TIVO ALERT: JOHN FRESHWATER

Saturday, July 5, 8:00 pm ET
Sunday, July 6, 10:00 pm ET

John Freshwater is scheduled to appear on Fox News' Showdown hosted by Larry Elder. No details other than it appears he’ll be the first guest.

JOHN FRESHWATER: DISPATCHES FROM THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The July 3 edition of the Columbus Dispatch published letters from Dave Daubenmire and Dr. Patrick Johnston in response to its June 26 editorial, About Time, supporting the Mount Vernon School Board’s vote to fire John Freshwater--but asking why it took them 11 years to do it.

The editorial read in part:

He used his classroom to push his religious views by displaying Bible-related posters, calling other faiths false and telling students that homosexuality is a sin. Such proselytizing in a public school violates the constitutional ban on government establishment of religion. But Freshwater went further: He undermined those parts of the approved science curriculum that don't comport with his beliefs. In doing so, he misled his students and failed in his fundamental duty as a science teacher….

...Freshwater declared himself a free-speech martyr, summoned the assistance of religious provocateur Dave Daubenmire and called a press conference. The ensuing hubbub revealed a disturbing degree of support for Freshwater by people who do not understand or value the difference between science and religion. But it also brought out those who appreciate the Constitution's prohibition on state advocacy of religion.


Minutemen United founder Coach Daubenmire's reply, Editorial was unfair to science teacher, reads:

…The Dispatch is out of touch. Millions of Americans are sick and tired of being branded as religious fanatics simply because they question the evolutionary theory of the origin of species. The Dispatch and its henchmen are intent on removing from the public school classroom anyone who worships the God who created Charles Darwin….



Christian dominionist, creationist, and anti-abortion activist Dr. Patrick Johnson, a frequent protester at local abortion clinics, who runs the Stop Columbus Killing website and opposes public funding for schools,complains in Evolutionists practice “religion” in schools of being victimized by “religious bigotry” in college and medical school for his Christian beliefs:

As a physician and creationist, I felt the sting of religious bigotry during my decade in America's universities. Why can't evolutionists even entertain some criticism of their precious little theory? Scientists such as Freshwater can prove atheistic evolution to be false, but evolutionists won't allow the truth in the name of "separation of church and state…. …The newspaper appeals to a separation of church and state, but what we need is a separation of atheism and state.

All photos by the author

MINUTEMEN UNITED: OUT AND PROUD IN COLUMBUS

Coach Dave Daubenmire, New Beginnings Church Pastor Bill Dunfee, and about 20 Minutemen United including Max Erwin, Sr, Jim Harrison, Jeff Cline, and a few wives, passed out bottled "Jesus Water" and The Word to the Local Lost at last Saturday's Pride parade. Joining them in their Living Waters project were three members of the Jehrico Riders an independent motorcycle ministry who rode in from Missouri, and a handful of freelance culture warriors. I hung out with them for several hours. Below are pictures from their event with commentary. For the Minuteman version go the their page here.

THE STATEHOUSE

The day starteda little after 11 AM with prayer and instructions at the Great Seal of the State of Ohio at the Statehouse. Pastor Bill laid out the logistics of the water distribution, walkabout, and protest. He admonished the gang to respond to critics, "not in the flesh but in the spirit." That is, don't get in a fight if anybody hassles you. Nobody did, and they didn't.

WALKABOUT

After the prayer service, those who hadn't already done so, slipped into hot chartreuse "I was born a sinner/Talk to me" tees. I joined them as they headed for Bicentennial Park to kill time and evangelize a little. For a $5.00 entry fee we could pick over merch and lit from the health department, banks, realtors, NARAL, sex phone lines, and ubiquitous "affirming" churches--and pass out water and minister. I doubted the Minutemen would pay $5.00 a crack to get in ( I wouldn't!) and wondered what they'd do when stopped at the toll table. Coach told me that he had a "letter from the lawyer" saying that the park is public space and they could walk in. I was unable to clarify if "the lawyer" was just any lawyer or the Columbus City attorney. Whatever, the walls tumbled temporarily when security disappeared, and the Minutemen walked through with no outstretched hands grasping or their wallets.

CALLING OUT THE SIN OF GLUTTONY

Coach Daubenmire rejecting trendy fashion opted for this tee. A member of the Local Lost gently remonstrated him on the sin of gluttony. Coach vowed to diet.

BICENTENNIAL PARK

Conversion was in the air. Once inside the park, the Minutemen broke into small groups. The ick factor remaining high, few went it alone, remaining attached to at least one buddy. No down low allowed. They passed out water and pink "Pride and Peace" bracelets, and attempted some low-key evangelizing. I overheard one person claim the Minutemen were a gay group. He was serious--not projecting.



Soon, of course, the preachers were being preached to by the preached at. Liberal affirming churchers cluelessly tried to talk the Minutemen into reading the Bible their way. Minutemen cluelessly tried to talk liberal affirming churchers into seeing Jesus their way. Each thought they gained points with the other. Bill Dunfee was laid back and seemed to enjoy the tete a tete. It's probably better than Saturday mornings standing with the homeless under the Broad Street Bridge or being yelled at by strangers driving by a clinic. And let's not even talk about The Fox Hole!







No doubt the boys were squicked, but they were troopers to the end.

HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE CHOICERS, QUEERS, SATANIC RELIGIONISTS, DELUSIONALS, REBELS, SHYSTERS, AND POSEURS

MEANWHILE BACK ON HIGH STREET...

At the New Beginnings Church truck, Minutemen traded their Talk to Me! shirts for "Little Lambs Protection Agency" tees, to gear up for the parade.

Coach handed out water...


Pastor Bill and the boys stirred it up...

JIM CARROLL CAME ALL THE WAY FROM MISSOURI WITH
THE JEHRICO RIDERS.
"WE ARE MEN WITH BACKBONE."

ANTI-CLIMAX

Pride is a social event. The parade is just a reason to get together. It reminds me of standing in a line three hours to get into a campus bar on Saturday night. This year was no different. After the run-up prayer service, Bicentennaial visiation, and "discussions" in the street, this year's parade was almost an afterthought. But the Minutemen didn't see it that way--nor did the police. Lined on both sides of HIgh Street, just south of theh Statehouse, the Minutemen let themselves be seen and heard as the cops grided them in (at least on the west side) with their bicycles.




When the Dykes on Bikes (surprisngly small is year) roared by, one Jehrio Rider shouted, "Get yerself a reak bike!"

Pastor Bill waved his Bible--when he wasn't wearing it.

Coach popped a cork when a young African American marched by in a leather thong, "Cover yourself up!"

Oops sorry! No picture!

Most energy was spent on "affirming churches," especially from the Minutemen sphere of influence, that marched by...like in Granville.

ACCORDING TO DAVE DAUBENMIRE:

2200 BOTTLES OF LIVING WATER WERE DISTRIBUTED DURING PRIDE

LIVING WATERS: MINUTEMEN UNITED PRIDE MINISTRY

Minutemen United plan to be at Pride this Saturday, not to protest but to minister. They will be participating in the Living Waters Project distributing water to marchers and spectators.

The Minutemen plan to meet at the Statehouse at 11 AM for prayer, and then fan out to various locations along the parade route and Bicentennial Park. According to the Minutemen webpag , "There will be thousands of "profoundly lost" souls that need to hear from all of us."

Also, go here for an odd collection of photographs of "body mutilation," with the admonition that "scenes like this could become commonplace across the state, and it would be illegal not to allow or even to criticize such displays."

CHIP BERLET TO SPEAK AT COMFEST

Oppositional researcher and political analyst Chip Berlet will make two appearances at Comfest here in Columbus on Saturday. His schedule, according to the official Comfest program is:

4:25 PM - Bozo Stage (no subject)
6:30 PM - Solar Stage (Progressive Thought and Political Workshop)

Here is a partial bio of Berlet from the Public Eye.org

Chip Berlet, senior analyst at Political Research Associates (PRA), has spent over twenty–five years studying prejudice, demonization, scapegoating, demagoguery, conspiracism, and authoritarianism. He has investigated far right hate groups, reactionary backlash movements, theocratic fundamentalism, civil liberties violations, police misconduct, government and private surveillance abuse, and other anti-democratic phenomena. He is a lively speaker defending democracy and diversity. Berlet is co–author, with Matthew N. Lyons, of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort, (Guilford Press, 2000), which received a Gustavus Myers Center Award for outstanding scholarship on the subject of human rights and intolerance in North America. He is on the advisory boards of the Defending Dissent Foundation, the journal Totalitarian Movements and Political Religion, and PRA's Public Eye magazine.

The Columbus Free Press will also hold its monthly Salon at Comfest. Unfortunately it's at 4:30 PM at the Solar Stage, at the same time as Berlet's first talk.

There's also some local open source media workshops you might want to check out.

Finally, the amazing Linda Dachtyl (ldb3) is playing at the I Wish You Jazz stage at 5:00 PM on Saturday.

So much good stuff.

Go to the Comfest page for more!