You know what makes me sickest about the sleazy mega church leaders-their ability to hide all of their activity, behind God, behind the mainstream pseudo news (pseudo is not better than no news at all). This is as bad as it gets. I knew it. But seeing it in print--when you get that afraid in an instant you get sick to your stomach. When I saw that little smirk on Justice Kennedy's smug, hard face I knew it. But how to get it across? Especially when everyone is looking at the more obvious, but less deadly possibility. Reuters. A writer for Reuters who follows SCROTUS got it too. It's devastating. I will always remember where I was when I read these words:
"Though the court's conservative majority will likely continue to move the law in important areas like religion and abortion, don't expect them to declare war on the agenda of the Obama administration," Goldstein said.
"The court has stayed away from redefining federal power over the economy, and that's very unlikely to change," said Goldstein, the founder of SCOTUSblog, which closely follows the Supreme Court.
James Vincini, January 28, 2010. Reuters. The title of the piece: Supreme Court moves right, focus on social issues
Notice this title goes straight for it. No, "it will benefit corporations too", no "how does this compare to corporate influence?", none of that. The truth is straightforward. This is what they meant. This was their chance. They were within inches of control of American under W.Bush, then as their radical agenda became more apparent, the movement began to wane. With the election of Barack Obama, they feared control was slipping away. But they still had one line of defense:
Under President George W. Bush, the metaphorical barrier between religion and government took a barrage of direct hits. Bush, who was politically close to the Religious Right, aggressively promoted tax funding of religion through his “faith-based” initiative and celebrated school voucher subsidies for religious schools. He bowed to right-wing religious groups by imposing curbs on abortion and rolling back stem-cell research.
Bush appointed judges to the federal bench who were openly hostile to church-state separation. His Justice Department formed a special unit to roam the country, intervening in church-state disputes alongside Religious Right legal outfits. Monica Goodling, a graduate of Pat Robertson’s Regent University, ran amok in the Justice Department, subjecting job applicants to a religious litmus test.
They took direct hits but still had four Supreme Court justices in their corner, they ran church candidates in every city and state, for every school board (many, if not most still in office). Justices Scalia and [Alito spoke out forcefully against church/state separation.
December 16, 2005 Religious Libertyl Watchdog Group Calls On Senate To Reject Alito
Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. harbors a narrow view of religious liberty and would likely join the Supreme Court’s most conservative members in dismantling the wall separating religion and government, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The most radical wing of the fundamentalist church (several denominations) controlled the Republican party, the Bush White House and with it the nation. The focus of what they want to control now is:
Keep W.Bush occupied with their "Holy Wars against anyone who would keep God from coming back." I swear, they've named 2012 as the date for this. Usually these dates come and go, unfilled. This time they (fundamentalists leaders) have convinced themselves it will happen if they start all this war. I just don't think God has RSVP'd.
How can they not understand that this ruins the world and they still look stupid?
Take control of every aspect of society. They wanted to teach creationism in schools,
our children would learn nothing that didn't agree with their rewritten Bible.
Not only reverse Roe v Wade, but deny all birth control to women. Women would be back in their proper place, having ten or more children, and no access to jobs or even a full education. A good look at what they would like is in a quickly growing movement called Quiverful. The women agree to completely submit to their husbands, and have as many children as possible. Google Oviverful and you will see that this is a very large and growing group.
This is from a long list of books, and authors. but among the best and most thorough is "talk2action.org"
When you first go to this site remember these are Christians fighting to save Christ from those who would use him to further their own aims. When I first read what they had written I thought they were the radical right. But those are accounts of what they've found. There is no end to what fundamentalist leaders seem determined to do.
Even as we rejected everything they stood for (not religion, but denial of science, stem cell research, the dumbing down of American's students and an open intention to tie women to so many children that their only option is to stay at home, they persisted. They don't seem to have plans for women who lose their husbands for any reason.)
There is no reason to believe they won't continue every attempt to reach every goal (see next paragraph). At their very worst they call for genocide for those who do not accept their exact religion, particularly gay people and people of color. Again, an excellent record of all these groups (united) and their intentions can be found at www.talk2action.org
This is not America. This framers wouldn't have know how to prepare for this absurdity. When they gave us freedom of religion, they could never have considered this. We owe it to ourselves to fight as hard for our basic freedom as we can. Imagine trying to put everyone back in the closet, locking it and throwing away the key.
We have always lived in freedom. We have no concept, if we have always lived here, what it is like to be unable to buy birth control in any form, to have to hide if we are gay--for fear of jail. Women now feel that they have opportunities to support their children if they are left without a husband or partner. We cannot imagine life without these freedoms. People have crossed oceans in rowboats to reach this land. So many have died, in so many wars, to protect these very freedoms.
The organization which is charged with keeping our right to freedom of religion alive, au.org is combing the Supreme Court decision for reference to church/state separation. It is almost more frightening that they have found no specific language.
But there is no question that anyone can form a "group" and begin producing commercials for their candidate. Reuters reached this conclusion and this "denomination" is known for hiding their intent until it is too late. If they specifically mentioned these plans would it immediately violate our Constitution and our Constitutional right to church/state separation. (Plus corporations have some strong reasons not to go too far down that road. They risk a great backlash and they have to make every expenditure public. That is another diary. But it is why Reuters agrees.)
Either way, James Dobson seems to be celebrating with a preview of what is to come at Superbowl 44. As their anti-abortion ad is being broadcast CBS I plan never to watch them again if I live to be 100. Please join me.
We have 2010. It is our chance to get out and work hard for people we know share our reverence for our most basic freedoms. How many wars were started by fundamentalists around the world? We cannot ignore the threat as it is a very personal one.
This is so insidious precisely because it is so hidden and yet so simple. During the State of the Union Alito mouthed something to the effect of "no it doesn't" when the President said it opens the floodgates for overseas money (I think it was that reference.) But the Vatican alone is the richest nation on earth. The most fundamentalist wing of the Catholic church is considering joining forces with these fundamentalists, to accomplish their common goals.
It appears very simple, start a group, call it something like "Citizen's United" that sounds so patriotic. (There is a youth group associated with them that I looked up in Wikipedia. Sure enough, there were the religious references. But when I tried to follow those references, I got error messages. To pretend, that with virtually no oversight of the people who make these "ads" about candidates, that they can keep money from anywhere being used to fund them is absurd.
The sickening irony, yesterday I was at a meeting where the head of elections for our state was the speaker. His topic was the census. He told us that they were very relieved that almost all churches have agreed to get people to fill out census cards.
They are calling it "count every soul." It sounds like we're counting the unborn now.
It has started. They see a clear path to victory, they are no longer panicked about the decline in membership or the loss of an pathetic man, desperate for approval, for a President. They have many new pathetic men. First among them, a man who poses nude. Is there a more pathetic symbol for the need for approval?
In the face of that, pretty much everything pales. We can come together around this. We can save Democracy. We have the tools needed, we just need a plan, and we need to attack them, not us. On this, President Obama has risked everything for us. Think of the threats he faces every day.
The pen is still mightier than the sword. Well, okay, the You Tube is mightier than the sword. Last night I was watching a movie and a middle age girl said her "dream man" was someone as handsome as Brad Pitt and had Jesus' abs. No, their fighting, mean, warring Jesus is not coming back to save them. We are here, we have pens, and we will frame our Democracy this time. We have the blueprint. It begins with "We the people."