Honjii's Harangues

Candidate Heffington and Honjii go at it!

Here is a follow up on the post about Joan Heffington, candidate for governor of Kansas.  When I noticed, Contact Joan Heffington, on her website I couldn’t resist having a little fun.  I sent the following email, and I was surprised to get a personal response.  I just figured she would be so busy with hoards tens of supporters I would get only a canned response or nothing at all.  Below is my email, her response, and my response to her response, and her final response after having lost the primary.  Though I disagree with everything she stands for, I have to hand it to her for taking the time to engage in discourse with someone so diametrically opposed to her.

Subject:
your run for governor
From: “Honjii” <honjii@honjii.com>
Date:    Mon, Aug 02, 2010 5:38 pm
To:    joaneheff@aol.com

Your site looks like you are campaigning to become a church elder rather than a state governor.  Yes, you will appeal to the very religious fundamentalist Christians, but you are missing the big picture.  You may believe this is a Christian nation but that is an uninformed and ignorant belief.  Perhaps the people of your state are naive enough to go along with someone like you, but to use religion to gain office is disgusting.  Could it be that you have nothing else to offer your state?  Christianity and its beliefs and teachings should be taught in religious schools and have no place in schools funded with money from taxpayers, many of whom are not Christian.

How would you like it if you or your children attended a school that forced you to study Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Shintoism or any religion that might not be your own?  How would you like it if your tax dollars went to fund public schools that required students to study a religion not their own?  I am getting so tired of Christians like yourself who are so arrogant as to believe or refuse to acknowledge that anyone could possibly hold beliefs different from their own.

If there were a god I would thank him or her that I do not have the misfortune of living in your state.

Honjii Li

Subject:Re: your run for governor
From:    Joaneheff@aol.com
Date:    Mon, Aug 02, 2010 9:16 pm
To:    honjii@honjii.com

Honjii,

Thank-you for contacting me with your concerns.  Perhaps you are not aware that Christianity is not a religion.  It is a lifestyle choice, just like atheists, gays, etc.. I would like Christianity to be taught in schools, because I know if I had known what it meant growing up, I wouldn’t have made half the mistakes I’ve made.  Children should know that believing in Jesus is the only way to heaven and that living your life to please God instead of yourself will get you there.  This will give them hope, especially if they have no directions, broken family, etc. and can reduce suicides among our young people.  Kids also need to understand what the fear of God means, and realize that he blesses us in so many ways if we will follow His will and not ours (much of which is written in the Bible). This is also the way to heaven when we die some day.   I think there should be a required class called “CREATE.”  This stands for “Christianity, Religion, Evolution, Atheism, The End.”  This class would teach about all the different belief systems and how they relate to the end of a person’s life, so that young people can make an informed choice about which path they want to follow in life.

Yes, Kansas is in the heart of the Bible belt, and when they say that 86% of American’s consider themselves Christian, there are a lot of people here who go along with this “lifestyle choice.”  But there are more important reasons why I decided to run for governor when I have never aspired to be a politician.  Allow me to send you our quarterly newsletter for the Association for Honest Attorneys.  I think you will see what I mean…

Best regards,

Joan Farr Heffington
Candidate for Kansas Governor
Derby, Kansas 67037
Ph: 316.788.0901
Fx: 316.788.7990
www.JoanHeffington.com

“The answer to world peace is to eliminate arrogance.”

Subject:
your run for governor
From: “Honjii” <honjii@honjii.com>
Date:    Tue, Aug 03, 2010 3:08 pm
To:    joaneheff@aol.com

In a sense Christianity or living a Christian lifestyle is not a religion.  However, your use of bible quotes, your plans to require bible study in schools, and the use of crosses (on your website), a religious symbol, are in fact religion.  You say “Children should know that believing in Jesus is the only way to heaven and that living your life to please God instead of yourself will get you there.“ Are you actually denying this is religion?  Belief in God, Jesus, and heaven is religion and while you are free to believe whatever you choose, you have no right to impose your religious beliefs on anyone, especially taxpayers who support the schools and your state.

You talk about requiring the teaching of Christianity, Religion, Evolution, Atheism, and The End and how each belief system relates to the end of life.  Based on your statement that children need to know that belief in Jesus is the only way to heaven (the existence of which is also a religious belief) I doubt very much this CREATE class would in any way shape or form be fair and unbiased.  Since you are unaware you should know that being gay is not a lifestyle choice and is not in the same class with religious, or lack thereof, belief systems. Homosexuality is no more a choice than your race, eye color, hair color, etc.

I posted excerpts from your website on my blog.  One person who commented states: “your objectives demonstrate a fundamental lack of knowledge about federal versus state government functions and spheres of power. Secondarily, she must be planning on significant tax hikes to fund such lofty plans.”

How do you respond to your lack of knowledge about the way government functions and how are you going fund your plans?  That you are so uninformed and ignorant on these and other topics, if you truly care about your state the responsible thing to do would be to get out of the race.

Honjii

Subject:Re: your run for governor
From:    Joaneheff@aol.com
Date:   Tue, Aug 03, 2010 10:34 pm
To:    honjii@honjii.com

I believe there is all kinds of money hiding in our legal system, which is why I want to overhaul it.  Not only would our state get out of debt, we could adjust remaining revenues so that $$ get down to the classroom level where it is needed. But you don’t have to worry – all of this is never going to happen.  Senator Brownback has won the primary and Kansas will continue with “business as usual.”  As this place is too corrupt for me, I am making plans to move soon.  If you’re lucky, I just might move to your state!

Joan Farr Heffington