A while ago, I wrote a verse about a weasel-like group with a plan to plaster “In God We Trust” on any local government buildings they could find. If you follow that link, in the comments (brief and polite!) you’ll see the beginnings of a counter-plan.

That counter-plan (to take over the corporation, the ownership of which had lapsed) and turn it into an educational resource for church-state matters, is now a go. I’ll let RandomFactor tell you:

We have a rare window of opportunity where the original organization has had its corporate status suspended, the name is under our control, and a newly-formed corporation could make that permanent and try to undo some of the damage they’ve done to the separation of church and state.

I am specifically NOT going for a 501(c)3 status and am NOT going to make future contributions tax-deductible. That lessens the initial cost and paperwork, and makes the whole operation much simpler to run. Essentially, the corporation will exist to send out press releases and letters to the original group’s past targets explaining the benefits of a secular nation and the wall of separation.

I have a GoFundMe site set up at:

http://www.gofundme.com/ea03zs

As detailed there, I think we’ll need about $400 to form the necessary corporation. That amount is based on the incorporation costs for a nonprofit I recently helped form, using Legalzoom both as the paperwork organizer and the contact for service of papers. We have about 50 days remaining on the locked corporate name.

I’ll have to round up some volunteers to serve as corporate officers for initial organizational meetings but that’s fairly pro-forma. Major (over $50) donors may want to serve on an informal “advisory board” as a perk.

Feel free to pass this information around, including the fact that the corporation we hope to assimilate (resistance is futile) has been meddling in local politics for ten years now, including being the vehicle for its founder to rise to the Bakersfield City Council, where she sits as arguably the worst council member in a fairly bad bunch.

As political activism goes, this is rock-bottom inexpensive. Time to pass the hat. With a goal this achievable, for once it really is true that even small donations really matter.

The original verse? (for those who never, ever click through…)

There is God along my drive to work—the church upon the hill
There is God in every pocket; He’s on every dollar bill
But I saw an empty courthouse wall—it nearly made me ill!
So you know, I’m only doing what I must!

There was godless empty space there, so I had to take a stand,
And in similar locations all across our blessed land
Every courthouse in the country, if they meet with my demand
Will display, for all to see, “In God We Trust”

It reminds us all that, really, it was God who gave us rights
So we’ll put His name upon the walls, in everybody’s sights
And never mind the atheists—they always lose these fights—
There’s no reason we should hear them out at all

Now, in near 300 counties, there’s a useful little perk:
Every councilman and woman, every jurist, every clerk
Has the right to be a Christian, and to spend the day at work
With “In God We Trust” emblazoned on the wall