An Evangelical man named Hober Sanovitch — likely a fake name and email address — sent me the following email (all spelling and grammar in the original):
Bruce – I’ve read your denials of Christ and, as a military vet defending our U.S. values, and I applaud your using your God-Given rights to do so.
There is no wall of separation of church & state. We do not have to agree with people but we need to defend against speech that espouses destruction of what America has stood for since 1776. Example: Congress House of Rep censure of Tlib & Omar (Islam Reps (D-Michigan).
It’s entertaining watching people & governments trying to outwit God … and to what end?
What are U.S. values? Who decides which values are American? Hober says he is a military vet who defends these unnamed values. Does anyone seriously believe that the military defends U.S. values, whatever they might be? I am sixty-six years old. From my chair on my front lawn, I see a well-trained military whose primary objective is to advance and protect America’s political agenda and protect the properties and profits of U.S. corporations. It seems to me that the powers that be use the military to “protect” America’s colonial and imperial ambitions. The United States has over 1,000 military installations across the globe. Why so many military bases? What “values” are these bases protecting?
The only “values” all Americans should hold in common are those found in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Military personnel swear under oath to protect and defend the Constitution, as do our politicians and law enforcement professionals. When is the last time our military has been called on to actually defend and protect the Constitution?
Hober says that I have God-given rights. I assume he is talking about the rights delineated in the Bill of Rights. However, whatever rights I may have were not given to me by the Christian God. The rights granted by the Bill of Rights do not come from God, they come from amendments enshrined into law (and later interpreted) by American men and women. God is not mentioned one time in the U.S. Constitution. Not one time. So enough of this nonsense about the United States being a Christian nation with laws given to them by Jesus (who is God). Wealthy white men wrote the Constitution — not God.
Hober goes on to say that “there is no wall of separation of church & state.” This is, of course, patently untrue. Are Republicans trying to topple the Wall? Absolutely. They cannot reach their theocratic goals as long as there is a wall between church and state. That’s why we must fight back every time theocrats even think about taking a brick out of the Wall.
Hober is not a believer in free speech. He supports freedom of some speech — that which aligns with his peculiar worldview. While there’s no such thing as absolute free speech, generally people should be free to say whatever they want (and to suffer the consequences of said speech). I despise street preachers, but I defend their right to stand on a public sidewalk and scream at passersby about sin and getting saved. I defend Donald Trump’s right to spew bullshit every time he opens his mouth. I defend the right of Palestinian-American congresspeople to show their support for the Palestinian people. We live in a pluralistic country. The U.S. is a secular state. We are a free people, although I suspect we are not as “free” as we think we are. The Bill of Rights guarantees the right to free speech. Hober evidently interprets that to mean “only speech that conforms to my white, heterosexual, Christian worldview.”
I would love to ask Hober what, exactly, “America has stood for since 1776.” Personally, I don’t care what our founding fathers “stood for.” Surely, we should know and reflect upon our nation’s 260-year history, but we live in a different day and time, so we must, with one eye on the past, forge our own way.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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American values are those set forth explicitly in the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
American values are based on natural law which issues forth from nature’s God.
Well, Bruce dismantled Hober’s comments pretty thoroughly. The name does sound fake, or it could be an expletive, possibly Slavic? I never thought about it but if there was even a suggestion of Christianity in the Constitution, it escaped my notice in two semesters of trying to understand it. Poor Hober Sonovitch is just parroting what he heard from the pulpit and other poor sonovitches. Like his fellow sonovitches he likely has no idea what the Constituition is or what it says, let alone what it means. Unfortunately we have Judges sitting on The Supreme Court who, knowing and understanding the Constitution, have no compunctions about distorting it to fit their ideologies and to accommodate their benefactors.
I can’t comment about US values, being a brit, but felt slightly sickened that this guy has to slip in an islamophobic comment (Tlib and Omar.) I bet he does it a lot, on any topic he’s writing about. When I visit my daughter’s fundy church, the pastor – who fortunately doesn’t preach every week – takes every opportunity to slip in some homophobic comment whatever the topic of his sermon. Last time I was there and heard one he’d sneaked in, I was sitting behind his 3 small sons who were there in a row with their best buddies, my 2 small g/sons. I found myself willing one or two of them to be gay – and able to come out. Wonder how pastor would take it…(daughter and my family wouldn’t mind at all, and as they grow, this granny is going to make sure her g/sons know she doesn’t mind and will affirm their choices.)
The United States Is Not a Christian Nation. It Never Has Been, and It Never Will Be– https://secularhumanism.org/2019/12/the-united-states-is-not-a-christian-nation-%e2%80%a8-it-never-has-been-and-it-never-will-be/
American values, are also American Indian values, in some respects where the Constitution is concerned. Makes sense to me. And Happy Holidays,Bruce,Polly and family. Everybody on here ,too. Stay safe, everyone.