I’m a big fan of Dave Ridley‘s work, but he’s got this one wrong. While it’s true that churches aren’t supposed to pay taxes, the Shire Free Church will be making voluntary contributions to the people calling themselves the City of Keene based on which city services the Church ministers find valuable. Nonetheless, Ridley mischaracterizes the Shire Free Church parsonages in Keene as a “tax revolt” in this series of editorial videos from Ridleyreport.com.
Anyone who bothers to read the Shire Free Church page will discover the purpose of the church is to give religious liberty lovers a home, when so many churches today worship “the state” as a god.
Here’s Ridley’s first video critique of the Shire Free Church. In it he initially expresses confusion as to what the house in question is – is it a church or a parsonage? A quick call to me or another minister would have helped clear up his questions. (It’s a parsonage.) Instead, he just editorializes without much in the way of facts or any input from Shire Free Church ministers. He claims that we don’t have the support of neighbors, but he’s never bothered to talk to any of them. I know for a fact that some of the neighbors support liberty activism and others do not.
If you were fortunate enough to catch all of AKPF #1 special protest edition installment Aqua Kommunity Protest Fountain #1, then you had the opportunity to hear a conversation between merry person Garret and AKPF agent Jane regarding free will and predestination. In addition to the privilege of being exposed to complex philosophical positions, this visual piece also offers a window into the state of Robin Hooding and parking enforcement on July 25 2013, when this footage was captured. There’s plenty that could be said on the topic, considering that the concept of determinism was only briefly broached. Keep eyes out for further analysis to be published here. See the 8 1/2 minute illustrated segment embedded below:
Darryl and I delivered the following notice today to the people calling themselves the “City of Keene”. The notice is to inform the city people that 73 and 75 Leverett St. are ministers’ parsonages and that we will no longer participate in their system of coercive taxes. However, we may elect to give them a voluntary contribution to support the city programs (like road repair) that we support:
Notice From the Ministers of the Shire Free Church: Keene
2013-09-02
To our neighbors calling themselves the “City of Keene”:
Greetings!
You are now on notice that as of June 27th, 2013 the property commonly known as 73 and 75 Leverett Street has become ministers’ parsonages for the Shire Free Church.
One of the central tenets of our interfaith ministry is peace. Historically, people calling themselves “The City” or “The State” have engaged in systematic threatening of peaceful people. You have jargon for this, like “taxes,” “statutes,” and “ordinances.” (more…)
This lengthy post is basically a partial biography and tells my story in some detail about my path to liberty and spirituality:
I just can’t do it anymore. I have had enough of paying for this inhumane and insane state system.
It’s more than just a system – “the state” is a belief system and a religion. It is an evil religion that masquerades as though it is good.
Of course, I didn’t always think like this.
I suppose I should start at the beginning. Probably like you, I attended state-run school while growing up. They told me I was “gifted” – a designation that to this day I find ridiculous – so I went to the state school where the other “gifted” students went. School still sucked, but I had no idea how much worse it was at the other schools as I was insulated at the institution that was generally inhabited by the kids of the elite, though there were exceptions, including me. My family were middle class Presbyterians. (more…)
