This must be pretty scary for the friends of the Enlightenment in that state:
From his home in rural Calaveras County, Calif., Cory Burnell keeps close watch over the news in South Carolina, and he likes what he sees.
Turning the state into a conservative Christian Promised Land will be easier than he had thought, he says.
Burnell, founder of Christian Exodus, has called for thousands of people who share his political and religious outlook to move to South Carolina, where they could push an already conservative state further to the right. Greenville, Anderson, Pickens and Spartanburg counties are among his first "target" counties, along with Lexington and Dorchester, Burnell said.
With a decisive majority, they would be able to pass laws that line up with their view of biblical principles and the U.S. Constitution -- such things as outlawing abortion, allowing governmental displays of biblical symbols and abolishing the state education system.
Considering the size of the exodus so far -- only about 20 people have relocated in the state as a result of his efforts -- Burnell's optimism might seem quixotic.
He finds reason to believe the movement will succeed, though, in the support he and his immigrants are finding here and in the direction things are going even without his help.
Case in point: Local governments, with the support of the state attorney general, have refused to fall in line with a federal court ruling that offering prayer at official meetings "in Jesus' name" is unconstitutional.
"What we're finding is that in these conservative cities and counties, we already have a pretty good concentration of conservatives with that mindset," Burnell said....
In counties where he had calculated it would take 500 immigrants to turn the tide, he now thinks it will take only 100, based on the level of support already here. By 2008, he hopes to see a strong presence of Christian Exodus-backed candidates in all six counties, and he plans for the group to "overwhelmingly impact" statewide elections in 2014.
The idea isn't beyond the realm of possibility, said Dr. Laura Olson, a political science professor at Clemson University who studies the influence of religion on politics....
The group is quietly forming coalitions with members of like-minded organizations such as the League of the South, which advocates Southern secession, and Columbia Christians for Life, a pro-life, anti-President Bush group, according to Burnell and those groups.
"Christian Exodus is a very workable program, especially in South Carolina," said Robert Clarkson of Anderson, a disabled Vietnam vet with a law degree who heads the Patriot Network, a group that believes the federal government is overstepping constitutional bounds. "It doesn't take many people to affect political change...."
Steve Lefemine, director of Columbia Christians for Life, said he "joins hands" with Christian Exodus in believing that "God's law should be the moral foundation of our civil law."
And he shares the Christian Exodus belief in secession from the union as a possible necessity -- although he prefers the word "separation."
"If South Carolina passed the Right to Life Act and the federal government would not let South Carolina protect the lives of human beings from fertilization as the Legislature and governor had signed, then I would support separation from the union," he said....
Burnell is undaunted. More than 1,200 people have signed up on his Web site as either planning to move here or financially supporting the project, he said. About 500 of those have made a commitment to move to South Carolina by the end of 2008, he said.
He is focusing on recruiting retirees -- who have time to devote to the cause and are more able to relocate than working families. And he's networking with conservative college groups to find young people who would look for jobs in South Carolina after graduating.
Some immigrants are in the process now. Robert Iacomacci, a former Republican town chairman in Hartford, Conn., bought five acres near Abbeville and plans to help Burnell and members of the League of the South to "advance the cause of liberty."
"I've had some friends raise their eyebrows and kind of laugh. But that's OK," he said. "I've gotten in trouble standing up for what's right before."
Charles Lewis, Christian Exodus' outreach director, has appeared on local radio talk shows and spoken to various political and church groups.
The former principal of a charter school in Washington, D.C., Lewis, his wife, Nilda, and 6-year-old daughter Vicky, moved to Simpsonville last year to try to help advance the cause.
"We're not an extremist group," he said. "What we are doing is reacting to the extreme marginalization of Christianity in America...."
Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, said he welcomes any conservatives who want to move here, but he thinks the conservative agenda is moving forward fine without any outside help. And most of the state's Republicans would disagree with Christian Exodus if it hopes to fracture the state from the national GOP, he said.
"I think someone who would attempt to try to paint President Bush in an unfavorable light down here in South Carolina would not find a cheering audience," he said.
(Thanks to Brian Erb for the pointer.)
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