The Weekly Sam: Should Christians Support Education Without God

Published October 13, 2023 | By campconstitution

Back in 1849, when the organized Protestants of Massachusetts debated whether or not to support the public-school movement, which was then being heavily promoted by the Unitarians, they decided in favor of support, but with well-expressed conditions. They wrote:

The benefits of this system, in offering instruction to all, are so many and so great that its religious deficiencies, –especially since they can be otherwise supplied, do not seem to be a sufficient reason for abandoning it, and adopting in place of it, a system of denominational parochial schools …. It is however a great evil to withdraw from the established system of common schools, the interest and influence of the religious part of the community. On the whole, it seems to be the wisest course, at least for the present, to do all in our power to perfect as far as it can be done, not only its intellectual, but also its moral and religious character. If after a full and faithful experiment, it should at last be seen that fidelity to the religious interests of our children forbids a further patronage of the system, we can unite with the Evangelical Christians in the establishment of private schools, in which more full doctrinal religious instruction may be possible. But, until we are forced to this result, it seems to us desirable that the religious community do all in their power to give an opportunity for a full and fair experiment of the existing system, including not only the common schools, but also the Normal Schools and the Board of Education.

I do not believe that any Christian can doubt that there has been a “full and fair experiment” of public education for the last 150 years and that its fidelity to the religious interests of Christian children has been proven to be decidedly negative. In fact, thousands of Christian parents, without knowledge of what was written in 1849, have already taken their children out of the public schools and either decided to homeschool them or place them in Christian schools. Their responsibilities as Christian parents have led them to make the necessary decision for the sake of their children’s spiritual wellbeing. But what is disturbing is that most Christians still patronize a system that is undermining the religious beliefs of their children.

One wonders what must happen before these parents realize the harm, they are doing to their children by keeping them in public schools. The simple fact is that the present government education system has as its foundation an anti-Christian philosophy known as secular humanism. All one has to do is read the Humanist Manifestos I and II to confirm the truth of this assertion. Humanist Manifesto I was written in 1933 by young Unitarian ministers who believed that the spiritual power of orthodox religion was in decline and should be replaced by a rational, man-centered, nontheistic religion. They wrote:

Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values …. Religious humanism considers the complete realization of human personality to be the end of man’s life and seeks its development and fulfillment in the here and now. . . Religious humanism maintains that all associations and institutions exist for the fulfillment of human life. The intelligent evaluation, transformation, control, and direction of such associations and institutions with a view to the enhancement of human life is the purpose and program of humanism. Certainly, religious institutions, their ritualistic forms, ecclesiastical methods, and communal activities must be reconstituted as rapidly as experience allows, in order to function effectively in the modern world.

Humanism is the only religion in America that has as its purpose and program the reconstitution of the institutions, rituals, and ecclesiastical methods of other religions. This is an overt declaration of war against Biblical religion. Forty years later, Humanist Manifesto II states:

As non-theists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity. [We]e can discover no divine purpose or providence for the human species …. No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.

In the January/February 1983 issue of The Humanist magazine, a young scholar by the name of John J. Dunphy expressed exactly what the aim of humanists is in education:

I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public-school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being. These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey. So humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of educational level-­ preschool day care or large state university. The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new–the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, resplendent in its promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of “love thy neighbor” will finally be achieved.

The humanist war against Christianity is going on everyday in the classrooms of America. But the real battle is being fought in the courtrooms of the nation. In March 1987, U.S. District Judge W. Brevard Hand ruled in Smith v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County. Alabama that the public-school curriculum was based on the tenets of secular humanism, and he thereby ordered that humanist textbooks to be removed from the schools. Five months later this ruling was overturned by the Eleventh Circuit Court which stated that “none of these books convey a message of government approval of secular humanism.” In other words, humanists are free to teach their dogma in the public schools as long as the government does not convey a message of approval. But that is the argument used to keep Christianity out. It is said that the mere inclusion of anything Christian in a public-school curriculum automatically implies government approval.

The notion that public schools are neutral when it comes to religion is belied by the strong prejudice against Christianity as openly expressed by such humanists as John Dunphy. What we have is not neutrality but warfare. Until Christians recognize that the government schools are establishments of religion, and that education is fundamentally a religious activity, we shall not be able to deal realistically with our educational crisis. The message for Christian parents must be loud and clear: putting a child in a public school violates God’s commandment as given in Deuteronomy 6 to educate a child in the love and admonition of the Lord.

There is no substitute for a godly education. In place of God, the public schools offer evolution, sex education, death education, multiculturalism, transcendental meditation, situational ethics, drug education, and other forms of humanist teachings. These are the programs that are creating the new nihilist, amoral barbarians that are devastating the lives of thousands of parents. There is hardly a Christian family that has not lost a child to the satanic culture that grows in the public-school environment. If Christians wish to restore America as a nation under God, they shall have to educate their children in schools that revere Him. •

Camp Constitution’s Third Quarter Report for 2023

Published October 9, 2023 | By Hal Shurtleff
 

 Camp Constitution in the News:

We continue to be mentioned in the media as local Christians petition to have the Chrisitan or Pro-Life flags fly on town or city halls. 1819 News in Alabama as Christian activists interviewed us are in the process of having Montgomery declare Christian Heritage Month and have the Christian fly in front of City Hall for a month:

https://1819news.com/news/item/montgomery-city-council-delays-american-christian-heritage-month-resolution-again

Christians in Torrington, CT raised the Christian flag on their city hall with over two hundred people including the mayor on hand:

And in Billerica, MA,  Deedee Clark Dorrington and members of her group Fly the Pro-Life Flag with the help from our friends at the Massachusetts Family Institute were able to get the town selectmen vote 4-1 in favor of flying the Pro-Life flag for two weeks in October:  MFI’s Advocacy Leads Billerica to Raise Pro-Life Flag on Town Property – MFI | Massachusetts Family Institute (mafamily.org)

The Claremont, NH Eagle Tribute did a story on our annual family camp:  https://www.eagletimes.com/news/camp-takes-on-swimming-and-the-bill-of-rights/article_e3f74b08-0d14-545d-b9a0-876343786082.html  The reporter asked us how we teach the Constitution to five year olds, we sent him a link to this video of our Junior Campers led by Mrs. Edith Craft singing a song about the Constitution

https://youtu.be/_Tw6Lz2QoOk?si=wVvNeZ2EayAtzSiX

We received some national media attention from NBC and Fox News with the appearance of presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswami at our annual family camp.

Special Projects: 

We had a float in the annual Old Home Week Parade in Alton, NH, and we presented their salute to America event held at Alton Bay. We had info tables at numerous events including the Crown of Maine Balloon Festival, the Mid-Atlantic Reformation Society’s Future of Christendom forum, the National Heritage, and the Mass HOPE homeschool convention where we also conducted a workshop on the Sam Blumenfeld Archive. We co-sponsored a Patriot Day Camp in Maine led by Mrs. Jessica Whitworth.

In April, Camp Constitution donated 1,500 pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution to the Alton-Barnstead, NH School District, and in January, we donated 1,100 copies to the Laconia Junior and High School, Laconia, NH Junior High, and High Schools. This has opened up the doors to other donations to schools in the region.

We hosted a group of homeschoolers at the Lane House for a field trip overnight to take in the Midnight Night Ride and Battle of Lexington Reenactments.

We hosted the Hillside College’s Constitutional Study Course in Alton, NH and Lebanon, ME.

Camp Constitution Media:

We videotaped all of the classes and some of the activity at our annual family camp and at our second weekend retreat the Lexington Reenactment, Alton, NH’s Memorial Day Parade, speeches as our 3rd Annual Memorial Day Weekend Barbecue in Lexington, the classes and activities at our annual family camp, and speeches of our speakers Julie Wilkinson, Pastor William Levi, and Charl van Wyk.

YouTube, Rumble Channels and Bitchute Channels

We have received 90,000 thousand views on our YouTube Channel this year with new subscribers giving us close to 8,000 subscribers overall. Our Rumble channel has received 6,388 views this year with seven likes, and our Bitchute channel has 2,3126 views this year.

The Sam Blumenfeld Archive:

552,168 hits

3,592 Marlow-Shakespeare Book

3,288 Alpha Phonics Workbooks

2,543 Alpha Phonics Manuals

Our friend Godknows Matizirofa principal of Nottingham School in Harare, Zimbabwe, is building a new school and will name it in honor of Sam Blumenfeld. We have been donating copies of Sam’s Alpha Phonics to the school.

We reached out to Mrs. Joyce Burges of National Black Home Educators and donated a case of Sam’s Alpha-Phonics, and plan to interview her on our radio show.

If you haven’t already, please visit and subscribe to the archives: https://campconstitution.net/sam-blumenfeld-archive/ 

Camp Constitution Radio on Podomatic:

We remain in the top ten for the conservative category with 7,614 downloads, and 862 plays   https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal 

 Facebook Page:

We continue to average fifty likes per month. We also admin about eight groups including Friend of the Constitution in ME, NH, MA, CT, RI. PA, VT, and Stop the Constitutional Convention.

Speaker’s Bureau:

For the first nine months, we had over thirty speaking engagements. We recently held six engagements for Charl van Wyk author of Shooting Back in MA, NH, and ME. In September, we spoke to the Mid Atlantic Reformation Society, and we were one of the featured speakers at the Norfolk County (MA) Second Amendment Rally and Constitutional Day Celebration. We spoke at the Michigan Republican Party’s Mackinac Island event where we shared a podium with the likes of Alan Keyes and Jim Caviezel. We had speaking engagements in Maine including being the featured speaker at the Homeschoolers of Maine Annual State House Day, and presentations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Loudon, NH. We hosted four engagements for Juli Wilkinson who played the abortion nurse in the movie Unplanned. And we hosted Mrs. Bau Chau Kelly at the Lane House. Mrs. Kelly described life in Communist Vietnam:

 

(Rev. Craft ans Charl van Wyk at the Lane House)

Camp Constitution’s Website:

We had 27.000 views for this period, and posted 147 blogs:  https://www.campconstitution.net

Camp Constitution Book Sales:                           

We have raised close to $3.500 from donated books from our Amazon, Facebook page, and on-line bookstore. https://campconstitution.net/shop/

  Article V Convention: 

We worked with legislatures to have an Article V rescission resolution introduced in the New Hampshire House in 2024. Despite the onslaught of Article V resolutions all over the U.S. not a single one passed. We helped defeat two Article V resolutions in New Hampshire, several in Maine, and authored articles on the subject in on-line and print media and participated in a national conference call hosted by Tamara Scott who hosts a show on Frank Speech. One article we published was an expose on the leadership of the Convention of States. https://granitegrok.com/mg_lakesregion/2023/04/poisoning-the-well-is-not-working-in-new-hampshire-but-we-cant-help-ourselves  We worked with legislatures to have an Article V rescission resolution introduced in the New Hampshire House in 2024.

 Radio and Cable TV: 

We were a first time guest on several radio shows including the Chris Arn Show based in Carliyle,  and returned to the  the Duke Pesta Show:  https://www.freedomproject.com/2023/05/30/dds53023/ and earlier  in the year, we were guests on “Chattin with Janine: a popular Cable TV Show hosted by NH State Rep and long-tine friend Janine Notter. And  appeared as a guest on Tamara Scott’s show on Frank Speech, https://frankspeech.com/video/tamara-scott-show-joined-hal-shurtleff-camp-constitution and an appearance on the Ed Martin Radio Show which is nationally syndicated:  https://www.phyllisschlafly.com/constitution/wynk-back-to-basics-with-hal-shurtleff/

      Camp Constitution Ladies Group:

The Third Annual Spring Fling took place May 5-7 at the Singing Hills Christian Camp. Speakers include Valerie McDonnell, the youngest elected official in the United States and former abortion nurse turned Pro-Life activist Julie Wilkinson. Julie played a role in the movie “Unplanned.”  

                                           

Julie Wilkinson                                                       Valerie McDonnell

 

Our friend and Camp Constitution camp parent Steve Wanager has relocated to Maine and donated one of his replica cannons to Camp Constitution. We are now the proud owners of a replica Revolutionary War howitzer. Contrary to the view of Mr. Biden, the 2nd Amendment does not prevent us from owning a cannon.

Camp Constitution’s 15th Annual Family Camp

We had another successful family camp with new guest speakers’ author and documentary producer Vince Ellison. And, for the first time in our history, a presidential candidate visited us. Mr. Vivek Ramaswamy spoke to the campers and took their questions.

   

Second Annual Family Retreat:

We just completed o our 2nd Annual Weekend Family Retreat which ran from Friday September 29 to Sunday October 1. Guest instructors were Jim Perloff and former Gubernatorial candidate Karen Testerman. Returning instructors included Catherine White, and Rev. Steve Craft. Jessica Whitworth conducted the program for the junior campers.

 

How you can help Camp Constitution grow:

* Keep Camp Constitution and our nation in your prayers.

* Become a donor. Monthly and/or one-time donations can be made via our PayPal account accessed from our website https://www.campconstitution.net

* Host one of our speakers

Host a Constitutional Study Course

*  Introduce Camp Constitution to family and friends.

*Author an article for our camp blog.

Thank you for all you did in the freedom movement, and for helping to make Camp Constitution possible.

 

Hal Shurtleff, Director
Camp Constitution

 

 

American Minute with Bill Federer Four Voyages of Columbus to the New World – and Hurricanes in the Caribbean

Published October 6, 2023 | By campconstitution

 

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American Minute with Bill Federer
Four Voyages of Columbus to the New World – and Hurricanes in the Caribbean

Mehmet II succeeded his father, Murad II, to rule the Muslim Ottoman Empire.

After killing his brothers, he later formalized this practice into law, stating:

“Whichever of my sons inherits the sultan’s throne, it behooves him to kill his brothers in the interest of the world order” … continue reading American Minute here …

Download as PDF …
On May 29, 1453, at the age of 21, Mehmet II conquered the Byzantine city of Constantinople, the largest and richest city in Europe.
Located on the Bosporus, where the East and West met, it largely served as the capital of Christendom for over a thousand years.
Mehmet had stated:
“The ghaza (holy war) is our basic duty, as it was in the case of our fathers … The conquest of (Constantinople) is … essential to the future and the safety of the Ottoman state.”
The fall of Constantinople ended the Byzantine Empire and permanently altered trade routes from Europe to Asia, which had been traveled for centuries by merchants, such as Marco Polo.
Detractors of Columbus should turn one chapter back in the history books and lay blame for his voyages on the expansionist policies of Sultan Mehmet II, who blocked Western access to the land trade routes to India and China.
Even socialist historian Howard Zinn admitted in A People’s History of the United States (1980):
“Now that the Turks had conquered Constantinople and the eastern Mediterranean, and controlled the land routes to Asia, a sea route was needed.
Portuguese sailors were working their way around the southern tip of Africa.
Spain decided to gamble on a long sail across an unknown ocean.”
William Lawson Grant, Professor of Colonial History at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, wrote in the introduction to Voyages and Explorations (Toronto, The Courier Press, Limited, 1911, A.S. Barnes Company):
“The history of Western Civilization begins in a conflict with the Orient, a conflict of which it may be the end is not yet.
… The routes between East and West have been trodden by the caravans of trade more often even than by the feet of armies.
… The treasures of the East were long brought overland to Alexandria, or Constantinople, or the cities of the Levant, and thence distributed to Europe by the galleys of Genoa or of Venice.
… But when the Turk placed himself astride the Bosporus, and made Egypt his feudatory, new routes had to be found.”
Grant continued in Voyages and Explorations:
“In the search for these were made the three greatest voyages in history, those
of Columbus,
of Vasco da Gama, and
greatest of all of Magellan …
… In his search for the riches of Cipangu (Japan), Columbus stumbled upon America.
The great Genoese lived and died under the illusion that he had reached the outmost verge of Asia.”
In 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama successfully sailed around South Africa to India.
But six years earlier, Columbus proposed another westward SEA route.
Beginning in 1492, Christopher Columbus took FOUR VOYAGES to the New World:
1ST VOYAGE (1492-1493), he DISCOVERED land;
2ND VOYAGE (1493-1496), he encountered a hurricane, malaria, and CANNIBALS;
3RD VOYAGE (1498-1500), he faced doldrums, rebellion, and was ARRESTED;
4TH VOYAGE (1502-1504), he survived another hurricane, explored Panama, and was SHIPWRECKED on Jamaica for a year.
1ST VOYAGE (1492-1493) was truly historic.
Columbus used his knowledge of the “trade winds” to make the longest voyage ever out of the sight of land.
Thinking he had made it to India, he referred to the inhabitants as “Indians,” and the name stuck.
It is interesting to consider that native Americans might never have been called “Indians” had it not been for Islamic jihad cutting off the land trade routes to India.
These first inhabitants were peaceful Taino Arawak natives.
Columbus thought that Cuba was the tip of China and that Hispaniola (Dominican Republican/Haiti) was Japan.
Returning to Europe, Columbus’ ship, Santa Maria, hit a reef off the coast of Hispaniola and wrecked on December 24, 1492. He left 39 sailors in a make-shift fort named La Navidad.
2ND VOYAGE (1493-1496), Columbus was frustratingly saddled with 17 ships and 1,500 mostly get-rich-quick Spanish opportunists.
This was the doings of the jealous Spanish Bishop Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, who continually undermined Columbus at the royal court.
Fonseca thought it was a mistake that the Spanish Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, gave so much authority to a “non-Spaniard” — Columbus being just a low-class Genoese, from the rival Italian city-state of Genoa.
In this sense, Columbus was the victim of racial discrimination.
Bishop Fonseca is to be blamed for altering Columbus’ goal from finding India and China to managing hundreds of ambitious settlers. Columbus was an amazingly gifted explorer, but unfortunately failed miserably as a governor.
Looking for a location for a settlement, Columbus explored Puerto Rico and Jamaica.
Arriving at La Navidad, Hispaniola, they were shocked to find that the sailors Columbus had left the previous year were all killed by natives.
Reality set it.
Instead of finding a paradise, Spaniards were shocked to discover the existence of aggressive Carib natives.
Caribs would land on an island inhabited by the peaceful Taino Arawak natives and proceed to emasculated, sodomized and cannibalized them.
Columbus had them establish the settlement of La Isabella on Hispaniola, but shortly after it was destroyed in a hurricane, a storm of unbelievable intensity which none of them had experienced before.
They abandoned La Isabella and founded a new settlement named Santo Domingo, presumably in honor of Columbus’ father Domenico.
After the hurricane, followed by malaria, together with the fear of cannibals, the Spanish settlers began to feel Columbus misrepresented this new world “paradise.”
They began to grow impatient at having to obey Columbus, who, after all, was not even Spanish, but rather an Italian of low birth from Genoa.
Columbus unfortunately yielded to their greedy demands and allowed them set up European-style feudal plantations, called “mayorazgos.”
This tragically set a precedent for generations of mistreatment of native populations.
Columbus sailed back to Spain, leaving his two younger brothers Bartholomew and Diego (Giacomo) in charge of Santo Domingo.
3RD VOYAGE (1498-1500), Columbus sailed across the Atlantic further south, closer to the equator.
This brought him through a stretch of sea called “the horse latitudes” and “the doldrums,” where there is no wind for weeks at a time.
Parched in the windless heat of the blazing sun, Columbus prayed that if the winds returned, he would name the first land he saw after the Trinity.
When the winds picked up, Columbus named the first land he saw “Trinidad.”
Columbus then set foot and planted the Spanish flag on the Paria Peninsula of present-day Venezuela, August 1, 1498, making him the first European to set foot on South America.
He explored the beautiful Orinoco River, speculating that it could be the outer regions of the Garden of Eden.
When Columbus arrived back at his settlement of Santo Domingo, he found that the greedy Spanish settlers had rebelled against his brothers, Bartholomew and Diego.
In despair, Columbus sent a letter to the King, pleading for help.
The plea was intercepted by the ambitious Bishop Fonseca, who convinced the King that, instead of sending help, he should replace Columbus as governor.
The King sent a replacement governor named Bobadillo in 1500.
Bobadillo arrested Columbus and his brothers, and sent them back to Spain in chains.
Columbus wrote to a friend and confidante of the Queen, Dona Juana de Torres:
“I undertook a new voyage to the New World which hitherto had been hidden …
They judge me there as a governor who had gone to Sicily or to a city or town under a regular government …
I should be judged as a captain who went from Spain to the Indies.”
4TH VOYAGE (1502-1504).
After a two year delay, Ferdinand and Isabella finally permitted Columbus to sail on May 12, 1502, from Cadiz, Spain, on his last voyage.
Columbus was forbidden to visit his settlement of Santo Domingo, but upon reaching the Caribbean, he was alarmed to see another hurricane brewing, similar to the one experienced at La Isabella.
Weighing the risk, he entered the harbor of Santo Domingo to warn them of the approaching danger and to seek shelter for his ships.
He anchored and rowed ashore.
A second replacement governor had arrived named Orvando.
He ignored Columbus.
Orvando was preoccupied in preparing to send back to Spain the previous governor, Bobadillo, along with a treasure fleet of 30 ships filled with gold and native slaves.
Unwittingly, the ships would be heading directly into the path of the hurricane. Columbus’ warning was completely spurned, as he was considered an unwelcome persona-non-grata.
Orvando ordered Columbus to immediately leave the harbor.
With the hurricane now fast approaching, Columbus did not even take the time to pull aboard his row boat.
He sailed as fast as he could to seek shelter from the wind on the far side of the island.
The hurricane hit around July 1, 1502, with such fury that it almost completely destroyed Santo Domingo.
Of the treasure fleet, 4 ships returned to Santo Domingo, and 25 sank, with the loss of approximately 500 lives, including Bobadillo.
The one ship that survived and made it to Spain was the Aguja. It was so old and slow that it had not yet cleared the island mangroves when the hurricane hit.
When the ship arrived in Spain, to everyone’s amazement, it was found to be the one carrying Columbus’ portion of the gold, per his initial agreement with Ferdinand and Isabella.
The providential nature of this incident vindicated Columbus’ reputation, though he did not find out about it for over a year, as he was blown around the Caribbean.
Describing the violent weather, Columbus recorded:
“The tempest arose and wearied me so that I knew not where to turn, my old wound opened up, and for 9 days I was lost without hope of life; eyes never beheld the sea so angry and covered with foam …”
He continued:
“The wind not only prevented our progress, but offered no opportunity to run behind any headland for shelter; hence we were forced to keep out in this bloody ocean, seething like a pot on a hot fire. The people were so worn out that they longed for death.”
After a day and a half of continuous lightning, Columbus’ 15-year-old son, Ferdinand, recorded that on December 13, 1502, a waterspout passed between the ships:
“… the which had they not dissolved by reciting the Gospel according to St. John, it would have swamped whatever it struck … for it draws water up to the clouds in a column thicker than a waterbutt, twisting it about like a whirlwind.”
Columbus’ biographer, Samuel Eliot Morrison described Admiral Columbus:
“It was the Admiral who exorcised the waterspout. From his Bible he read of that famous tempest off Capernaum, concluding, ‘Fear not, it is I!’
Then clasping the Bible in his left hand, with drawn sword he traced a cross in the sky and a circle around his whole fleet.”
Columbus explored the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
He briefly landed in Panama, but was too ill and too suspicious of the natives to cross the 50 mile-wide isthmus on foot to the Pacific side, where he could have seen the real route to India and China.
As it was, they were attacked by Indians, and barely made it out of a shallow Belen River at low tide with 3 of his 4 ships. Another ship was lost in a storm off Cuba.
With his last two ships worm-eaten and taking on water, he beached them on the Island of Jamaica at St. Anne’s Bay, on June 25, 1503, marooned for the next year.
Natives at first accommodated them, but the situation deteriorated when some sailors began an unruly mutiny.
Fearing an attack, Columbus had to act fast.
An accomplished explorer, Columbus had been diligent to keep track of the position of the moon and stars in the night sky of the Western Hemisphere, something that had never been observed before.
Using astronomic tables made by Rabbi Abraham Zacuto of Spain, Columbus summoned the chiefs to his marooned ships on the specific night of February 29, 1504.
When he correctly predicted a lunar eclipse, the natives became afraid and convinced Columbus had divine favor.
They abandoned their plans of attack and continued to provide for them.
Finally, Columbus’ captain, Diego Méndez de Segura, purchased a canoe from the natives and set off with several of them from Jamaica toward Hispaniola (Haiti), crossing 450 miles of open sea.
Arriving there, Méndez found Governor Ovando in the jungle, subduing the Taino Arawak natives.
Ovando was not thrilled to hear that Columbus was still alive and waited months to send help.
Being rescued at last, Columbus returned to Santo Domingo for a final visit, then to Spain, arriving on November 7, 1504.
Three weeks later, his chief patron, Queen Isabella, died.
Columbus died a year and a half later at the age of 55.
Though unsuccessful as a governor, Columbus was nevertheless one of the world’s most accomplished sailors and explorers, and though he did not reach India or China, he did change history.
Back during his fourth and final voyage, when he was in Panama, trapped on the Belen River at low tide, he was incapacitated with physical pain.
On July 7, 1503, not knowing if anyone would ever read it, he wrote his Lettera Rarissima:
“The Indians were many and united and attacked … I was outside very much alone, on this rude coast, with a high fever and very fatigued.
There was no hope of escape. In this state, I climbed painfully to the highest part of the ship and cried out for help with a fearful voice …
… At length, groaning with exhaustion, I fell asleep, and heard a compassionate voice saying,

‘O fool, and slow to believe and serve thy God, the God of every man! … From thy birth He hath ever held thee in special charge …

Of those barriers of the Ocean Sea, which were closed with such mighty chains, He hath given thee the keys …

Turn thou to Him and acknowledge thy faults; His mercy is infinite; thine old age shall not hinder thee from performing mighty deeds … Whatever He promises He fulfills with interest; that is His way.”

(Published with permission from the American Minute.)

—

Has the Sun’s true role in global warming been miscalculated?

Published October 3, 2023 | By campconstitution

This news release was sent to us by Camp Constitution instructor Professor Willie Soon:
 
A new international study published in the scientific peer-reviewed journal, Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, by 20 climate researchers from 12 countries suggests that the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) might have substantially underestimated the role of the Sun in global warming.

The article began as a response to a 2022 commentary on an extensive review of the causes of climate change published in 2021. The original review (Connolly and colleagues, 2021) had suggested that the IPCC reports had inadequately accounted for two major scientific concerns when they were evaluating the causes of global warming since the 1850s:

The global temperature estimates used in the IPCC reports are contaminated by urban warming biases.

The estimates of solar activity changes since the 1850s considered by the IPCC substantially downplayed a possible large role for the Sun.

On this basis, the 2021 review had concluded that it was not scientifically valid for the IPCC to rule out the possibility that global warming might be mostly natural.

The findings of that 2021 review were disputed in a 2022 article by two climate researchers (Dr. Mark Richardson and Dr. Rasmus Benestad) for two main reasons:

  1. Richardson and Benestad (2022) argued that the mathematical techniques used by Connolly and colleagues (2021) were inappropriate and that a different set of mathematical techniques should have been used instead.

  2. They also argued that many of the solar activity records considered by Connolly and colleagues (2021) were not up-to-date.

They suggested that these were the reasons why Connolly and colleagues (2021) had come to a different conclusion from the IPCC.

This new 2023 article by the authors of the 2021 review, has addressed both of these concerns and shown even more compelling evidence that the IPCC’s statements on the causes of global warming since 1850 are scientifically premature and may need to be revisited.

The authors showed that the urban component of the IPCC’s global temperature data shows a strong warming bias relative to the 98% of the planet that is unaffected by urbanization. However, they also showed that urbanized data represented most of the weather station records used.

While the IPCC only considered one estimate of solar activity for their most recent (2021) evaluation of the causes of global warming, Connolly and colleagues compiled and updated 27 different estimates that were used by the scientific community.

Several of these different solar activity estimates suggest that most of the warming observed outside urban areas (in rural areas, oceans, and glaciers) could be explained in terms of the Sun. Some estimates suggest that global warming is a mixture of human and natural factors. Other estimates agreed with the IPCC’s findings.

For this reason, the authors concluded that the scientific community is not yet in a position to establish whether the global warming since the 1850s is mostly human-caused, mostly natural or some combination of both.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Ronan Connolly, of the Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences (CERES-Science.com) described the implications of their findings,

“In scientific investigations, it is important to avoid beginning your analysis with your conclusions decided in advance. Otherwise you might end up with a false sense of confidence in your findings. It seems that the IPCC was too quick to jump to their conclusions.”

Another author of the study, Dr. Willie Soon, also of the Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences, explained:

“If the IPCC had paid more attention to open-minded scientific inquiry than trying to force a premature ‘scientific consensus’, then the scientific community would be a lot closer to having genuinely resolved the causes of climate change. Hopefully, our new analysis and datasets can help other scientists to get back to doing real climate science.”

This study reaches similar conclusions to another study that was recently published in a separate scientific peer-reviewed journal, Climate. This other study involved many of the same co-authors (led by Dr. Soon) and focused on a detailed case study of two solar activity estimates and two temperature estimates. It took a different approach to analyzing the problem but confirmed that varying the choice of solar activity and temperature estimates can lead to very different conclusions on the causes of global warming.

For media inquiries, please contact Dr. Ronan Connolly (Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences) at ronan@ceres-science.com or Dr. Willie Soon (Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences) at willie@ceres-science.com.
Link to the study:

  • R. Connolly, W. Soon, M. Connolly, S. Baliunas, J. Berglund, C.J. Butler, R.G. Cionco, A.G. Elias, V. Fedorov, H. Harde, G.W. Henry, D.V. Hoyt, O. Humlum, D.R. Legates, N. Scafetta, J.-E. Solheim, L. Szarka, V.M. Velasco Herrera, H. Yan and W.J. Zhang (2023). “Challenges in the detection and attribution of Northern Hemisphere surface temperature trends since 1850”. Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 23(10), 105015. https://doi.org/10.1088/1674-4527/acf18e. (Open access).

  • Link to accompanying datasets.

Links to other studies mentioned:

  1. R. Connolly, W. Soon, M. Connolly, S. Baliunas, J. Berglund, C. J. Butler, R. G. Cionco, A. G. Elias, V. M. Fedorov, H. Harde, G. W. Henry, D. V. Hoyt, O. Humlum, D. R. Legates, S. Lüning, N. Scafetta, J.-E. Solheim, L. Szarka, H. van Loon, V. M. Velasco Herrera, R. C. Willson, H. Yan and W. Zhang (2021). How much has the Sun influenced Northern Hemisphere temperature trends? An ongoing debate. Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 21, 131. https://doi.org/10.1088/1674-4527/21/6/131. Supplementary Materials available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7088728.

  2. M.T. Richardson and R.E. Benestad (2022). “Erroneous use of Statistics behind Claims of a Major Solar Role in Recent Warming”. Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 22(12), 125008. https://doi.org/10.1088/1674-4527/ac981c. (pdf available here).

  3. W. Soon, R. Connolly, M. Connolly, S.-I. Akasofu, S. Baliunas, J. Berglund, A. Bianchini, W.M. Briggs, C.J. Butler, R.G. Cionco, M. Crok, A.G. Elias, V.M. Fedorov, F. Gervais, H. Harde, G.W. Henry, D.V. Hoyt, O. Humlum, D.R. Legates, A.R. Lupo, S. Maruyama, P. Moore, M. Ogurtsov, C. ÓhAiseadha, M.J. Oliveira, S.-S. Park, S. Qiu, G. Quinn, N. Scafetta, J.-E. Solheim, J. Steele, L. Szarka, H.L. Tanaka, M.K. Taylor, F. Vahrenholt, V.M. Velasco Herrera and W. Zhang (2023). “The Detection and Attribution of Northern Hemisphere Land Surface Warming (1850–2018) in Terms of Human and Natural Factors: Challenges of Inadequate Data”, Climate, 11(9), 179. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11090179. (Open access).

  4. IPCC (2021). “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change”. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. https://ipcc.ch

The Weekly Sam: The Gospel at War With the Yellow School Bus

Published October 3, 2023 | By Hal Shurtleff

This is a short and powerful presentation not just urging parents to get their children out of government schools but the evil ideology promoted in the government schools making the acceptance of abortion, gender mutilation and the destruction of the morals of a nation.

Sam Blumenfeld’s  work is well known to the folks at the Mid Atlantic Reformation Society, the organization that hosted this event https://www.midatlanticreformation.org/

 

Second Amendment Rally Newton, MA

Published September 27, 2023 | By Hal Shurtleff

Camp Constitution is having a busy and productive September with speaking engagements in PA, MA, NH, ME and MI and in a few days, our 2nd annual family weekend retreat.  This video is from the Sunday September 17 Constitution Day and 2nd Amendment forum sponsored by the Norfolk County Republican Committee.  I was one of the speakers and we also had a information table at the event.

Norfolk County Republican Committee’s 2nd Amendment and Constitution Day Forum held of Sunday September 17, 2023 at the American Legion in Newton, MA. Hal Shurtleff of Camp Constitution, Toby Leary of Cape Cod Gun Works, Mike HARRIS Gun Owner’s Action League (GOAL) – Charlie COOK “Riding Shotgun with Charlie” – Committeewoman Lynne ROBERTS 2nd Amendment Sisters – Hal SHURTLEFF from Camp Constitution – Moderator Bob HISS – Toby LEARY of Cape Gun Works – Kerri Ann AUCLAIR from the DC Project – Jim WALLACE from GOAL

 

 

 Will You Go to Hell For Me?

Published September 26, 2023 | By Hal Shurtleff

No, I don’t want you to go to Hell for me? But I want to introduce the readers to a powerful documentary of the same name, and the writings of the man who produced the documentary- Mr. Vince Ellison who is both a friend and a Camp Constitution instructor.

One of my duties as Camp Director is to serve as a “talent scout” by being on the lookout for potential instructors at our annual camps, and speakers’ bureau.   I find these instructors in various ways:  meeting them in person at their speaking events, recommendations, and while watching and listening to media outlets.  Since our inception, we have been blessed with an incredible list of instructors including a British Lord, Christophen Monckton, one of the world’s top atmospheric scientists Professor Willie Soon, a pioneer in the modern home school movement Sam Blumenfeld, a pioneer in the Right to Life Movement Dr. Mildred Jefferson, and now and Vince Ellison.

Vince first came to my attention in an interview he did on the Tucker Carlson Show early last year where he was discussing his book The 25 Most Damnable Lies of the Democrat Party and How to Refute Them.  He and Tucker have become good friends.   I also saw him on NewsMax and listened to him on the Grace Curley Show which airs on WRKO.  I contacted Rev. Steve Craft, Camp Constitution’s chaplain and said that we need to reach out to him.    Rev. Craft visited his website, e-mailed him and shortly thereafter, had a lengthy phone conversation with him.  Vince told Rev. Craft that he was driving and listening to the radio when he heard the news of our lawsuit Shurtleff v Boston.  He was so excited to hear the news of the victory that he pulled the car over and did “A Holy Ghost Dance” which I wished he videotaped.

Vince lives near Lynchburg, VA where one of my daughters attends Liberty University.  We had to move our daughter in for her freshman year in August of 2022 so I was able to meet with Vince.  Our breakfast meeting lasted close to four hours and ended with the creation of a friendship.  Vince had a profound knowledge of the negative side of the Civil Rights Movement.  I learned from him that it was Communist Stanley Levinson that wrote Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and Vince learned from me that King was the first recipient of Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger Award.

Rev. Steve Craft (left) and Vince Ellison holding a copy of The Boston Broadside

Who is Vince Ellison?

Vince was born on a cotton plantation in Haywood County, Tennessee, where his parents were sharecroppers.  Vince was taught a love of God and Country from his parents.   His father became successful in the insurance industry which raised him and his seven siblings from poverty to the middle-class.

His family started the   Ellison Family gospel singing group and performed in black churches and the gospel music community through Vince’s young life. Through his experiences in gospel music, Vince gained intimate knowledge of the inner workings and failings of many of black churches and their ministers.

While he received a degree from Memphis State University, he says his real-world education came from working as a correctional officer at a maximum-security prison in South Carolina. Vince later worked with many black civic organizations in the nonprofit arena. In 2000, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 6th Congressional District of South Carolina.

In 2019, Vince wrote The Iron Triangle: Inside the Liberal Democrat Plan to Use Race to Divide Christians and America in their Quest for Power and How We Can Defeat Them, and 25 Lies Exposing Democrats Most Dangerous, Seductive, Damnable, Destructive Lies and How to Refute Them which both became Amazon #1 bestsellers. Vince’s upcoming book from Posthill/Simon & Schuster Crime Inc. will be released in early October.  He has appeared numerous times on Hannity, The Laura Ingraham Show, Newsmax, OAN, Tucker Carlson Show, The Joe Pags Show, The Brian Kilmeade Show, The Howie Carr Show, and many other radio and television programs. Vince is a member of Project 21 and has written numerous articles for American Greatness magazine, Bizpacreview.com, and other publications. Vince is also the producer and writer of the recently released documentary Will You Go To Hell For Me.

Vince is a member of Project 21 and has written numerous articles for American Greatness magazine, Bizpacreview.com, and other publications.

Here is a description of his book 25 Lies which I highly recommend:

Vince Ellison is America’s most fearless truth teller. Agree or disagree with his thesis, open-minded readers must grapple with the persuasive power of his arguments, his mastery of facts, and his passionate love for mankind and our Creator.

As a young man, Ellison began his career in the belly of the beast—as a prison guard working in the worst cellblock imaginable—the one housing mass murderers, rapists, child molesters, and others who would never be released, and whose crimes would never be redeemed in this world. Vince Ellison saw the face of evil up close. He knows it like few of us ever could.

And it was to his dismay and sadness that he has seen that same evil later in life. This time, not in the faces of hardened, incarcerated criminals. But rather in the eyes of the leaders of the Democratic party. In this stunningly persuasive work, Vince marshals his own experience and couples it with a learned and original analysis to conclude that the leaders of America’s “progressive” party aren’t just wrong on their policy stances—they are deliberately and intently destructive. Ellison painstakingly dismantles the twenty-five lies underlying Democratic policies and arguments and provides readers with the tools they need to understand and refute these myths and deceptions. Finally, Ellison implores his fellow Americans and Christians to open their eyes to the damage being done to the nation’s heart and soul in the name of progressivism.

Will You Go to Hell For Me?

This is a powerful documentary that exposes the pernicious grip the Democrat Party has on the inner-city black community. The major thesis of this documentary is that one cannot be a Christian while at the same time vote for Democrat candidates and support the anti-Chrisitan programs of the Democrat Party.  Doing so will send you to Hell.  Vince contends that the Democrat Party is the evilest institution in the history of the world and makes a strong case in defense of his claim.

Vince says that the Democrat Party controls every whorehouse and crack house in the black community.  He lays the blame of this control on three groups of people:  black politicians, the black clergy that deliver the votes (with notable exceptions), and black social workers who fuel the flames of racism and the idea that blacks are victims of white oppression.  It is necessary to point out that Vince isn’t a shill for the Republican Party.  Many Republicans support the agenda and have made an unwritten treaty with the Democrats to leave the black communities alone.  This is evident by the lack of support the Republican National Committee gives to black Republicans contesting Congressional seats in black communities.

The most controversial aspect of this documentary, and why readers may be hearing about it for the first time, is Vince’s condemnation of Martin Luther King.  While most Americans have been led to believe that King was a noble man, Vince isn’t afraid to condemn him.  Vince exposes King as a pro-communist and a supporter of Planned Parenthood.  King, as Vince reveals, was the first recipient of the Margaret Sanger Award named after the racist founder of Planned parenthood who launched the infamous “Negro Project.”  Sanger considered blacks to be inferior and enlisted black clergy and black doctors to promote birth control. The Negro Project has been successful beyond Sanger’s wildest dreams.

Vince tells the story of how liberal Democrat U.S. Senator Patrick Moynihan, concerned about the high rate of single parent households, about 20% in the mid-1960s, visited King and his fellow Civil Rights activists insisting that Civil Rights bills must promote the father in the household.  This idea was so widely rejected by King and his colleagues, that Moynihan said that he was lucky to get out of that meeting alive.  Today, thanks in part to the Civil Rights and Welfare reform legislation, black single parent households are close to 80%, and few have the political courage to discuss the issue.

Vince believes that if a sizable minority of black voters stop voting for Democrats, the party will never win national elections. This explains why Democrat leaders constantly promote racial division and hatred.   He is committed to bring black and white Christians together fully realizing that both groups have much in common, and by working together, our nation can be healed.

We are making plans to bring Vince to New England for some speaking engagements. Readers who would like to help make that happen are urged to contact me.  My E-mail is campconstitution1@gmail.com Tel # (857) 498-1309

Constitution Day September 17, 2023  “A Republic If You Can Keep It.

Published September 17, 2023 | By Hal Shurtleff

 

At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention September 17, 1787, Mrs. Elizabeth Powel, a friend of George and Martha Washington, asked Benjamin Franklin, the oldest delegate to the convention “Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy.”  Dr. Franklin replied, “A republic if you can keep it.”  How well have we done in keeping that republic.  A glance at the current occupant of the White House as well as the majority of members of Congress leads me to conclude that we have done a poor job of it.

 

 Is the U.S. Constitution an outdated relic?

  Critics and detractors of the United States Constitution believe that it is an outdate relic of our agrarian past which may have served us well 200 years ago but needs to be replaced.   Back in the mid-1990s, I was a guest on the Al Diamon Show- a talk show in Portland, Maine.  Mr. Diamon, and the vast majority of his audience did not share my worldview to say the least.  I had a very interesting conversation with one of his college age callers. This young man told me, in no uncertain terms, that the U.S. Constitution was outdated, and should be replaced.    I asked him if it was written in 1848, would it also be an outdated relic.  He replied in the affirmative and I told him that the Communist Manifesto was written in 1848 but oddly we never hear people on the Left demand that it be repudiated.   I then asked him if he believed that the 1st Amendment-the one that protects the right of free speech, the press, and the right to peaceable to assemble among other things be abolished.  He said that he wasn’t in favor of its repeal.    I followed up with asking him about the 4th Amendment that protects us against unlawful search and seizure, the 5th that protects an accused from self-incrimination the 6th that guarantees us a speedy trial judged by impartial jury and the 8th that protects us from being drawn and quartered.  He didn’t think that these amendments be repealed either.   This caller, like too many American like him are victims of a clique-potentially a dangerous one, that if enough Americans believe, could lead to the end of the liberties we take for granted.

I contend that the U.S Constitution which granted few, defined and specific powers to the United States Government is just as relevant today than when it was first ratified.   As King Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.”   While we went from horse and buggy to the space age and the quill pen and the broadside to Twitter and Facebook, human nature stays the same.  Our Founders were learned men who knew history and understood man’s sin nature.  This is why they gave us a constitutional that granted limited powers to the U.S. Government.

  The U.S. Constitution has a preamble, seven articles and 27 amendments. 

Article 1 established the legislative branch, qualifications for office of members of Congress, and grants certain powers including the power to borrow money and declare war.

Article 2 concerns the executive branch which grants very few powers and duties to the president.  Being “the most powerful man in the free world” is not one of the duties granted to the president.  Nowhere in Article 2 do we read that the president is the most powerful man in the free world.

Article 3 concerns the judicial branch which established “one supreme Court” and gave Congress the power to regulate it.  The Supreme Court may be the highest court in the United States, but it is not the highest law of the land.

Article 4 concerns the states.  Article 4, Section 4, guarantees every state a “Republican Form of Government and shall protect them against Invasion.  Today, it is the official policy of the U.S. Government to aid and abet invasion.

Article 5 concerns the amending process which a made difficult for good reason.

Article 6 makes “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof…. shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”

Article 7 calls for the ratification of nine state before the Constitution will be established.   New Hampshire was the 9th state to ratify the Constitution on June 2, 1788, making it the law of the land.

The Constitution has 27 amendments but one-the 21st canceled out another-the 18th.   The first ten, known as the Bill of Rights were ratified on December 1791.  The 27th Amendment, which concerns Congressional pay raises, would have been part of the original Bill of Rights but wasn’t ratified until 1992.

Keeping this republic begins with us.   As is my habit, I am offering free pocket copies.  If interested in one, Email me at campconstitution1@gmail.com

What to learn more about this incredible document?  Why not attend our weekend retreat which runs from Friday September 29 to Sunday October 1 at Camp Sentinel in Tuftonboro

The Weekly Sam: How I Became a Christian by Sam Blumenfeld

Published September 15, 2023 | By campconstitution

First, the question is: what is a Christian? To me the answer is quite simple. A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who was sent to this earth to save men from their sinful natures, to offer them salvation and eternal life after death. God’s purpose was to extend the covenant he had made with Abraham and, through Jesus, extend it beyond the Jewish people to the rest of mankind. That is why Christ’s mission was so important: to bring to the rest of pagan mankind a knowledge of God and, for each human soul, a personal attachment to God through Jesus, his son. Many Christian scholars and theologians have written thousands of pages to explain what Christianity is. And so, I don’t know if my definition of a Christian would coincide with theirs.

I am not a theologian and therefore cannot give any explanation beyond my own personal understanding. That is my humble conviction, and it has provided me with an intellectually and spiritually satisfying way to explain my beliefs. I believe that all important philosophies can be explained simply or summed up in a simple paragraph. If they can’t, they are not true. The truth does not hide behind an impenetrable curtain of verbiage, but falsehood always does. All of my life I have had a tremendous respect for truth, for reality, for fact. I have never avoided reality. I love it too much, even when it is cruel. But I can understand those who would love to escape it. How I, a Jew, came to accept Jesus Christ was part of an intellectual journey that started in high school, continued in the Army during World War II, and continued in college. In the Army, my closest buddies were Catholics. At the City College of New York my friends were Christians and Jews.

After college, I studied in France for two years. Most of the friends I made in Paris were Christians, or I should say, non-Jews. They were American expatriates of a secular persuasion. The Europeans I got to know were typically non-religious. In Europe I visited the Cathedrals and was awed by their grandeur and beauty. During my stay in the army in Italy I had visited the Vatican and climbed the stairs in St. Peter’s Basilica right into the ball at the very top of the dome under the cross. Christianity was, of course, full of Old Testament references. Michelangelo had carved that great marble statue of Moses in St. Peter’s and the breathtaking statue of David in Florence. With my Christian friends I attended Christmas mass at both Notre Dame de Paris and at Santa Maria Maggiori in Rome. Catholic priests officiating at the Mass in their splendid dress never looked particularly holy to me. The men who looked holy to me were the old men in the synagogue, covered by their prayer shawls, swaying quietly in prayer. In other words, despite my visits to cathedrals and attendance at Masses, I was not attracted to Jesus. I simply ignored Him.

As an American Jew, I had become quite secularized and hardly practiced my own religion let alone the religion of my Christian friends who for the most part were as secular as I was. For me, Christianity provided the esthetic enjoyments for a lover of the arts. I had no interest in Christian theology or any other theology for that matter. There was a brief period, shortly after my father’s death in 1958, when I was an atheist. I wasn’t proud or happy to be an atheist, I simply believed, much to my sadness, that God did not exist. I had undergone psychoanalysis during that period, trying to understand myself, and I probably adopted Freud’s atheism. Most New York intellectual Jews were atheists or agnostics, practitioners of modernity and the secular lifestyle. Jews took a liberal view of the dietary laws, ate bacon and lobsters, and the synagogues were sparsely attended on the Sabbath. It was only on the Jewish holidays that secular Jews celebrated their heritage. And it was more cultural than theological.

After Freud, I got to know Ayn Rand. At the time, I was an editor at Grosset & Dunlap, and a literary agent had brought a manuscript by Isabel Paterson to me for possible publication. Paterson, a great believer in individual freedom, had inspired Ayn Rand in her early days as a writer, and the agent suggested that perhaps Rand might be willing to write an introduction to the book. Paterson had died, and an introduction might be a tribute to a friend. I called Rand and invited her to lunch. It was a delightful occasion. We discussed our mutual love of laissez-faire capitalism. I was a libertarian, and she was an Objectivist. She suggested that I attend a series of lectures on Objectivism given by her protege Nathaniel Branden at a midtown hotel. Objectivism was a new pro-individualistic philosophy which Rand had formulated, with the assistance of Branden. I attended the lectures and was delighted with Branden’s well-reasoned and rational opposition to Socialism and collectivism.

The only problem with Objectivism was Rand’s strident atheism. While my atheism was of the sad variety, Rand’s was unrelenting. I truly wished that God existed, while Rand rejected anything resembling “mysticism.” But it wasn’t until the 1970s that reality posed so many problems in my life, that I finally had to call on God for help. Both Freud and Rand had failed to provide the spiritual certainty I needed. But how do we find God? By simply crying out to Him whenever life’s burdens seem unbearable. We cry out to our Father in Heaven when no one on earth can help us. And God, in some way, answers the prayers of the wretched and bewildered and suffering.

It is said that Charles Darwin rejected God because he could not believe in a deity that would permit his favorite child to die. But what would life be like if God suspended all-natural phenomenon, including illness and disease? We would be living in an unnatural, supernatural state which Darwin’s theory of evolution says does not exist. Darwin preached natural selection. His daughter died because of the process of natural selection. In other words, Darwin simply used the death of his daughter to justify his rejection of God, when in reality it was his intellectual pride that was behind it.

I never had that kind of intellectual pride. So, when I turned to God, it was in the way that men seek a lifesaver when shipwrecked. You float in a hostile sea hoping to survive. It is not a very rational nor dignified way to seek God. It is more like a child’s way. But atheists are more like petulant children than mature seekers of the truth. And slowly but surely, I found my way onto dry land with a new belief in the mysterious power of the Creator of the universe. But I was still not a Christian and knew very little about Christianity. I could not really tell the difference between a Methodist and a Presbyterian. To Jews, all Christians are alike, and all Christian denominations are essentially alike. They all profess to believe in Jesus Christ. In the early 1980s I began to write a book about the origins of public education. As a libertarian I wanted to know why and how the American people gave up educational freedom so early in our history and opted for a government owned and controlled system of education. And it was through that process of research that I became a Christian.

(The above is from the Sam Blumenfeld Archives- a free on-line resource containing the works of the late Sam Blumenfeld  https://campconstitution.net/sam-blumenfeld-archive/

Patriot Camp 2023 Rockland, Maine Co-Sponsored by Camp Constitution

Published September 12, 2023 | By Jessica Whitworth

This year’s Patriot Camp was a great success. Big thanks to Life Church, Jake and Tanja
Barbour! This is the first year we did a three-day camp, with the first day covering the Declaration of
Independence, the second day covering the U.S. Constitution, and the third day covering our
Constitutional Republic. With eighteen kids in attendance, we had several twenty to forty minute
lessons on our nation’s founding history with games and activities following each lesson. Again, we
offered a quill pen demonstration where the students were able to sign a Declaration with a quill pen.
Other activities included three-headed eagle to demonstrate the three branches of government, rope
making, flint fire demonstrations, tug-a-war, root beer making, and flag folding. We played various
outdoor games. We ended the 3-day camp with a parade, singing “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and the
students carrying a live American flag.

We were blessed to have Mrs. Bonnie Wilder from Camp Constitution teach various songs: the
Constitution song, There are Many Flags, The Constitution’s Preamble, and You’re a Grand Old Flag.
To compliment these songs Bonnie taught the kids hand signs. We are looking forward to another great
camp next year! A huge thank you to all the generous sponsors who helped make this camp a success.

Designed by Eric Conover.