Pastor Joins Infamous Community After Burning Secular Book on Social Media
- Robert Perrell
- Nov 1, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 2, 2019
Book burnings have been a common occurrence throughout human history, from the rise of the Third Reich in Germany to the spread of the Islamic State throughout the Middle East, burning books has always represented a way to consolidate power and control the narrative. So, it was no surprise when Tennessee Pastor Greg Locke took to social media to participate in this ancient tradition of intolerance and fear.
Locke, who is a pastor at the Global Vision Bible Church, posted a short video of himself on Twitter speaking about an interaction with the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF). Locke took offense to an advertisement by the FFRF that aired during the most recent Democratic debate. Locke exchanged comments with members of the FFRF but singled out an attorney, Andrew Seidel, who wrote a book entitled The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American. Locke then proceeded to explain why the book is “utter fabricated nonsense” and ended the rant by pulling out a blowtorch and burning Seidel’s book for the entire world to see.
A couple days later, Seidel and FFRF released a response video to the burning and Seidel himself discussed his feelings on watching the video of Locke.
“It’s a very strange feeling to have a book you worked on for eight years being burned. And I looked at it with the horror and revulsion that any thinking person feels when they see a book being burned,” said Seidel in the video.
The book at the center of this social media slugfest, The Founding Myth, dives into the secular history involved in the founding of the United States of America. It also tackles the strong religious convictions that America was founded on Judea-Christian principals. The book deftly breaks down many of the claims made by “Christian Nationalists” and, according to Seidel, gives secular individuals the tools to combat these ideals with better arguments. In an interview with Seth Andrews on the podcast, The Thinking Atheist, Seidel explains his intentions of the book and how that relates to the Secular Community.
“I outlined all of the different lies and myths and I don’t just refute them with facts, which is important, that’s been done by other books, but I also give the reader a ton of new arguments that they can use to completely undercut these lies and myths,” said Seidel in the interview.
Locke’s claims in the video involve many of the lies and myths that Seidel mentions in his book, including when he says, “there is no history of America without God.” Locke also included the hashtag, #OneNationUnderGod, which was added to the pledge of allegiance in 1954. In his book, Seidel covers this phrase and others like it in great detail explaining that many were added to governmental use during the 1950’s. For example, “In God We Trust” was accepted as the national motto by an unanimous congressional vote in 1956, but Seidel argues that the original motto, E Pluribus Unum (“Out of Many, One”), was more in tune with the original founding of the country.
Opinions aside, the real theatrics of Locke’s video involved the burning of the book and with that, all the historical connotations of performing such an act. Going back in history, burning books was generally the result of military conquest in an effort to control information. But other book burnings have had more religious or cultural fervor. The Nazi regime in the 1930’s burned books as a way to stamp out the cultural and religious traditions of anything that was “un-German”, while in 2015, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) burned or looted over 2,000 books when they invaded Mosul. ISIS left Islamic books unharmed but destroyed any other books on other history, religion and culture. Even Christian communities in the United States and Europe have burned copies of Harry Potter because of “witchcraft.”
The themes presented here have one thing in common, the fear of anything different or potentially threatening to a group’s ideology. Locke’s actions are in tune with this theme and carry forward the tradition of attempting to extinguish literary works of knowledge, culture and philosophy.
Seidel, as if armed with some insight on what Locke would do, wrote a message in the copy he sent the pastor which concluded with, “be better, read something other than your Bible, life is too good to waste on bad ideas.”
After reading this, Locke lit the torch and set the book aflame, he may have burned that copy, but he was unsuccessful in destroying the history and ideas contained inside.
To purchase a copy of The Founding Myth, click here. And for more news and information about the Secular Community follow on Twitter @SecularShepherd.
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