Religious Right Hyperbole

This is the text of an email sent to members of a religious right group called Faith and Action in the Nation's Capital concerning the ACLU and engaging in the usual hyperbolic rhetoric we've come to know and loathe:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 /Christian Wire Service/ -- The Reverends Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK) and Patrick J. Mahoney will visit ACLU headquarters today to hand-deliver more than 20,000 petitions demanding that the left-leaning liberal attack group back off of terrorizing communities and individuals who seek to affirm America's Judeo-Christian values.

Schenck, who heads up Faith and Action in the Nation's Capital, and Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, asked their respective members to sign the statements after the ACLU sued a small rural school district in Adams County, Ohio, over four displays of the Ten Commandments in front of public schools there. The ACLU won an order for the Commandments to be removed, then demanded that the school reimburse them for legal expenses. After Christian ministers in the community stepped forward with a pledge to replace the money taken from the school budget, the ACLU settled for $80,000.

"The ACLU is this generation's Ku Klux Klan," said Rev. Rob Schenck. "They gallop into small towns with legal hoods over their heads and terrorize good people by threatening to harm children by draining the coffers of local schools if they so much as dare to recognize our nation's true heritage. These ACLU bullies are nothing more than psychological terrorists."

The ridiculous thing is that there are people who actually take such absurd rhetoric seriously.

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The other ridiculous thing is that these religious fascists have no idea that the ACLU's stated purpose is "to conserve America's original civic values - the Constitution and the Bill of Rights." And, if they could only read, they would see that it's the Bill of Rights that makes sure they can express their idiotic beliefs. If only the morons could comprehend that protecting us from government-sponsored religious expression also protects them from government-sponsored religious suppression. But, of course, they are not interested in anyone else's religious rights. They essentially want the government to force everyone to believe as they do.

"The ACLU is this generation's Ku Klux Klan," said Rev. Rob Schenck.

Mr Schenck should consider holding his tongue. haven't heard of the ACLU engaging in any lynchings. Ever.

The KKK was a rather powerful political force in Ohio even into the 1920s.

NB: "Schenck" strikes me as being a German surname. He probably was descended from Germans who emigrated from Germany in the 1800s. There are more than a few of them in the midwest US. I'm sure that the Germans were glad to get rid of them.

That's quite impressive, comparing anyone, let alone the ACLU, to the Klan and terrorists in the same paragraph.

By Ginger Yellow (not verified) on 17 Nov 2005 #permalink

Right raj! Those krauts are all over the place around here. The ones in my family supposedly came over so their sons would not have to serve in Bismarck's army. One married a Czech in Indiana and converted to Catholicism. In the 1920s they got a flaming cross in front of the house courtesy of the KKK. My point, if I have one, is that some good Germans actual came over and ultimately benefited from the work of the likes of the ACLU.

For what it is worth, I met a Schenk (with no way resemblance to Rev. Bob) from Cincinnati who pronounced it "skenk" and claimed it was a Dutch name. Maybe the Netherlands should be grateful for the wave of emmigration.