PART 2 OF 2: Michael Nugent’s opening speech opposing the motion.

This is the future of America and the reason we’re here is we want to learn what kind of future are they going to have. Are they going to have a future of opportunity, of safety, of freedom? Or are they going to have an opportunity of dependence on government, control from Washington, danger from foreigners? And this election may be the most important election of their lifetime and they can’t vote yet … and so, in a sense, we have to stand in as trustees of their country, all of us, every one of us has to stand in.

If I am president, these children are not going to grow up in a secular country dominated by elites who despise our history, dislike our culture, and dislike our religion. These children are going to grow up in a country which is genuinely free and which worships God, which is the source of our rights!

If Newt Gingrich is president, there is no way the United States will be “genuinely free” because it will only be free for Christians who have the same vision as he does. Everyone else will be discriminated against as much as possible.

More at Right Wing Watch.

The idiocy of these people is astounding.

Throughout the video, the Christians in this town spew forth vast amounts of hate and would have no problem resorting to violence to get their way. I know it’s not a good idea to invoke Godwin’s law, but these folks remind me of the fear that was instilled on the people of Nazi Germany. They do not understand people of other faiths, no faith, or those who are just plain different from them, so their first response is to push back with some sort of violence.

Unfortunately, in my experience, most Christians are extremely ignorant, have no desire for learning about the world around them. They are happy in their sheltered world and don’t like anything that challenges their beliefs.

From Scott Burdick, the creator of the video:

When I was given a DVD of a protest rally in the small town of King, near where I live, I was shocked by the sight of five thousand people waving Christian Flags and cheering one of the speakers when he said that everyone there should “encourage” those who weren’t Christian in the area to move somewhere else.

My first reaction was anger and I told my wife, Susan, we were going to put our house up for sale the next day and move somewhere more tolerant. But the next morning, I decided that I would do something else first. I took my video camera down to the Veteran’s Memorial in King’s Public Park and started interviewing people.

I learned that the rally had been ignited by a returning Afghanistan Veteran who threatened to sue the town if they didn’t remove the Christian Flag from the public Veteran’s Memorial.

I was surprised that most residents believed that Separation of Church and State is a myth and that the Founders intended this to be an officially Christian Nation. They quoted so many historical facts from a man named David Barton to back up their claims, that I really wondered if what I’d taken for granted might be incorrect.

And thus began a year-and-a-half journey in my spare time to find out the truth and source of the idea of Separation of Church and State, as well as interviews with half a dozen different religious groups in the area about what and why they believed what they do. The story quickly became as much about what we believe about God as what we believe about the Founders of the United States — and how we evaluate truth itself.

Although I started the project out of anger, I ended up truly liking the people I interviewed on all sides of the issue and it helped to diffuse my own negative emotions to the point where I felt a responsibility to honestly represent the viewpoints of even those I disagreed with the most. To that end, I have not done any narration, but have simply let the people themselves give their opinions in their own words. I will leave it up to you to decide who you agree with.

This was just me with a camera on my own, so it is definitely not a professionally produced documentary, but I hope some will find it as interesting a subject and as much an education as I did in making it.

Scott Burdick

You can read more about the story at the Friendly Atheist.