When in Doubt, Religify! Fear Mongering about Religious Liberty | Political Research Associates

I have been sitting on this article for almost a month now.  Not quite sure as to how to introduce it, or where exactly the issue addressed falls in the grand scheme of thing.  But Clarksom, in his initial write up, mentions two recent rulings:

The Institute draws on detailed understandings of recent Supreme Court cases as sources for this legal groundwork against the coming siege. They point particularly to the 2012 case of Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which disallowed a discrimination complaint by a teacher, declaring that her role was part of the ministry of the church, and her employer therefore was exempt from employment discrimination laws. The decision is widely seen as having opened the door to a wide range of religious exemptions from civil rights and labor laws. The Institute also points to the 2014 decision in Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. & Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Burwell, which for the first time endowed “closely held” for-profit corporations with religious rights under the First Amendment.

And, that took my mind back to something I wrote last year in regards to the Hobby Lobby ruling:

When one looks at the decision rendered by SCOTUS it has to be through the lens of the Reich's overall agenda -  starting with a "reformed" interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause or an outright repeal of the First Amendment,  continuing with the abolition of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending with the implementation of dominionist ideology in order to govern by theocratic control.  With the ruling in Hobby Lobby, the Reich will "now" be able to exempt themselves from any laws that they don’t like; that they find “religiously objectionable.” 

As Clarkson notes, "most of our attention is directed to larger-than-life marriage equality dramas being played out in courtrooms, legislative chambers, and major media outlets, the foundation is being laid for massive resistance to marriage equality and much more."  The faux persecution complex, the so-called fight for religious liberty, and so on.

What has gone unnoticed in all this, the Reich has realized that they are losing in the court of public opinion.  They may not admit it but as Clarkson states in his companion piece for LGBTQNation "they foresee as a long siege against conservative Christian churches, businesses, and organizations."  Hence the issue at hand:

Major Christian Right legal agencies have begun issuing manuals for conservative churches and other organizations to inoculate themselves against private lawsuits and government enforcement of civil rights laws.

The national Christian Right legal network Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, one of the primary groups behind the legislative agenda to redefine religious freedom into an affirmative right to discriminate) joined forces with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention to issue one such handbook, and the Texas-based Liberty Institute has issued a similar manual.

The ADF and Southern Baptist handbook (titled, “Protecting Your Ministry from Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Lawsuits: A Legal Guide for Southern Baptist and Evangelical Churches, Schools, and Ministries”) anticipates needing to “engage a hostile social and political culture… amid the gathering spiritual darkness.”

The Liberty Institute sees it as “not a matter of if but when religious institutions will be faced with damaging, anti-religious legal attacks.”  To prepare, the Institute advises institutions from churches and synagogues to fraternities and for-profit corporations to “religify.”  [Emphases in the original.]

Both manuals urge religification by revising all of their institutional documents, from employee job descriptions to facility rental agreements. Workers and volunteers are reclassified under a broad redefinition of “ministry”; and institutional functions are cast specifically in terms of religious doctrine. The goal is to be seen by the courts as qualifying for broad “ministerial exemptions” from the law in as many ways as possible.

As I mentioned last July, Hobby Lobby was a test and as the Rev. Terry Fox declared, in regards to what has now amounted to a renewed push for state RFRAs, "We are not going to let it die. We are very committed. The Body of Christ is a powerful movement when it comes together."

And just as Fox asserted, "These manuals demonstrate that Christian Right leaders of the culture war intend to fight LGBTQ Rights and marriage equality in the states, in the towns and cities, and in many kinds of institutions, no matter what the federal government and the courts may say."

When in Doubt, Religify! Fear Mongering about Religious Liberty | Political Research Associates

A Theocratic Campaign Against Public Education in South Carolina

This is an older article (2014) by Fredrick Clarkson detailing the ideology behind the Reich's war on public education. In the current piece Clarkson excerpts from an older work from 1994. Make no mistake, the underfunding of K-12 and the massive cuts experienced by universities in Kansas and Wisconsin are not a fluke but part of an overall strategy being implemented by the Reich.

Similarly, the Christian "home schooling" movement is part of the longterm revolutionary strategy of Reconstructionism. One of the principal home schooling curricula is provided by Reconstructionist [the late] Paul Lindstrom of Christian Liberty Academy (CLA) in Arlington Heights, Illinois. CLA claims that it serves about 20,000 families. Its 1994 curriculum included a book on "Biblical Economics" by Gary North. Home schooling advocate Christopher Klicka, who has been deeply influenced by R. J. Rushdoony, writes: "Sending our children to the public school violates nearly every Biblical principle.... It is tantamount to sending our children to be trained by the enemy." He claims that the public schools are Satan's choice. Klicka also advocates religious self-segregation and advises Christians not to affiliate with non-Christian home schoolers in any way. "The differences I am talking about," declares Klicka, "have resulted in wars and martyrdom in the not too distant past." According to Klicka, who is an attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association, "as an organization, and as individuals, we are committed to promote the cause of Christ and His Kingdom."

A Theocratic Campaign Against Public Education in South Carolina

My horrible right-wing past: Confessions of a one-time religious right icon - Salon.com

I am a white, privileged, well-off, 61-year-old former Republican religious right-wing activist who changed his mind about religion and politics long ago. The New York Times profiled my change of heart saying that to my former friends I’m considered a “traitorous prince” since my religious-right family was once thought of as “evangelical royalty.”

You see, only in the Mafia, the British Royal family and big time American religion is a nepotistic rise to power seen as normal. And I was good at it. And I hated it while hypocritically profiting from it — until, that is, in the mid-1980s, I quit. These days I describe myself as an atheist who believes in God.

Ironically I helped my father become famous in the religion sector. In the 1970s I directed and produced two film series featuring Dad with book companions that became evangelical bestsellers: “How Should We Then Live?” and “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?” By the time Dad and I completed two nationwide seminar tours launching those projects, I was being invited to speak at the biggest religious gatherings, including the Southern Baptist Convention and the annual meeting of the National Religious Broadcasters.

The leaders of the new religious right were gleefully betting on American failure. If secular, democratic, diverse and pluralistic America survived, then wouldn’t that prove that we were wrong about God only wanting to bless “Christian America?” If, for instance, crime went down dramatically in New York City, for any other reason than a reformation and revival, wouldn’t that make the prophets of doom look silly? And if the economy was booming without anyone repenting, what did that mean?

What began to bother me was that so many of our new “friends” on the religious right seemed to be rooting for one form of apocalypse or another. In the crudest form this was part of the evangelical fascination with the so-called end times. The worse things got, the sooner Jesus would come back. But there was another component. The worse everything got, the more it proved that America needed saving, by us! Plus, it was good for fundraising.

Some 30 years later, what we helped start — I am sorry! — continues. With the Republicans in control of the House and Senate the question arises — again — Where does the American far right find the energy to oppose everything and everyone again and again?

[,,,]
The difference between now and then is that back then we were religious fanatics knocking on the doors of normal political leaders. Today the fanatics are the political leaders.

You can’t understand why the GOP was so successful in winning back both houses of congress in 2014, and wrecking most of what Obama has tried to do, unless you understand what we did back then.

[,,,]
And that strategy was simple: Republican leaders would affirm their anti-abortion commitment to evangelicals, and in turn we’d vote for them — by the tens of millions. Once Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the presidency, “we” would reverse Roe, through a constitutional amendment and/or through the appointment of anti-abortion judges to the Supreme Court or, if need be, through civil disobedience and even violence, though this was only hinted at at first. In 2016, the dream we had will become a reality unless America wakes up. The Republicans are poised to destroy women’s rights. They have a majority on the Court to back them up.

My horrible right-wing past: Confessions of a one-time religious right icon - Salon.com

The $1-Billion-a-Year Right-Wing Conspiracy You Haven’t Heard Of - The Daily Beast

Although the speakers list was not that over-the-top as far as names go, this "group" will bare watching.  As there is much to digest, I may have to revisit both articles for all the information to sink in.

Have you heard of the $1,750-per-person “Gathering,” which starts Thursday in Orlando, Florida?

Probably not. But if you’re female, gay, non-Christian, or otherwise interested in the separation of church and state, your life has been affected by it.

The Gathering is a conference of hard-right Christian organizations and, perhaps more important, funders. Most of them are not household names, at least if your household isn’t evangelical. But that’s the point: The Gathering is a hub of Christian Right organizing, and the people in attendance have led the campaigns to privatize public schools, redefine “religious liberty” (as in the Hobby Lobby case), fight same-sex marriage, fight evolution, and, well, you know the rest. They’re probably behind that, too.

Featured speakers have included many of the usual suspects: Alliance Defending Freedom President and CEO Alan Sears (2013), Focus on the Family President Jim Daly (2011), and Family Research Council head Tony Perkins (2006). This year, however, they are joined by David Brooks of The New York Times and Michael Gerson of The Washington Post. What’s going on? Has The Gathering gone mainstream?

Hardly, says Bruce Wilson, director of the advocacy group Truth Wins Out’s Center Against Religious Extremism and a leading researcher on The Gathering. The selection of this year’s speakers, he says, is just the latest in a long line of misdirections and canards.

To be sure, untangling webs of funders, organizations, and campaigns can often feel like conspiracy-mongering. Your brain begins to resemble one of those bulletin boards from A Beautiful Mind or Se7en, full of paranoid-seeming Post-Its and strings. Wilson has been untangling these webs for years, and sometimes it shows. His many publications and his emails to me are long-winded, occasionally exaggerated, and sometimes hard to follow.

But often he’s dead on. And beneath the hyperbole, The Gathering is as close to a “vast right-wing conspiracy” as you’re likely to find. So with this year’s conference about to get under way, Wilson gave The Daily Beast an exclusive interview over email—heavily redacted here—about this shadowy, powerful network of hard-right funders.

The $1-Billion-a-Year Right-Wing Conspiracy You Haven’t Heard Of - The Daily Beast

See also:

The Gathering: The Religious Right’s Cash Cow

Christian right secession fantasy: Spooky neo-Confederate talk grows louder at the fringes - Salon.com

Just how far will religionists go to obtain their goal of a theocratic nation? One writers look at Frederick Clarkson's "Rumblings of Theocratic Violence."

[Still working through Clarkson's article as it is a long one,,,]

But religion goes to a much deeper place in defining who we are, and motivating us to act. When religious motivations are engaged toward similar ends, the level of threat they pose will almost certainly rise dramatically as a result.

“[S]omething has changed in recent years,” Clarkson notes, as “disturbing claims are appearing more frequently, more prominently, and in ways that suggest that they are expressions of deeply held beliefs more than provocative political hyperbole.” He also cites “powerful indications in the writings of some Christian right leaders that elements of their movement have lost confidence in the bright political vision of the United States as the once and future Christian Nation — and that they are desperately seeking alternatives.”

Perhaps most ominously, there is a growing convergence of theocratic and neo-Confederate thinking, Clarkson finds:

At least some of the historic culture warriors of the Christian Right seem to be considering an ostensibly unlikely coalition with the Neo-Confederate movement. The coalition would lead their followers in religious and political directions in which violence is as likely as the outcomes are uncertain. It is an unlikely coalition, not necessarily because the Christian Right and most Neo-Confederates differ much on issues, but because Christian nationalism is so fundamentally at odds with the notion of fracturing the nation due to a loss of hope and faith in the role of the United States in God’s plan.

In short, if you think that secession talk has been crazy since President Obama took office, it could get significantly worse. The sort of standoff we saw at the Cliven Bundy ranch could pale in comparison to what a religiously motivated group — certain that God is on their side — might do.

[,,,]
As Clarkson notes, today’s Christian right is no longer defined by a handful of high-profile leaders well-known throughout the political media, as it was in years before. That earlier generation has been followed by “a generation of hands-on political operatives who now sustain a more decentralized Christian right,” and he highlights a handful of them who share in an overall drift toward a potential for violent conflict, though they come from a variety of different starting points.

[,,,]
This is not the sign of a movement inclined toward any sort of acceptance or compromise, to say the least. Indeed, the more isolated the Christian right becomes on certain social issues, such as gay marriage, the more they move toward forging previously unthinkable alliances, even to the point of re-unifying Protestants and Catholics:

[,,,]
Whether anything like what they envision comes about should not be our only concern, so that if it seems unlikely, we can safely ignore them as well. Widespread organized mass violence isn’t the only threat out there. We’ve already seen an example at the Cliven Bundy ranch of how quickly an armed anti-government camp can be drawn together. At least the media covering it had some idea that radical ideologies and conspiracy theories were involved. But religion goes to a much deeper place in defining who we are, and motivating us to act. When religious motivations are engaged toward similar ends, the level of threat they pose will almost certainly rise dramatically as a result.

No one envisioned the Bundy Ranch standoff before it occurred. No one envisioned the Oklahoma City bombing in advance, either. But there have been people warning us that these sorts of things can happen. And now we’re being warned that, with the addition of religion to the mix, something far more toxic could well lie ahead. Remember, these are people who believe they’re fulfilling God’s plan. When things don’t go their way, it’s hard to grasp the depth of their dis

Christian right secession fantasy: Spooky neo-Confederate talk grows louder at the fringes - Salon.com

Parents Beware – The Dominionists want to take over the world using your children

Parents Beware – The Dominionists want to take over the world using your children (via http://worldcultwatch.org)

Make no mistake. If the Christian Right have their way, creationism will be taught as science in every school in America. The wedge strategy is a political and social action plan authored by the Discovery Institute, the hub of the intelligent design…

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5 of the Christian Right's Favorite and Most Dangerous New Recruits Running for Congress | Alternet

Today, the Christian Right is armed with networks and pipelines of unprecedented levels of campaign financing. Its consortium of donor channels includes the Club for Growth, Senate Conservatives Fund, FreedomWorks, and a cadre of hyper-religious organizations such as the Christian Coalition, Christian Broadcasting Network, American Values, and the Family Research Council.

The Christian Right can now raise enough cash to compete and win in Republican primaries against Chamber of Commerce-sponsored establishment candidates. According to the Federal Electoral Commission, Tea Party and social conservative groups raised nearly three times as much as GOP establishment groups in 2013.

The Christian Right is not only an existential threat to the future of the Republican Party, it’s also an existential threat to our secular democracy, for it wishes to transform America into a tyrannical theocracy governed by biblical law. With the warring Republican factions preparing to square off in a series of Senate and House primaries, here are the Christian Right’s most favored candidates for the 2014 election cycle.

5 of the Christian Right's Favorite and Most Dangerous New Recruits Running for Congress | Alternet

Why do they lie?

This is just one of those things that is super fascinating about the Christian right, which is that they have this deep-to-the-core disrespect for the truth that manifests in telling really obvious fairy tales and fantasies. The pleasure derived from demonizing abortion providers or Planned Parenthood [you can also insert atheist, humanist, or any individual/group not agreed with] outstrips any concerns about the immorality of lying about people, but it also outstrips any concerns about people realizing you’re a sleazy, no-good liar. Robertston and Calhoun [and Starnes] don’t worry about being caught in flagrant lies, because their own people will never hold them accountable for it,,,

I think the problem is that because they’ve convinced themselves they’re the only moral people left in the country, they, perversely, feel entitled to do any immoral thing they want without consequence. “Morality” is a tribal identity issue, in other words, and not a result of your actual behavior. They’re convinced they’re good and pro-choicers [insert group individual of choice] are bad, and so that means that everything they do is good and everything we do is bad, even if they’re lying and we’re telling the truth. (The Christian Right’s Ease With Lies And Dishonesty | The Raw Story)

Oh, how true this observation/opinion is.  I have lost count of the numerous faux outrages, based on lies, I have posted about.  Yet it still continues as the following (headlines) will demonstrate,,,

First reported by Charisma News with the headline Atheists Work to Block Charity From Feeding Starving Kids:

Students at the School of Engineering and Arts recently visited Calvary Lutheran Church to participate in a volunteer program sponsored by Feed My Starving Children, a nonprofit organization run by Christians that seeks to eliminate world hunger for children. As part of the program, students prepared prepacked meals that would be sent to malnourished children across the globe and did not engage in any religious activities.

[,,,]
“It’s shameful for groups like the American Humanist Association to attack charity groups that provide impoverished children with help they wouldn’t otherwise receive,” says senior legal counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “We hope that our letter will help Robbinsdale Area Schools understand that they can continue to allow students to participate with Feed My Starving Children and other worthy humanitarian service programs for the benefit of the needy.”

The next day, the master of hyperbole, Todd Starnes states once again claims of anti-Christian persecution, American Humanist Association demands students stop feeding starving kids:

The humanists got their britches in a bunch after the family of a student at the School of Engineering and Arts objected to the project being held at Calvary Lutheran Church.

[,,,]
The humanists took special offense to biblical terminology used to describe the mission to feed starving children.

[,,,]
How the atheists must have trembled at the sight of the cross as they tried to avert their eyes lest they soil themselves and spontaneously combust.

What I find so telling and why the highlighted statement above is spot on, Starnes continues:

I called Latisha Gray, the spokesperson for the school district – a very nice lady who seemed rather perplexed by the controversy and said they don’t believe they violated the U.S. Constitution.

“We believe that this activity was a service learning activity,” she told me. “There was absolutely no evangelizing or religious activity in the event.”

In other words, she is a nice Christian lady, who has no personal understanding of the First Amendment and what legal ramifications it entails.  Her misguided thinking concerning this issue,

the project was held during school hours as part of a community service project.  [AND] It’s the second year the school has partnered with “Feed My Starving Children.”

is fed by the "we believe" faction that holds to "their interpretation of the law is the only correct interpretation," and the atheists are bad, therefore wrong.

What is so infuriating is the blatant mis-characterization of what is at issue.  Spinning a possible SOCAS violation as, atheists trying to block the charity itself is dishonest and unnecessary.

The first point that Starnes et al choose to ignore in this case, "Christian" exceptionalism.

"Gray said the school is aware that a parent had complained about the event,,,The AHA said the parent also complained about the event last year."  So the school, knowing there was a previous issue with this project, chose to ignore it, "it is even more egregious that, after the parental complaint was made last year, you did nothing to remedy the problem, but instead suggested that the parent was misguided for complaining."  What Starnes leaves off, "We therefore seek immediate assurance that activities such as those complained of herein will cease immediately and not be continued in the future."  So the nice Christian lady, Latisha Gray who "seemed rather perplexed by the controversy" is full of shit.  She knows exactly what the problem is and so does Starnes.

A second point, trivializing the obvious

Further down in his diatribe, Starnes gives us this statement, "AHA said they don’t have a problem feeding hungry children. They just have a problem doing it inside a “theologically-charged environment.”  And concludes with, "This is a new low even for humanists. It takes a special kind of godless thuggery to take food out of the mouths of starving children."

Dude, I should say dudes as Jeremy Tedesco (ADF) alludes to this as well, I think you missed the point.  The AHA is NOT trying to stop the charity from feeding children, they are trying to prevent religious indoctrination of young impressionable children

1]  As we all know, charities such as Feed My Children (why is it MY Children?) depend on volunteers.  These kids were NOT volunteers, this was part of a school requirement for community service.  Hence why it was deemed a field trip and performed during school hours.

2]  Just the fact that this field trip occurred at a church implicitly supports a connection between church and state.  Church implies religion, specifically, Christianity.  I know of no 6,7 or 8 year old that would be able to separate the connection. 

3]  The goal of Christianity, proselytization (the Great Commission).  "The website of the church in question (the Calvary Lutheran Church) describes its mission as “to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ."

4]  The mission of the charity in question, "We believe God answers the prayers of His people and ask you to join us in praying.”

So yes Mr. Starnes it was a "theologically-charged environment" to insinuate otherwise is disingenuous.  For me to think that proselytizing to a "captive" audience was not the main focus of such organizations, I would have to ignore this and this:

Brannon, 25, said they decided to hand out care packages to the homeless after being told they could not volunteer at the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen.

"I told them we wouldn't wear our T-shirts. We wouldn't tell anyone who we are with. We just want to help out," Brannon said. "And they told us that we were not allowed."

According to the Soup Kitchen's website, the organization is dependent upon volunteers, having more than 600 community volunteers with a mission to serve the hungry in Spartanburg.

Lou Landrum, executive director of the Soup Kitchen, told the Herald-Journal she would resign from her job before she let atheists volunteer and be a "disservice to this community."

"This is a ministry to serve God" she said. "We stand on the principles of God. Do they (atheists) think that our guests are so ignorant that they don't know what an atheist is? Why are they targeting us? They don't give any money. I wouldn't want their money."

And,

The bad news is that we aren’t likely to have a volunteer event. The reason is unfortunate: Kansas City Rescue Mission has decided to use the meals they deliver as a chance to proselytize to its recipients by inserting religious literature into the meals. They informed us that we “would not be a good fit” (emphasis theirs) for volunteering with them, and declined to respond to any further inquiries. We can only speculate at their motivation behind this,,,

So why do they lie?  I have no clue.  The author of the original article couldn't answer it succinctly either:  "With the religious right, however, the tendency to put fantasy in front of fact is the dominant cultural imperative. Conspiracy theories about Planned Parenthood are the norm. Entire laws are being passed based on the lie that legal abortion is dangerous. For other interest groups, being a bunch of dishonest hacks is a legitimate obstacle, and understandably so! It’s interesting how much the Christian right is an exception.

But do you see the pattern, the formula and how well it works [insert ACA, gay marriage, atheist, humanist, or any individual/group not agreed with.]

How Christian Tribalism Empowers Hardliners Against the Wishes of Most Americans | Alternet

The Christian right has long understood that in order to get the power they desire, they need to portray themselves as a group that is working for a majority. Sometimes they claim to speak for a majority of Americans and sometimes just for the majority of Christians, but either way, they understand that positioning themselves as spokespeople for a majority is an excellent way to push forward their agenda, even when that agenda is absolutely against what the majority actually wants. More than any other group in America, the Christian right knows that you can shove through a massively unpopular policy by appealing to people’s sense of identity and solidarity. Indeed, you can often get people to support you who would be utterly repulsed by your actual agenda.

How do they do it? They understand better than anyone how, in politics, identity trumps grittier concerns like actual policies. Labels like “conservative” or “Christian” create intra-group loyalty that allows the radicals within a group to push their agenda knowing that while the majority in their group may disagree with them, they won’t fight too hard because they don’t want to be accused of not being Christian or conservative enough.

Understanding how identity often matters more than belief is key to understanding how the religious right manages to gather so much power while pushing an agenda completely out of lockstep not just with the mainstream of America, but the mainstream of conservatism.

[,,,]
What’s going on here is that, simply put, the hardliners in the Christian right are able to pressure other people into going along with them by using in-group loyalty. Your average pro-lifer wants abortion and contraception to be legal in some cases, but they will continue to give money and political support to anti-choicers trying to get rid of legal access to both because, at the end of the day, expressing solidarity with the movement matters.

[,,,]
Once you understand how loyalty to the tribe causes people to squelch their objections to what the leaders of the tribe want, it becomes much easier to see how the Christian right convinces people to go along---or at least avoid fighting them---when the leaders decide to push radical right-wing agendas.

How Christian Tribalism Empowers Hardliners Against the Wishes of Most Americans | Alternet

Republican Insiders Fret That Right-Wing Crazies Will Upset GOP's Election Chances | Alternet

With the Republican Party being torn apart by its internal civil war, an ideological battle that pits establishment Republicans against the no-compromise Tea Party/Christian Right, party backers are doing their best to suppress the craziness as the 2014 midterms approach. But are they succeeding?

[,,,]
The establishment wing is discovering that it’s hard to keep the crazy quiet when your party’s voter base consists of neo-confederates, white supremacists, know-nothing libertarians, and evangelical theocrats. Moreover, social conservatives are no wilting wallflowers when it comes to raising campaign money. A recent Politico piece reported that roughly 25 socially conservative groups combined to pull in more than $280 million in 2011 and 2012. Notwithstanding the fact that much of the Koch brother’s political spending goes to the ideologically insane, too.

[,,,]
"This election is when the Tea Party movement will professionalize how it engages in politics," says Drew Ryun, the political director of the Madison Project, a conservative campaign group. "We are getting a game plan."

All in all, seven of the 12 GOP senators up for reelection in 2014 are facing primary opponents, which is a record number of challenges. The far right also plans to target 25 House races, highlighting the deep divisions within the Republican Party. Tea Party Express says, “The false narrative continues to be written that the Tea Party is dead and that 2014 will not be like 2010, but every month we see a strong example to the contrary.”

Republican Insiders Fret That Right-Wing Crazies Will Upset GOP's Election Chances | Alternet

Some Folks Say It's the Beginning of the End for the Christian Right -- Dream On, They're Getting More Powerful | Alternet

In the aftermath of the government shutdown, and the ongoing Republican Party internal civil war that followed, progressive media outlets have embraced the notion that the Christian Right is finally facing its demise. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The autopsy of the 2012 election produced a swarm of op-ed obituaries that either celebrated or foretold the political end times for the Christian Right. Jonathan Merritt, a columnist for the Atlantic, observed that the GOP’s electoral hammering in 2012 marked the end of evangelical dominance in U.S. politics. More recently, Steven Conn, a contributor for the Huffington Post, predicts the rise of Pope Francis will dissolve the glue holding the Christian Right together.

While these observations make for sound logic when examining national politics, they completely overlook the Christian Right’s state-by-state strategy.

The Christian Right is flying mostly under the radar because the media tend to be attracted to bright, shiny things that grab attention at the national level. The nation’s theocrats, however, are waging a battle for America’s soul at the local and state level, and these battles generally do not make their way onto CNN or the front page of the New York Times.

[,,,]
Sarah Posner, an adept observer of the Christian Right, writes: “The religious right is not a movement with one or even two or three or four leaders. Because it's a political and cultural undertaking that is playing a long game—rather successfully—it has produced many disciples.”

[,,,]
Chris Hedges, author of American Fascists, writes, “All ideological, theological and political debates with the radical Christian right are useless. It cares nothing for rational thought and discussion. Its adherents are using the space within the open society to destroy the open society itself. Our naive attempts to placate a movement bent on our destruction, to prove to it that we too have 'values,' only strengthen its supposed legitimacy and increase our own weakness.”

 Some Folks Say It's the Beginning of the End for the Christian Right -- Dream On, They're Getting More Powerful | Alternet

Chris Hedges: The Radical Christian Right and the War on Government - Chris Hedges - Truthdig

There is a desire felt by tens of millions of Americans, lumped into a diffuse and fractious movement known as the Christian right, to destroy the intellectual and scientific rigor of the Enlightenment, radically diminish the role of government to create a theocratic state based on “biblical law,” and force a recalcitrant world to bend to the will of an imperial and “Christian” America. Its public face is on display in the House of Representatives. This ideology, which is the driving force behind the shutdown of the government, calls for the eradication of social “deviants,” beginning with gay men and lesbians, whose sexual orientation, those in the movement say, is a curse and an illness, contaminating the American family and the country. Once these “deviants” are removed, other “deviants,” including Muslims, liberals, feminists, intellectuals, left-wing activists, undocumented workers, poor African-Americans and those dismissed as “nominal Christians”—meaning Christians who do not embrace this peculiar interpretation of the Bible—will also be ruthlessly repressed. The “deviant” government bureaucrats, the “deviant” media, the “deviant” schools and the “deviant” churches, all agents of Satan, will be crushed or radically reformed. The rights of these “deviants” will be annulled. “Christian values” and “family values” will, in the new state, be propagated by all institutions. Education and social welfare will be handed over to the church. Facts and self-criticism will be replaced with relentless indoctrination.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz—whose father is Rafael Cruz, a rabid right-wing Christian preacher and the director of the Purifying Fire International ministry—and legions of the senator’s wealthy supporters, some of whom orchestrated the shutdown, are rooted in a radical Christian ideology known as Dominionism or Christian Reconstructionism. This ideology calls on anointed “Christian” leaders to take over the state and make the goals and laws of the nation “biblical.” It seeks to reduce government to organizing little more than defense, internal security and the protection of property rights. It fuses with the Christian religion the iconography and language of American imperialism and nationalism, along with the cruelest aspects of corporate capitalism. The intellectual and moral hollowness of the ideology, its flagrant distortion and misuse of the Bible, the contradictions that abound within it—its leaders champion small government and a large military, as if the military is not part of government—and its laughable pseudoscience are impervious to reason and fact. And that is why the movement is dangerous.

[,,,]
All ideological, theological and political debates with the radical Christian right are useless. It cares nothing for rational thought and discussion. Its adherents are using the space within the open society to destroy the open society itself. Our naive attempts to placate a movement bent on our destruction, to prove to it that we too have “values,” only strengthen its supposed legitimacy and increase our own weakness.

Dominionists have to operate, for now, in what they see as the contaminated environment of the secular, liberal state. They work with the rest of us only because they must. Given enough power—and they are working hard to get it—any such cooperation will vanish. They are no different from the vanguard described by Lenin or the Islamic terrorists who shaved off their beards, adopted Western dress and watched pay-for-view pornography in their hotel rooms the night before hijacking a plane for a suicide attack. The elect alone, like the Grand Inquisitor, are sanctioned to know the truth. And in the pursuit of their truth they have no moral constraints.

[,,,]
I was also acutely aware of the dangerous ideology these people embraced. Fascist movements begin as champions of civic improvement, communal ideals, moral purity, strength, national greatness and family values. These movements attract, as has the radical Christian right, those who are disillusioned by the collapse of liberal democracy. And our liberal democracy has collapsed.

[,,,]
Their very real despair is being manipulated and used by Christian fascists such as the Texas senator. Give to the working poor a living wage, benefits and job security and the reach of this movement will diminish. Refuse to ameliorate the suffering of the poor and working class and you ensure the ascendancy of a Christian fascism.


Chris Hedges: The Radical Christian Right and the War on Government - Chris Hedges - Truthdig

Inside the Christian Right Dominionist Movement That's Undermining Democracy | Alternet

This is a bit dated in regards to newsworthiness, but has a good solid explanation of Dominionism,,,

Dominionism is a broad political impulse within the Christian Right in the United States. It comes in a variety of forms that author Fred Clarkson and I call soft and hard. Fred and I probably coined the term “Dominionism” back in the 1990s, but in any case we certainly were the primary researchers who organized its use among journalists and scholars.

Clarkson noted three characteristics that bridge both the hard and the soft kind of Dominionism.

• Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism, in that they believe the United States once was, and should again be, a Christian nation. In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of American democracy.

• Dominionists promote religious supremacy, insofar as they generally do not respect the equality of other religions, or even other versions of Christianity.

• Dominionists endorse theocratic visions, believing that the Ten Commandments, or “biblical law,” should be the foundation of American law, and that the U.S. Constitution should be seen as a vehicle for implementing Biblical principles.

At the apex of hard Dominionism is the religious dogma of Dominion Theology, with two major branches: Christian Reconstructionism and Kingdom Now theology.

[,,,] “While differing from Reconstructionism in many ways, Kingdom Now shares the belief that Christians have a mandate to take dominion over every area of life,” explains religion scholar Bruce Barron. And it is just this tendency that has spread through evangelical Protestantism, resulting in the emergence of “various brands of ‘dominionist’ thinkers in contemporary American evangelicalism,” according to Barron.

[,,,] Much of the controversy over the issue of Dominionism is caused by writers who use the term carelessly, often conflating the broad term Dominionism with the narrow term Dominion Theology. Some on the Left have implied that every conservative Christian evangelical is part of the Christian Right political movement; and that everyone in the Christian Right is an active Dominionist. This is false. Some critics even state that the Christian Right is neofascist. Few serious scholars of fascism agree with that assessment, although several admit that if triggered by a traumatic societal event, any contemporary right-wing populist movement could descend into neofascism.

[,,,] Christian Reconstructionists believe that as more Christians adopt Dominion Theology, they will eventually convert the majority of Americans. Then the country will realize that the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights are merely codicils to Old Testament biblical law. Because they believe this is God’s will, they scoff at criticism that what they plan is a revolutionary overthrow of the existing system of government. Over the past 20 years the leading proponents of Reconstructionism have included founder Rousas John (R.J.) Rushdoony, Gary North, Greg Bahnsen, David Chilton, Gary DeMar, and Andrew Sandlin. Kingdom Now theology emerged from the Latter Rain Pentacostal movement and the concept of Spiritual Warfare against the literal demonic forces of Satan. It has been promoted by founder Earl Paulk as well as C. Peter Wagner, founder of the New Apostolic Reformation movement.

[,,,] Religion scholar Bruce Barron explains that “unlike the Christian Right, Reconstructionism is not simply or primarily a political movement; it is first and foremost an educational movement fearlessly proclaiming an ideology of total world transformation.” According to sociologist Sara Diamond, Christian Reconstructionism spread the “concept that Christians are Biblically mandated to ‘occupy’ all secular institutions” to the extent that it became “the central unifying ideology for the Christian Right.”


Inside the Christian Right Dominionist Movement That's Undermining Democracy | Alternet

5 Shocking Ways the Christian Right Has Forced the Bible Into America's Schools | Alternet

Speaking of science,,,

Not only does replacing science with biblical literalism violate the separation of church and state, it leaves young people massively ill-prepared for higher education. Public universities teach evolution without qualification or apology. A poor understanding of what is considered to be the central organizing principle of science handicaps students from the first day they walk into freshman Biology 101.

[,,,]
Despite these high stakes, some states, school districts and individual teachers insist on doing students a disservice by promoting scientific illiteracy.

1. Texas: In one of the creationists’ sneakiest moves to date, in 2007 a phalanx of anti-science fundamentalist groups swamped the Texas legislature and lobbied for a law allowing elective courses “about” the Bible in public schools.

2. Louisiana: In the early 1980s, Louisiana legislators decided to pass a law mandating that when evolution was taught in public schools, “creation science” must be as well. Scientists, educators and advocates of church-state separation were appalled and blasted the so-called “balanced treatment” measure, but lawmakers, led by state Sen. Bill Keith, plowed ahead. The bill was soon law.

3. Georgia: Education officials in Cobb County, Georgia have a long and sorry history of trying to undercut instruction about evolution. Any discussion of the “origin of the human species” is banned in elementary and middle schools, and high schools are forbidden to require students to demonstrate an understanding of evolution as a condition of graduation.

4. Pennsylvania: The school board in Dover, PA., a small town south of Harrisburg, thought it would be a good idea in 2004 to introduce “intelligent design” (ID) creationism in public school science classes. (“Intelligent design” holds that human life is so complex that it must have been purposefully designed by some intelligent agency. God and space aliens are the leading contenders, and the IDers aren’t really serious about the space aliens.)

5. Ohio: In 2007, a disturbing incident came to light in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Parents discovered that a science teacher named John Freshwater was secretly teaching creationism to middle-school students.

The aim remains the same: to make evolution appear controversial so public schools will stay away from it. Here, sadly, they’ve had an effect. While it’s difficult to get a handle on what’s going on nationally, educators agree that too many science textbooks don’t give adequate attention to evolution. Some avoid the word entirely, relying on euphemisms like “change over time.”


5 Shocking Ways the Christian Right Has Forced the Bible Into America's Schools | Alternet

Christian Counselor Who Refused to Treat Suicidal Gay Youth Awarded $75,000?!? | Alternet

First off,,,why was she in a secular institution, in a field of study such as this; did she not think that this issue would come up??  The article doesn't say, but I hope that she did not tell her client why she was passing him off, IMHOo she did nothing wrong there, but to sue the school is bullshit based on her being in a secular institution of learning,,,

The graduate student, Julea Ward, had been enrolled in a graduate counseling program at EMU, which required her to provide counseling to a number of clients. Yet, when a suicidal LGBT man sought her help in understanding his same-sex relationship, she passed the case to another client, saying that her Christian beliefs didn’t allow her to encourage the partnership. In 2009, the university expelled her from school for discriminating against a client based on sexual orientation, causing Ward to sue the school for violating her constitutional right to freedom of speech.

[,,,]
Religious institutions are often exempt from providing treatment that goes against their stated religious values, but individual doctors and medical professionals don’t necessarily receive those same rights. Legally, the controversy boils down to a fight between two rights clauses: the patients’ right not to be discriminated against based on sexual orientation, race or gender, and the heath care professional’s “conscience protections,” which afford them the right to refuse to perform some procedures that go against their religious values.

Not sure where the author is getting this conclusion, I may be a bit biased as this has never been an issue for me,,,

Yet, the Ward case demonstrates that same-sex marriage is only one aspect of full equality for LGBT individuals. The lack of access to mental health counseling creates a double-discrimination against the LGBT community,,,Yet, as the Ward settlement demonstrates, this community that is arguably most in need of mental health treatment also has to contend with limited access to these services--a limitation that is, as of now, quasi-legal, quasi-illegal due to the gray zone of “conscience protections” for medical health providers.


Christian Counselor Who Refused to Treat Suicidal Gay Youth Awarded $75,000?!? | Alternet