Theocracy Now!
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.
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Oh, and because the Conservati
Their "own" sinning Congressfolk and Presidents get a free pass, all others are held accountable.
Of course, Bill and Hillary are of the Devil, it's common knowledge!
Please, don't ask me to explain how they can tell the difference, but take my word for it, these people know, and can tell a mile away who's one of them and who's not. Basically, though, it's boils down to certain code phrases & gestures, positions on a few key issues, and whatever the top-grossing televangelists say.
So, short of getting caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy (it's a Luzianna thang), the Godly crowd are safe from charges of hypocrisy, at least among true believers.
For those still having trouble with the twisted theocratic logic of BushCo:
Repent, Believe, Obey.
1) Repent. They believe all humans are sinners falling short of the Glory of God, and the "wages of sin is death", which equals burning in the fires of Hell forever, so humans must ask forgiveness from Jesus.
2) Believe. Then, after repenting, humans must profess their belief that Jesus is the only son of God...i.e.
3)Obey. Then, they must pledge their obedience to God and willingness to do His will .
Of course, the will of God is whatever their coiffed televangelists and panty-waist preachers tell them, and these days they are all big on helping fulfill biblical prophesy found (open to interpretation) in the Book of Revelation by hastening the Battle of Armageddon.
Translation: We are being led by Holy Crusaders with Nukes.
Oh, and btw, for those of y'all still gnashing your teeth over how "Christians" could act so un-Christian as to steal and murder and torture and lie an entire country into war: For this crowd, good deeds are nice, but not necessary, and might even get in the way.
They believe that because everyone who is still alive are all still sinners, even those who've made a profession of faith in Jesus and are saved, will continue to sin until they die. The important thing is to know that these kind of Christians are automatically forgiven their sins. That includes Congressman who meet their Maker while in the act of fornication, or, born-again soldiers who die while murdering innocent civilians.
It's essentially a free pass to unlimited badness. They say it's not, but it is.
For BushCo and their religious leaders, it's not what you do, but what you think, and say. Religion comes before everything for them--before self, loved ones, and certainly before country.
Will all this matter to Values Voters?
No, but it might scare non-voters enough to vote.
Sounds like Abbott and Costello meet the Three Stooges. Maybe we need a sanity test for voters.
Yeah, that, and an intelligence test for candidacy for public office.
When will moderates, progressives, and liberals and everyone who lives in a fact-based world FINALLY realize it will NEVER be a crime to be stupid? It's only fairly recently in human history that truth-seeking and high regard of intelligence has been a GOOD thing. Human leaders have always tended to be threatened by the values of the bright and intelligent.
"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."
--
Supposedly? This snark against Hybels and Warren was totally uncalled for. You obviously have no clue how much these men have been doing FOR YEARS to address the issues of "earth stewardship" and feeding/sheltering the hungry/homeless.
I don't think Mr. Blumenthal meant to be snaky but was actually questioning the degree of impact Hybels and Warren are having on the hardcore evangelicals. If the film piece is representative of the Value Voters Summit agenda then its pretty obvious that social justice, stewardship and your better basic Christianity are not prevalent values among the attendees. Hopefully the true impact of their efforts will become evident at the polls next fall.
Chipper,
with Liberals the issue the issue is whether a person is a Christian or not. Regardless of how much Christians may have done for the poor they will still be castigated as being Theocrats. My Daughter defined a Liberal as "Someone who will give away the shirt on YOUR back." Why else this endless demand for tax increases. Also, have you ever met a poor Liberal? I thought not.
Um...I'm pretty sure Jesus said."if a man asks you for your coat, give him your shirt also" ...maybe Jesus was a liberal?
...and if you don't want to give him your shirt when Jesus tells you to, what does that make you exactly?
Interesting.
Tell me, who was that bearded guy a couple of thousand or so years ago who supposedly said something about it being easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than to get a rich man into heaven?
Yes, I'm sure Jesus would be all about the flat tax and doing away with the estate tax, social security, Medicare, etc.
theyoungtu
Poor liberal, reporting for duty...
I really don't understand this wingnut impression that liberals are all trust fund hippies. I know very few liberals like that personally, but I know a whole lot of conservatives who are rich out the wazoo, because they listen to Osteen instead of, you know, reading the Gospels...
Say what? I've rarely met a rich liberal! I'm poor now because I did give the shirt off my back many many times.
"Also, have you ever met a poor Liberal? I thought not."
You must have your head up your ass, and somehow with your head up your ass you can still sip a cup of conservative kool-aid.
I was raised by my single mother, poor for many years. She never went on full welfare, only some food stamps and free bus tokens once in a while when times got real lean. Sometimes she would get food from the church food bank, or free hand me down clothes from another church family. My born again mother taught me the values of a true working class LIBERAL. Many of witch are lessons in the gospel of Christ, humbleness, giving, caring, selflessness, compassion for the weak, helping your neighbor, no need for useless material goods, no need for bankers and politicians etc...
She let me be myself, and did not drag me to her church after I chose not to be baptised. I wound up being a atheist socialist and self taught computer professional. And I am no longer poor, I am now middle class.
Your views of what a liberal is, are both Ignorant and Fearfull. I guarantee you know little outside your sheltered life, and have not ventured out of the Ditto Head relm very often.
P.S. Tell your Daughter that I don't want the shirt off her back. I wouldnt want to see her disgusting flabby breats and stomach folds.
I have to stand up for Christianity here. This conference is the gathering of the radical sanctimonious sect of Christianity.
The same as you can’t equate all Muslims with the terrorists, and you can't equate all Atheists with those who do terrible things and don't believe in a god.
If you truly are a Christian, which none of those people are, and then you don't intermingle religion and politics. After all, the big guy did say "Give unto Caesar what is his" - or something like that.
Religion and politics do not belong in the same sentence. Forcing someone to do and behave like you is not Christian, its fascist and the antithesis of Christianity.
These people are what they call "True" Christians.
To OMECHENGINEERU who says he/she is "standing up for Christianity":
GREAT! Then DO IT! Stand up for Christianity, please!
I'm still waiting for you, and the rest of the real, "true" Christians to please, PLEASE stand up and speak up, instead of sitting by quietly!
Would all'a y'all please call these deluded and dangerous imposters down about what they are doing in YOUR name, in Christ's name, and in the United States' name, before it's too late????!!!!!
Cuz they sho' don't listen to the rest of us...
To defend Christianity to a group who thinks govt control of peoples lives is a good thing.....
I have to stand with 'omechengineeru'. As much as I loathe fundamentalist hate-mongers, I have met what I call 'real' Christians who are humble, caring, decent people. Of course, they seem to be a minority now, but there you have it.
Christianity resides in one's heart and actions, not in prayers and speeches. To strive to emmulate the life of Christ, not in the bible's words, but by the example of Christ's actions.
It is quite rare these days to find someone that makes a genuine attempt to adhere to Christ's legacy.
Sorry omecheng I don't buy it. As Sam Harris has so aptly stated in his book "The End of Faith" there is no one in the religious world that is more dangerous than the moderates. They tend to be silent and justify the comcept of religion. Religion is a way of controling individual's minds. It's nothing more than a power base, and has nothing to do with the Divine.
Nobody really believes in God. All that talk is fear.If people really believed in God they'd conduct themselves much more carefully.
I agree. If I really thought there was a god who could put me in hell, I definitely would not be doing what I see many of these fundamentalists doing. Somehow they interpret their bible to mean that they can be as evil as they want. If I was God, I would not want them in heaven screwing it up. Really, would you?
Your statement depends upon your notion of God. God is merely a human word to denote the indescribable.
Is God some wizened old man watching our every action, from some lofty plane? I doubt it.
To me, God is nature and intellect. The only mysterious forces are those of nature, there are no vindictive qualities in nature, no condemnation, no scripture, no moral laws, and no supreme being.
I'm a middle grounder, I guess. I have decided to vote for Edwards or Dodd, after reading all of this about Huck. I don't agree with Huck's position on not funding senior drugs. I agree more with Edwards, who is also a "Christian," as is Dodd.
No, the man who explained about God punishing America for abortion was NOT kidding. Lots of people believe this or, like me, are not certain whether God is punishing America. I do think that millions of abortions a year, which means it's used as birth control, just as in China although not as extreme, is wrong wrong wrong and God may just agree with me.
I think killing Terry Schaivo while she was "still breathing", i.e. deydrating her to death, was wrong wrong and more wrong. Her parents and her brother and sister said she communicated with them and I believe them. She was an "inconvenient truth." Lots of us are not kidding that we believe in this, even if we decide a Dem is more benefit to American than a Repub.
Holy moly Mariel, abortions in the "millions?" and to bring up Tery Schaivo, my goodness. First off, Abortion is legal in AMERICA, and unless you are part of the family involved or her doctor or her clergyperson, or her husband or boyfriend.
Amen ! Couldn't agree with you more. Keeping Terry Schaivo's ravaged remains alive was a travesty and a disgrace. We are kinder to our old dogs and cats than the right wing was to poor Ms. Schaivo and her husband. And OF COURSE a Democrat will be more beneficial for America than a Republican - DUH ! Just look where we are after nearly 8 years of total Republican rule - in the toilet ! A Democrat couldn't possibly do worse. At LEAST this one "middle of the roader" - actually a right winger, if you asked me - is seeing SOME sense. Why would any God waste time "punnishing America" when HE/SHE/IT could "fix" the world with one breath, but WON'T DO IT ? If anyone's to blame, it's GOD ! Of course, there is no God. I knew a girl once who had cerebral palsey, and she used to ask aloud what she had done to make God give her CP. I told her she hadn't done anything, it's not God, it's just the big wheel of chance that spun and her number came up, that's all. She totally freaked out ! She NEEDED to BELIEVE GOD would GIVE her CP. What kind of God could that be ? I guess if you can believe in God you can believe anything. She later died a horrible death of skin cancer. Way to go, God !
No one had any right to euthanize Terri Shiavo....
but, this is land of the free. its a womans right to decide and no one else simple freedom what gives anyone else the right to decide someone elses fate. its not a crime. its not for us to decide! if i don't like the shirt you are wearing does that mean you have to change it to one i like?? its not murder .what the health insurance companys do is murder do you dislike that???
Even though Schiavo had said that she wouldn't have wanted to survive that way?
I too believe that Terri Shaivo's parents and sibling believed she was communicating with them. Of course, they were wrong, very wrong, but it is understandable that every sound and movement Terri produced was interpreted to mean what they most desperately wanted to believe: that she was still with them.
To their shame, the Republicans used this terrible situation for political gain. In doing so, they prolonged the agony suffered by Terri Shaivo's family.
That by itself was bad enough, but a true patriot would have to spend some time pondering what it means when the Government uses its power to meddle in the private affairs of its citizens.
Mariel - it is an inconvenient truth that about one third of all pregnancies abort naturally. So your numbers are way out. And nobody seems to care about those abortions. It is another inconvenient truth that when you have proper sex education and legalized abortion you have fewer abortions so why not vote for abortion. As for Terry Schiavo - she was kept alive in an unnatural way. Her brain was dead. All doctors said that and an autopsy showed much of her brain had simply vanished. She was not she. It was a body kept alive artificially and there was no Terry left. Terry died a long time before she was removed from life support. So Mariel why don't you work hard to save the people who are wrongfully convicted and executed. The first thing you do is send money to the lawyers who work to prove their innocence and the second is you campaign against the death penalty. Then you can put time and energy into adopting children who are languishing in foster homes. They have a hard time and need a real home. After that think of all the children who would be in foster homes but for abortion.
And there will be more spontaneous abortions when pollution is abundant. All of the prolifers are hypocrites when they vote Republican.
So Huckabee thinks women should give birth to children they don't want in order to provide a desperate, exploitable workforce willing to accept non-livable wages and thus prevent hiring of illegals?
I can't count the ways this idea is sick, wrong, and untrue. There are plenty of Americans to work any job available. Employers hire illegal workers because they can pay them so little and skip paying payroll taxes on them.
Couldn't have stated it better myself.
"Let's close the border and force women to breed our new menial working class"... this being similar to the slavery era, where all that had to be done was pair two black slaves together and force them to breed.
This mentality was extremely popular among the white plantation owners... why buy more slaves (read: pay a decent wage) when we can just bully poor people into excessive reproduction using religion, fear and other bullshit.
Comes back to the basic fact: forced pregnancy IS slavery, and it is absolutely in the interest of corporations to want more cheap labour/customers for their base.
Tick tock... we are edging toward 7 billion people on this planet with every passing minute, and cannot, or will not, feed all of them. We don't need any more babies.
Cheers...
Exactly right. I work at the Department of Labor and almost ALL the back wage cases involve employers not paying their workers - who all have Hispanic names. And here's a news flash - China is a nation with a long history of deep family traditions and many many children - which got them into the over population they face today ! China was FORCED into the one family, one child policy by their crushing numbers. The Right Wing loves to bash China for its abortion policy, but China had no choice, where would they be without it ? Even with it China is screwed because they want only boys, and get "rid" of first born girls. Now there's an excess of men who can't find wives, and the few available women are very, very picky. The so called "pro-life" policy is really pro-death, as it leads inevitably to overpopulation, a denuded planet, and death to all. Do "pro-life" people just let their dogs and cats have litter after litter after litter ? Why not ?
Because that would be littering.
The right-wing Christian fundamentalists in America, including Bush, are desperately trying to create an environment in the Middle East that will result in a global catastrophe -- an "armageddon," so to speak -- to validate their warped religious beliefs. Scary stuff, indeed, to think that we have a "leader" who actually believes that he is being directed by "God" to make his completely irrational decisions -- decisions, based upon overt aggression, which are doing irrevocable harm to our country.
Even though America is 80% Christian, electing a leader who bases his decision-making upon his Christian beliefs is dangerous and stupid. We have a mentally-unbalanced president whose arrogant messianic delusions would practically qualify him for admission to the nearest mental institution, were he an "average Joe." He doesn't have a direct line to "God," anymore than you or I do. He's a menace to the world, and nothing more.
newworldman77
It's worse than that. In Iran the majority (including the president) believe in a form of Shia Islam that is just as apocalyptic as millenialist Christianity. They anticipate the return of the 12'th Imam who will signal a worldwide conflagration.
These two opposition
For decades the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) has just barely spared the world from nuclear destruction. MAD is an irrelevant deterent to two competing, irrational, apocalyptic belief systems. Both would cheerfully launch nukes in the firm belief of ultimate victory and spiritual supremecy.
The best thing those crazy Christian faith addicts can do is: 'Just Say NO... to Mental Masturbation'!
Open your mind & your ass may follow!
Any group that believes its ideals, motivies and
philosophies are the only right way of thinking,
is not only cultish but fanatical. It doesn't
just stop at churches, its in schools and of
course in politics. The group or individual will
do whatever it takes to enforce its own agenda,
to the point of killing if necessary. This is
as close to an American version of Al Quaida as
we can get. People get the ideals of Christlike
behavior that is good, tied up with religious
idealism and doctrine, which is bad.
All of this "debate" over religion and sexuality and politicians makes me very pessimistic about the future of this country. Everyone wants to join a team and hate the other side. Everybody just live and let live. Do no harm. Love your neihbor.
I quit christianity and any religion because they all have a bad track record. I can do right by myself. I don't need help with that.
sonshine..
Right on! Who needs any of the current mythologies to tell us what to do and what "god" says? Who are these people who presume to stand between people and their "god" whatever that may be, who presume to tell us what "god" thinks and expects? A pack of charlatans, one and all.
It is sickening to see Obama and Clinton blatantly pandering to the religious, in the course of which they're tainting politics with their personal beliefs. A pox on both of them.
But not to worry. There will soon be another convenient 9/11, and then we will receive from our sanctimonious president (or more realistically, from Cheney) the following: martial law, canceled elections, the end of civil rights, mass detentions, and finally that dictatorship so industriously put in place, out in the open, claws and all. How Christian is that?
governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed. that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,and to institute new government, from the Declaration of Independence its to bad one of these men who created this great document was not alive today to see the mess this government they gave their souls, to has become.
Amen, Brother Sonshine.
And, as a gay man, may I just say that the Reverend Lou Sheldon is the gayest homophobe I've ever seen.
Me too ! People obviously don't realise that religion - all religions - are based on fear. The strong who claimed to protect us from those fears, led ancient man to pray to all sorts of deity's, and in leading, claimed power over us. As the various deity's failed to protect us - more and stronger ones were invented. Judging by Katrina and the recent devastating Tsunami (etc) its clear the strongest deity's we've yet invented are still unable to protect us. Meanwhile we've handed enormous power to those leading such absurd beliefs !
As for Bush and his allies - they've killed far, far more innocent people that Al Quieda even aspires to - who the terrorists are, depends on where you're sitting !!
So true about religions being fear-based. I was watching a discussion about religion last weekend on CSPAN between Christopher Hitchens and some right-wing guy (Dinesh Souza, or something like that).
The right-wing guy said that if religion was just made-up then of course heaven would be included in the fairy tale, but who would make up hell? His point was that everything in the bible had to be true because hell wouldn't be something anyone would make up. Unfortunately Mr. Hitchens didn't respond. I wanted to jump through the tv screen. Isn't the reason for hell obvious? It was made up to create fear so that the masses could be more easily controlled.
Quakerism is not based on fear. We believe there is that of God in everyone.
A sikening hate convention. Jesus would never associate w/such a group of haters. The fact that they even allowed Gingrich into the building shows how misguided these quacks are.
These folks do not care about Christiani
If anyone recalls, the late Pope John Paul II, sent an envoy to Bush, to try and stop the invasion of Iraq, calling it "a morally unjust war". Bush's reply was that he was praying for peace.
Point is, we Christians are NOT all alike! I'd have to see a poll on this. One that didn't cater only to whites, but to minorities, as well. I'm positive that the results would disfavor Bush, and in no uncertain terms!
I'm also an independent voter. I used to vote for Nader, until 2000, when I saw that he was a distinct threat to the Dems. I felt the Dems were the lesser of two evils. Nader saw both parties as "twin evils". And I cannot help but agree, in part. Because I note that some Dems are following in step with Bush's evil designs. He's leading them like horses to a very toxic, fatal drink!
And the rest of us appear to talk, but not do the walk!
It would make sense that Bush would don the clothing of a sheep, in order to fool the herd.
But he's a ravenous wolf in sheep's clothing. And many of us, Christians, are aware of it!
"Deep within the heart of every evangelist lies the wreck of a car salesman"
H.L. Menchen
Interesting Statistic:
Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-agai
Protestants leading the way in the U.S.A.!
Methinks they protest too much.
Hypocrisy continues to thrive within the ranks of God's chosen people. Apparently hate and intolerance also live there. But hey, they must have something going for them, George gave them $1.2 Billion of taxpayers money last year for Faith Based initiatives. Thats in addition to the absolution they received decades ago that exempts them from paying any income tax. Apparently there is a strong financial element to religion, I've always heard about the God Almighty Dollar but I've never seen it !
I think God's chosen people were the Jews, not the Christian right, but I could be wrong.
In the bible belt of the South is where you find the most divorces and the most teen pregnancies. And the least amount of critical thinking. In fact, Lincoln had it wrong. We should have cut the South loose long ago, thereby assuring a rise in the average IQ of the remaining nation.
Amen! I have said this for years. Lincoln really screwed up by ladling us with the South and their backward, demented, Talibangelical thinking. Our country would have been so much better off without the South. It represents everything that is wrong with America.
Also the most incest and spousal abuse!
This will be the most important election. If they can win, they will win all they have been working for. If they lose, they lose everything. Now that it has been scapegoated, we can see the brilliance of the old blame Clinton strategy. It was a warmup for the new blame Clinton stragegy. When all the righteous advances of the Bush years are lost, we will have only Clinton to blame.
The Republican 2008 campaign strategy is to resurrect Reagan, blame Clinton's.
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