Mr. Gregory of Greenville made a recent attempt in the Greenville News to mislead the good citizens of South Carolina as regards information on the Christian Exodus website:  www.ChristianExodus.org.  Here are the lies he tried to pass for truth:  1) that we promote "religious tests for the right to vote," 2) "these people intend to try to establish a religious theocracy here in South Carolina," and 3) "this so-called Exodus Movement smacks of racial separatism, bigotry and hatred."

First, I know of nowhere on the pages of our website where ChristianExodus.org endorses "religious tests for the right to vote."  We do however acknowledge the very same thing that the American Founders and great South Carolinians like John C. Calhoun acknowledged: voting is not a right, it is a privilege that comes with responsibilities (a very important distinction lost on most Americans and the single largest cause of our current domestic ills).  There must be qualifications for suffrage, but nowhere does ChristianExodus.org promote a religious test as one of these qualifications.

Second, nowhere on our site do we call for the establishment of a theocracy, and in fact our Position Statement clearly denounces it.  We desire a decentralized American republic where the States are protected in their sovereignty by the 10th Amendment not unlike our system of governance prior to the War of Northern Aggression.  I ask you, has South Carolina ever in its history been a theocracy?  You just shook your head no in spite of the fact that South Carolina's first permanent Constitution in 1778 stated, "The Christian Protestant religion shall be deemed, and is hereby constituted and declared to be, the established religion of this State."  That state established religion remained in the Constitution well into the 19th century, and yet South Carolina was not a theocracy oppressive of other faiths.  On the contrary, it is precisely the voluntary nature of the Christian faith that gave rise to religious freedom in the western world, a.k.a. Christendom.

Lastly, anyone who claims to find the slightest hint of racial bigotry on our website is a bold faced liar.  We emphatically denounce racism at every opportunity, and consistently speak of the equality of all men before God and the law.  I can only assume that Mr. Gregory's reference to "hatred" stems from our condemnation of sodomy.  Folks, if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ you are required to stand for righteousness and denounce sinfulness.  Such is the stand of the Christian members of ChristianExodus.org, why would anyone expect differently of us?  Why would anyone expect differently of you?