Our Approach
We Christians vs our Adversaries
(Excerpted from the Thurmont Statement of 2009)
We acknowledge the role of nature’s God as we seek to perfect our behavior to serve His purpose for each of us personally and that eternal life in heaven is the ultimate reward. They believe that government can perfect man and aim to punish with hell on earth, those of us who oppose them.
We believe that our rights come from God, and therefore they are inalienable, and that those rights are antecedent to a limited state whose job it is not to grant rights but to help secure those rights already existent. They believe that the state itself grants rights, or withdraws such a grant of rights, as the state itself sees fit.
We believe in ordered liberty serving a moral and righteous purpose according to the Intelligent Design of the Creator of the Universe. They believe in unchecked, undisciplined, libertinism which serves no purpose, accomplishes no worthy goal and is an abject failure by any measure.
We believe in a moral order rooted in God’s glory and in the wisdom of the ages. They believe in a moral (dis)order that is man-made, post-modern, and not reliant on – and sometimes hostile to the very notion of a Supreme Being.
We believe that the traditional family is the natural, essential building block of a free society. They believe that the traditional family is an antiquated, restrictive construct that sometimes is a stumbling block to the enlightened aims of the state’s elite.
We believe both parents are, and should be, the best educators of our children. They believe parents can’t be trusted even to choose which schools their children attend and that parents should not be allowed to interfere with how they indoctrinate our children in their school system.
We wish to teach the young, right reason and purpose. They wish to teach education and socializing skills to better listen to the dictates of their authority.
We are for personal choice for all of God’s children, including unborn. They have a different and deadly definition of “choice,” which isn’t a choice at all for those terminated with a silent scream.
We wish to protect the defenseless. They never, ever acknowledge the Creator’s words in His book, for whom he reserves the greatest punishment: he who would harm the little children.
We think the principle of subsidiarity makes sense – that choices and decisions are best handled at the most local level possible such as state, county, town, neighborhood and family. They prefer centralization of all decisions possible, where efficiency is greater when it is in their hands instead, and that local choice, liberty, and individual decision-making must yield to the mandate of them, the enlightened and wise, supreme central planners.
We believe that the United States is a moral actor on the world stage, and that American enlightened self-interest serves the greater cause of humanity. They believe that the United States is an immoral colossus whose appetites must be restrained, and that American interests are inimical to the human dignity of oppressed peoples.
We are proud to be Americans, because we know we are free. They are embarrassed by American prosperity and shun all talk of freedom.
We feel blessed. They express only guilt. We think human life is a gift from God. They think human life and the quality of life are decisions for the legislature and the bureaucrats hired by our government.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, and are proud to hold up America as the light of the world, and bequeath to our children, God’s and our American founders’ gift of freedom.
As adopted in conference, at Thurmont, Maryland, on Veterans Day, November 11, 2009, and to be hereinafter referred to as The THURMONT Statement.” (Excerpted from The Thurmont Statement; for full text, ThurmontStatement.org).