United States: Cory Burnell wants to set up a Christian nation within the United States where abortion is illegal, gay marriage is banned, schools cannot teach evolution, children can pray to Jesus in public schools and the Ten Commandments are posted publicly.
To that end, Burnell (29) left the Republican Party, moved from California and founded Christian Exodus two years ago with the goal of redirecting the US by "redeeming" one state at a time. First up for redemption is South Carolina.
Burnell hopes to move 2,500 Christians into the northern part of the state by next year and to persuade tens of thousands to relocate there by 2016. His goal is to fill the state legislature with "Christian constitutionalists".
Christian Exodus officially started in May 2004, reaching people mainly through the Internet. Since then, five families and two individuals have relocated to South Carolina, according to Burnell.
The organisation, which claims about 1,000 members, held its first conference on October 15th/16th to promote its agenda. About 50 people from as far away as Ohio and Oregon attended.
Burnell picked South Carolina partly for its Christian majority and conservative politics. "Historically, southerners do have a states' rights mentality," he said. "Christians in the north are experiencing the most liberalism, or you could say 'persecution'."
Christian Exodus hopes to throw off what it considers unconstitutional burdens imposed by the federal government. Examples, Burnell said, are federal spending on public education and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the use of the courts "to teach that Heather has two mommies".
The organisation's website states that, if it does not meet its goal of change, it will try to secede from the United States.
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the union in 1860 and the first shots of the US Civil War were fired from Charleston's battery on to Fort Sumter.
The group's reception in South Carolina has been mixed. Arthur Bryngelson, chairman of the Dorchester County Republican Party, spoke at a Christian Exodus conference and said he would encourage members to become Republicans. "I consider myself to be a fundamental Christian," he said. "I'm with [Christian Exodus] all the way up to secession."
Republican senator Mike Fair, who described himself as a "narrow-minded right-wing fundamentalist fanatic", said he was suspicious of the group, adding: "I had huge credibility problems with them."
Attorney Herbert E Buhl III, who does legal work for the American Civil Liberties Union, said he had received "a nasty little letter . . . calling me a liar" from a Christian Exodus representative.
Buhl said the letter came after he had represented Wiccan Darla Wynne, who successfully sued the town of Great Falls to remove the name of Jesus Christ from pre-meeting prayers. The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed in 2004 with a federal judge that the town's prayers were an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by government.
- (Reuters)