Georgia

The anti-choice campaign to pass “Personhood Amendments,” the radical plan once shunned by major Religious Right organizations, continues to gain prominent supporters within the conservative movement. Following in the footsteps of other right-wing leaders like Bryan Fischer, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins has come out in favor of the Personhood Amendment, which would give legal rights to zygotes and criminalize abortion, stem-cell research, common forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization.

As voters consistently voted down Personhood Amendments by lopsided margins in Colorado, leading groups like National Right to Life and Americans United for Life refused to back the Amendment and the Colorado Eagle Forum warned allies in 2009 that the Personhood movement intends to “spread their disaster to key swing states like Florida, Missouri, Nevada and Montana.”

And now the Personhood movement is doing exactly that, but this time with the support of major Religious Right figures, and even Republican politicians.

Fischer, the American Family Association, and the Liberty Counsel have come out strongly in favor of the Personhood Amendment that will be on Mississippi’s November ballot, as have top Republicans like Senator Roger Wicker and Congressman Alan Nunnelee.

In Georgia, Perkins praised the Personhood Amendment introduced by state Sen. Barry Loudermilk, saying, “The Georgia Personhood Amendment is a reflection of a growing pro-life sentiment across the country.”

But in 2007, James Bopp, the General Counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, criticized the Personhood measure in Georgia, known as the Human Life Amendment (HLA), in a legal memo. Warning of “the inevitable striking down” of the amendment and that “significant damage would be done,” Bopp said that “the proposed HLA has serious flaws and is not a wise use of pro-life resources at this time.”

Georgia and Mississippi aren’t the only states where the Personhood movement is moving into high gear.

The State House in North Dakota just passed a personhood bill that one supporter said “should shut down” the state’s last clinic that provides abortion services, and a subcommittee in the Iowa State House also approved a personhood bill. Personhood USA, the leading advocacy organization, has pledged to mount fights in states like Texas, Oklahoma, and Montana as well.

Back during the last presidential election, questions were raised about the Southern Baptist Convention's position that women are subservient to men, especially as it related to Mike Huckabee and his support for the belief that "a wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."

The issue came up again when John McCain named Sarah Palin as his running mate, with people like Tony Perkins and Richard Land saying it was perfectly acceptable for Palin to possible be VP, but not okay for a woman to serve in a leadership position within the church.

Well, the issue is coming up once more, as the Georgia Baptist Convention is considering cutting ties with a local church where a husaband and wife team have been serving as co-pastors:

A more than 95-year-old church in Atlanta may be ousted from the Southern Baptist Convention over a woman pastor.

The Rev. Mimi Walker has been serving as co-pastor at Druid Hills Baptist Church with her husband, the Rev. Graham Walker, since 2003. But earlier this month, leaders of the Georgia Baptist Convention recommended cutting ties with the local congregation.

...

Dr. Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said the Baptist Faith and Message does not state that "women are to be subservient to men." They are of equal worth before God, he stated earlier.

And though women are gifted for service in the church, Land says the New Testament teaches that "a woman is not to usurp authority over the man" and thus women are not to serve as pastors.

It was just last year that Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, warned that the SBC risked dying out if it did not find a way to stop losing members. 

Of course, that was said just weeks after the SBC had kicked out a church due to the fact that it was insufficiently hostile to gays.

It should also be noted that this would be the second time in a year that the Georgia Baptist Convention has severed ties with a local church over a female pastor.

Yesterday, I wrote about the fact that a variety of Religious Right groups have come out in opposition to a bill in Georgia that would offer young sex trafficking victims therapy and rehabilitation instead of prosecuting them as prostitutes. 

Since then, I have been trying to figure out just what would make conservative Christian groups oppose such an effort, but all I have been able to find is insane explanations such as this:

"Only pimps, traffickers and johns believe children should be in prostitution, so why make it legal for minors under the age of 16 or 18?" said Tanya Ditty, Director of Concerned Woman for America.

Ditty and her group agree that child prostitutes are victims who need help, but don't think decriminalizing their behavior is an answer.

Her group claims it would only tie the hands of police.

"Upon arrest, victims of trafficking can be identified and placed in diversionary programs designed for rescue and rehabilitation or provided with an affirmative defense to criminal charges," Ditty argued.

"The arrest is the action that allows for identification, education and rehabilitation of these children," she added.

And this:

Georgia Christian Coalition President Jerry Luquire called the bill “horrible,” but said it opens the door for discussion on the issue now that “teenage prostitute” has become acceptable language.

“We can now do something about it,” Luquire said, adding that the proposal decriminalizes prostitution for both parties. “The solution is to go after the buyer. If you eliminate the market, you’ve eliminated the crime.”

Judy Craft of the Georgia Christian Alliance praised the effort as well-intentioned, but misplaced. She said the bill would give “immunity” to young offenders.

“Young, vulnerable and afraid, getting arrested may be the only way these young girls can get off the street and away from their pimps,” Craft said.

She said such a law could open the door for pornography featuring children with no consequences.

The legislation is not going to "decriminalize" prostitution; it would merely change the law to prevent prosecution of those under the age of 16. Since state laws against the sexual exploitation of children and age of consent laws remain in place, those who expolit children in this manner would still face prosecution but the victims would not, which is something these right-wing groups would know if they bothered to actually read the bill:

The inability to prosecute any person involved in an alleged act of prostitution shall not bar prosecution of any other party charged with a violation of this chapter nor serve as a defense to such crime.

The whole point of this effort is to get the young victims of this sort of sexual exploitation away from those who can harm them and offer them therapy and rehabilitation instead of prison terms. 

But for some reason, the Religious Right is opposed to it and is defending its position by claiming that the legislation is designed to protect pimps and pedophiles.

Even by the Tea Partiers' standards, hosting an event entitled "One Year To Judgment Day" seems rather extreme.

But not too extreme for Ralph Reed apparently, who was a featured speaker at the event, along with conservative wunderkind Jonathan Krohn and right-wing radio host Herman Cain.

If you aren't familiar with Cain, perhaps this post we wrote back in 2006 when he was the face of America's PAC will refresh your memory:

A group called America’s PAC has raised almost $1 million to run highly inflammatory radio ads targeting African American voters, urging them to vote Republican in November, according to the New York Sun.

One ad, called “Don’t Go There,” features an exchange between two men. The first man says the second man has no reason to vote Republican because he is unemployed, an adulterer, and won’t serve in the military, and finally he comes to abortion:

Michael: And if you make a little mistake with one of your ho’s, you’ll want to dispose of that problem toot sweet, no questions asked, right?

Dennis: Naw, that’s too cold. I don’t snuff my own seed …

Michael: Huh. Really? (pause) Well, maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican!

Another ad on abortion accuses the “Democrat Party” of “decimating our people” by supporting abortion laws. Over the sound of a thunderstorm and a crying baby, a woman says, “Democrats say they want our votes. Why don’t they want our lives?”

In another ad, “Hazardous Dukes,” the “Michael” character says David Duke visited Syria to support terrorists in Iraq. The speaker continues,

Now, I can understand why a Ku Klux Klan cracker like David Duke makes nice with the terrorists. They fight voting rights in Iraq, just like he does back home. But what I want to know is why so many of the Democrat politicians I helped elect are on the same side of the Iraq war as David Duke.

Duke, the founder of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was a Republican state representative in Louisiana and ran for governor as a Republican.

Other ads blame Democrats for Hurricane Katrina and voting irregularities in Florida in 2000, call Social Security “the most discriminatory government program we have,” invoke Martin Luther King, and assert that “it’s only the Republicans who support our troops.” 

Here's Reed hobnobbing with Cain at the event: