Monday, April 9th, 2007: Below, just one tightly-packed portion of the 600+ who came to demonstrate against the anti-Christian clauses in SB-2 and HB-2007. The crowd consisted mostly of young Russian and Ukrainian Americans who were asking where the non-immigrant Americans were and why they were not upset that their basic religious liberties are under attack.
Some told stories of persecution by the KGB for being Christians saying they came to America for religious freedom only to find suppression of Christian speech. They expressed horror that our public schools suppress Christian expression.
"Don't Americans know," they asked, "that this is going in the same direction as Russia and that once it is lost here, there is no place else to go." The 600 organized the rally with only three days notice and vowed to have many more the next time.
These new Americans were clearly informed about America's Christian history. They talked about the Declaration of Independence and quoted Founding Fathers. It was clear they knew more than the average man on the American street about American history. The also do not intend to give up their last hope of religious freedom without a fight. They WILL return. (See below for more)
Young Russian-Americans lined both sides of the streets as other Russian and Ukrainian immigrants prayed on the Capital steps for the legislators and for the state of Oregon declaring fervently that "our" nation is still a nation under God. Whoops and hollers arose whenever agreeing car honks returned their sign messages. Middle digit signals occasionally sent their message. Among those who addressed the young crowd were former Senators Charles Starr and Marylin Shannon, (now president of the Oregon Eagle Forum). Following the rally all went inside to entirely fill up all the hearing rooms and entire lobby space until the hearings ended at 10p.m.
