North Augusta 20/20 admins forget what it means to be Christian
Rarely am I called on to write for anything outside my work with the church or my social justice work. However, when my daughter comes to me in the middle of the night upset that she is receiving the kind of messages and replies on Facebook that you see below, I cannot help but to speak up.
Sadly, my daughter stood up for what was right and has been vilified by the North Augusta community for it. Mind you, we are no strangers to being targeted by small-minded and abusive individuals. As both Christians and LGBTQIA+, we are targeted for death threats, abuse, harassment, and the occasional singling out by police and those in authority.
I cannot tell you how many Aiken Country Sheriff’s Deputies have told me that credible threats of violence against my church and my family don’t matter because there are “no humans involved”. That is to say, that because we are LGBTQIA+, we are not human.
And I am not surprised that a Facebook group named North Augusta 20/20 would be supportive of violence and abuse by its members. But to actually admit that you would shoot someone who knocks on your door simply because they knocked on your door is a bridge too far for most human beings, just not these human beings.
Sadly, Mr. Fletcher, who helped in the designing of First Baptist Church’s new complex, has forgotten the message of the Gospel altogether. Instead of supporting my daughter for speaking up against violence and hatred, he berated her for my efforts to stop the violent rhetoric. And then, he removed her from the group.
It is not enough that the individual behind the threats of violence publicly called my daughter all kinds of horrible things while claiming to be a Christian. No, her fellow Christians chose to support her and to help further tear down my daughter.
And somehow, they thought that would silence me. They were wrong. I will not stop speaking against violence, illegal behavior, death threats, homophobia, bigotry, transphobia, and misogyny wherever it resides.
Hence, the reason I am sending First Baptist Church, the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, Meybohm Real Estate, and Furman University formal letters of complaint against the admins of the North Augusta 20/20 group because they either support their businesses or employee them. I am calling for them to act to either remove them from positions of authority for supporting violence and illegal behavior, or to outright fire them.
When we have a society so willing to visit violence on each other that they are willing to take shots at a former President of the United States, such violent rhetoric cannot go unchallenged. And by removing my daughter and demanding I remain silent, they not only want me to go against the teachings of Jesus, but they also want me to support by my silence, violence against my neighbor.
I will not do that, and I am shocked that self-identified “Christians” would even think that is acceptable. It is not. And they are not true Christians.
Pax et Bonum,
Bishop Greer Godsey
North Augusta, SC