Yes, and ? Every public display of religion is a publicity stunt, point barre. Religion and politics should cross paths as much as two parallels lines.
"my primary allegiance is to the Kingdom of Heaven"
In that case, wear clothes made of hemp, flax and badly tanned leather, stop shaping your beard and cutting your hair, don't forget to cover your head with ashes and go find the nearest desert (or a pillar), it depends of your level of dedication, to meditate. And forget too luxurious meals, wine, beer and spirits.
"my primary allegiance is to the Kingdom of Heaven" And THERE he personally throws the constitution out the window. Hear that voters? It is the sound of all of YOUR rights being flushed down the toilet.
He don't give one flying fuck about YOU he only cares about kissing the ass of his imaginary sky-daddy.
Has it really? Can you demonstrate the truth of this assertion? Or are you taking your Christian faith as an assumption that your god actively participates in the growth of your community, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
This is what Christians do. They take their numbers in the community as license to dominate the culture. Then, when minority elements of that same culture speak up and insist on recognition, these same Christians label them as "other" and claim that said minorities somehow devalue the community as a whole, without so much as an iota of evidence to support their claim. That this also happened with a Episcopal leader who desired to make his own public invocation only further confirms the problem.
Such bullying tactics need to be confronted head-on, and I am mightily pleased that Bendr Bones and The Satanic Temple – West Michigan is prepared to face their opponents in court.
"The Satanic Temple's actions are a waste of our valuable time with their frivolous antics."
Talk about projection. So it's NOT a waste of time for a CHRISTIAN to give an invocation, Bon Enema? Does it get heavy carrying two standards? Want to stop the time wasting? You can help by putting an end to useless, ineffective invocations altogether.
But you won't do that, will you? You want Christian exclusivity. Trouble with that is: How long before you start trying to exclude different sects of your religion that you don't like or agree with personally?
“if we deviate from these foundational values and stray from God, our community may lose the very essence that has drawn people, including those with differing beliefs like Satanists, to want to reside here.”
Oh yes, the Satanists would no longer want to live in a community that was tolerant and constitutional. They’d definitely leave a community who stopped oppressing them. No, it is clear you want the Satanists to leave so you can force everyone to be your kind of Christian.
“From my perspective, as a follower of Christ, my primary allegiance is to the Kingdom of Heaven. I firmly believe that Satan's defeat is already sealed, and his aim is to defame and undermine all that is righteous.”
If his defeat is sealed, then you need not worry. What you do on earth has no bearing on the outcome, so let it go. Or do you not trust your god to do what he says.
“The Satanic Temple's actions are a waste of our valuable time with their frivolous antics.”
Oh no, it is not a waste of time, it has already brought forth fruit. It exposed you for the Christian Nationalist you are. What is a waste of time is your desire to push back on them. You are the only one committed antics, frivolous or otherwise.
And here we go AGAIN. Commissioner Bonnema is such a dedicated Christian that he cannot tolerate the thought of a competing belief system. This obsession among the commissioners in general is SO bad that an Episcopal minister had to sue in order to be heard. No surprise at all that when an avowed Satanist from The Satanist Temple successfully petitions to deliver an invocation, that Bonnema completely loses his shit. Sadly, this is all about as predictable as the sun rising in the east.
Granted that invocations, religious or secular, should NOT be going on at all. I'm all for: "This meeting will come to order. What business do we have before this commission?" That said, the Constitution demands that NO favoritism between religions can be entertained by the government, and that means NONE. Clearly, Bendr Bones is ready to engage, and I'm sure that the Freedom From Religion Foundation will have no problem in backing him and his Satanists up, if necessary.
As for Bonnema, I would suggest that he hold onto his hat.
"From my perspective, as a follower of Christ, my primary allegiance is to the Kingdom of Heaven."
And that's where we have a problem in a secular body: Your personal loyalties to a phantom deity and its equally phantom realm. It has NO place in governance. If you truly have an allegiance with either, then you should step down as District 4s County Commissioner. Not only that, you should do what your savior tells you to do to gain that kingdom: Sell all you own, give all the money to the poor and follow him on your own dime. Think you can live-hand-to-mouth spreading "The Good Word?" Somehow, I doubt it. Your alleged devotion only stretches so far. Jesus would be ashamed of you, were he real.
Oh, and by the way? Christians delivering invocations is tantamount to praying in public. Something your own messiah told people NOT to do.
The Satanic Temple has been recognized by the government as a religion, the IRS recognizes it, therefore, whether the actions TST take are perceived as a publicity stunt by you is irrelevant. They are a religion that followed the rules to give an invocation. It would undermine them more, since this is just a publicity stunt, to allow them their invocation without even bringing it up. To get angry about it and write this stupid tirade only give the stunt more publicity. Ignore it and it goes away, fight it and you give it more power. It’s so much easier for you to actually follow the constitution on this than to do what you are doing.
America's lunatic right has never been able to process the fact rights are not matters of majority rule. If they love the Constitution so much they should know the founders did not give religion any role to play in governance, and that our government at all levels, cannot choose one religion over another. Every bit of progress the human race has ever made on every front, as been accomplished by overcoming people like these board members.
Pendant que j'y suis. If you are determined to start your meetings with a religious invocation, why not start them by invoking Odin, Quetzalcoatl, Athena or Manjushri ?
“God's hand has guided the development of our community”. I guess the commissioner hasn’t read “The Stand”. IIRC the hand of god wiped out a shitload of people. Be careful what you wish for.
"pulling a “publicity stunt.”
Yes, and ? Every public display of religion is a publicity stunt, point barre. Religion and politics should cross paths as much as two parallels lines.
"my primary allegiance is to the Kingdom of Heaven"
In that case, wear clothes made of hemp, flax and badly tanned leather, stop shaping your beard and cutting your hair, don't forget to cover your head with ashes and go find the nearest desert (or a pillar), it depends of your level of dedication, to meditate. And forget too luxurious meals, wine, beer and spirits.
I have one very simple solution to this dilemma.
Stop with the useless invocations entirely.
No Episcopalians, No Satanists, No prayers at all.
Simple and no lawsuit needed.
"my primary allegiance is to the Kingdom of Heaven" And THERE he personally throws the constitution out the window. Hear that voters? It is the sound of all of YOUR rights being flushed down the toilet.
He don't give one flying fuck about YOU he only cares about kissing the ass of his imaginary sky-daddy.
𝐺𝑜𝑑'𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑎 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑛.
Has it really? Can you demonstrate the truth of this assertion? Or are you taking your Christian faith as an assumption that your god actively participates in the growth of your community, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
This is what Christians do. They take their numbers in the community as license to dominate the culture. Then, when minority elements of that same culture speak up and insist on recognition, these same Christians label them as "other" and claim that said minorities somehow devalue the community as a whole, without so much as an iota of evidence to support their claim. That this also happened with a Episcopal leader who desired to make his own public invocation only further confirms the problem.
Such bullying tactics need to be confronted head-on, and I am mightily pleased that Bendr Bones and The Satanic Temple – West Michigan is prepared to face their opponents in court.
"The Satanic Temple's actions are a waste of our valuable time with their frivolous antics."
Talk about projection. So it's NOT a waste of time for a CHRISTIAN to give an invocation, Bon Enema? Does it get heavy carrying two standards? Want to stop the time wasting? You can help by putting an end to useless, ineffective invocations altogether.
But you won't do that, will you? You want Christian exclusivity. Trouble with that is: How long before you start trying to exclude different sects of your religion that you don't like or agree with personally?
Again, it wouldn't matter if they did believe in and worship the pop culture Christian Satan. The 1st amendment would still apply.
“if we deviate from these foundational values and stray from God, our community may lose the very essence that has drawn people, including those with differing beliefs like Satanists, to want to reside here.”
Oh yes, the Satanists would no longer want to live in a community that was tolerant and constitutional. They’d definitely leave a community who stopped oppressing them. No, it is clear you want the Satanists to leave so you can force everyone to be your kind of Christian.
“From my perspective, as a follower of Christ, my primary allegiance is to the Kingdom of Heaven. I firmly believe that Satan's defeat is already sealed, and his aim is to defame and undermine all that is righteous.”
If his defeat is sealed, then you need not worry. What you do on earth has no bearing on the outcome, so let it go. Or do you not trust your god to do what he says.
“The Satanic Temple's actions are a waste of our valuable time with their frivolous antics.”
Oh no, it is not a waste of time, it has already brought forth fruit. It exposed you for the Christian Nationalist you are. What is a waste of time is your desire to push back on them. You are the only one committed antics, frivolous or otherwise.
“in 2023, a local Episcopal leader sued the county board for not allowing him to deliver an invocation.”
To be fair, the Episcopalian leader had really bad coffee breath.
"I advocate for maintaining peace within our community."
That sounds like a threat.
And here we go AGAIN. Commissioner Bonnema is such a dedicated Christian that he cannot tolerate the thought of a competing belief system. This obsession among the commissioners in general is SO bad that an Episcopal minister had to sue in order to be heard. No surprise at all that when an avowed Satanist from The Satanist Temple successfully petitions to deliver an invocation, that Bonnema completely loses his shit. Sadly, this is all about as predictable as the sun rising in the east.
Granted that invocations, religious or secular, should NOT be going on at all. I'm all for: "This meeting will come to order. What business do we have before this commission?" That said, the Constitution demands that NO favoritism between religions can be entertained by the government, and that means NONE. Clearly, Bendr Bones is ready to engage, and I'm sure that the Freedom From Religion Foundation will have no problem in backing him and his Satanists up, if necessary.
As for Bonnema, I would suggest that he hold onto his hat.
"From my perspective, as a follower of Christ, my primary allegiance is to the Kingdom of Heaven."
And that's where we have a problem in a secular body: Your personal loyalties to a phantom deity and its equally phantom realm. It has NO place in governance. If you truly have an allegiance with either, then you should step down as District 4s County Commissioner. Not only that, you should do what your savior tells you to do to gain that kingdom: Sell all you own, give all the money to the poor and follow him on your own dime. Think you can live-hand-to-mouth spreading "The Good Word?" Somehow, I doubt it. Your alleged devotion only stretches so far. Jesus would be ashamed of you, were he real.
Oh, and by the way? Christians delivering invocations is tantamount to praying in public. Something your own messiah told people NOT to do.
The Satanic Temple has been recognized by the government as a religion, the IRS recognizes it, therefore, whether the actions TST take are perceived as a publicity stunt by you is irrelevant. They are a religion that followed the rules to give an invocation. It would undermine them more, since this is just a publicity stunt, to allow them their invocation without even bringing it up. To get angry about it and write this stupid tirade only give the stunt more publicity. Ignore it and it goes away, fight it and you give it more power. It’s so much easier for you to actually follow the constitution on this than to do what you are doing.
America's lunatic right has never been able to process the fact rights are not matters of majority rule. If they love the Constitution so much they should know the founders did not give religion any role to play in governance, and that our government at all levels, cannot choose one religion over another. Every bit of progress the human race has ever made on every front, as been accomplished by overcoming people like these board members.
Pendant que j'y suis. If you are determined to start your meetings with a religious invocation, why not start them by invoking Odin, Quetzalcoatl, Athena or Manjushri ?
“God's hand has guided the development of our community”. I guess the commissioner hasn’t read “The Stand”. IIRC the hand of god wiped out a shitload of people. Be careful what you wish for.