Sunday, September 20, 2009

Frank Schaeffer: "Religious Right & Evangelical Subculture Is A Fifth Column Of Insanity "

Anyway the Values Voter Summit of the Religious Right should give Americans even more reasons to be skeptical about these Holy Rollers who themselves want to transform America into a God-fearing Bible based society in which laws are written in accordance to Evangelical Fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. They believe eventually that God-Law must be the supreme law. In their revisionist view of American history they believe that the Founding Fathers wanted to set up a Christianized Nation not a "secular humanist" nation.As the late Francis A. Schaeffer the architect of the Religious Right argued Christians need to take control of all the institutions in America and learn the lessons of the Reformation which proceeded Modernity which in his view is characterized as a "Man Centered" ( rather than God-Centered ) humanist age of Godlessness and immorality.One can find similar thinking in a number of the major Religious Right organizations such as The Chalcedon Foundation which is taking part in the Values Voter Summit and The Heritage Foundation and C.O.R. :The Coalition On Revival which is at the heart and core of the Religious Right movement. It acts as the clearing house as it were for basic agreed upon Theological positions and the public policies which should follow from these basic principles.

Obama Culture of death- Tsar Free Zone - Homosexual Agenda
anti-Gay, anti-Feminist, anti-pluralism, anti-immigrant, Islamophobia
Song: Why should God Bless America- (note Jeremiah Wright "GodDamn America" what's the difference or remember Rev. Falwell believed 9/11 was a deserved punishment from God for its immorality )

Values Voter Summit celebrates intolerance
Republicans at the "Values Voter Summit" talk about how their intolerance is being persecuted by society. Amazingly, a number of Congressional Republicans showed up at this event, apparently not the least bit embarrassed at its content. My favorite summit topic is "True Tolerance: Countering the Homosexual Agenda in Public Schools". Cognitive dissonance at its best. (This clip includes a piece of the surrealistic hymn "Why Should God Bless America?"




Rachel Maddow once again interviews Frank Schaeffer who was part of the inner circle which created the Religious Right in America but has turned against them.

He says The Evangelical subculture is for the most part
a fifth column of insanity

and :Evangelical Fundamentalist are immune to facts -it has become a cult but it is a dangerous cult

Rachel Maddow: Why Do 1/3 of New Jersey Conservatives Think Obama Might Be the Anti-Christ? by Rachel Maddow, The Rachel Maddow Show September 18, 2009.Maddow gets to the bottom of a bizarre political mystery with Christian Right expert Frank Schaeffer. Alternet.org




Right Wing Watch: VVS - Right Wing Understanding of the Separation of Church and State
Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association tells the Values Voter Summit that it is impossible for anyone other than Congress to violate the First Amendment's religious establishment clause.




The implication of this would be far reaching. Individual states , cities, towns etc. could act unilaterally breaching what is now the Separation of Chrurch and State. It is the Congress therefore which must remain neutral in the establishment of religion or religious practices. So any other legislative body or the judiciary could accordingly pass laws or approve of laws which appeared previously to have breached the principle of the Separation of Church and state.

One implication is that when the Congress passes legislation to help finance public schools the Congress can then insist on certain provisions so that these public schools do not promote religious beliefs or interferes with such beliefs. So if the public schools are defunded no longer tied to the federal government or Congress they then would be free to promote a set of religious beliefs. So if public schools were funded by the state or local school districts they could take part in promoting Christian beliefs and allow for bible study - As for other policy issues such as abortion state and local law enforcement could ban abortions based upon the religious beliefs of that state or community. As long as no federal dollars are being used by the states or local authorities they are free to insist on laws based upon religious beliefs. So what about the rights of various minority groups blacks, Hispanics, gays could the state and local authorities pass laws which discriminate against these groups ie segregation, criminal charges for not obeying segregation laws or criminalizing the behavior of certain groups such as Gays and lesbians based upon religious beliefs. Maybe they could even re-institute slavery since the Bible is not really against slavery but rather sets out the responsibilities of the Slave owner.

So a state could decide to make the state Evangelical Fundamentalist Christian banning all other religious practices at least in public. But tone of the problems with this is that in order to protect themselves certain minority religious groups migh migrate to a particular area or state and then claim the right to make that area or state adhere to their laws and principles so ypou could have various different Christian only states and Muslim or Buddhist or Hindu or Taoist or Scientology only states.

The Religious Right & their Uberconservative enablers are not interested in reasonable debates or cooperation and compromise except as part of their ongoing strategy to obtain their goals and further their agenda.For instance in the recent debates and shouting matches and fear-mongering of the radical right involved in the Tea Party movement or last weeks 9/12 Project they are against any changes to health care period full stop. In fact their leaders would prefer to stop any existing government run programs medicaid etc. once they can convince the public that this would be best.

When it comes to public schools and prayer & religious observances they won't just accept a compromise such as a silent prayer to whom it may concern or merely getting rid of books which they believe are too mature for students. No they want as much religion as possible back in the classroom that is Christian Prayers , Bible studies, Creationism and no mention of Darwin or Evolution. They would be against any favorable presentation of non-Christian religions which they believe are all forms of Devil or Satan worship. The would not permit certain literary works or philosophies or ideas to be taught in any way shape or form in the schools. So they would banish any novel, poem, short story ,drama ,music, films and textbooks which do not reflect their evangelical fundamentalist world-view and their religious based revisionist history of America.

And if they can not get the Public Schools to agree to their agenda then they will continue to home-school their children or send them to private religious schools. Meanwhile if they don't get their way they will do all they can to destroy the public schools brick by brick one school district at a time while cutting federal and state funding for these schools. So their agenda is clear and is not open to cooperation or compromise in the long run.

As the recent activities of Religious Right Pro-Life supporters in Florida show their agenda and goals are quite radical. Their newest challenge to the courts shows how far they really want to go in restricting women's freedom over their own bodies and reproductive rights. To the Pro-Life groups they believe that definition of 'personhood' and therefore individual rights apply from the very moment of conception. We should not be fooled when pro-lifers claim they only want to stop late term abortions or certain abortions which are in their view unnecessary because it will no end there.If one believes that at the moment of conception the entity or fertilized egg is a "person" then it follows to abort that "person" would be a matter of homicide and one would have to prove that the abortion or killing was unintentional, accidental or that there was a justifiable reason for doing so.

Even if they manage to stop all late term abortions they will then use their power to end all abortions . Their belief is that life begins at the moment of conception and that life has the same protections and rights as any other person . To perform an abortion is therefore according to their logic a matter of murder for which those involved should be punished. The birth control pill can be seen in their view as an extension of the murder of a fetus or the Zygote. If an egg is fertilized and a woman takes measures to interfere with the natural process either through the Morning After Pill or by means of the Birth Control pill which merely flushes a fertilized egg out of the woman's body . The anti-choice pro-lifers see this again as a form of murder.They refer to the birth control pill which dislodges a fertilized egg as "a Chemical Abortion". And if they win that case they will no doubt go after all other forms of birth control.

Besides they might argue only married heterosexual couples that is should only be having sex if they desire to have children . People shouldn't be engaged in sex before marriage so they preach abstinence before marriage.

As for rape or incest well they can always reason if God did not intend that egg to be fertilized or that person to be born He being God would have prevented fertilization.

"Anti-Choice Floridians Peddling Constitutional Amendment to Criminalize Birth Control Pill" by Liliana Segura, AlterNet September 14, 2009.

The "Personhood Amendment" would define someone as a "person," regardless of age or health status, "from the beginning of the biological development of that human being."
Tampa Bay Online reports:

TALLAHASSEE - Anti-abortion conservatives are proposing a new constitutional amendment that critics claim would make it a crime to take birth control pills in Florida.

The "Personhood Amendment" that conservative activists are filing today in Tallahassee would add language to the state constitution that defines someone as a "person," regardless of age or health status, "from the beginning of the biological development of that human being."

This, of course, is just another twist on the conventional argument by anti-choice groups that birth control pills are basically murder weapons. "The pill will irritate the lining of the uterus so that the newly formed human being cannot attach to his/her mother's womb and dies," reads an explanation on the website of the American Life League, which is supporting similar efforts in other states. "This is called a chemical abortion."

This is the same group that runs thepillkills.com, a site that "focuses on blood clots and other health risks that birth control pills pose to women."


also see:

" Ku Klux Klowns" by William Rivers Pitt September 15 2009 Truthout

and:
"The Last Time Right-Wing Hatred Ran Wild Like This a President Was killed" Posted by Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America September 18, 2009.via Alternet.org

It's a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.


and so it goes ,
GORD.

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