LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ellid)

And of course the agency she worked for is run by the Baptist church....

Don't ask, don't tell

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY rechan)

Evolution is the religion of the Pharisees and it shouldn't be tought in schools.

It scares me that this is written by a state lawmaker and then spread by lawmaker in a second State.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jaded_journeys)

I live in a small town in South Carolina. On February 2, 2007, Army CWO Jason DeFrenn was killed in Iraq. I did not know the man personally, but I do know his family and used to have sleep overs with his step-sister when we were in grammar school. My parents know his father pretty well too.

The reason I'm posting this here is that I learned last night, and confirmed it on their website, that Westboro Baptist Church will be coming to protest the funeral. The Patriot Guard Riders will also be attending (I saw their trailer outside Wal-Mart this afternoon as a matter of fact), and apparently have already spoken to DeFrenn's father.

I want to know if anyone here has ever dealt with Phelps and his ilk in your town? As I said I know the family and I do not want to see their son's funeral turned into some sort of circus. The funeral is tomorrow afternoon at the largest church in town, ironically a Baptist church like Westboro claims to be.

I guess I'm wondering what the family's options might be, if any. I know South Carolina was one of the states that passed laws in response to Phelps picketing funerals, but I'm not sure of the specifics or how they can be enforced. I know the law enforcement here will not put up with much as two of DeFrenn's friends are Sheriff Deputies here in town.

The problem is that not many people around here know about Phelps. We're not exactly a liberal town, but I know of no one who might go so far as to agree with Phelps. I know for a fact that the family is made up of Conservative Christians who would not condone homosexuality, but obviously they don't spout Phelps's brand of hatred. I'm sure the family is aware as the Patriot Guard Riders have contacted them, and the local weekly newspaper knows (it's how I first learned they were coming as my boyfriend works there).

I guess I'm also venting as it's a sad story no matter which way you slice it. DeFrenn's wife was pregnant with their fourth child and had to be induced the day she found out because doctors were worried about how the stress of her husband's death would affect the pregnancy. She was, thankfully, close to term and the baby is healthy and doing well.

I just wish I could do something. :(

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY catvincent)

I'm curious about something...

I just read a couple of blog posts about the recent William Donohue/bloggers accused of slandering Catholicism affair. Yes, I realise the initial subject is a little outside the Dark Christian field of view - but some of the responses were more in our remit.

Specifically, I saw a couple of posts about the racist undertones of Dominionist evangelism.
One such post said;
"White evangelicals are not Democrats because they largely dislike blacks and hispanics. You can pander to them all you want, but the core of their church has a racial undertone. The leading evangelicals were once leading segregationists."

Another noted;

"...in a discussion of Tucker Carlson’s trying to pretend that Barack Obama somehow isn’t a Real Live Christian because, well, he’s not white), the Democrats have PLENTY of “religious voters”. Gobs and gobs and GOBS of them.

They’re called BLACKS and HISPANICS.

But to people like Vanderslice on the left and Tucker Carlson on the right, they’re invisible. Only white racist nutball Fundies are “religious voters” as far as they’re concerned...

Here’s a quickie quiz:

1) Why are there such things as Southern Baptists? Because the Southern Baptist Convention broke with the rest of the Baptist church in the 1840s.

2) What caused the break? The Southern Baptists favored slavery, while the rest of the church was working to abolish it.

3) Why didn’t the SBC rejoin the rest of the Baptist church once slavery was abolished? Because they still hope to turn back the clock to before 1863.

And as Marx and Lenin points out at Steve’s place, the r3s are wired to the corporate arm of the GOP. Both the corporates and the r3s don’t like paying taxes — the corporates just don’t like ‘em, and the r3s live in mortal terror that somewhere, somehow, their tax dollars are going to support blacks and (Catholic) Hispanics."

Bear in mind I'm English, White and not been Christian for a very long time... so I'd like to ask the more experienced of you in this arena, just how much truth is there in the accusations of a racist current in the Dominionist churches? And, if it's there, why isn't someone using this to attack them politically and morally?