LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY idragosani)

NORFOLK, Va. - Getting divorced in Virginia may be more difficult if a conservative advocacy group gets its way.

Family Foundation, which led the push to ban same-sex marriage in Virginia, has formed a commission that will recommend public policies that could preserve traditional marriages.


Read more

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY velvetpage)

Red family, blue family This is the best explanation I've ever read of the difference between the conservative view of the world, and the liberal view.

Nutshell version: Both conservatives and liberals view the nation in terms of a family, but they have different ideas of what that means. Conservatives tend to view family as a series of obligations that one is born into, while liberals see family as a collection of negotiated commitments. In the Inherited Obligation family, traditional roles are taken on because that is just part of your obligation to your family. Words like "freedom" and "choice" are bad because they are seen as the freedom to choose not to fulfill one's obligations. Liberals are misunderstood because flexibility can look like slipperiness when liberals talk about, for example, moving to the center on issues. Since commitments are up for negotiation, conservatives tend to believe that nothing is ever settled - there's never a time when commitments are taken seriously. In fact, the reverse is usually true - those who negotiate their own terms are more likely to stick with them in the long run.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY diala)

I talked about this in my journal, and I figured that it would be best mentioning it here.

The Timothy Plan

The Timothy Plan® is a family of mutual funds offering individuals, like yourself, a biblical choice when it comes to investing. If you are concerned with the moral issues (abortion, pörnography, anti-family entertainment, non-married lifestyles, alcohol, tobacco and gambling) that are destroying children and families you have come to the right place.

The Timothy Plan® avoids investing in companies that are involved in practices contrary to Judeo-Christian principles. Our goal is to recapture traditional American values. We are America's first pro-life, pro-family, biblically-based mutual fund group.

Basically, they are out to "reform" the financial sect of America. Their Hall of Shame is rather interesting, especially noticing how many popular companies are on that list.

Here is something I found interesting:

While cultural conservatives focused their efforts on schools, churches, state houses, and Main Streets, environmentalists, animal rights activists, homosexuals and feminists wielded their power as corporate shareholders to change corporate policy.

A bit of a weird sentence, but basically they are saying that environmentalists, animal rights activists, homosexuals, and feminists are against God. Except for gays, I can't really see why those people would be a threat... or perhaps it just shows how dark their agenda really is.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jehovahsfitness)

Any idea about BOND? I've got to wonder about any group that Sean Hannity is a member of.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This excellent article from "In These Times" talks about what "character education" really is:

Although legally and fiscally independent, the CTI is for all intents and purposes a "secular" front group for Gothard's IBLP. In the last decade, the CTI has quietly gained entry into hundreds of elementary, middle and high schools, state and city offices, corporations, police departments and jails.

Though he never uses the term, Gothard's ideology fits into the framework of the burgeoning "Christian Reconstructionist" movement, which aims to rebuild society according to biblical mandates. Within the Christian Reconstructionist worldview, modern-day chaos is directly attributable to the division of church and state and the consequent degradation of individual character.

For Gothard, the solution is restoring the United States--and then the rest of the world--to something that he calls "The Sevenfold Power of First-Century Churches and Homes."

The concept of obeying God-granted authority runs through virtually all IBLP-published materials. "The key to understanding authority is identifying four areas of God-ordained jurisdiction: parents, government, church leaders, and employers," reads an introductory passage to Basic Life Principles Seminar. "When a decision is to be made, we must ask, 'Whose jurisdiction is this under?' God gives direction, protection, and provision through human authorities. If we rebel against them, we expose ourselves to the destruction of evil principalities. ... This is why 'rebellion is the sin of witchcraft.' "

According to Gothard's interpretation, first century Roman Centurions were admirable figures of authority who followed their orders without question--the prototypes for the kinds of police officers that CTI instructor Ray Nash, the sheriff of Dorchester County, South Carolina, wants to create in his state and elsewhere.

The whole article is worth your time. Think about this: this stuff is being taught to our police and military people.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sesby)

In South Carolina, a neighborhood group is objecting to the presence of a group home for four mentally disabled men. I'm sure it has a lot to do with fear of declining property values, but the group says they're afraid of "violence" -- and what's more, they object to a state law that describes the men as a "natural family."

A quote from the group's leader: "As a Christian and as a father, I strongly object to that," he said. "That’s an attack on your family and all our families. Change that."

I had no idea one could somehow bring homophobia into one's hatred and fear of the different and the weak, but this man has done it. I wish he understood that we're all one blow to the head or three minutes without oxygen away from needing the kind of living situation those men do.

They have so little. How can anyone with a heart try to take it from them -- and get up on a "My family is the ONLY kind of family" high horse while doing so? Inhuman.

Read the rest of the article at http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/13576221.htm.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nebris)

Conservative Christians Say Fighting Cuts in Poverty Programs Is Not a Priority

By Jonathan Weisman and Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 14, 2005; A08

When hundreds of religious activists try to get arrested today to protest cutting programs for the poor, prominent conservatives such as James Dobson, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell will not be among them.

That is a great relief to Republican leaders, who have dismissed the burgeoning protests as the work of liberals. But it raises the question: Why in recent years have conservative Christians asserted their influence on efforts to relieve Third World debt, AIDS in Africa, strife in Sudan and international sex trafficking -- but remained on the sidelines while liberal Christians protest domestic spending cuts?

Conservative Christian groups such as Focus on the Family say it is a matter of priorities, and their priorities are abortion, same-sex marriage and seating judges who will back their position against those practices. ( These are not Christians, they are Pharisees )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY gleef)

This is the book review I kept griping at myself to write. It's actually a report on two books, but they are by the same author and very closely related, so I'm giving them both together.

In 1996, George Lakoff wrote a book called Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, endeavoring to explore US politics through the lens of cognitive psychology. In 2002, he wrote a second edition, to clarify a few points, and use the tools he offers in the book to analyze key political events since 1996, like the Clinton impeachment and the 2000 presidential election race. These books endeavor to be even-handed and detailed views of the political climate.

( more review... )

Again, I highly recommend you all make use of these resources:
Moral Politics
Don't Think of an Elephant!

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY deridetenebras)

The president of a Christian activist organization is among a growing number of citizens who are saying it is about time for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to stop trying to put criminals' rights above the rights of American citizens.

( Read more... )

(link)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Here's an interesting article from UUworld about competing liberal and conservative religious values. Why should the conservatives corner the market on 'family values'?

Like most religious liberals, we Unitarian Universalists imagine ourselves to be nice people. It is those in the Christian Right, we believe, who want to force their moral code on everyone else and use public resources to proselytize for their faith. We, on the other hand, believe in tolerance, free choice, and letting people be what they have to be. What’s so scary about that? If the rank-and-file of organizations like Focus on the Family or the Christian Coalition feel threatened by us, we think, it can only be because they have been duped by their unscrupulous leaders.

Not necessarily.

True, preachers of the Christian Right have said a lot of unfair things about liberals, both religious and political. But conservative Christian fears have not been created ex nihilo. As overstated as those fears may at times become, they have a basis, and we would do well to understand it.

Such a call for understanding, I realize, will sound to some like an invitation to surrender. Won’t opponents see our empathy as a sign of weakness and be encouraged to make even bigger demands on us? If they make to comparable effort to understand and accommodate us, won’t we be drawn into one-sided compromises that slide gradually towards capitulation? In the face of a hard and uncompromising opponent, we seem to have no choice other than to become hard and uncompromising too. Only one strategy seems to make sense: Give them hell.

Talk To Action author Fred Clarkson takes a look at this article and posts his own ideas about it.

http://www.cjrdaily.org/archives/001727.asp
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001010563

Martin, the new head of the Federal Communications Commission, has recently appointed Penny Nance as advisor.

Nance is associated with a fair number of dominionist groups, including:

• Concerned Women for America


• Center for Reclaiming America (which is a blatantly Christian Reconstructionist group)


• "Kids First Coalition" (a dominionist group that also specialises in "stealth evangelism" and targets teenage moms)

Very interestingly, all of the groups she has worked for have pushed senators to ban peer-to-peer applications using dominionist arguments (not the "oh my god they're violating copyright" arguments, rather, "oh my god they could be trading KIDDIE PORN").

It's actually bad enough that very nearly 100 percent of complaints to the FCC on "indecency" in radio and television are from a single dominionist group, the Parent's Television Council.

(Yes, I feel safe in calling PTC dominionist. Two major funders are the DeVos Foundation (the bankroll foundation set up by the founders of Amway specifically for dominionist causes) and Castle Rock Foundation (one of *several* groups set up by the Coors family to bankroll dominionists); the previous article and http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=62 also have further info on dominionist links with PTC. The parent group of PTC, Media Research Council, is also known to be linked to dominionist groups and has pretty much stated they won't be happy unless ALL networks are essentially turned to PAX TV fare.)

The scary thing is, we are likely now to have someone on the boards of the FCC even *friendlier* to their complaint...

UPDATE 10/25/05:

It appears that--per this FCC release--Penny Nance may be operating as the public relations folks for the division of the FCC's Enforcement Bureau specifically dealing with obscene/indecent broadcast. Especially considering Penny Nance's known history of working for dominionist pro-censorship groups this is especially disturbing.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

From the Toronto Star:

Rapture politics

HENRY A. GIROUX
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

"Unique among nations, America recognized the source of our character as being godly and eternal, not being civic and temporal. And because we have understood that our source is eternal, America has been different. We have no king but Jesus."

— John Ashcroft, former U.S. attorney general

Since the re-election of George W. Bush last November, religious fundamentalists have been in overdrive in their effort to define American politics through a reductive and fanatical moralism.

This kind of religious zealotry has a long tradition in American history, extending from the arrival of Puritanism in the 17th century to the current spread of Pentecostalism. This often ignored history, imbued with theocratic certainty and absolute moralism, has been powerful in providing religious justification to the likes of the Ku Klux Klan, the parlance of the Robber Barons, the patriarchal discourse of "family values," the National Association of Evangelicals' declared war on "the bias of aggressive secularism," and the current attack on a judiciary that is allegedly waging war on people of faith.

But American religious fundamentalism in its most recent incarnation extends far beyond the parameters of extremist sects or the isolated comments of radical Christian politicians, evangelical leaders and pundits; it is now operative in the highest reaches of government and "more radical and far-reaching than in the past," according to the conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan.

The fundamentalist tendencies of President Bush are now commonplace and can be seen in his official recognition of "Jesus Day" while governor of Texas, his ongoing faith-based initiatives and his endless use of religious references and imagery in his speeches.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Americablog leads off with this thought:

The theocrats are all about taking away privacy rights: a woman's right to choose, contraception, sodomy, porn. It's all about sex. Their sex obsession is just out of control...and it affects all of our privacy on so many levels.

ThinkProgress picks up the thread:

Just three days after President Bush enlisted porn star Mary Carey and pornographer Mark Kulkis to help him raise $23 million, I was surprised to receive this message from Family Research Council President Tony Perkins:

I just met with Attorney General Gonzales and right now he is launching a major effort to prosecute the porn industry. He intends to smash these criminal enterprises on the Internet and elsewhere with a special new obscenity strike force.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Thanks to kyburg for this article. From Sojourners (registration required):

Debunking traditional gender roles

by Sandra Dufield

SojoMail 6-08-2005

The attempt by House Republicans to keep women from serving in military combat support and service units is a tangible example of a broader conservative agenda concerning the place and function of women.

Seeing their "family values" motto becoming a staple in the American vernacular, many right-wing religious conservatives are attempting to make another plank of the Republican Party platform a part of the American psyche by promoting traditional roles for men and women.

Armed with claims of "tradition" and a narrow interpretation of the Bible, many religious conservatives believe the best way for men and women to have a successful marriage is when the husband is "the leader" and has final decision-making authority and the wife submits to his leadership and decision-making.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

And we're not surprised because...? Here's the AMERICAblog article:

Religious right still pissed at GOP for caving on filibuster
by John in DC - 6/9/2005 04:54:00 PM

From the American Family Association's propaganda organ:

...A conservative spokesman claims the deal that ended the unprecedented Democrat filibusters of pro-life and Christian judicial nominees in the U.S. Senate is a symptom of a disease plaguing the Republican Party -- an outbreak of Republicans in Name Only, or RINOs. And, according to Gary Bauer of the group American Values, it is time the GOP was inoculated against the infection. "We're going to do everything we can to end this disease of RINOism in the Republican Party," he says, "where people are elected running as Republicans, but they come to Washington and quickly decide that they can't think of anything better to do with their time than to make deals with the radical Left and Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton. We need to have some truth in advertising in politics, and this is a good place to start."

Bauer and other pro-family activists were enraged by the actions of seven Republican senators who recently joined with Senate Democrats to craft a compromise to limit the filibusters. Formerly such secret deal-making "was perceived by just about everybody as being a negative thing, something we wanted to stop," the American Values spokesman says. "Now, all of a sudden, when those backroom deals are thwarting the pro-family and pro-life movements of this country, the media holds them up as some sort of ideal that we should all be excited about." According to Bauer, those GOP deal-makers who joined with liberals in forging the filibuster compromise are typical RINOs, who should have stood their ground instead of giving important ground to Democrats in the battle over Bush's judicial nominees.

Message to religious right hate groups: Even your own party doesn't like you.

Amen.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This article talks about the pressure that the Religious Right is putting on corporations who have any kind of inclusive regulations:

The New Blacklist
Corporate America is bowing to anti-gay Christian groups’ boycott demands
by DOUG IRELAND

Spurred on by a biblical injunction evangelicals call “The Great Commission,” and emboldened by George W. Bush’s re-election, which is perceived as a “mandate from God,” the Christian right has launched a series of boycotts and pressure campaigns aimed at corporate America — and at its sponsorship of entertainment, programs and activities the Christers don’t like. [This writer uses 'Christer' instead of 'Dominionist' or 'Christocrat'. -ed]

And it’s working. Just three weeks ago, the Rev. Donald Wildmon’s American Family Association (AFA) announced it was ending its boycott of corporate giant Procter & Gamble — maker of household staples like Tide and Crest — for being pro-gay. Why? Because the AFA’s boycott (which the organization says enlisted 400,000 families) had succeeded in getting P&G to pull its millions of dollars in advertising from TV shows like Will & Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. P&G also ended its advertising in gay magazines and on gay Web sites. And a P&G executive who had been given a leave of absence to work on a successful Cincinnati, Ohio, referendum that repealed a ban on any measures protecting gays from discrimination was shown the door.

“We cannot say they are 100 percent clean, and we ask our supporters to let us know if they discover P&G again being involved in pushing the homosexual lifestyle,” growls the AFA’s statement of victory over the corporate behemoth, “but judging by all that we found in our research, it appears that our concerns have been addressed.” The Wall Street Journal reported on May 11 that “P&G officials won’t talk publicly about the boycott. But privately, they acknowledge the [Christer] groups turned out to be larger, better funded, better organized, and more sophisticated than the company had imagined.”( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Using an evangelical school gymnasium as a backdrop, Gov. Rick Perry put his signature to legislation restricting abortions and added his backing to a measure barring same-sex marriage.

Perry signed a bill Sunday requiring girls under the age of 18 to get their parents' consent before having an abortion and also imposes more limits on late-term abortions...

During the 1-1/2 hour program, Perry also signed a resolution to amend the Texas Constitution by banning same-sex marriages. However, that signature was only ceremonial since voters must approve the ban in November.

"A nurturing home with a loving mother and loving father is the best way to guide our children down the proper path," said Perry, who was joined by several legislators. He also thanked the "pro-life" and "pro-family" organizations...

"The critics are generally those who object to people of faith participating in government or the electoral process," said Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt. "There are a number of critics who would object to this bill-signing if it were in a public school, a library, a Wal-Mart parking lot or any other venue, because they oppose pro-life and pro-family issues."

Pastor Larry White, of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Houston, said the gathering there was about life, family and marriage. "There are those that would drive people of faith from the public square if they could," White said.

Full Story

Stunts like this one make me furious. (x-posted)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY hummingwolf)

Slacktivist has a post today about the tendency of some evangelical Christians to demonize their neighbors.

Unlike so many following those topics this community discusses, Slacktivist actually knows the subculture--and is generally good at explaining the peculiarities to those less familiar with it. (If you'd like to follow the syndicated feed on LJ, you can add slacktivist to your friends list.)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This essay from Rense talks about the mindset inculcated in Dominionist churches.

'I'm Ready To Die'

By Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
2-9-5

Six weeks ago, a young man sat down next to an older woman waiting for him and stated grimly, "I don't care. That's it. He can say what he wants. As for me, I'm ready to die".

Referring several times to nearby CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network), he laid a Bible on the table at the Norfolk coffee shop where I was writing a book proposal. I felt badly for him; he seemed to have an incurable disease. The woman mumbled something.

He quickly retorted, "I don't care what he said. I won't work with him." His voice was clipped as he emphasized his refusal to negotiate with a particular coworker.

The older woman sat holding her coffee, rarely even sipping it, with a hopeless-looking expression on her face. She showed no sympathy, looking at him as if she knew what he was about to say. Now I doubted that he was dying of a terminal illness.

The slender dark-haired 20-something, looked straight ahead without touching his coffee. The older lady asked quietly, "Don't you think that maybe-"

He cut her off: "Look, the end is coming. I know that and you know that. You've seen the signs. I just don't care about this guy, I don't care what he says. The end is coming very soon. None of this is going to matter." For the first time showing emotion, he added angrily, "I'm ready to die-I'm ready to go today, right now!"

I immediately recognized this as rapture talk. This young man does have an incurable disease, but it's spiritual, not physical: It's called fundamentalism (aka "millennialism"), the kind of Christianity to which Bush and his "conservative" advisers ascribe. ( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thedemonprist)

Found this nugget of joy on Yahoo! News. I've highlighted several notable sentences, and my comments on some of them are in parentheses (( )).

Forget Mr. Nice Guy, 'Braveheart' Is The New Role Model for Christian fundamentalist men

'Braveheart' Becomes Role Model for Christian Men ( Read more... )