metaphor, a wall of separation between church and state. The Puritan fathers banished him, and Baptists were persecuted and imprisoned for preaching and even for meeting. Their foremost allies 150 years later were Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence and James Madison, known as the father of the Constitution. Both of them emphatically demanded a complete separation of church and state.

All these historically documented facts notwithstanding, Southern Baptist Convention leaders abdicated their constitutional duties. Today, their avowed mission is to "impose" their religious values on America. I grieve for those who live out their lives pretending to believe what they know or fear is false. They include my friends and classmates (please notice this is present tense). I treasure their memory and hope they can find faith to reconcile with confirmed facts. Some others are friends I met later and strongly differed with. They also deserve a better life, and America deserves religious peace.

Political fundamentalists preach family values, but their policies do not value families.

The Family: An investigative journalist Jeff Sharlet, infiltrated a different kind of family and published his findings in The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. To overlook his vital report is to risk our future. This is not just another book but a shrieking alarm for America, a wake-up call by an investigative journalist who gained access and discovered an invisible invasion, infiltrating our government. Take a look at page 368.

Most of us outside the influence of fundamentalism ask, when confronted with this burgeoning power, "What do these people want? What are they going to do?" But the more relevant question is, "What have they already done?" [Let us turn the page]. Fundamentalism is writing us out of history. ... [but] we must continue to revisit the history of American fundamentalism-which is to say, we must reconsider the story we speak of when we say "America" [my bold face].

Communism demonstrated that it is a social and economic disaster. Its dregs are adding free market strategies. Instead of the stereotype of gray-clad peasants in cells, nursing vodka at socialism`s breast, The Family is its mirror image: secret cells of the rich and powerful in industry, military, government, finance, and religion. It boasts of 10,000 cells around Planet Earth. The early church shortly after 33 AD and the pilgrims in the early 1600s, tried socialism-everyone owning everything in common-but when no one actually owns anything, no one is responsible.

However, The Family members hold one an extremely important resource in common: power. Biblical capitalism, they call it. Their version. It works. Depending on who you are or what you have, this is the gift that keeps on giving or the take that keeps on taking. The "brothers" in The Family organize in cells which, they say, are designed like communist cells and quite efficient.

Mr. Sharlet reports one of The Family`s internal documents, states, "Anything can happen, the Koran could even be read, but Jesus is in there!" Christ, nonetheless "directs their every action." The Family constitutes a "select super corps for Christ." He opens his heart to them and remembers them "when he returns to the world not born again but remade." No longer is one "an individual but part of the Lord`s revolution, his will transformed into a weapon for what the young men call spiritual war." Changing one word illustrates the difference and the similarity. No longer is one "an individual but part of [Lenin`s] revolution, his will transformed into a weapon ..."

If Mr. Sharlet`s book documented the same evidence about Islam, rather than our homegrown fundamentalism, infiltrating our institutions, powerful corporations, and government-at the heart of America-we could not overestimate the chain of volcanic eruptions throughout America.

The Family derides "Christian" as too narrow for the world they are building. The litmus test of their saving grace is not Christian faith but obedience. The brothers speak of "the new chosen and throwaway religion." The brothers` spiritual leader informs them that secrecy "allows scoundrels and despots to turn their talents toward the service of Jesus." The Body of Christ, meaning Christendom, "functions like the mafia ... the Family has operated under many guises, some active, some defunct." This is not news; our political fundamentalists can be cozy with powerful and unsavory characters.

Rev. Rick Scarborough on his web site, Vision America, denounced a Muslim Congressman for posing for a picture with his hand on the Quran after he had sworn his oath of office together with all of the House of Representatives. The Family has a more efficient idea. Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, a Muslim, spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast, The Family`s only public (visible) meeting.

The first time most of us heard of The Family was when a brother-a family values congressman- played hijinks at the best little consensual house in Washington at 133 C Street. Later we noticed The Family`s tracks in Uganda`s parliament, considering the "kill the gays bill." Rev. Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, refused to condemn the bill until public outrage forced his hand. Mr. Sharlet`s book describes this tragedy.

Somalia became the focus of the Family`s interests [and it] has been the most tragic victim of their projection of American sexual anxieties. Following implementation of one of the continent`s only successful anti-AIDS program President Yoweri Museveni, The Family`s key man in Africa, came under pressure from the United States to emphasize abstinence instead of condoms. … Meanwhile, Ugandan souls may be more "pure," but their bodes are suffering; following the American intervention, the Ugandan AIDS rate, once dropping, nearly doubled.

Hey, let`s lay this book aside for a moment and take a look what is happening on television. Some of these senators are brothers in The Family, ironically, on the Judiciary Committee. They are conducting a hearing on Solicitor General Elena Kagan`s nomination to the Supreme Court. Sen. Tom Coburn is insisting that the general feeling in America is worse than in 1980. What this may have to with a Supreme Court justice`s duty to uphold the Constitution, he does not say. He tells the nominee that our founders were pure. Is this "pure" is the same as The Family in Uganda professes? Ms. Kagan, nonetheless, replies again and again that the Supreme Court`s duty is to enforce the Constitution.

Sen. Coburn is a Republican, a brother in The Family, a Southern Baptist deacon, and a medical doctor. He fits at least two of our priorities that are infected by political fundamentalism-Republican and Southern Baptist-so he is, at least, a twofer of the severest human needs.

He is right, uneasy feelings create a stressful environment, but he and other political fundamentalists replenish those feelings in the atmosphere. Might the good doctor be Infidelity`s Poster Boy? Regardless, I invite you to think about a hypothesis with me: Fundamentalists tend to accuse others of what they are guilty of doing or what they are guilty of planning.

 

After thirty years with a spend and borrow free-lunch fiscal policy, the economy collapsed and followed in a tragic meltdown: $14 trillion of household wealth vanished in the market, eight million jobs disappeared and have not reappeared, 200 community banks were closed. It seemed that only a staggering increase in deficit spending could protect the economy from recycling the Great Depression. A most disappointing development was political fundamentalist senators and representatives holding out for the spend and borrow free lunch policy.

• •They voted to rescue banks and the financial industry.
• •They voted against stimulating the economy to restore jobs.
• •They voted against a bill to aid small businesses with expanded loan programs and tax breaks.
• •They voted against extending unemployment insurance; although 8,000,000 workers had lost jobs.
• •They voted against health reform and favored the health insurance industry, despite the evidence from the U. S. Centers of Disease Control that uninsured people were sick and dying. Cute slogans became conventional wisdom: death panels and rationing life, although the health insurance industry policy applied both. The Texas legislature passed and Gov. George W. Bush signed the Texas Advance Directives Act in 1999, known as the Futile Care Law. On Healthcare Decision Day Gov. Palin called for an increase in "the number of Alaska`s citizens with advance directives."

These political tactics were supposed to defeat the president in the long term and to win seats in Congress in the short term. Never mind the collateral damage piled in a junkyard, the accumulation of lost jobs and foreclosed homes, small business owners crushed by the financial crisis, and hungry, starving, sick, and dying people. Political fundamentalism`s sentiment was to let them eat cake, so they could return to the failed fiscal free lunch policy of spend and borrow.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, Chairman of the Republican National Campaign Committee, longing for the good old times, "We want to go back to the exact same agenda." Let them eat cake.

Although their votes in the past thirty years created a financial crises and ripped the fabric of the economy, foreclosed homes, and left jobless families on the street, they tell the would-be hard working families they are individually responsible to find a job. With eight million jobs lost and counting, where is one available? When families complain that they have no roof over their head and no bread on the table, it takes a calloused conscience to tell them to camp in the park and eat cake. Political fundamentalists call such protests as this "class war." It is. They won.

The Good Samaritan was a socialist, and the holy men rushed past the dying man on the road had religious duties in Jerusalem. For twenty centuries people have heard sermons about the Good Samaritan, but our family values champions have yet to speak a "mumbling word" against the rampant abuse of the American family by those at the highest levels of government.

Health is the foremost family value, but a hard working mother working on two jobs, say, a night job mopping floors and a day job harvesting vegetables, but cannot afford health insurance for her children. But Congressman John Boehner denounced government health insurance as socialism.

Sen. Coburn, persistently compared how we feel today with how we felt in 1980. This was, coincidentally, the same year that former Governor Ronald Reagan debated President Jimmy Carter, and asked if we were better off than we were before Mr. Carter became president. We elected Mr. Reagan president in 1980 and he became our president at 12:01 noon, January 20, 1981.

May 5, 1979 the seed were sown for an epochal coincidence. Republican operatives drove from Washington to Lynchburg, Virginia to meet Rev. Jerry Falwell at the Holiday Inn coffee shop. Since this transforming event occurred thirty years ago, America has never been the same.

At this motel tryst political conservatives and Christian fundamentalists conceived, and in 1980 they brought forth a litter of political fundamentalists. Preachers let money changers back in the temple and delivered the winning margin of votes in the election. To become indispensable to a power is to own it. Fundamentalist preachers became the Republican party`s base. When America inaugurated our winsome new president, Rev. Falwell sat on the inaugural platform as an honored guest. But what, beside Sen. Coburn, has contributed to the general feeling of unrest that he claims to sense in our American family?

National Debt: The graphs inside the cover dramatically tell the story. In 1981 a free lunch fiscal policy of spend and borrow escalated our national debt. At the end of 2008, the ratio of the national debt to the gross domestic product approached the ratio at the end of World War II. Despite the grave situation, Sen. Jeff Sessions, speaking for the National Republican Committee on "Meet the Press," July 18, 2010, was adamant, "We need to go back to the exact same agenda that is empowering the free enterprise system rather than diminishing it." We recognize "the exact same agenda." This is obvious and it demonstrates the political fundamentalist values agenda wrecked the economy and abused even the free enterprise system.

Deregulation: The regulations that lifted us from the Great Depression in the 1930s developed the economy and created the American middle class. In 1981 the administration ridiculed the "exact same" regulations as socialism and down-size them, wrecked the economy, and down-sized the middle class. This was the first time in history that a portrait of Calvin Coolidge adorned the Oval Office wall, replacing Harry Truman`s portrait, a parable of self-destruction at the highest levels of government. President Coolidge let the economy mortify. President Hoover, an excellent human being, was blamed for the death of the economy. At the time the best he could do was to give it a Christian burial.

The Great Depression: Very few of our lawmakers can remember the Depression. As a child I heard my parents talk about men leaping to their death from windows on Wall Street. During this period one of our neighbors shot himself in a cottonseed crib; another went to his broomcorn shed, lay on the broom corn and shot himself; one took rat poison which stimulated him and he could not die until it wore off, and an eight-year-old ran to the backdoor and saw his father lying in his blood with a shotgun that he dropped before he fell. No one could say these men lacked a work ethic. They were proud men who had worked with all their heart, but amid the horror and futility caused by promiscuous fiscal policies, life for them, was more painful than death.

In the Great Depression I learned more about economics, unemployment and human dignity than in college. I internalized it and feel its stigma. With eight-million people out of work, watching our senators filibuster unemployment insurance for a new generation of desperate people digs my gut.

They pay for unemployment insurance: FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax Act) is deducted from each check. When I hear political fundamentalist senators hope to use unemployed workers` desperation to fuel the next election, my blood boils. To make points they tout hard-working Americans, but use them like consumable supplies in their senate offices. These senators professed they wanted to cut spending to pay for extending unemployment insurance, about $34 billion, but they wanted to extend the Bush administration` tax cuts for the most wealthy, approximately $834 billion.

Yes, they accuse the desperate of laziness and tell them to find work. But where can millions of jobless people find jobs while thousands more are disappearing? Political animals like the freedom of the free enterprise system, but does this mean only mean dog-eat-dog (but a dog will not eat another dog)? George Washington did not absolve them of social responsibility. He said it is a prerequisite of freedom. "Individuals entering into society, must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest."

First Bailout: The savings and loan crisis in the 1980s and 1990s was the first casualty of deregulation, and taxpayers were collateral damage: the worst financial crisis since the Depression. The socialist government in the 1930s guaranteed families` savings, and taxpayers bailed them out. Mr. Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve attributes their collapse to "inflation ... and mismanaged deregulation," leaving the thrifts vulnerable "ultimately [to] fraud."

Debt Relief: A new administration made a U-turn from the free lunch fiscal policy in 1992, and it lasted through 2000. Budgets reduced deficits, and in four years they produced a surplus. Mr. Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, concluded that, "President Bill Clinton presented a deficit-cutting package to Congress ... I applauded the president`s focus on deficit reduction." The Congressional Budget Office noted that continuing this policy, the national debt, despite the snowballing effect of compounding interest, could be paid down by 2112. Sadly, 2112, the year of our next national election, the United States of America could have been debt-free. Instead, we are caught at the chump`s end of a historic shell game. Even the boldest fraud depends on the chump`s assistance: Pogo, "He is us."

More Free Lunch: The next administration restored the spend and borrow fiscal policy and made us like it. God called men. Tax cuts. Weapons of mass destruction. Invade Iraq. No exit plan, suggesting no exit expected. In thirty years-including the eight years of debt relief-political fundamentalists multiplied by ten all of our accumulated debts from George Washington`s first day in office until Jimmy Carter`s last day: 192 years versus 30 years [Graphs and Back Cover].

Redistribution of the Wealth: The money changers complain that socialism redistributes their wealth. Hard-working Americans produce the wealth, and the money changers write the checks to redistribute the wealth from the producers to themselves. This is similar to drones in the beehive, hanging around the queen and sipping honey the workers produce.

Confiscation of the Wealth: Twelve years prior to the tryst`s spectacular transformation of America, Mr. Alan Greenspan-later Chairman of the Federal Reserve-wrote that deficit spending is simply a scheme to confiscate the wealth. This was at least one time when an economist got it right.

Executor of Our Family Estate: Our brother-in-law was elected executor of the estate. A prodigal executor, he wrote hot checks and charged almost everything to the estate`s account. He made a big deal about providing prescription drugs for the older family members, but he charged every penny of it to the estate. He waged two wars and charged most of the costs to the estate. We may be the first generation that leaves our children worse off than we are. This could answer Sen. Coburn`s question about the atmosphere of foreboding discontent, if the doctor would listen to the patient.

Mr. Greenspan solved our riddle of a no-exit strategy from Iraq. "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." Greenspan had known our brother-in-law`s sidekick in a prior administration; so he hoped the sidekick would encourage economic discipline.

Alas, the sidekick acted like a top kick, and Mr. Greenspan was disillusioned, saying he had looked forward to "working collegially with many of the government`s best and brightest, men with whom I had shared many memorable experiences. ... But I was soon to see my old friends veer off to unexpected directions." (Ironically the chairman says he is a libertarian Republican, and I always thought he was, but the captions under the pictures in his book, The Age of Turbulence, definitively state that he is "on the left" of three cousins and "the far left" of his band.)

Pious Disruptions: The preachers and money changers work in tandem. While the money changers exploited our brother-in-law in the White House and bankrupt the estate, our pious brethren were distracting America`s attention. They were persistently in our face, professing family values.

Racial Conflict: Political fundamentalists profess outrage that President Obama is a racist, and that he promotes racism. Could this be an instance of accusing someone of what they are doing.

 

Fidelity Board

Pardon me for dominating our conversation, but to the best of my ability-which is diagnosed as chronically anemic-I have researched sources that I believe reliably represent the facts. The rest are my opinions; they are free and they are worth twice the price. The Fidelity Board involves values voting taxpayer, and they research political fundamentalists` web sites, books, publications, and the media, and file their claims on the Fidelity Board. To claim a value is to assume a fact that defines it. Reframing the debate with an absolutist is not feasible.

Values voting taxpayers respectfully request "Show me the facts

Value of Family Values: To be fair as we determine the value of political fundamentalism`s family values, we begin, of course, with the family Bible. We must understand that it trumps all other authorities, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the founders` documents.

Defense of Life: In the terminology of these exceptional Bible-believers, this refers to abortion; so what does the Bible say about it? Nothing. OK, if it is not a biblical fact but a religious doctrine, what does the Constitution say? Its First Amendment says our government cannot make a religious law. But what does medical science say? Reputable medical associations-without a religious axe to grind-oppose the risks to health when a legal abortion is prohibited [Exhibits 2 and 3].

Defense of Marriage: Opposing gay marriage includes defending hate speech, oppression of a different sexual orientation, and our brethren have a low tolerance for differences. They like to say homosexuality is an abomination, a taboo in modern English, but the Bible mentions fifty-four. Some are socially acceptable, others neutral, some questionable, others deplorable, some criminal, but only one is irretrievably hell-bound "all liars" [Exhibit 4]. The brethren better watch their mouth.

Defense of a Child`s Right to Pray: Of course, this promotes school prayer and public prayer, say, at football games. The Bible mentions prayer 117 times, in a congregation, the congregation of Israel in the desert, or behind a closed door-never in public. The First Amendment strictly prohibits making any religious law [Exhibit 5], "strict-constructionists" of the Bible literally have no case.

Defense of Christmas: Boycotting businesses that do not advertise Christmas denies the business owners` freedom of religion and speech. The Pilgrims were Bible-believers who read their Bible and discovered that it never mentions Christmas, so it was just "another day" [Exhibit 5].

Defense of a Pastor`s Right to Speak Biblical Truths, fearlessly from the pulpit: Government must not intimidate pastors or churches to surrender their constitutional rights, is the defense. Tax exemptions are not a constitutional right. Churches have a right to endorse politicians. If they do, they have no constitutional right to tax exemptions: taxpayers` subsidies. Taxpayers absorb all of a church`s costs for public services: courthouses, marriage and property records, police, fire, streets, parks, and schools. Taxpayers have a constitutional right to laws that protect them against subsidizing politicians, regardless of their religious or political affiliation [Exhibit 21].

The Founders and their Baptist contemporaries emphatically opposed any public money supporting any religious activity [Exhibit 7-12].

Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of Independence: "[T]o compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical."

James Madison, Father of the Constitution: "A Bill [in the Virginia legislature, 1785] establishing a provision for Teachers of the Christian Religion ... will be a dangerous abuse of power ... The Rulers [to be precise, Governor Patrick Henry] who are guilty of such an encroachment, exceed the commission from which they derive their authority, and are Tyrants. The People who submit to it are governed by laws made neither by themselves nor by an authority derived from them, and are slaves. ... Who does not see that the same authority which can ... force a citizen to contribute three pence [can also] force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?"

Rev. John Leland: This Baptist Pastor was Jefferson and Madison`s stalwart ally, also a delegate to the Virginia convention on ratifying the Constitution: "Is it the duty of a deist to support that which he believes to be a cheat and imposition? Is it the duty of the Jew to support the religion of Jesus Christ, when he really believes that he was an imposter? Must the papist be forced to pay men for preaching down the supremacy of the pope, whom they are sure is the head of the church?"

 

Southern Baptists and Violence

Concealing Sexual Predators: The Southern Baptist Convention expels churches that ordain women or gays, hire a woman or gay pastor or even appoint a gay to a committee. But it denies the same authority to expel a church that conceals a sexual predator. Taxpayers deserve a law to defend them against subsidizing faith-based organizations that conceal sexual predators.

The Baptist Bible War: After the political fundamentalists coup and takeover, a final strike in the purge recalled a wild west drama. The trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas (Cow Town, if you are in Dallas) marched with armed guards to the president`s office. They jimmied his lock, changed the key, and changed the password to his computer.

 

Back Cover


 

Calling the Hand That Plays the God Card

Political Fundamentalism Professes That a Strict Construction of the Constitution and a Literal Interpretation of the Bible Support Its Values. It Stands or Falls on These Claims.

Defending Life: The Bible never mentions abortion. It mentions one fetus and it inconsequential. Nor does it say anything that might possibly mean a cell is a human being or has personhood. Literally interpreting the Bible discredits this as a value.

Defending Marriage: The Bible mentions 54 abominations including, eating shellfish and catfish, scorn, mischief, fools, deceptive business practices, a haughty look, sowing discord, men lying with men and liars. Only one abomination is unforgivable "all liars" (Revelation 21:8) no congressional exception, no ministerial exemption. Liars are first in the line of abominations to be denied the right to marry.

Defending a Child`s Right to Pray: The Bible mentions prayer 117 times. Each is in a congregation, the congregation of Israel in the desert, or in private behind a closed door. Not in public or school. Jesus disparaged public prayer as hypocritical.

Defending Christmas: Boycotting businesses that do not advertise Christmas denies the business owners` freedom of religion and speech.

Defending Sexual Predators: Tax exemptions are taxpayers` subsidies. They absorb churches` costs for public services: courthouses, marriage and automobile records, police, fire, streets, parks, and schools. Taxpayers deserve a law to protect them from subsidizing churches that conceal sexual predators.

Defending churches` Right to Endorse Political Candidates. Churches have a right refuse subsidies and endorse politicians. Taxpayers have a right to refuse to subsidize politicians. The last two administrations did not enforce the law to defend taxpayers.

Scarbronomics: "Debt was unknown in America, with the exception of periods of war. Even then, soon after every war, the debt that accumulated was quickly eliminated. ... During President Johnson`s administration, the Vietnam War and ... war on poverty at home created massive spending. ... God has equipped me and called me for such a time as this." -- Rev. Rick Scarborough

In the Past 50 Years Two Administrations` Budgets Produced Surpluses

Presidents prepares the budget for the next year; so a new president inherits that budget. Johnson Prepared the Budget for 1969; so Nixon Had a Surplus His First Year and deficits thereafter. Clinton Budgets Produced a Surplus in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and G. W. Bush multiplied the national debt.

National Debt after the Revolution 75,463,476

Total Accumulated Debt - George Washington`s Last Year 92,285,290

Total Accumulated Debt - 192 Years - from Washington to Carter 930,210,000,000

Total Accumulated Debt - 30 Years - From Reagan to G. Bush 10,626,877,048,913

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt.htm Accumulated Debt: From Reagan to Bush - 10.4 Times as Much as - from Washington to Carter

Since 1980, Every Time Political Fundamentalists Won an Election The National Debt Multiplied.

 

Sen. Jeff Sessions, Chairman of Republican National Campaign Committee: "We need to go back to the exact same agenda that is empowering the free enterprise system rather than diminishing it."

 

We have seen the exact same results of this exact same corrupting of the free enterprise system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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