http://www.politicususa.com/en/constitution-religious-frenzyAmerica’s experiment as a sort-of democratic republic has lasted for about 235 years, and for the most part, the system has worked relatively well. Since 1980 though, there has been a movement to change the nature of this country and the Republicans’ man-turned-god, Ronald Reagan, is responsible for unleashing the Religious Right on the nation and they are close to achieving their goals after the 2010 midterm elections that gave power to malignant teabaggers to collapse the government. Republicans are awash with funding from religious groups to enforce biblical laws against gays and women, but there is a bigger threat from Dominionists to form a theocratic government that is just now becoming evident to many Americans.
Two weeks ago this column addressed the Mississippi ballot initiative that replicates the personhood amendments many states have attempted to enact at the behest of fundamentalist Christian groups, the Catholic Church, and the American Family Association (AFA). The article pointed out that Mississippi’s ballot initiative 26 will most certainly pass and will withstand court challenges because the state supreme court’s bench is filled with 7 devout Christians reflecting Mississippi’s population that is fervently Christian (82%). The amendment is undoubtedly an attack on women’s right to choose their own reproductive health, but there is an insidious motive beyond just restricting contraceptives, stem cell research, in vitro fertilization, and abortion.
The personhood amendment’s author, Les Riley, said his amendment would have “international implications” and should be “the biggest news in the pro-life movement in 20 years,” and that it will engender a court challenge to overturn Roe v. Wade. As horrible as that sounds, it is not Riley’s only goal and his history informs the beginning of a movement to change America into a theocracy. In 2003, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy laws because they were unconstitutional, Riley was part of a movement to remake South Carolina into an independent theocratic republic dedicated to forming a “free Southern Republic” based on biblical law. The neo-secessionist movement, Christian Exodus, had as its goal formation of “an independent Christian nation that will survive after the decline and fall of the financially and morally bankrupt American empire.”
Riley was leader of the Mississippi chapter of the League of the South whose neo-confederate theory was that the nation could be saved by breaking it apart. They called for a nation rooted on European principles and population (read White) based on Christian Reconstructionism, and believe America was founded on and needs to return to biblical law. Riley calls Washington D.C. “Sodom on the Potomac” and follows the teachings of Reconstructionist leader R.J. Rushdoony who says “all ideas are inherently religious.” One of the ideas of Riley’s personhood amendment are that rape or incest victims are not eligible for abortions or the morning after pill because they claim that although rape or incest are unfortunate, “you don’t execute the product of the crime,” because “that’s what abortion does.” They also say that after fertility procedures, unused embryos “can’t be destroyed if people want to adopt embryos just like they want to adopt children” and that instead of using them for research or throwing them out, they should be frozen. An opinion writer in Jackson suggested that freezing embryos may be classified as child abuse, and the Yes on 26 website said using embryonic stem cells for research is tantamount to “human cannibalism.”
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