SCCOR: Only Protestants Need Apply.
The Catholic Bill Colley got kicked out of the Sussex County Community Organized Regiment because he dared to suggest that saying only the Protestant version of the Lord’s Prayer at the start of meetings might be somewhat offensive to Catholics and Jews, or any other non protestant members attending the meeting:
I’ve been drummed out of the Sussex County Community Organized Regiment. I got the bad news Monday night. Apparently I’m not a very good soldier. My heresy was to suggest we consider there could be people attending meetings who don’t belong to protestant Christian denominations. Apparently since I’m still barely hanging on as a Roman Catholic I’m not really a Christian.
[…]
At one point I suggested we allow folks bow their heads for their own intentions or perhaps rotate prayers (I also remind you the name God frequently is mentioned in documents written by the founders but Jesus is a bit more absent). SCCOR’s Director has suggested if I can’t play nice I form my own organization. […] I respect many of the people with the Sussex County Community Organized Regiment because they got involved out of concerns they no longer had a voice in affairs of state. Apparently I was misinformed. You’re eligible for these concerns unless you happen to be a Catholic, Mormon or Jew.
This is just evidence that a coalition of libertarians and social conservatives is pretty much finished. You social conservatives simply must get over your preoccupation with religion. Religion is a personal choice. A personal freedom. There is no one true God or one true Faith in America. There may be one in your own personal life, but not anywhere else. And you have no right, no right to enforce your faith on anyone else. Yes, that goes for your own family. For they are human beings too, and have free will to decide what their faith and beliefs will be.
Why should a political meeting have a specific prayer? Personally, I believe there should no prayer at all, but am willing to concede to a blessing where the meeting attendants ask Skydad to guide our thoughts and actions in the pursuit of whatever goal we seek. That is pretty universal, don’t you think? Well, except for the atheists.
I never expected in life to have sympathy for Bill Colley. But maybe he now understands the discriminatory nature of the social right. It looks like he does:
How can we expect to “save” our country when so many are focused on eradicating those saved by a different prescription?
Is Bill Colley one of those WGMD assholes? If so, I’m glad his ox was gored.
What is it with Conservatives and the delight they get in kicking people out? Not to mention the stupidity of kicking out a man with a microphone and radio show.
Well, that’s an eye-opening comment (#1). Yes, he is WGMD and I don’t think much of that station, either, for many reasons, the first being the 17-year-old intern they planted on the GGW party bus and the crying innocence (rather poorly) afterward, yet blaming everyone else. Hmm, I should probably clarify that this was well before Colley joined the station.
That said, while it’s nice to see someone who’s been ignorant in the past get their eyes opened, why is it gleeful that someone get slapped via a intentional and distasteful prejudice? Celebration seems odd, especially considering many of the comments among many threads here.
the stupidity of kicking out a man with a microphone and radio show.
And right on cue, the apology. Yep, he got the full Gingrey.
“There is no one true God or one true Faith in America. There may be one in your own personal life, but not anywhere else. And you have no right, no right to enforce your faith on anyone else. Yes, that goes for your own family. For they are human beings too, and have free will to decide what their faith and beliefs will be.”
Amen, I couldn’t agree more. Here is to letting people carefully consider their personal beliefs for themselves! I definitely believe that the choice of religion is personal. Further, I appreciate others not pushing their views on me… so they deserve the same.
That apology made me nauseous. I really liked this line:
For instance, we may consider asking anyone who wishes, to come up and offer their own prayer in addition to the LORD’s prayer.
Big of ’em, isn’t it? And what is with LORD in all caps throughout the entire PR damage control – I mean apology.
@ #4: I don’t think it’s so bad that they apologized to him. It would have been pathetic had he been the one to apologize, and then it could equate to the grovelling many seem to do to King Rush.
So I wonder if he’ll go back and continue being their cheerleader on WGOP (I meand WGMD) or if he’ll go on the attack. My gut tells me he’ll go back because without WGMD, they lose their mouthpiece and he needs them as much as they need him and the station.
And what is with LORD in all caps …
Standard, actually.
Boy, this story is really f’ed up. Isn’t this the kind of thing that happened to the so-called patriot movements in the 90s – infighting leading to smaller and less effective groups?
You’re probably right, MJ.
On a side-note, but kind of related to my sarcasm in #3, I saw there was a robbery early this morning in Dewey where the victim refused to buy drugs and was subsequently robbed at gunpoint. One of the commenters on delawareoffline mentioned that the Dewey police presence is down. Isn’t it strange that after that PR-stunt/sting I mentioned in #3 that police staffing in Dewey has been an issue?
As M.S. points out, the founders made our government secular for a good reason. They gave us freedom of religion but it is important not to favor one religion over another in such a diverse society.
Smitty – Dewey has cut back on lifeguards and police due to budgetary concerns. That’s what happens when you base your entire budget on the transfer tax.
Dewey has cut back on lifeguards and police due to budgetary concerns.
Those poor people! – we need to order more drinks in Dewey.
“Drink up for public safety!”
– it’s for the children.
That’s what happens when you base your entire budget on the transfer tax.
Hmm…honestly, I thought they were tied harder to the tourist…oops, I mean “rental” tax.
“Drink up for public safety!”
– it’s for the children.
Now, why is it so easy for an anonymous stranger to get this point, but many years later, I am still trying to convince the spouse?
The rental tax just kicked in this year, but rentals are down a bit from last year. And they don’t have as many parking meters as we do in Rehoboth. RB took in $96K from parking meters over the Memorial Day holiday, up $3K from 2008. I’ve always said the RB budget is based on the 3 P’s – parking passes, parking meters, and parking tickets.
Too true, and sorta sad, MJ. The parking situation is one of the reasons we stopped going to RB during the season. What a headache!
Sorry but SCCOR is going to hell now. Jesus is going to be PISSED OFF when he reads this:
Don’t worry about it; Jesus has a backlog of Steve Newton posts.
Anon in #4 pretty much said it all on Bill Colley and WGMD.
His “Gingry” link on apologizing to Limbaugh is quite appropriate/analagous to the SCCOR apology to Colley, because Colley is indeed just another Limbaugh in size, bombast and idiocy, to the point of being absolutely hilarious too, in a macabre vein! Moreover, Colley is every bit as cunning as Limbaugh.
In the same thread as the apology, here is a Bill Colley quote which is quite typical:
“This is a republic and not a theocracy. There are some forms of government where a theocracy would be for me preferable. Not in this instance.”
Can you believe in this mentality?
Via what I have learned listening to WGMD, I can honestly say that you will probably not find a more radically right socially conservative redneck warhawk mentality anywhere in the US than exists in certain areas of Sussex County. Like Pandora said of the SCCOR apology, these people’s views make me “nauseous”.
If you stand a taste, you who are north of Dover can pick up Colley on streaming audio 3-7p on WGMD.com.
To think that Colley was selected by station owner David Schumacher (former CBSTV in DC news reporter) got rid of Randy Nelson and chose Colley, well, it is just incredible. Smitty can tell you about Randy, so can FSP, if you don’t already know, a quality broadcaster for sure.
Yes, with Randy Nelson off the air locally and in DE, this is an unfortunate loss of this area, indeed!!!
Perry – my opposing view on the apology was that Colley just happened to be the one who experienced the isolation and then spoke out (sort of like what Steele did against Limbaugh during the CPAC hoedown). If Colley were to then apologize for speaking out, that’s where I’d see it in the Steele-Limbaugh vein. SCCOR apologizing to Colley, to me, is what should be appropriate. As far as your rant to what he said in the thread, it was bad, yes, but it was also said before the apology. Now stop with the making me defend the guy. Stop it! 😛
As always there are several silly statements.
The first one was the slang term for God as “SkyDad”.
The second was sequence. Bill was hired after Randy was terminated.
The third was somehow the owner was evil by deciding who he can hire or fire.
Lastly, Bill has a good show. Local listeners enjoy it.
Mike Protack
OK Smitty, I’ve said my piece. 🙂
Mike, no one said the owner was evil for replacing Randy with Colley. I implied that he was stupid, because he replaced quality with a right wing sycophant. Actually, come to think of it, “evil” is a fitting word to use.
You are right about local listeners enjoying a a sycophant like themselves. There are plenty of others simultaneously nauseated. That tells you even more about Colley, the alter-Limbaugh.
Btw, I think you’ll fail in building your party in DE if you latch on to the likes of Colley and Limbaugh, whose appeal is only to the fringe. Are you the fringe too, Mike?
Pandora, if you come down to RB, let me know – you can park in my development. We’re walking distance to everything.
Deal, MJ! Moving to Fenwick this Thursday! Had a great meal at Dish last year.
Email me at pandora at delawareliberal dot net.
I guess he wasn’t at WGMD yet, but this is still the station that ginned up intimidation of the Jewish family that dared complain about Christian prayers at school board meetings. I’m not celebrating, simply observing that what goes around comes around. What, I can’t take satisfaction from the irony?
I had a similar experience to Colley’s when I was on air and I spoke out against the IRSDs actions with the Jewish family. That was the day I found out that some Christians don’t consider Catholics to be Christians at all…imagine my surprise.
Colley was YEARS away from being at WGMD when the whole Indian River School District thing happened, so satisfaction over Colley’s experience with SCCOR is misplaced, in fact, if you read what Colley wrote, he doesn’t seem to be demanding “Christian only” anything with SCCOR, but pretty much the opposite, even *gasp* suggesting people bow their heads and do their own thing.
And when Nelson resigned, (which had exactly nothing to do with anyone’s politics), there was a few month gap before Colley was hired, so this idea that they got rid of Nelson for Colley is just flat out incorrect.
…And Maria doesn’t like it when you dredge things up… 😉
Good job, Geek, here we go again! 🙄