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There were four people that I know of who were attending their first tea party event last night:

One was my nephew Matt who came a bit late missing the start

One was my friend Poet and Theology expert James Marley who had to leave early.

One was Democratic city counselor from Fitchburg Rosemary Reynolds (she was James’ ride)

and finally my arch enemy friend Chris Lackey

I was hoping to get a video interview with Chris before he left but after grabbing several candidate interviews when I got to him he had to leave due to an early appointment on his wife’s part but he was kind enough to send me an e-mail of him impressions both of the Beck march and the meeting. After reading what he wrote, it is almost as if we were at two different events.

Chris requested that If I used his comments they were to be presented unedited and I think this is a good idea.
First It is an opposing view you don’t want to play with it
Secondly he did actually come for himself and stay for the entire event so he deserves the respect of an unfiltered opinion
Third I think it says more about the perspective that he came from and came in with and the perspective of the far left than anything about the tea party.

The irony that the host of the longest running atheist podcast in the state came and heard a speech about the Beck event which was overtly religious was not lost on me.

I would continue to urge people who agree and/or disagree with the tea parties and what they stand for to come on down, these meetings are open and all are welcome.

It goes without saying of course that these views are his and not of this blog They are presented as is without further comment on my part. I’ll let my readers and other attendees take care of that, so without further ado here is Chris’ comment:

My thoughts on the August 30th Twin Cities Tea Party Meeting in Leominster
by Chris Lackey

On Saturday afternoon, my wife & I watched the “Restoring Honor” event put on by Glenn Beck & crew. I couldn’t miss is it, as Beck for weeks had been expounding on how much God was directly involved, either through the Holy Spirit speaking through him during his speech, or how God was making the weather forecast favorable. This kind of language may excite the gullible religious, but to the nonbeliever, this obviously manipulative language harkens back to the days of televangelists. But Beck isn’t looking for money (directly – unless you should fall for his gold-buying pitch), he’s looking for votes and influence.

As a Humanist, much of the language used during the event made me concerned about how the Tea Party, which has much of it’s roots intertwined with Glenn Beck and his “9/12 Movement,” was reacting to the event – especially locally. There’s a strong overlap there, even if Tea Party members fight against it – Fox News brought it into the national conversation and helped spread it early on.

Beck reiterated over and over about how it wasn’t a political event. The Tea Party has been trying to distance themselves from the far right extremes that have defined it in the past and has committed itself to being a political movement, so I was hoping to see them distance themselves from this religious revival meeting which, according to what they’ve been trying to convince us of, is completely inappropriate for and uninvolved with the Tea Party. There was no such luck – a full one-third of the meeting tonight was devoted to someone witnessing about the event.

The kind of statements that worried me the most from watching the event brought about the biggest reaction from the local crowd as well. The one that caused me the most concern was the biggest hit with the local audience – “They (their nameless enemies) are fighting against God.” While Beck & Palin avoided saying any names, it was understood who this was a rallying cry against, and although it’s unsaid, the message is well received.

That message? The irreligious aren’t welcome here in America. Whether it be the irreligious they are referring to, or liberals (wasn’t this supposed to be a non-political event?), the message is the same to the godless – if you don’t have a god, you aren’t welcome here, and if that’s not enough, it is impossible for you to be a true patriot.

It’s funny how excited Tea Party members seem abut Beck until you press the issue, then they quickly distance themselves from him if things start getting specific when the issue is pressed. They want it both ways with Beck – they want what they see is good and inclusive with a strong religious message that brings volunteers in droves, but they either ignore or are blind to the horrific hypocrisies and hateful language he uses. They get angry about how attendance was under-estimated to the event, but then are quick to say that his message of religion-required patriotism makes him and his followers outsiders or small parts of the Tea Party movement.

I hope Richard, whom I spoke to immediately following the event, isn’t your typical Tea Party member, but I have strong suspicions he may very well be. He started out friendly enough, but upon revealing my Atheism, the mood turned quickly. He tried to preach for a bit, clearly nervous, and it was clear he stopped listening altogether and began the typical run of circumstantial evidence for God being instrumental to being a true patriot. After he stated that the non-religious aren’t included in the freedom of religion that America gives it’s citizens, I decided it was truly time to leave.

I did, however, make clear to him what he had just done. He had made it perfectly clear to a non-religious person, visiting a meeting to see how non-inclusive and blindly religious the group is, exactly how correct his suspicions were. Now, I’m still going to give Tea Party members the benefit of the doubt, but it seems like the more you speak to them, the more likely you’ll see the ugly pit of fear & ignorance inside.

Glenn Beck spoke of a Theocracy on Saturday, and the Tea Party, at least here locally, has grasped onto that message. A few of Beck’s quotes that stuck with the speaker and excited the audience today included, “We can be great because we are created by God,” and, “pray with your door open so your children may see you and do the same.” This is religious revival language, and it doesn’t belong at a political group meeting, at least if you want to be inclusive and remain objective.

As much as the Tea Party seems to deny their connections to Fox News & Beck, it’s painfully obvious who gets a Tea Party member’s devotion, at least privately. I wish they would at least try to hide their obsession with all things Fox News, and don’t make the relationship so obvious, while denying it exists. It’s hard to peg exactly where the fascination lies, but these people clearly feel he’s on their side, which makes the Tea Party permanently off of mine.

One more point. They tended to pat themselves on the back quite a bit about being a polite movement, but I haven’t been to a meeting where the crowd was as rude as this one was since I was a child. For the last 20 minutes, people were getting up, gathering in groups, and talking over the speakers. They even formed groups by the exit, disallowing people from leaving as the meeting went later and later because the meeting co-ordinator was trying to speak over the groups of rude people who would not quiet down. You don’t see that type of thing at a Humanist meeting.