Is Pat Buchanan Encouraging Violence and Anti-Gay Unrest?

As noted in the last post, the main opposition to gay marriage comes principally from the Christofascists who in America and elsewhere have been allowed special rights and deference at the expense of other citizens.  Indeed, often, religious freedom has only been available to Christofascists while the rest of us either have no rights or are forced to endure far right Christian prayers and ceremonies.  Thankfully, those days are closer to ending.  But the hate and hysteria coming from the Christofascists at the prospect of no longer being able to ride rough shod over the rights of others is increasing.  One example is the spittle flecked rant of the often racists and bigoted Pat Buchanan in a column at World Net Daily, a/k/a Wingnut Daily, a constant outlet of scary right wing batshitery.  In it, Buchanan encourages the Bible beaters to consider ignoring the law and continuing their quest for hate and discrimination.  Here are highlights of what some might consider a call for insurrection:

That “loving Jesus means hating gay people” is “proclaimed in Christian churches and on Christian television and radio broadcasts.”  So declares Dan Savage in his review of Jeff Chu’s “Does Jesus Really Love Me: A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America” – on Page 1 of the New York Times Book Review.

Who is foremost among those who have made “anti-gay bigotry seem synonymous with Christianity”? The Family Research Council and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

[I]n handing this review to an apostate Catholic and atheist homosexual, the Times was nailing its anti-Catholic colors to the mast. Yet what Savage alleges and the Times published is a lie.

Undeniably, the Christian view, though mislabeled “homophobia,” alienates millions. Many of America’s young have come to accept that homosexuality is a natural preference of a significant minority and ought to be accommodated, and same-sex unions ought to be treated as traditional marriages. 

[T]traditional Christianity’s view that homosexual acts are immoral and same-sex marriage an absurdity cannot be reconciled with the view that homosexuality is natural and normal and gay marriage a human right.   The issue is pulling the Republican Party apart. It is pulling Christian communities apart. It is pulling the nation apart.

What happens if the gay rights movement, as it appears it may, succeeds politically on same-sex marriage, but many Christians refuse to recognize such unions and continue to declare that American society has become ungodly and immoral?

Imagine the situation in America today if priests and pastors were telling congregations they need not obey civil rights laws. They would be denounced as racists. Church tax exemptions would be in peril. 

Something akin to this could be in the cards if the homosexual rights movement is victorious – a public rejection of the new laws by millions and a refusal by many to respect or obey them.

The culture war in America today may be seen as squabbles in a day-care center compared to what is coming. A new era of civil disobedience may be at hand.

No one better embodies the angry white Christianist male that has become the bedrock of the GOP base than Buchanan.   He consistently thinks that his rights and beliefs trump those of other Americans and that he can pick and choose what laws to obey.  It is sadly all too typical of the Christofascists who are among the most self-centered individuals can encounter.   And behind it all is a fear of modernity and a refusal to recognize the common humanity of others.  It's not pretty, but it is largely the public face of Christianity one sees nowadays.  Oh yes, there are "good Christians" - many in the ELCA and Episcopal Church fit this description - but they are drowned out by the message of hate and bigotry that is pumped out daily by the self-congratulatory pious set who are, in fact, purveyors of evil.