Corrupting Lady Liberty

There is a tendency of faith to end up relying on force. Politics is force. Government is force. When Christianists or Islamists or others want to rely on state power to achieve their goals what it means is that rely upon force against others. It is inherently violent, or at the very least, contains the threat of violence.

Freedom or liberty is the opposite of force. Keep that in mind as you read of the antics of the World Overcomers Outreach Ministries Church run by the self-proclaimed "Apostle" Aton Williams. Located in Memphis, Tennessee, the buckle on the Bible Belt, this fundamentlist sect decided to remake over the Statue of Liberty. These good Christians spent $260,000 to build a 72 foot high replica of the Statute that has been changed to reflect their values about theocracy -- the opposite of liberty.

This distorted Liberty is carrying the Ten Commandments, part of the Levitcal Code of the Old Testament that advocated genocide among other things. The real Miss Liberty is meant to symbolize Liberty lighting the world hence she carries a torch. The torch has been extinguished on this Christian version and replaced with a giant gold cross. And the word "Jehovah" is transcribed on her crown.

This combination of church and state appeals to the theocrats in this church. And it isn't the first time they spent a lot of money to push their agenda. Previously they have purchased full. The deranged minister who runs this cult has also added a tear to the Statue's face to lament legalized abortion, free speech and the separation of church and state. This minister is one who said that God sent Hurricane Katrina to punish the sins of people in New Orleans. He ignores the absurdity that God, to punish people in New Orleans, destroyed the homes and churches of hundreds of thousands of people all across the Bible Belt. Williams says the "statue proves that Jesus Christ is Lord over America."

That will disappoint Bush. He thought he was Lord over America. But then perhaps Bush also thinks he is Jesus. So who knows.

The great tragedy here is that this cult, by it's editing of Lady Liberty, has turned a symbol of freedom and liberty into a symbol of religios tyranny and oppression. One 11 year old girl, Evelyn Douglass, told the press that she takes a long way to walk home just to avoid seeing the statues. "The Statues of Liberty is a symbol of the United States of America. [Ed.: Not quite is a symbol of liberty in America not a symbol of America but good try.] The cross represents a specific religion. It's not right that they are mixing the two. That church is trashing the meaning of America."