Pat Robertson's claiming that the American Civil Liberties Union and the Communist Internationale "pulled a secret takeover" of Americans United, Common Dreams reports. Pat's apparently forgotten that no one's really all that scared of communists anymore.
"Added Robertson, 'Barry Lynn is so extreme, he has said that if a church is burning down, the city shouldn’t bring the fire department and trucks to spray water on the church because that violates separation of church and state,'" they write. The article points out that this isn't true, but that's not really necessary, is it? It's a ridiculous claim. "And don’t worry, Pat, if your studio catches on fire, I’ll expect the Virginia Beach fire department to come and put it out," Common Dreams quoted Lynn as saying, "If they don’t, give me a call and we’ll sue them."
According to AU's website, in an about page written by Lynn, "Since 1947, Americans United has led the way in defending the separation of church and state, the cornerstone of religious liberty in America. As a non-sectarian, non-partisan organization, AU's membership includes Christians, Jews, Buddhists, people with no religious affiliation and others. Democrats, Republicans and independents have joined our ranks."Americans United is an independent organization with no ties to any larger group or political movement. We are a true grassroots organization. Thanks to your support, Americans United is able to defend separation of church and state in the courts, educate legislators, work with the media to inform Americans about religious freedom issues and organize local chapters all over the country."
Doesn't sound very communist to me - it seems extremely democratic. Yet, according to The Baptist Standard, Robertson told his audience, "The goal of the ACLU is to strip all religion from the public square. Why? Because the goal of the Communist Party was to weaken America, and they thought that they could weaken America if they took faith out of our public life. That’s where it all came from, ladies and gentlemen."
See, the problem the religious right has with the ACLU and AU is that they both stand in defense of the constitution - and so much of what Robertson and all these other idiots want to do is unconstitutional. Read that rant again and replace the 'enemies' he lists with the word 'constitution' and you'll get Robertson's real opinion; "The goal of the Constitution is to strip all religion from the public square. Why? Because the goal of the Constitution was to weaken America, and they thought that they could weaken America if they took faith out of our public life. That’s where it all came from, ladies and gentlemen."
If you look at the right, you'll see a history of pushes for constitutional amendments. The reason for this is that, like the religious right, so much of what they want is unconstitutional - they actually have to change the constitution to do what they want. Constitutional amendment proposals banning (always banning, the GOP is the party of 'No') flag burning, gay marriage, imbalanced budgets (I'd still like to know how that could possibly work), and abortion all exist because laws banning these would most likely or definitely be found unconstitutional.
This also explains the religious right's hatred of the american judicial system - time after time, they've been stopped by constitutional issues. According to SourceWatch.org, "In July 2003, Robertson urged the '700 Club' audience to pray for God to remove three justices from the Supreme Court so they could be replaced by conservatives. 'We ask for miracles in regard to the Supreme Court,' Robertson said as he launched a 21-day 'prayer offensive' directed at the Supreme Court in the wake of its 6-3 June vote that decriminalized sodomy. Robertson said in a letter on the CBN Web site that the ruling 'has opened the door to homosexual marriage, bigamy, legalized prostitution and even incest.' The same letter targeted three justices in particular: 'One justice is 83-years-old, another has cancer and another has a heart condition. Would it not be possible for God to put it in the minds of these three judges that the time has come to retire?'" What a dick.
Constitutional amendments are notoriously hard to accomplish. Only twenty-seven of over ten thousand proposed amendments have succeeded. An average of two hundred amendments are proposed every session. While this plays well for a GOP who's strategy is to get religious fanatics all fired up over an issue they don't plan to actually address, the religious fanatics themselves find their goals better served by lying about the constitution. A few quotes from Robertson:
"The Constitution of the United States, for instance, is a marvelous document for self-government by the Christian people. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christian people and atheistic people they can use it to destroy the very foundation of our society. And that's what's been happening." -- Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, Dec. 30, 1981
"You see what happened in 1962. They took prayer out of the schools. The next year the Supreme Court ordered Bible reading taken from the schools. And then progressing, liberals, most of them atheistic educators, have pushed to remove all religion from the lives of children...The people who wrote the "Humanist Manifesto" and their pupils and their disciples are in charge of education in America today." --Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," January 13, 1995
"I am bound by the laws of the United States and all 50 states...I am not bound by any case or any court to which I myself am not a party...I don't think the Congress of the United States is subservient to the courts...They can ignore a Supreme Court ruling if they so choose."--Pat Robertson, Washington Post, June 27,1986)
"There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it anymore." --Pat Robertson, November 1993 during an address to the American Center for Law and Justice
The guy's either a liar or crazy, although I suppose it's not impossible that he's both.
--Wisco
