"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal vigilance against every form of tyranny upon the mind of man."
The above words of Thomas Jefferson are chiseled into the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. It should be noted that Jefferson was not a Christian. He was a Deist, but he didn't have to be a Christian to recognize threats to liberty.
Ex-fam members have something in common with Thomas Jefferson and his fellow American revolutionaries. We have been the victims of tyranny. For Jefferson and his peers, that tyranny came from the king of England. For ex-fam members, it came from David Berg.
Jefferson and his peers experienced the oppression of the British throne. If they spoke out against the king, they were often silenced...permanently. They had no freedom of speech. They had no freedom of the press. They didn't even have freedom of religion. The evil deeds of the king are detailed in the Declaration of Independence.
Ex-fam members had no freedom of speech either. We knew we would be punished, demonized, and ostracized for speaking our mind. We could only read what Berg and his leaders told us to read. We had no freedom of religion. We didn't even have the freedom to think for ourselves. The evil deeds of Berg and his leaders are thoroughly documented in the article section of exfamily.org.
If Jefferson were alive today, I wonder what he would say about the condition of our nation's democratic republic? I think he would be amazed by our prosperity and power, but I think he would be shocked and angered by the erosion of our constitutionally protected freedoms.
He would oppose the so-called "Patriot Act," because it allows government agents to snoop through bookstore and public library records to see what we read. He would oppose the warrantless searches, the jailing of citizens who have not been charged with any crime. He would recall the words of his fellow patriot Benjamin Franklin, who said, "Those who would surrender essential individual liberties for the promise of peace and safety, deserve neither."
He would certainly see the threat to freedom by the morphing of controversial expression into something called "hate speech." He would certainly recognize the threat to freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion if the exercising of these liberties were to be labeled a "hate crime."
Jefferson would never have allowed thinking, writing, saying something unpopular or even hateful to be turned into a crime. He might not agree with your thoughts and expressions, but he would have fought for your right to express them.
With all we have in common with Thomas Jefferson, how is it that some ex-fam members can applaud the tyrannical acts of evil judges and politicians? How is it that they who have broken the chains of this cult's bondage and have savored the freedoms of thought, speech, religion and press now want to deny those freedoms to others?