On October 20 and 21st, I attended the Value Voters Summit, a massive gathering hosted by the Colorado-based Christian right mega-ministry, Focus on the Family, and its Washington lobbying arm, the Family Research Council. With the pro-choice Rudy Giuliani leading in the race for the Republican nomination and the threat of another Clinton presidency looming, the stakes for the Christian right were high.
At the Summit, I witnessed all of the major Republican presidential candidates compete for the affection of so-called value voters. Rudy Giuliani, the current frontrunner, sought to assuage movement leaders' concerns about his multiple marriages, pro-choice politics, and penchant for cross-dressing. Mitt Romney pledged to fight for a Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, hoping his newfound conservatism would somehow lessen evangelical resentment of his Mormon faith.
Though no candidate emerged from the Summit as a clear Christian right favorite, the badly underfunded former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister Mike Huckabee won over the audience with his insistence that banning abortion would put an end to America's illegal immigration problem. Huckabee's comparison of "liberalized abortion" to the Holocaust further endeared him to the "value voters." Later, during a press conference, I challenged Huckabee to explain the logic behind his rhetoric.
Recently, there has been a lot of mainstream media noise about a new, more socially conscious evangelical movement rising from the angry ashes of the Christian right. Pastors like Rick Warren and "evangelical feminist" Bill Hybels are supposedly bringing issues like the environment and poverty to the forefront of the movement's social agenda, while pushing anti-abortion and anti-gay activism to the wayside. Yet no one told those evangelicals gathered at the Value Voters Summit about this friendly new initiative.
If anything, the movement seemed more extreme and paranoid than it did four years ago. Rev. Lou Sheldon, dubbed "Lucky Louie" by his former paymaster Jack Abramoff, told me that homosexuality is a "pathological disorder" and "a groove" that is difficult to escape from. He proceeded to passionately defend his friend, Senator Larry Craig, from allegations of homosexuality.
Star Parker, a former welfare cheat who had multiple abortions, claimed to me that abortion is the leading cause of death among African American women between the ages of 25 and 34. Then she described her wish for the forced quarantine of all "sodomites." Parker was not a lone wacko milling around in the hallway; she was a speaker invited by the Family Research Council.
Neoconservative activist Frank Gaffney appeared at the Summit as well. Before a standing room audience, Gaffney exclaimed that "by not being bigoted and not being racist, [George W.] Bush has embraced Islamofascists on several occasions." Phyllis Schlaffly echoed Gaffney's comments, declaring that there are too many mosques in America.
These incidents and many more are captured in my latest video report, "Theocracy Now: In Search of Values at the 2007 Value Voters Summit." See it for yourself.
The time is now to demand that these front runners tell us in detail the myths they hold dear. I do not want to roast in a nuclear blast because we were afraid to shoot Santa out of the sky with our retaliatory missles
I just finished watching "Power of Nightmares 1: The Rise of the Politics of Fear" and "Portrait of A Big Taboo: The Power of the Israeli Lobby in the US". I truly understand why our Representatives are making some of the decisions they make and wonder what we can possibly do about it. If you haven't watched these, I encourage anyone who is interested to google documentaries - free political documentaries and watch them. Lots of food for thought and concern about which presidential candidate (if any) will take steps to bring any of this out for public debate and what will happen. Seems that the public does need to be informed. Maybe most of you have known all this for a long time but as for me, it helps explain a lot of what I understood was happening or at least the reasons behind it.
Hillary talking about her "faith-based soldiers" (boston Globe, Jan. 2002)
Al Gore: "I believe the purpose of life is to glorify God" (Senate testimony, Mar. 2007)
ChristiansAndClimate.org...The Prayer Guide for Global Warming, Evangelical Climate Initiative.
After all, 78% of Americans are Christians, 12% non Christian, and 10% no religion. Christians on the left and right are the Nations majority by far.
Oh wait - some other religious fanatic beat you to it. And apparently, you don't get punished for it.
D.J. Fahey
"the anti-religious view is arrogant and intimidating...making people who believe in God feel like they're being put down and I don't like that. I've never liked that.' (Al Gore, 60 Minutes interview, Dec. 5, 2005)
"the image of God can be seen in every corner of creation" (Al Gore, Earth In The Balance, page 265)
"my own faith is rooted in the unshakeable belief in God as creator and sustainer" (Al Gore, Earth In The Balance, page 368)
"Freedom of religion does not mean freedom from religion, there is a better way" (Al Gore, Army Drug Rehibilitation Center Speech, May 1999)
Al Gore: Unshakeable belief in God... Prays to God... Relies on God... Faith in God...
I've never met a christian who thinks he / she has all the answers. I've only met christians asking God for strength to do what's right and find answers.
Christ also admonished "Woe unto the rich, woe unto the rich! For I say unto you, they have their reward!" and "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdon of Heaven!" These Dominionist heretics also take some considerable pains to avoid even acknowledging these statesments for Christ Himself.
These self-appointed guardians of American freedom and virtue are heretical, hypocritical money worshipping con-artists and their delusional followers (I had some in my family BTW), catagorically do NOT represent Christians, Christianity, or Christ Himself.
They are theological throwbacks to the fire and brimestone hypocricy of the Spanish Inquisition and the murderous hysterics of the witch-hunter puritans of Salem.
They have no place in a democratic society, as they and their dogmas are antithetical to democracy itself.
They are fascism wrapped in a flag waving a bible.
Leland R. Erickson
Citizen
The only thing different about them compared to the mainstream is they spout religion and pretend they're above it all.
They lie to themselves and claim to have all the answers while pointing fingers toward everyone they look down upon.
Complete phonies. It's one big act.
"oh they dont teach the glory gayness" "Those private schools dont give a complete education"
A death blow to public schools, now thats a dream.
Religion is rooted in barbarous ancient tribal beliefs. It is a weapon of the wiser to subdue, conquer and control those stronger and of lesser influence. It corrupts civilized behavior and defiles what is good and the progress of all mankind.
Religion works best when it is administered hand in hand with politics.
Human beings and Americans in particular, do not know the meaning of free. Not so long as they are bound by superstition and the edicts of other men.
I would say it is more a matter of; Who is being measured by whom and for what pupose, and to what end? For instance: Is who a man and who is whom? Need I say more...because I can if like?
TLV, It ain't worth dying for; there will be no resolution in our lifetime. But don't worry, humans will eventually cause their own extinction and all the other remaining critters will live happy ever after!
Ha Ha! Bless your soul, you think you're in control?
but the bottom line is that these people don't understand some fundamental things about how the universe works, and because of their confusion, they cause pain to others.
If they understood that people don't incarnate into fetusus that are going to be aborted...if they understood that evolution IS an intelligent design...if they understood that people are not inherently damned from the get-go...then maybe they would act differently. Beliefs cause so much misery between people.
While some small fraction of the rank and file anti-choicers might "mean well," there's overwhelming evidence that the leadership -- to a man (and isn't it interesting how many more of them are men than women) -- are not. If they really cared about "teh baaay-beeeez" they'd support education and health expenditures, especially pre-natal care, SCHIP, etc. Where are they on these issues? Not just not supporting them -- fighting them.
Barney Frank got their number years ago: "they think 'life' begins at conception, and ends at birth."
Well, something like half of their number, anyway. The rest of their number -- and the more important part -- is that the reality of the antichoice movement is utterly and totally about controlling women's sexuality -- hence their constant rhetoric about suffering the "consequences" of teh SEX. If they really want to reduce the number of abortions, why is the antichoice movement uniformly against sex-ed, contraception, etc, and supportive of "abstinence-only" propaganda (which controlled studies have demonstrated is an utter failure, and leads to INcreased risk of pregnancy, STDs, etc)? All of this is regularly (and brilliantly) documented at Pandagon, Feministing, BitchPhD., etc; check it out.
The reichwingers are right about one thing, though. One of the many reasons that liberals so often lose political arguments when it comes to elections, policies, and power, is an inability to recognize actual evil when we encounter it, and a tendency to assume that even very, very bad people are, at heart, rational and "mean well." Anti-choicers in the main aren't, and don't.
They do not mean well. How many crack babies do you think they offered to adopt?
After the doctor slaps your ass; they'd just as soon see you dead unless you are a member of their church, born again and join their voting block.
Right to Life is strictly a divisive issue!