Mark Small

frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.” 3/24

Those aren’t my words, but the words of the late Senator Barry Goldwater who is viewed by many as the key figure in the modern GOP conservative movement. His words describe Rev Micah Beckwith. 4/24

Rev Beckwith, 1 of my opponents in May 5's GOP primary for Indiana’s 5th Congr Distr advocates theocracy: govt by those who are believed to be or represent that they are acting under immed direction of God Black’s Law Dictionary, 10th ed., 2014, p. 1706. 5/24

Rev Beckwith says he understands “Biblical history and American history and I addressed the faith of our Founding Fathers and God’s call on every believer in America to be engaged in our Constitutional Republic.” 6/24

1) “biblical history” & American history are not synonymous. King James ed of the bible was published in 1611, long before Constl Convention of 1787. Rev Beckwith’s ignorance of such distinctions is no barrier to his claims of expertise. 7/24

2) this is scary: in another video Rev Beckwith opines morality only is based in scripture and that atheists, agnostics, Hindus and Muslims cannot be moral. That implies that, eventually, we do not deserve equal rights. 8/24

3) “founders” of this country consist of more than “fathers.” Only white, male landowners were able to vote for delegates to the 1787 Convention. The delegates viewed their role as framers of a structure for government. 9/24

A “founder” is “a person who founds or establishes.” Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed., 2001, p. 756. The “founders” includes everyone who was here who toiled and died to build this country. 10/24

“Founders” includes people held in involuntary servitude (a/k/a slaves), indigenous peoples (mistakenly called “Indians” by European settlers) and women (who had hardly any rights). 11/24

4) when Rev Beckwith refers to the “faith of our Founding Fathers” & implies there was an intent this country should be a theocracy, at best he misleads. The religions being practiced in this country in 1787 were many and varied. 12/24

Indigenous peoples & people held involuntarily in servitude had many ways to view themselves & the universe & what they viewed as a god or gods. The Framers were hardly all of the same beliefs as Rev Beckwith. 13/24

Amongst The Framers - the 55 delegates who, at one time or another, attended the 1787 Convention - a dominant belief was deism, a philosophy not so easily explained as Rev Beckwith might prefer. 14/24

A clergyman wrote: “Deism is what is left of Christianity after casting off everything that is peculiar to it. The Deist is one who denies the Divinity, the Incarnation ... 15/24

and the Atonement of Christ, and the work of the Holy Ghost; who denies the God of Israel, and believes in the God of nature.” David Holmes, “The Faiths of the Founding Fathers,” 2006 ed., pp. 39-40, citing. 16/24

A discussion of deism necessarily includes reference to the Enlightenment, the Reformation, the 100 Years War, & notions of spiritual equality & reason. Rev Beckwith seems > comfortable w/simply alleging all the “founders” believed just like he does. 17/24

Rev Beckwith’s claim of expertise in matters related to The Constitution and American history are, charitably, exaggerations. His assertions as to the religious underpinnings of this country simply are lies. 18/24

5) when Rev Beckwith refers to a supreme deity’s “call on every believer in America to be engaged in our Constitutional Republic,” Rev Beckwith does not speak for everyone in the Christian faith. 19/24

One may reasonably infer, esp if 1 has lived in Indiana & attended fundamentalist services, that even some sectors of Christian faith are immoral in Rev Beckwith’s: he & others like him, presume to speak for what they perceive as the supreme deity. 20/24

Yrs ago I heard a preacher make demeaning comments about people who were not “true” Christians because they believed only “sprinkling” and not complete immersion, was sufficient for baptism. 21/24

Im not sure when we begin 2 argue over how we crack a hard-boiled egg - fr the side or fr the top. Right-wing religious extremists such as Beckwith want to control the govt & force their beliefs down our throats or into other parts of our anatomies. 22/24

Rev Beckwith has expressed joy at the prospect of a debate, on the campaign trial, with me. He brags that he counters other arguments before others can bring those arguments. I have said I welcome the opportunity for a debate. 23/24