Open letter to the Sullivan County Commission

Presented to the Sullivan County Commission, September 15, 2003.

Re: the Ten Commandments display, it's time to remove them. When I asked for equal access to hang a plaque and pointed out you shouldn't pander to Farewell's SBC, I got threatened with a lawsuit to shut me up. When I wouldn't, Mr. Street concocted this "plaque procedure" as another legal cover-up. The fundamentalists didn't have to follow that procedure standing as further proof of government sanctioning of religion in violation of the Constitution.

By tradition, Moses received 613 commandments in Hebrew, not ten in English, clearly understood to symbolize fundamentalist Protestant tyrants that publicly attack fellow Christians and non-Christians alike. Equating our freedoms and nation to the Ten Commandments is about as historical as equating the Communist Manifesto to the New Testament. It's an attack on the 80% of Americans, including most Christians, that don't see God as the violent child-killer of Protestant fundamentalism. It's also an insult to the Christian faith by reducing the Ten Commandments to a cheap political issue. Note that Baptists were among the victims of the intolerant religious viewpoints the SBC sanctions today.

In the other failed cases, judges reviewed statements made by commissioners and ruled their intent was not to display historical documents so much as it was to display the Ten Commandments for religious reasons. They were trying to hang other documents with it just to protect what they were doing. Mr. Street admits, it's "perfectly clear that a governmental entity cannot post the Ten Commandments...attempting to influence the public."

But that's just what this body did. Mr. Street thinks he may have a trump card in a phony plaque procedure claiming "historical documents." The courts will see the truth that the entire "procedure" is a fraud that wasn't imposed on the SBC fundamentalists or their religion being promoted from this courthouse. I'm here to see the truth of this matter is kept in the public eye.

I will be submitting once again directly to this body a request to hang a plaque in tribute to Francis David, a victim of violent fundamentalism. I will not fill out any forms or submit anything to the Christian censorship committee. The SBC didn't have to do it, nor should anyone else. I'll return at every opportunity to remind all of you that open and equal access for all are the values America stands for. Threatening free speech and locking the courthouse doors to the public for private religious plaque ceremonies are not American values. That is also in the public record.

My website, www.sullivan-county.com has been rated in the top five at Yahoo and Google for Sullivan County and Bristol VA/TN with over 3000 page views per day and over 430,000 visitors since March 2002. To find out about Francis David, go there, and click on "Unitarians" at the bottom of the page.

This community has many pressing problems and Judge Moore's antics in Alabama and the string of court defeats in Tennessee have proven your cause hopeless. I'm not here to threaten anybody and won't have any part in any legal action other then provide a public record. I don't want this community hurt and I know you don't either. Please do what is right and remove the plaque.

Lewis Loflin

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Letter to The Editor - 09/16/2003

Insulting God

Re. the Ten Commandments, it's time to stop insulting God and remove them (from public buildings.) While running religious crusades from public office, Sullivan County has lost 450 students. When I asked for equal access to hang a plaque, I got threatened with a lawsuit to shut me up. When I wouldn't, Mr. Street concocted this "plaque procedure" to discriminate against those asking for equal access. The fundamentalists didn't have to follow that procedure, standing as further proof of government sanctioning of religion in violation of the Constitution.

By tradition, Moses received 613 commandments in Hebrew, not 10 in English, clearly understood to symbolize fundamentalist Protestant tyrants that publicly attack fellow Christians and non-Christians alike. Quoting Mr. Street, "To me it seems perfectly clear that a governmental entity cannot post the Ten Commandments ... attempting to influence the public." To refer to the Christian commandments as a "secular historical document" demeans Christianity to a petty political position. The Declaration of Independence only mentions "nature's God." (The universal God of deism, not the biblical God.)

Our freedoms are not based on manmade religious books interpreted by fanatical mobs and cults. Finally, from Jefferson, "our civil rights have no dependence on religious opinions ... the priest has been hostile to liberty; he is always in alliance with the despot ... It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself." And Francis David, "God always took care of his truth Himself and He will always do that in the future as well."

Lewis Loflin
Bristol, VA.

Newspaper extract

Also during public comment Monday, a Bristol, VA., resident told the commission "it's about time to remove" a plaque featuring the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Sullivan County Courthouse. Lewis Loflin said other counties in Tennessee have lost court battles over similar displays. He said he plans to come back to the commission and request to place a plaque in the courthouse "in tribute to Francis David, a victim of violent fundamentalism."

"I will not fill out any forms or submit anything to the Christian censorship committee," Loflin said, in apparent reference to the County Commission's established process for displays such as the Ten Commandments plaque. Such displays require that requests - there is a commission-approved application form for those making the request to fill out - to go before the commission's Building Committee.

September 16, 2003 Kingsport Times-News.

On top of disrupting school over religion, we have a Rev. Poff that wants to ban Halloween as Satanic.

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