What is True Freedom of Assembly?

Do you have the right to freedom of assembly and association? I don't like racists; but, does the Klu Klux Klan have the right to refuse to have black members? Recently, the congregation of a church in Kentucky voted to not allow interracial couples in their church. Aside from the fact that their decision violated their own by-laws and that it is stupid and unloving, shouldn't they have the right to decide for themselves who is and is not allowed in their church?

When I was a very young child we still had segregation in the United States. Restaurants and stores and other businesses used to prohibit blacks from going inside. Laws were changed and that type of segregation was outlawed. The theory used to stop businesses from discriminating was that it impinged on trade, on commerce. Lets look at a variation on this, should a Satanist store or church be allowed to keep Christians out? The flip side is should a Christian church be allowed to keep out Satanists.

It is Sunday and I am not teaching tonight. I am not teaching tonight because a group of young Christian wanted to hold a prayer vigil at the church where we rent some space. The churches response was to lock up the church doors and keep the kids out. I guess they didn't want to be "occupied" by believers.

The issue, as was explained to me, was that the kids wanted someone to preach with a more conservative voice. The church (and we are not a part of it, we just rent http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifspace) that owns the building has allowed Wiccans and Muslims an Jews to all participate in services; but, rejected conservative Christians.

We are entering a very dangerous time for Christianity and Christians. We are going to continue to see churches come under attack for taking a position on things such as abortion, homosexuality, per-marital sex and anything that is not popular. Small examples such as the one I mentioned will be used to condemn whole churches. If you read this story, you will see that the story was not as simple as it was portrayed.

Kentucky.com - Pastor of Pike Co. church calls for new vote on accepting interracial couples as members

Apparently, the denomination involved was a leader in championing the end to slavery in the 1800s. The issue itself was also apparently raised by a prior pastor at the church and not by the current pastor who sought to reverse the vote. Yet, none of that mattered to the people who reported the incident. I think I should put out a video called "Pastors Gone Wild", it would sell like hotcakes.

We are seeing the media highlight the dumbest preachers and ignore churches that are actually helping people. A small church in Kentucky did not deserve to make the international news, the issue wasn't what the church did, the issue was what rights do churches have to decide who can be a member.

I am going to link to two videos regarding the Occupy movement and explain a little more.

Youtube - Occupy Melbourne Tent Monsters

Occupy the Bronx - NYPD Wrongfully Arrested Participants of Occupy The Bronx Festivities

In the first video we see what appears to be a number of tents in Melbourne as part of the Occupy Melbourne movement. The intrepid police swoop down to remove and arrest; but, it turns out that people are wearing the tents and they just get up and start running around. The police are completely baffled and wander away.

The second video is a little more disturbing. It takes place in the bronx where some people were standing in solidarity with others who had lost a urban farm. The officer in charge told the other officers that the moment someone stopped walking they should be arrested for blocking the sidewalk.

Now there is a good chance that the members of the church in Kentucky that voted against interracial couples are probably not big supporters of the Occupy movement; but, their rights are intertwined. We either have the right to assemble and decide who we associate with or we do not.

What we are seeing across the whole world, including the "western democracies" is a clamp down on your freedom of assembly and association. It begins by making a big deal about small events that are clearly distasteful and hateful. Laws are enacted to deal with these anomalous events and then they are used against all protest.

The Occupy movement is worldwide and it is more disturbing to the people in power because when they gather it shows just how many people do feel the same way. It is disturbing to the status quo because it is leaderless and therefore cannot be easily manipulated. Many police have overreacted because they want peace and quiet, they want order. They have been brainwashed to believe that peace is more important that the constitution.

Freedom of assembly doesn't just exist for "official" organizations, it is an individual right that we all have. Not long ago a family in Orange County was fined and cited for holding church services in their home. Lets see, you cannot meet in public spaces and you cannot meet in your home, where can people meet? You have to buy or rent a space and incorporate to get any respect it seems.

When you read the newpaper or watch the news pay attention to how these assemblies are portrayed. No matter where in the western world these protests take place they are portrayed in the exact same way. The protesters are portrayed as selfish children who don't have a clear message and need to get a job. Ignore the fact that most are employed or students who are complaining that they are going to be the ones who have to pay for the corrupt system that rewards the wealthy and penalizes the average person.

Rather than worrying about whether or not people support the system, rather than worrying about whether or not you agree with any group, we better support each others right to assemble or it to will be gone.

UPDATE:

After I posted this I came across another news article. Apparently, in New York the schools are able to rent out space for meetings. They even allow you to rent space for religious groups; but, you cannot worship there. You can pray, you can sing, you can teach and you can discuss; but, you cannot worship. Well, some of the space was being used for their church services and the school and them are before the supreme court trying to get a decision.

What happens if the supreme court decides that any religious expression makes it a church? What happens then, how does that effect other laws and the right to assemble? This is no joke and has serious implications. The court might decide that the definitions were too vague and that you can only prohibit actions and not beliefs or intent. That would also be used against churches.

I do not believe that churches should have any business with government. I would not agree with a church that rents space from the government, take money from the government or attempt to effect elections. I have gotten off track.

It is our freedom of assembly and association that is under attack. It is under attack because your government fears you, it fears that you don't trust it and will not willingly do as you are told. I have said many times that I am a pacifist and I do not support mob violence; but, I support people's right to assemble, discuss and just enjoy each others presence.

Huffington Post - Bronx Household Of Faith Awaits Supreme Court Decision Over Worship Services In Public School

I have Sunday off - Lets talk about the Post Office

The U.S. Post Office is going away. For hundreds of years the postal service has allowed Americans to securely communicate and pay bills; but, because of costs it is now delaying mail delivery. It is a minor delay, one or two extra days; but, the impact will be tremendous. If I have to pay fees for late payments then it will drive people to use the internet and online banking.

Here is the thing about the internet, your e-mails and payments are not protected under your right to privacy. I have written about this before; but, wanted to update as service will begin slowing very soon.

NPR - Postal Cuts To Slow First-Class Mail


As mail delivery takes longer and longer, who will continue to use it? As fewer people use it, more cuts will be needed and it will become even slower. It is a death by a thousand cuts.

A Mark That is Not a Mark

I came across this article today and as I had discussed some of the issues a long time ago I thought it was worthy of posting.

Salon - Occupy protesters “branded” with UV ink.

Here are a couple of things to consider. Firstly, the protesters were marked with an invisible ink that got under their skin and Secondly, it was used to identify them. Does this not seem creepy to you? Many people are worried about a RFID chip being forced upon them and there are Christians that believe the RFID chip is the Mark of the Beast discussed in Revelations; but, I am not one of them. I am against being chipped by anyone for most reasons; but, it is not a mark.

The word used in the bible is χάραγμα charagma. It means "something graven or sculptured". It means that something is cut into or stamped on the body, not an implant. Here is the difference between an invisible mark and an RFID chip. An RFID chip can monitor you, track where you are and effect your health. A invisible (to the eye) tattoo only works when it is scanned using ultraviolet, it would be used to verify that you were you.

Given the choice between an invisible tattoo and an RFID chip being implanted in you, wish would you prefer? I think most would take the tattoo; but, that is a mark. Personally, I would not take either; but, it is interesting to consider. So why did the police brand these protesters, it should be obvious, to find them later.

Something Odd

I was checking my statistics and looking at what links led people to this site. One of the referencing sites was Facebook, I clicked the link back and found this on Facebook.

http://thetruthisinsideyou.blogspot.com/2011/11/nathalie-rothschild-and-occupy-wall.html

It is a link to a post I recently wrote that received a lot of hits. I don't have a current Facebook account and the one that I did have I never used nor did I link to this blog. I don't use Facebook; but, I am going to assume that someone that does use it linked to my post. I cannot understand who or why. Who could possibly care about that little post? Blogging is fascinating. Be well.

Why So Many Readers

I was checking my statistics for the blog and last month saw the most hits in history. I have no idea why. I am not aware of any public links to this site and only one private one. My site is not actively promoted, I have never monetized it and talk about whatever is on my mind. You could never accuse this site of being dedicated to any one thing, it is not a place to go for information regarding some hobby or interest.

They say that the world is actually 4.7 degrees of separation. That means that if you tell someone something and it is meaningful then it can spread throughout the whole world and you don't need a television or radio or even the internet to do it. If you have something to say, start a blog, comment on other blogs when appropriate. Heck, just tell people what you really think and try and be polite.

One of the statistics that really got me was the number of hits from Russia. They now make up about a fifth of all hits on this blog. When I was dating Russians always seemed to have a thing for me. LOL.

A Winter Storm and Warnings of Financial Doom

Associated Press - Central banks move to stabilize financial system

I want you to read this article and consider what it says. European, Canadian and Japanese central banks are letting commercial banks borrow U.S. Dollars. This would be like the Federal Reserve, our central bank, allow Bank of America to buy Japanese yen. The stock markets in many countries rejoiced and a good time was had by all.

Sounds great, we get to sell dollars to banks in foreign counties. We create value out of nothing. The foreign countries banks convert to the only truly internationally accepted hard currency, the dollar, which allows them greater borrowing and the ability to purchase oil, which can only be purchased with dollars.

What happens if inflation hits the U.S. Dollar? Doesn't that make all the money that these banks borrow from us worth less or possibly even worthless. Beyond that, how does giving countries which have borrowed all they can better off if they borrow even more? You also need to remember that for every dollar one of these banks borrows, they get to loan out ten. This is basically turning the dollar into a truly one world currency. We don't need to create one, we just adopted an existing one.

Did you get to vote on this, nope. Did we even hear about this prior to it being done, nope. Is there anything we can do to stop it, nope, it has already happened and not only that but the Federal Reserve doesn't have to do what the government tells it, it is a private banking reserve.

How come this isn't all over the conspiracy sites? Didn't see it on Alex Jones or Rense or David Icke. I didn't even see it on Above Top Secret. I am not recommending any of those sites to anyone, I read them to know what is being sold to their audiences. Why haven't they posted on this already, this is huge.

With this action the final seal is put on the coffin of the United States. Maybe this is why congress is about to authorize the military to arrest American citizens in America and hold them indefinitely without a trial. This is being brought to you by the same group of criminals that created the economic crisis in the first place.

What I also find odd is that we will be paid in the foreign nations currency. This basically means that each countries currency directly and immediately effects the value of the other nations currency. Lets say that today one dollar is worth two yen. Okay, you borrow a dollar and you give me two yen. Simple enough. Next week, the yen drops and it is three yen for one dollar. I lent you the only dollar that I had and you lent me the only yens that you had. For this to work, we have to keep our currencies valuation at about the same rate till all debts are paid off.

Even if you do not understand the intricacies that can result from this, doesn't it just hit you as odd? Would you like your bank to borrow foreign currency? Now lets consider how this could benefit someone. What if they create an international stock exchange where you can buy stock in any country using any countries currency. Now that makes for a truly global economy, a one world economy.

Silly Rabbit, Don't Go Down That Hole

People seem to enjoy making bad decisions. Two articles that I read today really highlight this. The first one is about teaching through crowd sourcing techniques and the second is very scary. Seems a scientist took the bird flu and modified it so that it was capable of killing half of the people on earth.

Doctor Tipster - Dutch Researcher Created A Super-Influenza Virus With The Potential To Kill Millions

What reasonable person would create a flu that is capable of killing half of the people on earth? In the book "Faust" by Goethe there is a scientist who creates a little human man. The little man is constantly causing the scientist trouble and Faust asks the scientist why he created the little man in the first place. The explanation was that he wanted to see if he could. That is poor logic when it comes to putting others at risk.

The Globe and Mail - Physicist's crowd-sourcing philosophy gains traction in the classroom

Basically the article is promoting group think or at least that is what we used to call it. I have written about crowd sourcing before, in teaching situations I consider it pure poison. The fact that ten people might come to a good conclusion does not mean that they learned much individually. Let me try it this way, I understand how subtraction works and you understand how multiplication works, we can together arrive at the answer to some math problems; but, neither of us learned anything more, we just used what we already knew.

Working collaboratively has great value, consider the things that we have built that could not be done alone; however, the byproduct of compartmentalization and specialization is the inability of anyone to understand how things fit together, to understand the big picture and consequences of our actions. That sort of brings me back to the first article, the scientist created a thing that has dangerous consequences because he was more concerned about what he was capable rather than understanding that what he was doing was dangerous with little to no value.

Two sides of the same coin, two extremes. The truth is that some of us know more than others; but, all of us are part of a greater community. Not everyone is going to understand quantum physics, be able to create great art, find the deepest philosophical understanding or reach the limits of our human potential because each persons potential is unique to them. At the same time, our duty to the community should keep us from thinking just about us and when we impact the community in too extreme a manner without a valid reason then the community should censor us.

The problem is not one of individual freedom nor is it one of societal dictatorship, it is about reasonableness and balancing both. As we head towards a world where because of technology anyone will be able to bio-engineer something that can kill everyone on earth we need to seriously consider how we will limit these technologies and to do that we need to understand their consequences, it requires wisdom and groups do not exhibit wisdom because that is more comprehensive.

The internet has given us the opportunity to tap into the knowledge base of people worldwide and find new solutions and come to a greater understanding of one another. In the end though, there must still be the individual and he must also be allowed to flourish. We cannot advance society by holding back the individual's search for meaning and we do not have a society worth living in if we restrict variety; but, that does not mean anything goes.

Our national representatives have sold us out (seems completely unrelated doesn't it). Currently congress is considering passing a bill called Senate Bill 1867. This bill would allow the military to imprison Americans without trial indefinitely. This is prohibited by the Constitution as we have a right to go before a judge and have a trial by a jury. The "Patriot Act" denied these rights to foreign citizens and this bill would deny those rights to American citizens if the government so chose.

Theoretically, the relevant language is intended to catch "terrorists", presumably so they do not become the dreaded "terrorrizer guys", the modern day equivalent of the boogeyman. The changes in our laws and the outright rejection of the constitution as the law of the land has happened because people failed to pay attention to what was going on. A few have been telling people about the erosion of our basic liberties for years; but, none listened until all could see. The people we should listen to are not the people who control the world; but, instead the people who can and will honestly explain what is going on. The world needs outliers, those who are unique because they bring a perspective that no group ever would.

I am absolutely exhausted and would have preferred to have discussed these articles at another time; but, I didn't want my readers to miss them. Not my greatest post by any stretch; but, things to consider. More important that either of the articles is the question of the relationship of rights and responsibilities within society, the relationship between the individual and the group, both matter.