ohwilleke posted a diary on this last night as the story broke. I'm reposting this morning for further propogation of the sad tale. Seems like Schiavo has sucked up all the oxygen in this place; this story is important as well, especially in the context of the extension of the religious state as we've seen with the Schiavo drama.
Yesterday, voters choose to recall an Estes Park, CO town trustee. The trustee's crime: refusing to submit to pressure to violate his religious beliefs. David Habecker had been a town trustee for 12 years.
In May, 2004, the town council altered its regular agenda to incorporate the pledge of allegiance. Habecker, a self professed agnostic, declined to participate in reciting the pledge, citing the inclusion of the words
Under God as a violation of the principle of seperation of church and state.
Habecker, a hotel owner, said the vote was upsetting.
"All the things I was taught as a child about this country, including religious tolerance, liberty and freedom, don't ring true today," he said.
Mr. Habecker
An opinion from an Estes Park resident:
"This has become very emotional for this town," said Ann Neering, an Estes Park resident since 1978.
She voted for Habecker's recall, saying it was a simple "black-and- white" issue.
"If you don't want to say the Pledge, you should leave the country," Neering said. She agreed with recall proponents that Habecker was using his public position to voice his personal political agenda.
Excuse me, but when did the willingness to recite the pledge of allegiance become a requirement of citizenship? When did it become okay to punish religious freedom? The cynic in me says that America has no real regard for religious freedom. The imposition of the will of the religious right on Terri Schiavo's life and the recall of Habecker (yes, I know it was the will of the citizenry) is proof of this for me. I'm also compelled to ask if there has ever been religious freedom in the United States of America.
There are those that have said "Why didn't Habecker just stand during the pledge? Why didn't he just recite the pledge without the words under God?" Well, to those questions (which are really implied directions and not questions), I say "Bullshit!" There is no requirement that anyone be subjected to the pledge of allegiance. What if this man was an adherent to one of the many religious beliefs that bar their members from swearing allegiance to anyone or anything other than their chosen God? No, religious freedom is dead in Estes Park, and thanks to Tom Delay, the GOP, and too many Democrats in the federal legislature, its dead federally as well.
If there is one thing that is abundantly clear this week it's this: America is now officially a theocracy.