Extremism of the Religious Right emerges in their fight against same sex marriage as they promote legislation to curb the rights of gays and raising the possibility of passing laws outlawing homosexuality imprisoning or even executing individuals for taking part in sex with people of the same gender. Meanwhile they praise countries such as Russia and Uganda's draconian anti-homosexual laws and culture . The Christian Right encourages a culture of religious intolerance of non-evangelical Christians and non-believers in the U.S. military . They also attack public schools for teaching evolution which they claim is not scientifically based and insist the schools teach Creationism as well .
Family Research Institute: 'Capital Punishment Is Warranted' For Homosexuality - Brian Tashman at Rightwing Watch, Feb. 5, 2014
After endorsing Uganda’s crackdown on gay people, the Family Research Institute has posted another statement saluting the country for deciding to “be harsh with those who choose to act on homosexual desires.”
The group, which is led by Paul Cameron, also insisted that the death penalty remain an option in punishing gays: “Depending on the severity of the homosexual offense, a fine, prison time or even capital punishment is warranted. The most important thing is to make it illegal, and thus keep those who fancy it (or seem addicted to it), off the streets, out of schools, with no ‘right’ to proselytize or advertise their preferences. (Current Russian law tries to do this without making the activity illegal; in most of the West, it must be made illegal first.)”
The FRI isn’t the only Religious Right group sympathetic to Uganda’s anti-gay stance: the American Family Association and the Family Research Council have also defended the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
After comparing homosexuality to incest, rape, bestiality and child abuse—and even arguing that one out of three gay men are guilty of “molesting/raping children or teens”—the group argued that gay people don’t exist. The FRI reasons that a person who identifies as gay is no different from those who see themselves as “Krafts” because they “so strongly prefer Kraft Macaroni and Cheese that the will eat almost nothing else.”
AFA Affiliate: US Should Adopt Russian 'Gay Propaganda' Law To Curtail GLSEN - Brian Tashman at Right Wing Watch, Feb. 10, 2014
Laurie Higgins of the American Family Association-affiliated Illinois Family Institute is a big fan of Russia’s “gay propaganda” law, and she writes today that the United States should impose a similar law here in order to restrict the work of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
She claims that GLSEN is behind the “censorship” of anti-gay views, because apparently bigotry is needed in schools for the sake of balance, and urges the US to adopt a Russia-style propaganda law in order to curb GLSEN’s “totalitarian” grip over schools.
Right-wing nuts’ anti-gay implosion: How a new ploy can doom the party What began as opposition to a contraception mandate, on religious grounds, is now a real can of worms. Oops! Brian Beutler at Salon.com, Feb. 14, 2014
An anti-gay bill that may become law in Kansas could test the consistency of conservatives who oppose the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employer sponsored insurance include birth control coverage...
...In anticipation of a federal court ruling that would end its gay marriage ban, the Kansas state legislature is advancing a 21st century Jim Crow law for anti-gay religious residents. They may not be able to prevent gay marriages for long, but nobody in Kansas will be vulnerable to civil or criminal penalties for discriminating against gay people with respect to their marriages or other partnerships, if said discrimination is an artifact of religious belief.
If a gay man walks into my store to buy booze, should I be able to turn him away because he might be throwing a wedding party? Many in the Kansas state government think so. If two gay, married men want to have a romantic dinner or to send their adopted daughter to daycare, Kansas thinks you, the restauranteur or daycare provider should be able to refuse them service.
I suspect a federal judge will void this almost as soon as it becomes law (if it does; new reports suggest an uphill climb), so the practical impact might be moot. But in the realm of ideas, opponents of the contraception mandate must at the very least support the intent of the Kansas bill, if not its exact form. In fact, to be consistent, opponents of the contraception mandate must believe that the Kansas bill isn’t even necessary — that religious individuals and businesses in Kansas and everywhere are inherently exempt from laws that require them to provide services that might facilitate or affirm the legitimacy of gay unions.
Right-Wing 'Religious Freedom' Narrative Taken To Its Logical Extreme With Anti-Gay, Anti-Evolution Push - Rightwing Watch , Brian Tashman Feb. 14, 2014
The Religious Right has increasingly brought this religious freedom argument into debates over gay rights and the teaching of evolution.
In Missouri, Republican lawmakers contend that public school students should get an exemption from any class on evolution — the bedrock of modern biology — if they think learning about science amounts to an “infringement on people’s beliefs”:
Rep. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, said forcing students to study the natural selection theories developed by Charles Darwin a century and a half ago can violate their religious faith.
“It’s an absolute infringement on people’s beliefs,” Brattin said.
…
“Even though what’s being taught is just as much faith and, you know, just as much pulled out of the air as, say, any religion,” he said.
“The bill is one of several anti-evolution proposals that have already appeared in statehouses across the country,” TPM notes. “The proposals would allow for a range of approaches to evolution, from presenting a ‘debate’ over evolution versus creationism to requiring that local school boards allow intelligent design to be included in biology courses.”
And GOP lawmakers in at least three states are now citing religious freedom to claim that anti-gay discrimination that violates civil rights laws should not face any legal consequences.
Of course, many proponents of Jim Crow cited religious reasons to support segregation.
Now there is a push in states including Tennessee, Idaho and Kansas to allow for legally protected discrimination. Mark Joseph Stern writes of the Kansas bill:
When passed, the new law will allow any individual, group, or private business to refuse to serve gay couples if “it would be contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs.” Private employers can continue to fire gay employees on account of their sexuality. Stores may deny gay couples goods and services because they are gay. Hotels can eject gay couples or deny them entry in the first place. Businesses that provide public accommodations—movie theaters, restaurants—can turn away gay couples at the door. And if a gay couple sues for discrimination, they won’t just lose; they’ll be forced to pay their opponent’s attorney’s fees. As I’ve noted before, anti-gay businesses might as well put out signs alerting gay people that their business isn’t welcome.
Christian Right leaders are now Comparing Common Core policy program in the public schools of America to German NAZI indoctrination.
WND: Common Core Turning US Into Nazi Germany brian Tashman, Right Wing Watch Feb. 12, 2014
WorldNetDaily commentator Patrice Lewis is fearful that Common Core, with its “brainwashing” and “indoctrination techniques,” is bringing Nazism to America...
...While the federalizing of public schools has been going on for decades, the rapid push to capture our children has taken on a sense of urgency in the last few years. The government doesn’t just want our children’s bodies; it particularly wants their minds. If Nazi German taught us nothing else, it taught us this: Children are the currency of tyrants.
It’s worth remembering that when people objected to joining the Nazi Party, Hitler gave a verbal shrug and assured them that their membership wasn’t necessary since he already had their children. “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future,” he famously said.
And let’s not forget that eerie sentiment from “Mein Kampf”: “The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation.”
No one can dispute the effectiveness of these youthful indoctrination techniques. Forget trying to change the mind of older people – they’re too set in their ways. But the children – aah, they’re the hope of the future. It is critical that the minds of children be captured.
also see:
Perkins: Same-Sex Marriage 'Will Create A Level Of Inequality That Has Never Been Seen In Our Country'
BY Brian Tashman Feb. 12, 2014 at Right Wing Watch
The anti-gay Family Research Council is unsurprisingly dismayed by a federal court ruling that will require Kentucky to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where such unions are legal.and :
FRC president Tony Perkins said in a press release today the decision represents a “deep betrayal of the judicial system infected with activist judges who are legislating from the bench” and threatens the freedom of speech.
Perkins even said that marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples “will create a level of inequality that has never been seen in our country as people are forced to suppress or violate the basic teachings of their faith.”
That’s right, Perkins seems to think that legalizing same-sex marriage will produce more “inequality” than slavery, Jim Crow, the subjugation of women and any other injustice in American history.
AFA: Impeach Eric Holder Over Gay Rights Stance
BY Brian Tashman Feb. 13,2014
Religious Right Leaders Rail Against Virginia Marriage Equality Decision , Right Wing Watch, Feb. 14, 2014
Gay Soldiers Undermine The Military Because They Have To Take Breaks In The Middle Of Combat To Change Their Diapers BY Kyle Mantyla at Right Wing Watch, Feb. 11,2014
Old Testament Armed Forces
Religious zealotry runs rampant in the U.S. military, and among those wishing to deploy it. By PHILIP GIRALDI • February 12, 2014 at The American Conservative
...The U.S. military, aware of the constitutional restraints on promoting any religion, generally attempts to rein in outward expressions of religiosity on the part of its officers, but the open defiance of those efforts has been increasing as fundamentalists become both more assertive and better represented at senior levels in the officer corps. Fully one-third of military chaplains are currently evangelicals and the percentage is increasing. Many fundamentalists assert that a good officer has to be “moral,” by which they mean “religious,” in the belief that it is impossible to be ethical without a relationship to God. As many of the evangelicals also believe they possess the absolute truth in terms of their own definitions of religiosity, there is little room for alternative viewpoints.
The soldiers who promote their faith dodge the military’s restrictions on their actions by claiming that they are only “evangelizing the unchurched,” not proselytizing. When they hand out bibles to Afghans they describe it as providing “gifts.” General David Petraeus, when head of the Central Command was well known for his strong commitment to “spiritual fitness” as a sine qua non for his officers, providing a top level sanction for including religion in one’s professional development. In 2007 Petraeus endorsed Christian rock concerts on military bases. A year later, senior Army chaplain William McCoy took the argument for spirituality one step further, explaining how the non-religious soldier, having no protection against sin, might cause the failure of his unit. Petraeus blurbed McCoy’s book Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel, recommending that it be in every backpack for those times when a soldier needs “spiritual energy.” A senior chaplain in Afghanistan also enthused about how leading by example produces positive results, with 85 percent of the 22 officers reporting to Petraeus engaging in “dynamic Bible study,” though one has to wonder if they might have been doing so to enhance their promotion prospects.
A notorious, long running dispute at the United States Air Force Academy over the proper role of “spirituality” has generally resulted in little or no change in the promotion of evangelical Christianity at many levels, a process aided and abetted by a series of Superintendents who were themselves fundamentalists. Even the Air Force football team was not immune, with a large banner in the locker room proclaiming “I am a Member of Team Jesus Christ.” Captain MeLinda Morton, an Air Force Lutheran chaplain who actually complained about the over the top proselytizing was initially ignored and then reassigned.
...Believers who do not create a firewall between their faith and their professional responsibilities, which for a soldier should include all Americans and not just the ones that think the same way he or she does, will inevitably favor coreligionists, particularly if it is being argued that religiosity is an essential ingredient for soldiering. Many Christian fundamentalists understandably believe that their first duty is to God, not necessarily to their country or to their fellow citizens, but they fail to see how such a view might be considered unacceptable in someone who chooses to work for the government.
...That the United States military appears to be increasingly a professional force that has few links to the general population is by itself disturbing. That it also might be developing a warrior class ethos that includes a certain kind of evangelical religiosity as a key element only serves to increase the distance between soldiers and most civilians, apart from the constitutional issues that it raises.
and from The Military Religious Freedom Foundation an open letter:
Lying to Survive at the Air Force Academy: An Open Letter to Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson Feb.15, 2014 By Mikey Weinstein, AlterNet | Open Letter
"There is only one accepted aroma in the pack. It's the unforgiving stench of brutal evangelism, fundamentalism, restriction, and judgment."
and : This Missouri Congressman Wants Parents To Be ‘Warned’ If Schools Teach Evolution To Children at Crooks and Liars Feb. 15, 2014
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