The Double Standards/Hypocrisy of the Christian Right

I have not received any death threats in a while from members of the "godly Christian" crowd - perhaps because I have made in more difficult to leave anonymous comments on blog posts - but outside of Islamic extremists, there are few people who adherent more to double standards and exhibit hypocrisy more than those I refer to as Christofascists.  Despite all of their disingenuous claims of piety and self-centered than the godly folk.  feigned support for "Christian values," there are few who are more selfish.   Nowhere do we see this more than in the context of  alleged concerns over freedom of religion or "religious freedom" as they like to term it.  A piece in Huffington Post looks at this hypocrisy.  Here are highlights:

When a gay person is fired for being gay, we hear from conservatives that "it's freedom of association." However, when a fundamentalist Christian is fired with cause, for misusing their workplace as a pulpit for anti-gay hate, the same conservatives drop the "freedom of association" argument and pick-up the sledgehammer of "freedom of religion." 

Apparently "freedom of religion" is so widely interpreted as to justify absolutely anything a fundamentalist Christian does. 

There is a double-standard the Religious Right indulges frequently. It's a right when they do it, it's persecution when you do. 

Of course, the Religious Right long have been masters of hypocrisy and double standards.

The newest such hypocrisy is the case of Dr. Paul Church who worked at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The urologist thought it wise to use the hospital's internet system to post anti-gay rants to all staff. 

Church tried to pretend his concerns were "medical" in nature because the gay "lifestyle" is deadly. Oddly, he accompanied this with quotes from the Bible -- hardly a source of medical wisdom. 

He was told sending such material to other staff violated hospital harassment policies and to stop.

Of course, he refused and posted several more anti-gay tirades referencing the Bible. His lawyers, from the anti-gay group Liberty Counsel, claimed that Church "made known his objections in a medical capacity" and was thus free to do what he did. The medical textbook he used... oh, wait, it wasn't a medical textbook, it was the Bible.

After repeatedly violating hospital policy, Church's right to practice at the hospital was revoked.

Of course, Religious Right sites were apoplectic about the decision.

The Religious Right has never advocated freedom of association, or liberty. Such rights, in their minds, are exclusive reserves guaranteed to fundamentalists alone while denied to others, particularly "godless sodomites."

One of the more blatant examples of this "rights-for-me-not-for-thee" view was the attempt by Republican legislators in Washington state. They filed a bill to provide exemptions to discrimination laws for those with "sincerely held religious beliefs."

So, what was the purpose of the bill? It would legalize anti-gay discrimination for Christians, but would prevent discrimination against Christians. It would not apply to race, religion or disability, but gays are not a protected class in federal law. They were the target of the bill. It was legislation meant to grant Christians the right to discriminate against gays, but God forbid, gays were never to have a reciprocal right regarding Christians.

Fundamentalist Christians demanded the right to discriminate as they wish, while simultaneously retaining the privilege of being protected from discrimination. Yet, they accuse the LGBT community of demanding "special privileges." . . . another self-serving attempt by fundamentalist to twist the law to grant special privileges to themselves, and only to themselves -- all others be damned, literally.

As I frequently note, far right Christians are NOT nice or decent people.  Their main stock in trade is hate, division, and hypocrisy.  The sooner the rest of society recognizes this reality and says a loud "no" to their quest to secure special rights to themselves - or better yet, makes them social outcasts -  the better off the nation will be.