Right-Wing Christian Fanatics Threaten Religious Freedom in America

I have often maintained that the militant Christian Right - those I call Christofascists - are a clear and present danger to America, particularly religious freedom for all.  They want nothing less than a theocracy with themselves and politicians who grovel to them setting the agenda for all Americans.  While not as violent as ISIS (at least not yet), these people demonstrate a similar mindset - it's got to be their beliefs that trump those of everyone else.  It is crucial that the larger public cease giving any deference to these people or their hate and fear based beliefs. A piece in Politicususa looks at this growing threat.  Here are excerpts:

In the conservative movement, particularly the racist religious right segment of the movement, there is a tendency toward demanding conservative purity, racial purity, and increasingly religious purity that all define their distorted vision of an American Utopia. Much to their despair, and due to the makeup of America’s population, there will never be anything remotely pure in this nation, whether it is in politics, race, or religion. What is curious, is that although America is not, was not, and never will be a Christian nation, there are signs that a religious purity crusade is gaining traction.

As it turns out, just the mention of any religion that does not adhere to American Neo-Christianity’s hate-filled tenets is enough to drive “the faithful” into a violent rage. In Arkansas recently, a local Unitarian Universalist church reached out to the community in a letter alerting the residents that their “church” was all inclusive and welcomed all people regardless of race, religion, or sexual preference; like Jesus Christ preached. The letter incited typically religious right intolerance and hatred that drove some vile human being to shoot out the church’s windows and leave a hate-filled, racist, homophobic, and Islamophobic rant threatening the church’s leader.

In Maryland this past week, in response to several requests for the school board to recognize an Islamic holy day like every Christian holy day, the board voted to strike all references to all religious holidays, including Christian holidays, from the scholastic calendar rather than recognize the Muslim holiday. . . . The co-chair of the Equality for Eid Coalition, Zainab Chaudry, said, “They would remove the Christian holidays and they would remove the Jewish holidays from the calendar before they would even consider adding the Muslim holiday to the calendar.”

Throughout the nation, there is a concerted effort to portray any faith other than  Christianity as impure. It was reported here a couple of weeks ago that there is a very well-organized movement to incite Christian parents to assail local teachers, schools, and parent-approved history curriculum because it “portrays Islam in a light” members of the Christian religion cannot countenance. In a fairly large California city, every year when religious leaders gather to plan how to help feed and clothe the poor and homeless, clergy from the Christian community refuse to  participate because Muslims, Buddhists, Unitarian Universalists, and Jews are involved.

It is revealing that the religious right’s devout hatred for any faith outside of their distorted interpretation of Christianity has effectively  debased, contaminated, and polluted the teachings of their namesake Jesus Christ under the guise of Christian purity.