Darby Finds Jesus

Will wonders never cease? I was shocked to find out Mr. Darby's views on race and the Holocaust shortly before the primary. He was the attorney for my children back a few years ago when DHR and the local police were making a habit of showing up at school to question them without counsel or another unbiased adult present and without notifying us (the parents). He did what I hired him to do and the local government sanctioned kidnappers disappeared.

I endorsed him early on before his true views on race became widely known and then withdrew my endorsement when he showed up at my news conference and told a TV reporter very loudly that he was, in fact, a white-supremacist, Holocaust denier. Somehow that never jibed with being an Atheist, pot-smoker. I'm an Atheist pot-smoker...so I know.

Anyway, Larry claims to have found Jesus in this last election. I think Larry got hooked on the media attention, which I have found to be as addictive as any drug known to man, and that this story is a way for him to get back in the media for a few days and get his fix.

State's best-known atheist says he agrees with Jesus' teachings
Saturday, July 08, 2006
By TAYLOR BRIGHT
Times Montgomery Bureau, tbright@htimes.com

MONTGOMERY - Alabama's most prominent atheist is no longer an atheist.

Larry Darby, a former candidate for attorney general who lost in the Democratic primary but won most of North Alabama, said he is embracing Jesus as he crusades against "Judeo-Marxism."

Darby, a Montgomery lawyer who received more votes in Huntsville than Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson, released a long written statement Friday saying that others in the atheist community had turned their backs on him.

"Contrary to expectation, many atheist member organizations or many groups that allegedly represent free thinkers were quick to jump on the Judeo-Marxist bandwagon and dis(a)ssociate themselves from me," Darby wrote.

Darby had fallen out of favor with many groups after he said he doubted the veracity of the Holocaust.

In his release, Darby said he believed "thousands" of Jews died in the Holocaust. The widely accepted number of deaths in the Holocaust in 6 million.

Along with questioning the Holocaust, Darby also embraced white supremacist groups and spoke at a white supremacist conference in May.

Despite such controversial views, Darby won Madison and Morgan counties along with a slew of others in the June 6 Democratic primary. Statewide Darby received more votes than Republican gubernatorial candidate Roy Moore, a former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice. Political observers say Darby's showing in the election was likely more about ballot placement than his radical views. Neither Democratic candidate for attorney general was well known statewide, and Darby's name appeared first on the ballot.

In his announcement Darby also called the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, which often takes on racist or anti-Semitic groups, "agents of Judeo-Marxism."

Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the law center in Montgomery, said the atheist community dropped Darby "like a hot rock" after they heard his views on race.

"I think he's a complete and utter joke," Potok said. "We don't take these attacks seriously."

Potok said Darby has been shopping for an ideology.

"Tell him we wish him the very best in his next ideology," Potok said.

In a short e-mail to The Times, Darby said he intended to run again for office and doesn't think media coverage of him will hurt his chances.

Darby said he changed his views on atheism "based on experiences or understanding of the world around me." He didn't respond directly when asked if he was renouncing atheism to position himself better politically.

"I agree with moral precepts put forth by Jesus of Nazareth and I am Christian in a sense that Jesus of Nazareth would approve," Darby wrote.




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