From the Military Religious Freedom Foundation:
The May issue goes into general circulation on April 28.
The ruling of the Iowa Supreme Court that rejects, as Politico.com summarized, that "any claim that objections to same-sex marriage can be seen as 'rational,'" is a positive development in light of not only the Constitutional Principle of the Separation of Church & State, but for pragmatic governance that the extremists of right-wing and left-wing always find either unsatisfying or even alarming. I agree that the argument for same-sex marriage based upon pragmatism may not be the most compelling to most people. Yet, I think it is too seldom heard.
It's scientific fact that same-sex sexual attraction isn't a choice. Whether or not to act on it is. It's really hard not to act on sexual attraction. So, why not expand the benefits and responsibilities of civil marriage contracts to two consenting adults, especially when the societal benefits of these contracts are clear? Marriage settles-down, i.e., domesticates, a couple; domestication leads to shared financial responsibility and opportunities; this furthers everything from the tax base to the gentrification of neighborhoods; married couples are proven to be more likely to live longer, be happier at work (and thus more productive to our economy), and behave more responsibly sexually.
The benefits of marriage are clear; therefore, to not expand their availability is likely to be a pernicious exclusion.
The US Constitution calls on the purpose of this republic to be, among other things, to "promote the general welfare." Our nation's founders cared so much about this principle that they stated it twice in the Constitution. Same-sex marriage harms no one in any demonstrable way, but has clear benefits for the minority of American citizens whose lives it will improve without diminishing the lives of any person of the majority at all.
When any group of Americans despises such a “I-am-helped-and-you-are-not-hurt” situation only by citing tired, disproved stereotypes, misinformation, or religious texts, it is a clear indication that in some regard at least, liberty is less of a treasure to them than constriction. Our forefathers fought a revolution against just such an attitude, and the American Civil War and later the Civil Rights movement progressed the revolution into uplands of even greater abundance.
There is more to America than its history of big building projects, powerful economies, and wars won. There is a human element that is too often forgotten by citizens who also are inclined to forget that a representative democracy requires tolerance and mechanisms for adaptation.
Same-sex marriage helps some; it harms none; it promotes the general welfare. Let it flourish, so that together we can as a nation continue to move forward against great challenges and to seize opportunities that will demand that we work as a whole greater than the sum of our fragmented parts of this sect, that race, this economic group, that party, and so on.
In light of what this nation has been through--the blood and suffering of revolution, wars, depression, recessions, and social upheavals--and in light of what this nation must strive to be for the sake of its continued strength, same-sex marriage is essentially trivial and belies the excitement of religious extremists. Twenty years from now, same-sex marriages will be looked upon as inter-racial marriages are now: unusual, not harmful, still noteworthy, and with special challenges for those involved—but many of those challenges standing largely as a result of careless and wasteful prejudice alone.
UPDATE: There is some interesting and very readable legal commentary about the ruling on the blog Law Dork, 2.0.
From Joan Walsh, Salon.com, "Right-wing Catholics vs. Obama"
Chris Rodda, Senior Research Director for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and author of Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History, exposes some of the falsehoods popular with Christian nationalist history revisionist, David Barton. He is:
Salon.com features Kathryn Joyce's article on the Quiverfull movement, "All God's Children." The summary of the article reads, "The Quiverfull movement saddles women with a life of submission and near-constant pregnancies. One mother explains how she embraced the extreme Christian lifestyle -- and why she left."
The article explains:
The article references the new blog No Longer Quivering, which describes women's experiences exiting the movement.
Michael Spencer in his commentary in The Christian Science Monitor, "The Coming Evangelical Collapse," doesn't see much of a future role for the religious right within the diverse panoply that is American evangelicalism.
In fact, Spencer cites the long-term damage he believes was done to evangelicalism by its close association with the religious right. Indeed, evangelicalism, and conservative evangelicalism in particular, became all but synonymous over the course of the last 30 years with the partisan political movement that is the religious right.
Spencer writes:
Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake.... The evangelical investment in moral, social, and political issues has depleted our resources and exposed our weaknesses.
Some of Spencer's observations come from a doctrinal or theological perspective. He sees Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism growing. He thinks American evangelicalism failed to provide its young people with a thorough theological foundation. (He's right.) And he expresses concerns about Pentacostalism, which continues spreading rapidly in numerous regions on the globe. From a sociological and economic perspect, The Economist examined some of these same trends, as featured on Religious Right Watch a little more than one year ago.
Spencer also predicts that a new anti-Christian era is beginning in America. Such a prediction is part and parcel of the religious right's talking points. That Spencer believes that an anti-Christian era is unfolding does not necessarily make him a member of the religious right, to be sure. He opines:
Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.
But, a look at the power and scope of religion throughout American history belies Spencer's lack of faith in his faith and exposes the alarmist character of his prediction of a new anti-Christian era.
What is more, Spencer seems to lump together all those who oppose the agenda of a politicalized American evangelicalism. He sees all of them as "anti-Christian," when, in fact, many are friends of faith. Contrary to Spencer's stark vision there is an alternative one of which he is unaware or deemed not worth mentioning, one which Chip Berlet summed up on Talk to Action as follows:
[For many Americans who are challenging the Christian Right,] the issue is not secular belief versus spiritual faith; the issue is how to craft a pluralist civil society that honors the dignity of both secular philosophy and spiritual faith, while insisting that theological claims alone should never dictate public policies. That's why we say we are challenging theocracy; because that's what the Christian Right is increasingly sowing: a theocratic society.
From Joe. My. God.
Some of [March 5th's] anti-gay protesters in San Francisco were bussed in from the Sacramento area's massive Russian/Slavic community, many of whom belong to the extreme right-wing organization Watchmen On The Walls. The group was co-founded by the former California director of Focus On The Family and Latvia-born preacher Alexey Ledyaev. The Watchmen are listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Hat-tip to Bill Berkowitz for this quote that most certainly will prove to be prescient:
“The Religious Right has developed an extraordinary infrastructure, especially at the state level, that will restore and replenish the movement as the founding generation of Religious Right leaders passes from public life, and will regroup in the wake of national Republican electoral losses in 2008,” Frederick Clarkson, a frequent contributor to Religion Dispatches and the co-founder of the blog Talk2Action, wrote in Political Research Associates Winter 2008 issue of The Public Eye.
Military Religious Freedom Foundation MEDIA ALERT - ABC Nightline. Currently scheduled for TONIGHT - February 2nd, 2009. Subject to last minute programming changes. In this Nightline segment MRFF is critical of U.S. troops assisting missionaries in proselytizing to Muslims in Afghanistan. Airing at 11:35 PM in most regions. Check local listings.
The New York Times has an editorial on the situation. An excerpt is below:
The [Texas] State Board of Education fumbled a decision on curriculum standards last week. The struggle will be resumed in March.... The voting, a preliminary test of how the culture-war winds are blowing, concerned whether to approve or amend proposed new [science education] standards that had been carefully crafted by teams of educators and other experts.
Certainly one to categorize on Religious Right Watch under the heading, "Progressive faith." From Religion Dispatches comes this story of a muse for a view of the world that is the opposite of the destructive ones showcased in religious right best-sellers like the Left Behind series.
"Boy Gets Boy, Saves Earth: A Gay Christian Writer’s Plan to Change the World," concerns Perry Moore, "an ardent Christian and author of Hero, believes that the time has come for the younger generation to supplant the older generation of bigots."
From Moore's author blurb:
Perry Moore is a best-selling author, film producer, screenwriter, and director, best known as the executive producer of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) routinely received reports from soldiers pressured to conform to commanders' religious beliefs. The prayer of Rick Warren at President Obama's inauguration occasioned more instances of such pressure.
Chris Rodda highlights a letter from a decorated combat officer. From the letter:
after Pastor Warren ended his invocation by praying in the name of his personal Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our Commander jumped to his feet clapping and yelled "God Bless him for having the courage to pray for all of the lost souls in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ!" About a third of those attending also clapped. I did not. That was until our Commander turned around to survey everyone's reaction to his statement. When that happened, the officer next to me started to clap and the one to my left clapped too. I felt like I was in a spotlight as the Commander looked at me and the female officer in front of me who had also not clapped. Then she clapped. And then I clapped too. I tried not to but could not muster up the strength to be the only one in the room not clapping in support of our Commander and Warren.
Hat-tip to Right Wing Watch: MSNBC's "Obama Gets Mixed Evangelical Reaction."
Next week, the Family Research Council will host the 4th Annual Blogs for Life conference which will feature the likes of Senator Sam Brownback, Amanda Carpenter, Jill Stanek, Michael New, and Charmaine Yoest.
Also: learn about Rick Warren's clout. And enjoy the unique stylings of Alan Keyes.
