JP from Cop Block and Jessica, a Free State Project early mover were married this afternoon in the most recent activist wedding in the Monadnock region.
Church of the Invisible Hand minister Rich Paul donned his pastoral garb and performed the wedding ceremony in front of many attendees on the porch of the Shire Free Church‘s Monadnock Parish House, the Keene Activist Center.
Here’s video of the ceremony with some pictures at the end:
A church pastor, late to the Sunday service, crashes through the door of a Concord bar, and the congregation inside turns to look. A second pastor, Stu Light, stands on the piste with a foam sword in hand. He calls out to the first pastor: “I look forward to killing you.”
At the Church of the Sword, where belief in a god or gods comes secondary to espousing principles of self-sufficiency and arming oneself, the greeting could be considered their version of “peace be with you.” After all, one of the holy texts of the 5-year-old, nontheistic, New Hampshire-born religion is Sun Tzu’s Art of War.
“We believe in an active struggle against those who would deprive us of life and liberty. We believe in studying and applying the martial path in the judicial and legislative arenas, as well as in self-defense,” says a sampling of the church’s statement of beliefs.
So when the town of Westmoreland said last year, and the Cheshire County Superior Court agreed this year, that the Church of the Sword isn’t a real religion – and therefore doesn’t qualify for a religious tax exemption – they took it as an attack on their freedom and struck back. (more…)
At last month’s public tax assessors’ hearing, Shire Free Church minister Mark Edge gave a rousing speech and then the Keene tax assessor board refused to explain their reasons for denying the Shire Free Church a tax exemption in 2015. Next step is an appeal to superior court. We dropped our case from last year so we could bring attorney Brandon Ross on to assist from the beginning in 2015. Stay tuned here to Free Keene for the latest on this attack on religious freedom. Here’s the video:
For those who have been following the saga of the Shire Free Church: Monadnock, here’s the latest, much of which was well-covered by the Keene Sentinel’s Martha Shanahan last week. After bringing on liberty attorney Brandon Ross for our tax appeal case last year, the church board decided to dismiss the 2014 case in favor of re-filing in 2015. We’ve since filed the 2015 tax exemption with our attorney’s oversight.
Given the state’s rejection of multiple liberty churches’ tax exemptions in 2014 (including the Peaceful Assembly Church – also represented by Ross), the board wanted to make sure we were putting our best foot forward, legally.
There has been a misconception that this is all about money; it’s about religious freedom. We don’t believe that the Shire Free Church, or any other church, should owe taxes. However we have nonetheless continued to give voluntary contributions to the City of Keene’s operations we support, like road maintenance and fire protection.
Shire Free Church: Monadnock is established to promote peace and other divine virtues, and to promote the study of religion in freedom and fellowship. We believe there are many paths to God, one for each individual. We believe God is the source of all creation; and divinity is expressed through compassion, empathy, forgiveness, freedom, generosity, honesty, humility, kindness, mercy, patience, and peace.
This is not about keeping money. If it were, we’d not be hiring an attorney. In fact, Shire Free Church: Monadnock’s board decided to go ahead and pay the full amount demanded by the city for 2014 in order to forestall any violent acts by the city agents and start our 2015 appeal without any liens on the property. The state religion is a dangerous, aggressive religion and we will use their system to protect your right to choose a religion of peace instead of believing in the violent, morally-corrupt state.
Keene’s 101 Deals Thrift Store is now home to New Hampshire’s first public Lamassu Bitcoin Vending Machine! If you’ve tried the previous machine at 101 Deals and had a frustrating experience, the Lamassu will solve that. Come give it a try! 101 Deals is open seven-days-a-week 10a-6p Mon-Sat and 10a-4p Sundays and is located at 661 Marlboro Rd. in Keene.
Not only is the Keene BVM New Hampshire’s first public Lamassu, it’s one of only two publicly operating Bitcoin Vending Machines in all of Northern New England! Once you’ve got your bitcoin, check out CoinMap to see several local businesses that accept the exciting, international, decentralized cryptocurrency. (Or spend it at thousands of online sites like Dell, Wikipedia, Overstock, and countless others.)
The city’s attorney, Thomas Mullins, had argued in his motion to dismiss, that the church had filed their appeal too early. The Shire Free Church objected, pointing out the statute allows for filings immediately after the tax assessors’ decision. In an order issued on September 25th, the court agreed with the Church, denying the city’s motion. The case will move to the next stage. Stay tuned here to Free Keene for the latest on this case.
