LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

TruthOut has an excellent, in-depth five part series on the Religious Right. It's excellent background on the movement.

Alternet has a George Lakoff article about the language of the different political parties, how it involves or excludes women, and how we can reclaim certain ideas.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This is a very interesting excerpt from Democracy Now! about the rise of the Christian Right.

An excerpt:

The level of conversation in the media is rising regarding the Christian Right. One good example was a recent interview, on the nationally syndicated radio program, Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman, titled The Christian Right and the Rising Power of the Evangelical Political Movement. The program featured an interview with journalist Chris Hedges and Rev. Joseph Phelps, of Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, who hosted a counter event to the Christian Right's rally for religious bigotry, Justice Sunday.

Here is some of what was said:( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

There have been a number of articles in the last few days about "Christian Warfare"- the desire to reclaim a 'warrior' posture, the distaste of 'weenie' men, and some very aggressive posturing from the more extreme fundementalists.

Here is an overview of some Beliefnet articles:

Ear-Ripping-Off Battles With Satan: This preacher gets down and dirty (and pretty ugly) with his idea of spiritual warfare.

And what is spiritual warfare? That is when the powers of evil out of Satan, the devil, his camp, his command, come against the believer and society around the believer.

Why do we need warrior leaders now, particularly?

We’ve always needed them, and the Bible is full of warrior leaders—the biblical leaders who are on the side that is making a difference for God and His kingdom. I believe there needs to be a fresh view of that today, because so many have been lulled into the idea that if we leave the devil alone and leave the world alone and we stay in our churches and gated communities, everything will work out right. But that is not biblical. We need today to take a new look at the fact that we are in this warfare and that we must be prepared to engage it and to rise above it victoriously.( 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... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ex_nyxluna594)

Religions have some repenting to do
By Joan Chittister,OSB

It seems that every day the Bangkok Post is full of grisly stories about the indiscriminate massacre of women: women raped at random by roving gangs of men; women trafficked from one country to another under the guise of "educational opportunities"; women picked up and thrown into crocodile-infested rivers by one man to humiliate another. In fact, the major papers of the United States are full of the same things. Too many to report, in fact. Too many to name. Clearly, a veritable war against women rages in this world.

But no presidents I know, few priests anywhere, no major institutions seem to understand this kind of terrorism. Nor to be the least bit concerned about it.

They don't bomb anybody to stop it. They don't warn against its "imminent danger" to the quality of civilization. They don't post the number of women killed daily worldwide by the men who pledge to protect them. They don't even worry about the lack of integrity such behavior reflects on their vaunted religious traditions.

But all women do. And some few men whose moral and spiritual sensitivities have begun to transcend the level of the cultures -- and religions -- around them. In them may lie the hope of the world. "Of all acts of man, repentance is most divine," Thomas Carlyle says, "The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none."
( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY seshen)

A Michigan woman charged with child endangerment for breastfeeding her daughter while driving on the Ohio Turnpike claims she wasn't doing anything wrong. But even if she was, she says, only her husband can punish her. Catherine Nicole Donkers is a member of the First Christian Fellowship for Eternal Sovereignty, founded in the 1990s, and her husband, Brad Lee Barnhill, is a minister in the church. According to Barnhill, the sect, which recognizes Jesus as the only legitimate authority, believes that only a husband can correct a man's wife for a public act. Donkers reportedly has no social security number, no driver's license or a marriage license. As for the civil authorities, Barnhill proposes that they prosecute him in his wife's stead. Donkers, who went on trial yesterday, maintains she has been improperly charged.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY seshen)

"The Magdalene Sisters"

It is the story of a church whose theology of Eve could justify the destruction of women to ‘save’ their souls. Labeled temptresses because men could not control their own sexual urges, Irish women were sent away to the laundries--many of them for life--for being pregnant out of wedlock, for being independent, for being flirtatious. It’s the story of what happens to women when they are made invisible in a world that wreaks on its women a morality and theology written only by men.