July 7, 2015

The South Carolina Senate took up the question of whether it was appropriate to fly the Confederate flag over the statehouse Monday, but the debate was not without controversy.

“I watch the White House be lit up in the abomination colors!” Bright said. “It is time for the church to rise up…. Romans chapter 1 is clear, the Bible is clear. This nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and they are under assault by men in black robes who were not elected by you.”

Whoa. Rainbows are biblical, Senator Bright. Just sayin'.

Bright argued that lawmakers should be protecting county clerks from the “tyranny” of having to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples instead of debating the Confederate flag.

“Our governor called us in to deal with the flag that sits out front, let’s deal with the national sin that we face today!” he exclaimed. “We talk about abortion but this gay marriage thing, I believe will be one nation gone under like President Reagan said. If we’re not one nation under God, we’ll be one nation gone under.”

“And to sanctify deviant behavior from five judges, it’s time for us to make our stand, church!” Bright yelled. “It’s time to make our stand and we’re not doing it.”

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the South Caroline Senate Chamber isn't church. It's a government body, doing government things, which have nothing to do with church. Maybe Senator Bright needs some civics lessons.

The senator choked up as he continued: “We can rally together and talk about a flag all we want but the devil is taking control of this land and we’re not stopping him!”

I would love to go back in time and find out if any Senator in a Southern state strode to the Senate floor in the middle of an unrelated debate and went nuts over the Loving v. Virginia decision. I'm sure someone did, and I'll bet Bright's rant didn't sound much different than this one.

So was the Senator simply trying to derail the flag debate altogether with a different bogeyman, or was he sincerely this crazed over something that has no direct impact on him?

I think the former, frankly.

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