Religion
The �Christian� Right�s still wrong and singing the same old song: Part 2
By Mel Seesholtz, Ph.D.
Online Journal Contributing Writer


May 21, 2009, 00:14

When last we left the twisted logic of twisted people, sci-fi writer Orson Scott Card seemed to be advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government if gay American citizens were allowed to marry the person they fell in love with and to whom they wish to commit their lives and then, as most married couples, buy a house, pay their property taxes, and becoming invested, contributing members of the community.

But what good is people respecting each other and working for their common good to those who make a living from encouraging fear, disgust, discrimination, and hate? �They�re Coming to Your Town� is the title of the American Family Association�s 28-minute DVD (�Suggested Donation,� $14.95). Clearly, the title and the cover are meant to inspire fear, with the disgust, discrimination, and hate that inevitable follow. And these people call themselves �Christian�?

In his 2007 book American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America Chris Hedges discussed a tactic of the Christian Right he called �logocide�: �The old definitions of words are replaced by new ones. . . . Words such as �truth,� �wisdom,� �death,� �liberty,� �life,� and �love� no longer mean what they mean in the secular world. �Life� and �death� mean life in Christ or death to Christ, and are used to signal belief or unbelief in the risen lord. �Wisdom� has little to do with human wisdom but refers to the level of commitment and obedience to the system of belief. �Liberty� is not about freedom, but the �liberty� found when one accepts Jesus Christ and is liberated from the world to obey Him.�

When the National Organization for Marriage calls itself �pro-marriage,� they�re committing logocide. They want to prevent monogamous, loving couples who believe in the institution of marriage from marrying. They�re anti-marriage. If they�re �pro� anything, it�s discrimination.

When the �Christian�* Right calls itself �pro-family,� they�re committing logocide. They�re efforts to demean, denigrate, further marginalize and hurt -- in any way they can -- gay families (including their children) are both nefarious and legendary. And no one is better at logocide than Don Wildmon and his appropriately misnamed �American Family Association.� Witness Don�s recent typically hysterical, always untruthful �Action Alert�:

Senate poised to give special protection status to pedophiles

You [sic] call is needed today!
May 5, 2009

The U.S. Senate is set to give legally protected status to pedophiles and 30 other sexual orientations. The Senate refused to define what is meant by sexual orientation in S. 909, the �Hate Crimes� bill. This means that the 30 different sexual orientations will be federally protected classes. . . .

Claiming the Matthew Shepard Act gives �special protection� to pedophiles is the latest nonsensical claim coming from the �Christian� Right. Poor Don. He and the �Christian� Right�s propaganda machine seem unaware that pedophilia is already a crime and totally unaffected by S. 909.

Wildmon�s deception is also on display in his claim that pedophilia is a �sexual orientation.� As Kathryn Conroy, assistant dean of Columbia University�s School of Social Work, pointed out in a New York Times piece following the Vatican�s ban on �gay� priests: �Reliable studies show that pedophiles (those adults who sexually abuse children) are overwhelmingly heterosexual. In fact, homosexuals are statistically underrepresented as those who sexually abuse children� [italics added].

Wildmon�s deception and bogus �facts� were matched only by Rock Church�s claim that �one third of all sexual crimes against children are committed by homosexuals even though they are representative of only one percent of the population.� They didn�t even get the percentage of gay people right. Strange how all these self-proclaimed �Christians� use deceit, deception and dishonesty so freely and so often. Case in point, the May 5, 2009, article �Senate: Filibuster �Pedophile Protection Act� now!� by Faith2Action president Janet Porter. Not surprisingly, it appeared on Joseph Farah�s WorldNetDaily (affectionately known as WingNutDaily), which also features articles such as �Chuck Norris� photo scares away criminals.� (Mr. Norris writes for WND.)

Ms. Porter called the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 909) �one of the most heinous bills in history� and once again erroneously claimed it would �give heightened protection to pedophiles.� Ms. Porter should rename her organization, perhaps something like �Faith4Bigots� or �Scare Tactics R Us.�

Porter concludes her rant with an even more preposterous assertion: �Let me summarize. Pushing away an unwelcome advance of a homosexual, transgendered, cross-dresser or exhibitionist could make you a felon under this law. Speaking out against the homosexual agenda could also make you a felon if you are said to influence someone who pushes away that unwelcome advance. And pedophiles and other sexual deviants would enjoy an elevated level of protection, while children, seniors, veterans and churches would not.�

People for the American Way pointed out the absurdity of Porter�s example: �First of all, pushing away an unwanted advance does not even remotely meet the definition of �crime of violence� used in the legislation. But more importantly . . . the whole point of the current hates crimes legislation is to add sexual orientation to the list of existing protections for things like race and religion, because such protections do not exist.

�Given that religion is already protected by existing hate crimes legislation, let�s re-write Porter�s paragraph accordingly to point out how absurd it is:

��Let me summarize. Pushing away an unwelcome advance of a CHRISTIAN EVANGELIST could make you a felon under this law. Speaking out against the RELIGIOUS RIGHT�s agenda could also make you a felon if you are said to influence someone who pushes away that unwelcome advance. And CHRISTIANS and other RELIGIONS would enjoy an elevated level of protection, while children, seniors, veterans and gays would not.��

Religion has been protected under existing hate crime laws for more than a decade, yet �in that time . . . not one instance where someone in this country who has rebuffed an attempt to proselytize or spoken out against the right-wing agenda has been charged with a hate crime.� Ms. Porter�s scare tactic relies on people�s ignorance and fears, the same ignorance and fears the �Christian� Right�s deceptions, distortions and dishonesty have been encouraging and exploiting for decades. Witness recent comments made by �Joe the Plumber� (aka Sam Wurzelbacher) in the May 7, 2009, edition of Christianity Today that featured this leader: �The man who became a metaphor for the average American in the 2008 election tells CT about his Christian faith and the future of the Republican Party.�

Why does conservatism appeal to you as a Christian?

Conservatism is about the basic rights of individuals. God created us. . . .

Really? If �conservatism is about the basic rights of individuals,� then why are conservatives so opposed to gays having equal civil rights? And if �God created us,� and some of the �us� He created are gay, why the conservative and �Christian� campaigns against some of �we the people�?

�Joe� continued his wisdom:

In the last month, same-sex marriage has become legal in Iowa and Vermont. What do you think about same-sex marriage at a state level?

At a state level, it�s up to them. I don�t want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it�s wrong. People don�t understand the dictionary -- it�s called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It�s not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we�re supposed to do -- what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we�re supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I�ve had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn�t have them anywhere near my children.

Hopefully Mr. Wurzelbacher is more knowledgeable about plumbing than he is about the English language. The definition of �queer� he cited -- �strange and unusual� -- is correct when the word is used as an adjective. From the Oxford English Dictionary: �QUEER, adj. 1. a. Strange, odd, peculiar, eccentric. Also: of questionable character; suspicious, dubious.� The last part of that definition is most telling and correlates well with Wurzelbacher�s innuendo that all gays are pedophiles: �I wouldn�t have them anywhere near my children.� That�s as brain-dead as suggesting all heterosexuals are pedophiles even though, as Dr. Kathryn Conroy noted, �Reliable studies show that pedophiles . . . are overwhelmingly heterosexual.�

When people like Mr. Wurzelbacher call someone �queer,� they�re using the word as a noun, in the singular and the plural: �You�re a queer� or �Queers are evil pedophile perverts.� From the Oxford English Dictionary: 1. With the: that which is queer (in various senses). rare. 2. colloq. (freq. derogatory). A homosexual; esp. a male homosexual. Although originally chiefly derogatory, since the late 1980s it has been used as a neutral or positive term, originally by some homosexuals . . .

The second entry is again telling in ways Mr. Wurzelbacher clearly did not understand . . . or maybe did.

I frequently hear my African American students (especially males) refer to each other as �nigger.� Within their community, it�s a familiar �positive� term. But when a Caucasian -- or a member of the KKK -- calls an African American �a nigger,� it�s anything but �a neutral or positive term.�

By analogy, when a gay man calls another gay man �a queer,� within their community it�s �a neutral or positive term.� But when a heterosexual -- especially a card-carrying member of the �Christian� Right -- calls a gay man �a queer,� it�s anything but �a neutral or positive term.�

Perhaps both the African American and LGBT communities would do well to stop using terms they find offensive.

But let�s hope all those �Christian� leaders, their heroes Joe the Plumber and Miss California, and all those other �Christian� affiliates keep up the good work:

Group: Gay Marriage Means Death
April 30, 2009
By Rhiza Dizon

The Iowa Family Policy Center released a video on Monday assessing the �impact of homosexuality on a family,� claiming that the state supreme court�s marriage-equality ruling will breed more homosexuality, causing death, pain, and suffering among families across the state.

And let�s not forget the Holy Roman and Apostolic Catholic Church that covered-up decades of child abuse and pedophilia by its priests:

Bishops say . . . Banning bullying against gays and lesbians could lead to same-sex marriage

The LGR Tinfoil Mitre award� goes out this week to two North Carolina Roman Catholic bishops who say a bill in that state banning bullying against gays and lesbians [in public schools] could lead to same-sex marriage.

God bless America�s youth for recognizing and rejecting bigotry and hate wrapped in religious robes:

The impact of �Christian� homophobia: New Research Reveals Young Americans Losing Their Religion In Staggering Numbers
May 06, 2009

New research shows young Americans are dramatically less likely to go to church -- or to participate in any form of organized religion -- than their parents and grandparents.

�It�s a huge change,� says Harvard University professor Robert Putnam, who conducted the research. . . .

Putnam says that in the past two decades, many young people began to view organized religion as a source of �intolerance and rigidity and doctrinaire political views,� and therefore stopped going to church. . . .

The words from the May 7, 2009 New York Times editorial and Maine�s governor bear repeating, and repeating, and repeating . . .�It is by no means a fast and easy path, but the cause of same-sex marriage is moving forward -- proof that justice can triumph over wedge politics and prejudice. It happened this week in Maine and New Hampshire . . .

�Maine[�s] Gov. John Baldacci, who signed his state�s same-sex marriage bill . . . had opposed the idea, with the familiar hedge of supporting the half-step of civil unions.

�Mr. Baldacci described his change of heart -- and what we hope is the changing sentiment of many other American politicians. �I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage,� he said. Precisely.�