MORE MUSINGS FROM OLD TOWN II...
5-16-08
We have been pleased about the reaction to our recent OPINION that the Freedom Foundation is a cult. We did not form our opinion hastily. For a year, we have watched our neighbors, from the Freedom Foundation, here in Old Town as they ingratiated themselves to prominent people in Selma. It appears to us that Mark Duke and his followers knew precisely what they wanted to do when they came to Selma. Our observation is that they became friends with people of influence in Selma, which was a form of protection from criticism for themselves. They started their "silly" radio program which was designed to say to the community, "we are harmless"; however, the silliness has, in the past couple of months, given way to very serious public policy positions. Now that they have drawn many people into their circle of influence, they have begun to reveal more and more of their core beliefs and intentions for coming to Selma. They have come here by design and purposefully to take over the centers of influence in the community, particularly unsuspecting churches, and to, IN OUR OPINION, take advantage of the well meaning, but naïve and unsuspecting Christians in the community, who want to think the best of all people and consequently are easily deceived. Cults are about control, power, influence, and money generally.
It is by individual's fruits that they are known. The Freedom Foundation says that their purpose is love and unity in the community, but all they have created here has been strife, discord, disunity, and hard feelings among people who have previously been friends and fellow church members for years. Selma must beware of people who come here to save us from ourselves. It is our contention that today there is much more bitterness, hard feelings, and disunity in this community than there was before the Freedom Foundation descended on us from Colorado. Our fellow Selmians, there is a reason that these people have moved from Illinois to Georgia, to Colorado to Selma.
Because of the Freedom Foundation, people who have worked together for ten, twenty, thirty years at Morgan Academy are now not speaking to one another. Because of the Freedom Foundation, the First Presbyterian Church, where families have been together for decades, is almost in shambles. As an aside, we think our friend, Pastor and Dr. Ron Stone made a serious mistake by supporting the Freedom Foundation and urging from the pulpit that Morgan, The Charity League, and The Country Club admit blacks. Whatever one's personal feelings are about that, are those organizations within the purview of the pulpit? OUR OPINION is that were it not for the year long efforts of the Freedom Foundation to have Morgan admit one of its black followers, Dr. Stone would never have been moved to make his statements from the pulpit. Wherever the Freedom Foundation members go, there will be strife, mistrust, disunity, and unfortunately, hatred among people who have been friends and family for years. Is that what Selma wants? Hopefully not, because it sure isn't what we need at this critical juncture in our history.
We respectfully urge these people, Mark and his followers, to please leave our city and go back to Colorado or to some other place. What they are doing is making it impossible for people to be reconciled to each other. For the good of the city and its future, we pray they will leave us and leave us alone, and with God's help, we can work toward more unity and love in the city.
Again, THIS ALL IS OUR OPINION, and we are thankful to still live in a country and city where we can express our opinion!
