Fundamentalist Holy War - 1974

[Cheerful Charlie]

I ran across this eye opening article about a violent Christian action in West Virginia in 1974. It is a truly bizarre little article.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/2019/09/fundamentalist-holy-war/

...
By James A. Haught
Millionaire evangelists like Pat Robertson call for America’s 50 million fundamentalists to become a mighty political force and reshape society to their liking. Well, we’d better pray that their effort doesn’t turn out like a famous West Virginia example – the 1974 evangelical war against “godless textbooks.”
Rock-throwing mobs forced schools to close. Two schools and the board office were bombed. Two people were shot. Coal miners struck to support the religious protest. Ku Klux Klansmen and right-wing kooks flocked to Charleston. Some residents tried to form a separate county. A preacher and his followers discussed murdering families who wouldn’t join a school boycott. The minister finally went to prison.
...

Schools reopened. The boycott resumed. The Rev. Charles Quigley prayed for God to kill the board members who endorsed the books. A grade school was hit by a Molotov cocktail. Five shots hit a school bus. A dynamite blast damaged another grade school. A bigger blast damaged the school central office.
One violent evening, a group of fundamentalist men attended a school board meeting, sat at the front, then abruptly rose and beat school board members.
....



Uhmmmm. Christianity at it's finest. Or something.

 

[Elixir]

I ran across this eye opening article about a violent Christian action in West Virginia in 1974. It is a truly bizarre little article.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/2019/09/fundamentalist-holy-war/

...
By James A. Haught
Millionaire evangelists like Pat Robertson call for America’s 50 million fundamentalists to become a mighty political force and reshape society to their liking. Well, we’d better pray that their effort doesn’t turn out like a famous West Virginia example – the 1974 evangelical war against “godless textbooks.”
Rock-throwing mobs forced schools to close. Two schools and the board office were bombed. Two people were shot. Coal miners struck to support the religious protest. Ku Klux Klansmen and right-wing kooks flocked to Charleston. Some residents tried to form a separate county. A preacher and his followers discussed murdering families who wouldn’t join a school boycott. The minister finally went to prison.
...

Schools reopened. The boycott resumed. The Rev. Charles Quigley prayed for God to kill the board members who endorsed the books. A grade school was hit by a Molotov cocktail. Five shots hit a school bus. A dynamite blast damaged another grade school. A bigger blast damaged the school central office.
One violent evening, a group of fundamentalist men attended a school board meeting, sat at the front, then abruptly rose and beat school board members.
....



Uhmmmm. Christianity at it's finest. Or something.

Gee, they were ahead of their time. MAGA!

 

[steve_bank]

A holy war is a common theme among Evangelicals. A righteous battle in god's name against us non believers.

You will hear it in a muted form on some FOX News shows and from politicians. More aggressive on religious radio and TV.

I hear it from a preacher who runs a bible meeting in the facility I live in/ Loud agressive rants you can hear about evil non believers out to get him personally.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I read the article. Once the ringleader was convicted people seemed to recover their sanity.

Also of note was that none of the quotes used to demonize the texts were ever actually in any of the textbooks. The fundegalicals were quoting random sources and attributing them to the texts to whip their minions into a frenzy. That shows that people can be idiots and religions people are no exception.