Religious Liberty

More Right-Wing Comments on Pace

Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, 3/15/2007 5:47 pm

Religious-right activists continue to voice their enthusiastic support for recent comments by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that gays should not be allowed to serve openly in the military because homosexuality is “immoral.” While some make specious arguments about the military value of a ban on gays in the armed forces, most of these activists incorporate Gen. Peter Pace’s remarks into their larger “culture war” against gays in all walks of life.

Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition asserts that being gay is “incompatible with effective military service,” writing that “Sodomy is one of those behaviors that has been considered dissolute and a danger to military cohesiveness and readiness. … we do not want a ‘Brokeback Mountain’ military.” A form letter from Vision America argues that allowing gays to serve openly would weaken the military because “Ultimately our security is in God's hands. To ensure his aid, we must remain obedient to his law.” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins warns that backers of letting gays serve want to "turn the military into a laboratory for their liberal social ideas."

ADF Sees Attorney General's Religious Liberty Program as Validation of Religious-Right Scare Theory

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday, 2/27/2007 12:59 am
DOJ program, launched at SBC, “further confirms” freedom in “serious danger” from “sustained attacks by the ACLU and its allies.”

In Colorado, Big Money on Anti-Gay Initiatives Leaves New Religious-Right Group in Wake

Submitted by Anonymous on Monday, 2/12/2007 6:24 pm

Focus on the Family has been a key player in the passage of constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage in a number of states, but when it came to its home state of Colorado, the group (and its affiliate, Focus on the Family Action) pulled out all the stops, spending over $900,000 last year to oppose a domestic partnership initiative and pass a separate amendment banning gay marriage. Most of the money went through two groups that Focus helped to create, Coloradans for Marriage and Colorado Family Action.

Now, after the defeat of the partnerships initiative and the passage of the marriage ban, at least one of the front groups is trying to establish a permanent presence in the state as a satellite “family policy council.”

Now Colorado Family Action is getting money from other sources, said President and CEO Jim Pfaff, but he wouldn’t identify them. Organizers have formed the Colorado Family Institute, a related nonprofit that’s one of 37 state Family Policy Councils allied with Focus on the Family.

Pfaff, a former staffer at Focus, outlined an agenda that spans the familiar touchstones of the Religious Right: “protecting life from conception until natural death, protecting religious liberty, working to point out examples of judicial activism and help define the proper role of the courts, and upholding the principle that parents are the primary educators of their children.” It remains to be seen whether the group will have much of a half-life beyond the high-profile fight against domestic partnerships and the substantial financial support from Focus on the Family that went with it.

Keith Ellison and the Right's Version of Religious Liberty

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday, 1/9/2007 3:35 pm

On the web site of the American Center for Law and Justice, the Pat Robertson-founded legal group where Jay Sekulow serves as chief counsel, Sekulow describes himself as a “nationally recognized and respected defender of religious freedom.” On last night’s “Hannity & Colmes” on Fox News, Sekulow perhaps elaborated on what he means by “religious freedom” when he said that a freshman Muslim lawmaker “should have just abstained from” using the Koran in a ceremonial photo op following his official swearing in as a member of Congress. Sekulow, although aware of the constitutional prohibition of religious tests for office, insisted that such a use of the Koran represented a "danger" to the country and its "Judeo-Christian tradition."

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) has been a target of some on the Right since an article by radio talker Dennis Prager wrote that he “should not be allowed” to be photographed with the Koran, calling the use of the Bible “essential to the continuity of a civilization.” Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Virginia) pushed the “controversy” into the headlines when he wrote a letter to his constituents warning that, “if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.” Goode later invoked the terrorists attacks of September 11 as justification for his concerns about immigrants.

Apart from Goode’s tirade against immigrants, Sekulow is the most prominent figure to embrace this attack on religious liberty. Sekulow has made a name for himself as a right-wing superlawyer, defending violent anti-abortion activists before the Supreme Court and advising the president on judicial nominees, all while pulling down an impressive salary.

While Sekulow was clearly aware of the ban on religious tests – he told Sean Hannity that Ellison didn’t have to actually hold the Bible – he insisted that Ellison’s use of the Koran (the copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson, architect of religious liberty) represented a “danger” to the country.

Get the Flash Player to see this video clip.

Jay Sekulow on Hannity and Colmes, 1/8/07

Low Bandwidth

Santorum Joins Ethics and Public Policy Center

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 1/9/2007 1:34 pm

After losing his Senate seat, Rick Santorum has quickly rebounded and joined the right-wing Ethics and Public Policy Center where he will head up a program called – literally – America’s Enemies.

The EPPC press release says:

"As a United States Senator, Rick Santorum was a champion of efforts to counter the threat of radical Islamic fascism, to protect victims of religious persecution, and to promote democracy and religious liberty around the world," said EPPC President Ed Whelan.  "We are honored that he is joining EPPC to continue his important and courageous work on these matters."

"In these perilous and uncertain times, I believe it is critical that we define the threats that confront America," said Mr. Santorum.  "Without a clear definition and precise understanding of our enemies we cannot fight effectively and our own citizens become divided.  It is my hope that the America's Enemies program at EPPC will help the American people -- including our leaders -- understand and communicate with clarity, honesty, and consistency the enemies we face and the complex and enormous threat that they pose to our lives and the freedoms we all enjoy."

According to an article in The National Review, Santorum has big plans for his new program:

“It’s a stark name,” says Santorum. “But we wanted to be candid about the fact that America really does have enemies and to point out that the nature of these enemies is much more complex than what people realize. It’s not just Islamic fascism, but also Venezuela, North Korea, and, increasingly in my opinion, Russia.”

…

How will a former senator adjust to life at a think tank? “This is a very impressive group of folks who share my worldview more than any other group in town,” says Santorum. “We’re going to have a lot of synergy. I know that I’m not the foremost scholar in the world, but I can offer a lot of ideas and help put together a communications strategy to describe the threats we face. Communication is a big problem, as the results of the elections in November show.”

Santorum plans to organize lectures and conferences, write articles, and work on a book. (His book agent is Kathy Lubbers, who is Newt Gingrich’s daughter.) “We expect to be very, very active,” he says. One of his focal points will be religious liberty and how people of faith might confront radical Islam.

Now that he is out of the Senate, it was nice of the EPPC to give Santorum a platform from which he can continue his work defending the country against its terrorist enemies by making bizarre comparisons to “Lord of the Rings.”

On a positive note, at least Santorum’s home in Virginia has now become a convenience instead of a political liability.  

Religious Right Claims New Congress Will Attack Religious Liberty

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, 11/17/2006 7:38 pm
“Our strategy is forthcoming,” writes a gloomy Center for Reclaiming America for Christ.

Religious Right's Definition of 'Values Voter' Rapidly Expanding

Submitted by Anonymous on Monday, 10/30/2006 6:04 pm

“Be sure and vote your values on Tuesday, November the 7th. As an American, it is your right. But as a Christian, it's your responsibility,” says Family Research Council President Tony Perkins in a get-out-the-vote advertisement. With leading religious-right groups working hard to help the Republicans maintain control of Congress – despite avowing a total disillusionment with the GOP – the already-overworked catchphrase of “voting one’s values” is being taken to the farthest corners of the Republican platform.

Family Research Council: Equal Rights for Gay Couples = Religious Persecution

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Friday, 10/27/2006 11:28 am

The Family Research Council, which recently devoted a national telecast to the proposition that the gay rights movement is out to destroy religious liberty in America, wasted no time distorting the New Jersey Supreme Court decision holding that the state could not continue to deny gay and lesbian couples the same rights and benefits available to heterosexual couples through marriage.  The Court stopped short of requiring the state to allow gays to marry under state law, giving the legislature 180 days to decide whether to amend the marriage laws or create another institution like civil unions.

In an email to its activists, FRC blatantly distorted a line in the Court's ruling (PDF) that affirmed churches' freedom to bless gay unions if they so choose: "However the Legislature may act," the majority writes, "same-sex couples will be free to call their relationships by the name they choose and sanctify their relationships in religious ceremonies in houses of worship."

But FRC portrayed this simple statement as an indication by the Court that "a confrontation with the church is near."

The court is already working to strip marriage of any meaning, and now it looks to foist its counterfeit on the church. Will we soon see this same "discrimination" as grounds to force homosexuality on our houses of worship? The church is already under attack-from those inside who want to advance an agenda of approval, and those outside, who hope to use the politics of intimidation to crush the freedom of religion. The ruling makes this much clear: the church must be prepared to defend its right of conscience and conviction.

Charging religious persecution is a time-tested political strategy for the Religious Right. But there is no truth whatsoever to FRC's suggestion that the New Jersey Supreme Court or gay rights advocates want to "force" homosexuality on churches. Thanks to the First Amendment, churches in New Jersey and anywhere in America are free to bless or refuse to bless any union.  And a recent national survey documented that when Americans understand that churches are legally free to refuse to bless same-sex couples, support for allowing those couples to legally marry goes way up.  No wonder the Religious Right is so eager to sell its big lie.

Liberty Sunday: Massachusetts Gov. Warns of Establishment of 'Religion of Secularism'

Submitted by Anonymous on Monday, 10/16/2006 11:59 pm
Oxymoron apparently meant to buttress FRC claim that gays threaten religious liberty. Also: FRC wonders whether “hedonistic secularist” GOP gays are “stalling pro-family agenda” in Congress.

FRC Previews 'Liberty Sunday': Parents' Religious Expression Is for Public Schools to Enforce Their Anti-Gay Regimen

Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, 10/12/2006 5:17 pm

In gearing up for its “Liberty Sunday” telecast this weekend, the Family Research Council suggested that the real-life examples of how the “homosexual agenda” is supposedly infringing on religious liberty would be “pro-homosexual ‘diversity’ training at work” and students being “subjected” to “pro-homosexual books or rhetoric in school.” In yesterday’s “Washington Update,” FRC President Tony Perkins named some of his guests:

You may remember us reporting last year on David Parker, the Lexington, Massachusetts father who was arrested because of insistence on being notified by school officials anytime homosexual topics were discussed in his son's classroom. He made this reasonable request after his six-year-old kindergartner came home from school with a "diversity" book bag and a book discussing homosexual relationships. A year later, the Worthlin family experienced a similar attack on their parental rights after their seven year old read "King and King" in his second grade classroom - a book promoting homosexual romance and same-sex "marriage." The Parkers and the Worthlins will be my guests at Liberty Sunday which will be held this weekend in Boston. You will hear from them and others on how the homosexual agenda is impacting religious liberties in Massachusetts and around the country.

As was widely reported, Parker was arrested for trespassing after refusing to leave the school without a signed agreement from the superintendent about gays being mentioned:

Parker said he met with school officials to gain those assurances and then refused to leave until he got them. Parker stayed at Estabrook School for more than two hours, according to Superintendent William J. Hurley, as officials and Lexington police urged him to leave. Finally, they arrested him for trespassing.

Parker, who refused to bail himself out of jail Wednesday night, said he spent the night in custody to prove a point.

Specifically, Parker’s demand was that the school guarantee that “Discussions concerning homosexuality issues will not take place in front of our son.” Apparently, notifying parents ahead of time that a book describing various family structures, including same-sex parents, would be voluntarily distributed was not enough:

Parents received notice about the book bag at the beginning of the year and the date that it was scheduled to be sent home with their child. The bag's contents also were put on display at a back-to-school night earlier in the school year, [PTA copresident Rachel F. Cortez] said, and parents are not required to have their child bring it home.

''The kids don't have to take them [the materials] home," she said. ''Parents can either opt out entirely or use whatever materials they want."

Parker’s apparently unilateral demand that the public school ensure his child was not exposed to any mention of same-sex families – in a state where same-sex marriage is legal – is exhibit #1 in FRC’s attempt to prove that what it calls the “homosexual agenda” “puts religious freedom on a course of extinction.”

FRC: Office Workshops Threaten to Destroy Religious Freedom

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday, 10/10/2006 5:25 pm

The Family Research Council continues to drum up sentiments for their upcoming “Liberty Sunday” television rally by drawing on the theme, heavily promoted at its recent Values Voter Summit, that the so-called “homosexual agenda” is now denying people’s religious freedom across the nation. In an action alert, FRC President Tony Perkins warns that, today, “a radical agenda seeks to extinguish” the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion.

The expansion of anti-discrimination laws, including family law, to include homosexuality inevitably constricts Americans' right to express and act on their religious beliefs.

FRC is tracking these incidents as they occur throughout the country.  Now we need your help.   We are compiling stories from across the nation on how the homosexual agenda has threatened religious liberty.  You can help us show America that government sponsorship of the homosexual agenda is a threat to the freedoms we value the most.

What does this mean? Are gays and lesbians forcing open church doors or shutting down parochial schools? Not exactly. The anecdotes Perkins is looking for to compile his crack case against the “homosexual agenda” – the ones that put the First Amendment on track toward “extinction” – are apparently woeful tales in which people merely hear about gays in public:

Have you been forced to attend pro-homosexual "diversity" training at work?  Have your children been subjected to pro-homosexual books or rhetoric in school?  If your religious liberties have been affected in these or other ways, we want to hear from you.  Send us your stories - the where, the when, and the what.  With your permission, we will publish and publicize these incidents so that all will know these are not random events, but the inevitable result of a clash of basic beliefs that puts religious freedom on a course of extinction.

Upcoming Event Claims Religious Liberty 'Sacrificed' to 'Homosexual Agenda'

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 10/4/2006 11:59 pm
FRC asks for stories to use for “Liberty Sunday.”

Religious Right Urges Activists to 'Rat Out' Liberal Churches to IRS

Submitted by Anonymous on Monday, 10/2/2006 5:59 pm

The Religious Right has embraced the issue of the tax-exempt status of churches and other non-profits that promote political candidates and issues, decrying what they call an effort to “silence” them or deny their religious liberty. At the Values Voter Summit, the name of Rev. Barry Lynn, head of Americans United for Church and State, rang out in anger from the stage almost every hour, and Rick Scarborough threatened to burn his 501(c)3 non-profit registration form. But as groups like Focus on the Family ramp up electoral work in states with contentious Senate races and promise to defy the tax regulation that makes political contributions non-deductible, William Murray of the Religious Freedom Coalition is taking the opposite tack, with a web site dedicated to “ending radical left-wing politics in the pulpit” and offering visitors the opportunity to file an IRS complaint against churches. According to Murray, this effort is in the spirit of ecumenicalism:

Mr. Murray said he collected more than 30 complaints against liberal, mostly black, churches on his Web site during the last presidential contest. He referred several cases to the IRS, he said, and has received two more during this year's midterm contests.

"I actually believe that what I'm doing with this is wrong, but I'm doing it in a defensive nature," said Mr. Murray, executive director of the Religious Freedom Action Coalition. "Somebody has to defend the conservative churches and the only way to protect them is to attack the liberal churches."

Incoming Christian Coalition President "Drawn to Lost Causes”

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 10/2/2006 2:24 pm

Since the departure of Ralph Reed in 1997, the Christian Coalition has been on a long, slow slide toward irrelevancy, seeing its budget shrink from a high of $26 million to just around a $1 million today.  In the last year alone, the Coalition has seen at least four of its state affiliates break away from the national organization and now the CC announced that it has chosen a new president, one who plans to move the national headquarters to Florida.  

According to press reports, the Rev. Joel Hunter hopes to restore the Coalition, in part by finding “common cause with mainline and progressive organizations on issues such as immigration, raising the minimum wage and providing prescription drugs to the needy and elderly.” 

Needless to say, others on the Right are none-too-impressed with this progressive-sounding agenda

Some, such as Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, who have been critical of Robertson's often-controversial leadership of the coalition, question this new strategy.

"One of the problems with broadening the agenda is that most people's lives are so busy and full, there are only one or two issues that they can focus on at once," Cromartie said. "The future of marriage and the pro-life debate are pretty clear-cut issues for most people in the religiously conservative community. Poverty and the environment are not unimportant issues. But there is much more room for disagreement for what the best policy is for solving the problem."

The Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, agreed.

"It is not a good idea strategically," said Sheldon, whose organization focuses on issues involving sexuality and young people.

The Rev. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, thinks Hunter's approach is folly.

"When people try to pretend there is consensus where there is no consensus, they lose their credibility with their constituency and eventually they lose their credibility with Washington," he said.

It is clear that Hunter has his work cut out for him, but at least he is being realistic about his chances of success

"The Christian Coalition is in decline," Hunter acknowledged, citing his discussions with the organization's board during the past year. "I think they were desperate when they asked me. . . . I've always been drawn to lost causes." 
 

Values Voter Summit Recap

Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, 9/28/2006 6:03 pm

Peter Montgomery, vice president of and director of communications for People For the American Way Foundation, recaps the themes and messages that emerged from the Values Voter Summit. Among the themes expressed by the right-wing speakers were:

  • we’re at war abroad and at home – against the “culture of death,” gays, judges, advocates of church-state separation, etc;
  • dissent from President Bush’s war on terror – including detention and torture policies – is treasonous;
  • evil gays are threatening the family and religious liberty;
  • the president and Congress should ignore the Supreme Court (at least until there are more right-wing justices);
  • poverty isn’t all that important;
  • the Religious Right is winning the culture war and has to win the political war – if not, we’re doomed

Read the rest, and read this blog’s coverage of the Values Voter Summit.

FRC Raises Money for Rallies, State Action, and Upcoming 'Liberty Sunday' Telecast

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday, 9/26/2006 5:43 pm
Fundraising letter points to conference on “homosexual agenda [as] a threat to religious liberty.”

Values Voter Summit: War with the Forces of Darkness.

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Monday, 9/25/2006 11:55 am
The Values Voter Summit ended Saturday night with the “Family, Faith & Freedom Gala.” Newt “Family Values” Gingrich gave the keynote address focusing on three large challenges facing America. One, of course, is the external threat, which he described as an emerging coalition of Islamic fascism and assorted dictators. Another, he said, is the challenge posed by courts and secularists who reject the reality that “God defines America” and “America is defined by its relationship to God.” Gingrich said the 9th Circuit ruling against “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, and what he saw as signals that a Supreme Court majority agreed, could be comparable in its impact to the ruling in Dred Scott, the 1857 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that blacks were not and could not be citizens. Gingrich denounced the idea that the judiciary has the final word, and demanded that the legislative and executive branches assert their authority and prevent Supreme Court justices from “rewriting the Constitution.” Gingrich was a rare speaker to address poverty, saying that it is a great challenge that “there are people in America so totally outside the system” that they have “no realistic chance” to pursue happiness. Gingrich cited dropout, unemployment, and incarceration rates for young black men. But he seemed to ultimately pin the blame on public schools. FRC head and seeming Dobson heir-apparent Tony Perkins gave the closing address. Seemingly annoyed by criticism from more progressive Christian leaders earlier in the week, he started by mocking liberals who make “faith speeches.” “They talk about their faith, but they don’t let it get in the way of their public policy.” He seemed especially rankled by the “Red Letter Christians,” a group that held a press conference earlier in the week to call for a greater religious focus on poverty. He said the only way to address poverty is to strengthen the family. Perkins recounted the Bible story of a disciple who questioned whether an expensive perfume should have been sold to aid the poor rather than poured on Jesus, and Jesus’ response that “the poor you have with you always.” Referring to the “Red Letter Christians,” Perkins sneeringly noted that it was Judas who had asked that question. Perkins also covered the now more-than-familiar territory of “radical homosexuals” who present “a clear and present danger” to religious liberty in America. Perkins wrapped up saying that “our enemies are not people….We fight against the rulers of darkness.” He urged people to pray, prepare, and participate in the “great battle of our day.” Embattled Florida Senate candidate Katherine Harris appeared on the program between Gingrich and Perkins, offering her own faith testimony and telling people to remember that she had won two previous campaigns after being down by 30 percents. She said God would get the credit for her victory in the race. “God gave us authority and dominion over this land…God is our king, our judge our lawmaker….we have a right to claim our historic heritage.”

Values Voter Summit: Day 2 Part 2

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Saturday, 9/23/2006 2:53 pm
A panel on the role of churches in political issues was introduced by a video promoting a rally in Boston on October 15. The theme of the event will be that marriage equality in that state is a grave threat to religious liberty, though the video didn’t explain how. The Southern Baptists’ Richard Land insisted that believers should apply their literal-truth understanding of scripture to the society at large. “It is our job as pastors and church workers to take the truth of God’s word and apply it to the moral issues of our society and call on our society to adhere to the biblical standard.” God may not be a Republican or Democrat, Land said, but He is definitely pro-life, pro-heterosexual marriage, and anti-pornography. Land defended a liberal California church facing an IRS investigation because of an anti-war sermon preached shortly before the 2004 election. Land said he’d read the sermon and it did not endorse any candidates. But, Land argued, churches ought to be free to endorse candidates, even if he personally thought it wasn’t a good idea, and he said the movement should be working very hard to change IRS regulations. Rev. Herb Lusk is the Philadelphia pastor whose church hosted “Justice Sunday III” – the Religious Right’s rally for then-Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Lusk said the civil rights movement’s accomplishments were based on blacks and “our brothers and sisters of other hues” preaching a holistic gospel. But, he said, the civil rights movement has taken a different turn, and that now it’s Dr. Dobson and Tony Perkins taking the lead in protecting the civil rights of unborn children. Rev. Dr. John Guest, a Pennsylvania pastor who grew up in London during World War II, said the bombing of London happened because the German church had abdicated its spiritual and moral responsibility to speak the truth. But Guest doesn’t think challenging the Bush administration might be part of that responsibility. “I’ve said from my pulpit that it is treacherous and traitorous to be condemning, belittling, and bringing down our president in a time of war.” Lusk, who had been chafing at speaking while being seated behind a table, was encouraged to take the podium by Tony Perkins, and then he went into full preaching mode, criticizing pastors who weren’t getting involved. “I know why you’re not,” he said. “We know what happened to every prophet in the Old Testament…they killed them.” Lusk brought the crowd to its feet with a high-energy exhortation, saying “Your God will protect you…you have nothing to fear!” An odd element of Lusk’s performance was his declaration that Rev. Barry Lynn, the oft-reviled-at-this-conference director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, should no longer be mentioned by name. “The enemy is out there. We know who our enemy is. The more you call the enemy’s name, the larger he becomes.” It remains to be seen if other speakers will adhere to Lusk’s declaration that Lynn has become, like Voldemort in the world of Harry Potter, He Who Must Not Be Named.

Values Voter Summit: Personal Thoughts on Day 1

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Saturday, 9/23/2006 9:02 am
Guest Post from Rev. Katherine Ragsdale It started well – early, but well – at the pastors’ breakfast. It was disappointing, ‘though not surprising, to find that only 10 of the about 80 attendees were women and most of them were wives of pastors or FRC staff. Still, while some folks studiously ignored the elephant in the room that I represented – a woman in a clerical collar – most were at least courteous and some were gracious. The room, in fact, appeared to be filled with people who were, for the most part, earnest, polite, sincere … misguided, to my way of thinking, but sincere and generally kind and decent. One of the first announcements had to do with going to Boston to fight the evil of same sex marriage and support their brother pastors who were having their religious liberty trampled by this awful state of affairs. I turned to the man next to me and said, “Hmmm. That’s interesting. I don’t think I get it. I’m a pastor in MA and I’ve not had my religious liberty trampled. I’m as free as ever to refuse to marry anyone I don’t want to marry, for any reason. The State has never tried to force me to perform any marriage I don’t want to.” He acknowledged that that’s the way it should be and smiled agreeably – but later joined in the applause for lines that encouraged us all to fight the travesty of same sex marriage that threatened to ruin our country, harm our children, and deprive us of our religious liberty. Go figure. Still the personal attacks that morning were scarce. There were abstract attacks implied in the prayer Jerry Falwell quoted that included lines imploring God to deliver us from the evil of “embracing laziness and calling it welfare” and of “coveting the possessions of others and calling it taxes.” A breathtaking lack of compassion for the poor (whom the prophets and Jesus said we ought never to neglect) but not personally, individually hateful. Perhaps the closest they came to that on that first morning was to make fun of Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo for calling themselves Evangelicals. On my way out of the room a staff member thanked me for coming. He said, “I don’t know if you’re for us or against us, but I’m glad you came.” Perhaps he had noted that my applause never exceeded what courtesy required; still, he returned the courtesy and displayed a basic decency that fed that never quite dead ember of hope I carry that people of good faith and good will can forge paths to understanding. But as the day wore on the hate card began to make appearances. By late afternoon Myrna Blyth, speaking on the women against feminists panel (who do they think changed the world so profoundly that women would even be allowed to speak at such an event?), begun her presentation with an attack on Maureen Dowd’s appearance – not her ideas, but her appearance. She said things that common courtesy and decency forbid me to repeat here. Suffice it to say they were nasty and irrelevant. Gratuitous insults. The gloves had come off and hate was on stage receiving applause. The decency, and hope, of the morning seemed very far away. Then came the evening and Gary Bauer. It seemed the entire deck he drew from held nothing but hate cards. Again and again he returned to themes of vengeance, hate, vindictiveness. That ember of hope flickered into near oblivion when he received ovations for his snide diatribe against ending torture. When a group who call themselves Christians and profess to be working to maintain America’s place as a moral beacon in a fallen world rise to their feet so support this nation’s use of torture, there seems little basis for hope. It continues to astonish me that the courteous people who welcomed me at breakfast could so easily be turned to a crowd cheering for torture. Sure, it took an all day diet of half-truths and outright lies carefully delivered for the greatest emotional impact. But it worked -- at least for the evening. (See, that ember of hope refuses to die entirely!) Hatefulness and vindictiveness took home the pot last night – a sad ending to a long day. The Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale is Executive Director of Political Research Associates in Somerville, MA and Vicar of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Pepperell, MA.

To Right, Respect for Soldiers' Faiths Leads to Criminalization of Christianity

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, 9/15/2006 5:06 pm

In response to the complains of Gordon Klingenschmitt, the Navy chaplain and Religious Right activist who is still waiting to be a martyr, as well as the controversy over alleged religious intolerance at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, the Right is pushing the Senate to adopt the language from the House Defense appropriation bill that grants chaplains the “prerogative” to lead sectarian prayers in non-worship military functions. Alternative language from Sens. John Warner (R-Virginia) and Carl Levin (D-Michigan), which asks that chaplains at least be “sensitive to and respect the diversity of faiths represented,” has the Right in an uproar. As recent controversy has forced the military to more clearly define what the chaplain’s job is in serving the religious needs of soldiers, the Religious Right is more concerned about the need of the chaplain to express himself.

“This places religious ‘tolerance’ over religious freedom,” cries the Family Research Council. “It rejects religious liberty and would likely prevent a chaplain from praying 'in Jesus' name' outside of a church service,” insists Amanda Banks of Focus on the Family Action.

But the cream of the crop is Janet Folger of Faith 2 Action, who sees senators reluctant to enact a policy encouraging chaplains to eschew inclusiveness in mixed audiences as one step before the moment when they lock up all Christians. Calling on readers to contact the senators, she warns,

Of course, you have "the right to remain silent," but if you use that right much longer, those are the words you'll hear before you see the inside of a prison cell. Because if they criminalize Chaplain Klingenschmitt today, tomorrow it's you.

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Religious Liberty Posts Archive

We Rest Our Case: Bryan Fischer Tries to Defend His Bigoted Record
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Tuesday 09/14/2010, 3:27pm
Today, People For the American Way issued a statement calling out all those conservative leaders who will attending the upcoming Values Voter Summit and sharing the stage with notorious bigot Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association and chronicled the myriad of outrageously offensive things Fischer has said about gays and Muslims and others. Needless to say, Fischer is not particularly pleased with our statement and dedicated a portion of his radio program today to "defending" himself ... and in doing so, only helped to make our point even clearer. Fischer took particular... MORE
Authors of Manhattan Declaration Put Pressure On GOP
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Thursday 09/09/2010, 11:24am
The other day we noted how the Religious Right was beginning to grow alarmed at the possibility that Republicans were going to focus solely on economic issues as they set out their electoral strategy and governing agenda, ignoring things like abortion and marriage because, as Haley Barbour says, talking about social issues just means the GOP is "using up valuable time and resources that can be used to talk to people about what they care about." Well, the fear appears to be quite real, prompting the architects of the Manhattan Declaration to send out an email warning that "... MORE
Engle, Huckabee, Garlow Issue a "Call to Conscience"
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Wednesday 09/08/2010, 1:39pm
Last year, Lou Engle announced that he was no longer willing to be "silenced" by the political restrictions placed upon his organization The Call by its 501c3 status and so he starting a 501c4 arm that would be known as The Call to Action. But that was pretty much the last we ever heard about The Call to Action ... at least until today when it resurfaced with a new name - The Call to Conscience - and a new video featuring Mike Huckabee and the voice of Jim Garlow: At the moment, the website consists only of statement from Engle blasting the Prop 8 ruling, but as we noted... MORE
Land Calls Mormonism "The Fourth Abrahamic Faith" While The SBC Calls It a "Cult"
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Tuesday 08/31/2010, 10:29am
Yesterday I wrote a post highlighting a recent column by Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in which he blasted the idea that Evangelical Christians would support a Mormon like Glenn Beck as he called the nation to revival.  Moore called it a "scandal" and shortly after it appeared online Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Tweeted his support for Moore's article, which got me wondering about Richard Land, president of the... MORE
"I'll Lose Half My Congregation"
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Monday 08/30/2010, 3:31pm
I don't really have anything insightful to say about this, but I just wanted to mention how odd it is that I keep hearing this same line from Religious Right leaders claiming to have been in some meeting or other gathering at which leaders where trying to create a plan of political action when one (always unnamed) pastor said they just cannot participate because they "would lose half their congregation." I have heard this several times in recent weeks and months, but only noticed how odd it was today when I heard both Glenn Beck and Chuck Colson say it. Beck... MORE
Fischer Blasts Beck For Siding With "People Who Want to Use the Anus for Sex"
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Monday 08/30/2010, 11:46am
The AFA's Bryan Fischer rips into Glenn Beck for not opposing gay marriage, accusing him of siding with "people who want to use the anus for sex" over God-fearing Christians:  Glenn, Glenn, Glenn: if special rights are given to people just because they want to use the alimentary canal for sexual purposes, no social conservative will be able to criticize homosexual behavior on biblical or moral grounds without running the risk of legal punishment. Goodbye freedom of speech and goodbye freedom of religion. You, Glenn, will have aided and abetted those who are out to destroy... MORE
Focus on the Family: Dedicated to Defending The Rights of "People of all Faiths," Just Not Muslims
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Friday 08/27/2010, 3:42pm
Earlier this month, just as the right-wing anti-mosque hysteria was getting whipped up, Focus on the Family posted a video in which Stuart Shepard and Bruce Hausknecht complained about how municipalities were discriminating against churches using zoning laws: Shepard: What does this tell us about the state of religious freedom in the United States? Hausknecht: Well, we're seeing first a hostility toward religion. You would think in this day and age of tolerance that there would be tolerance for religious views, religious people. There is not. We're seeing it in the zoning cases, we're seeing... MORE