It's my way or the highway: Christians and atheists in religious road row

Unholy spat breaks out in Florida over stretch of Highway 98 that was blessed by Christians and then unblessed by atheists

guardian.co.uk, Matt Williams, Tuesday 20 March 2012

Tallahassee Atheists in Polk County. Atheists said they were protesting
against the mingling of church and state. Photograph: EllenBeth Wachs

An unholy spat has broken out over a nondescript stretch of road in Florida as atheists and Christians stake their claim over the asphalt.

Polk County's Highway 98 was first blessed a year ago by a local church group wanting to prevent sinners and wrongdoers from entering the community.

Annoyed by the appropriation of the public highway by those of a religious bent, humanists took to the street last weekend to symbolically wash away the anointment oil.

Now, not to be outdone, the group behind the initial ceremony have indicated they will re-bless the road – but they are not saying when.

"We will probably do it again at some point," said Cassandra Geringswald, wife of the local pastor and a member of Polk Under Prayer (PUP).

"But we are not going to tell the atheists, because they will be back out there again," she added.

The ploy may work; it took Atheists of Florida the best part of a year to discover that the road leading into Polk County had been blessed, Geringswald said.

The battle over Highway 98 has played out against the backdrop of an argument over the separation of church and state in the county.

Atheists of Florida said their action followed news that the local mayor, sheriff and schools superintendent were at the original ceremony – a claim denied by PUP.

In addition, they point to a blogpost by a local evangelical minister claiming the strip of anointed oil will help "angels inspect every vehicle" and lead to non-believers being "incarcerated or removed from the county".

As a retaliatory measure, a small band of humanists took to Highway 98 armed with brooms and a vat of "unholy water" to clean away any remnants of the oil not removed by a year's worth of rain.

EllenBeth Wachs, acting president of Atheist of Florida, said: "We decided to do this un-anointment service to protest against the mingling of government and religion.

"It was just a last-minute event, put together on the spare of the moment. It was purely symbolic, we don't even know if we picked the right part of the road, we just random choose a part."

Wachs admitted that the ceremony was a publicity stunt, and a successful one at that, given the local and national media coverage it has garnered.

"I'm astounded by the backlash; we are floored by it," Wach said, adding: "This was just a symbolic ritual to welcome people of all faiths and none to this county."

But Geringswald believes the atheists were simply trying to mock the church. In any event, they have got the intention of the anointment ceremony all wrong, she said.

"Anybody is welcome to live here, faith or no faith. The point of the blessing was to ask for protection from those that seek to do harm," the PUP member said.

She noted that crime fell after the road was anointed and arrests went up – "if we got the Lord's favour, we appreciate that," she explained.

And despite the counter-action by humanists, PUP intends to continue with its blessings in a bid to protect Polk County, the churchgoer added.

"We will be doing other things that the atheists won't like, but we don't need to get their permission".

But in an indication that the battle of Highway 89 looks set to continue, Wachs is already planning the next move.

"We've heard that they buried bricks with psalms on them along the road as a more permanent blessing. I guess we are going to have to start unburying them," she joked.

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“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience? 

(Religions – Zionism - March 1, 2012 - Matthew Channelled by Suzanne Ward)

9. It can be no other way—simply, this is the physics that governs life in this universe. As Earth continues apace into successively higher planes, nothing with low vibrations in any form—physical bodies, subversive plans, theft, dishonesty, unjust laws and imprisonment, bigotry, cruel customs and deeds—can survive.

10. Moving on, no, it will not be quite like religions being “totally discarded and replaced by universal laws in the Golden Age.” When the truths come forth that science and spirit are one and the same and that religious dogmas were originated by early leaders of church and state to control the masses, people whose consciousness has risen beyond the constraints of third density will adhere to the spiritual aspects of their respective religions and the devised, controlling aspects will fall by the wayside.

11. One of the truths to come forth is that Zionism, which by dark intent has been made synonymous with Judaism, actually is a bellicose political movement within the Illuminati, and its aim for more than six decades has been to create conflict and instability in the entire Middle East. Zionists, who have wielded powerful influence within and behind major governments and their military forces, do NOT represent the Jewish peoples in Israel or anywhere else. And, like all other Illuminati factions, they have been committed to that cabal’s goal of global domination.

12. Although Semites are of diverse national origins and religions, the Zionists have been successful in convincing many that “anti-Semitic” is exclusively prejudice against the Jewish peoples and opposition to Israel’s right to defend itself from its “enemies.” By means of that blatant distortion, they obtained not only world sympathy, but also massive defense funding from Israel’s allies, most especially the United States, all of which served to increase the Illuminati’s vast profits from their industrial-military machine.

13. In addition to controlling the masses through dogmatic teachings, religions have served the dark purpose of divisiveness to such an extent that it resulted in centuries of trauma and bloodshed. Witness the Crusades, wars between Catholics and Protestants, pogroms against Jews, executions of “blasphemous” individuals who refused to “recant.”  (Read More …)

"Matthew preparing us for the Golden Age." -  Jan 19, 2012 (Channelled by Suzy Ward)