MY NEW HERO
Mitch Kahle
An atheist firebrand who recently moved to Ottawa County in Michigan is being attacked by Christian residents who claim that he moved to their county specifically to persecute them, The Detroit News reports. In the year since Mitch Kahle moved back to his native Michigan, he has been able to compel Ottawa County to remove a sign bearing Psalm 19:1 from a public park; transform a 48-foot tall cross into an anchor; and convince two school districts to block a minister from holding religious services during the lunch hour at public schools…. “Kahle is an agent of hate,” Brandon Hall told The Detroit News. “He’s a belligerent bully who is trying to bring his disturbing, hateful agenda to Grand Haven.”
It always amuses me when Christians claim persecution. An 80% majority of Americans self-identify as Christian, and yet so many see themselves as the victims of persecution? Really? I suppose if by “persecution,” you mean “not being allowed to use my religious faith to justify doing what I damned well please”…then sure, you’re persecuted. Except that’s not nearly what’s happening in this case. No, what’s happening is those who believe their Christianity makes them the Chosen Ones are incensed that someone is calling them on their willful ignorance of the separation of Church and State.
Lesson #1 is that America is NOT a Christian nation, despite what the good, God-fearing patriots of Ottawa County might believe. The separation of Church and State (read your 1st Amendment, the Treaty of Tripoli, and Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists) means that America is a SECULAR nation with a Christian majority. American governance is not predicated on religious doctrine, nor can it discriminate based on one’s religious faith. The good Christians of Ottawa County may not believe that, but that doesn’t invalidate the truth.
The problem with the self-righteous residents of Ottawa County is that they believe their Christian faith to be the One, True, and ONLY faith, and therefore government and public life should be predicated on, and subservient to, Christian values and beliefs. The only thing Kahle is guilty of is calling out Ottawa County’s Christians on their arrogance and hypocrisy…and the Chosen Ones are NOT happy about it.
When Kahle complained about the sign with Psalm 19:1 on it, it was removed the same day. At an Ottawa County Board of Commissioners meeting in early January, residents compared its removal to the Holocaust, and questioned whether the county would be supporting gay marriage next.
“Everybody knows this is a Christian place, not a Muslim place, not a Hindu place,” Matt Kooienga, a pastor at Harvest Baptist Church said during the meeting. “We don’t have to lock our doors. The reason for that is we’re Christians.”
“How is it that a dirtbag can come into a community and cause so much controversy and destruction?” asked Rick Phillips. These carpetbaggers need to be driven from our community.”
So a person who comes into your community (someone who grew up in Michigan, BTW- not a “carpetbagger”) and asks that the separation of Church and State be respected is a “dirtbag?” If we’re going to stoop to name calling and cheap personal insults…well, we won’t because your hypocrisy blinds you to the truth of what you’ve become. If you can’t even conduct a rational debate without descending to personal insults, you have no argument.
As for “Everybody” knowing “this is a Christian place,” you’re more wrong than you know. Adhering to the majority religion doesn’t also connote ownership…of anything. You don’t get to claim Ottawa County for Jesus Christ, because American governance is officially secular. To believe otherwise only displays an appalling ignorance of the Constitution you profess to revere. The 1st Amendment’s Exclusion Clause prevents government from promoting the interests of one religion over others. That’s why the sign with Psalm 19:1 on it was taken down; it was an unconstitutional promotion of Christianity. Of course, if you allowed other religions to do the same thing (Would the good, God-fearing patriots of Ottawa County REALLY be open to that? Not likely.), the argument would assume a different tenor. That’s not going to happen, though, because “this is a Christian place, not a Muslim place, not a Hindu place”…and therein lies the problem.
Guess what, y’all?? Kahle has every but as much right to live in Ottawa County as anyone else. Longevity of residence does not equate to ownership of the public sphere. You’d welcome Kahle with open arms if he subscribed to your bastardized, self-righteous Christianity, but you hate him for calling you on your hypocrisy? I think that says far more about the good Christian patriots of Ottawa County than it does about Kahle, don’tchathink?
Sorry, y’all, but America belongs to us- ALL of us- not just angry White Christians who are as knowledgeable about Christianity as I am about nuclear fusion. It’s not your America, it’s not my America; it belongs to Americans, regardless of race, creed, color, or flavor of Imaginary Friend.
