Homosexuality at Wingnut Patrick Henry College?

Virginia sadly has more than its share of loony bin crazy educational institutions including Pat Robertson's Regent University and the late Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.  But perhaps the craziest of all is Patrick Henry College ("PHC") located in Purcellville, Virginia, which is an Evangelical institution with an enrollment of approximately 325.  Patrick Henry College was founded by home school champion Mike Farris, a failed right wing politician, who takes Kool-Aid drinking to nearly unknown levels.  Now, Farris is acting like Iran's Ahmadinejad (Farris is indeed just as crazy and extreme) and claiming that homosexuality cannot possible exist at his bizarre Christianist institution.  The firestorm started back in July when three anonymous writers with ties to the school launched a controversial blog titled Queer at Patrick Henry College. Frankly, I am not surprised that closet cases exist at PHC.  Friends who used to live in Lynchburg, the home of Liberty University, have related how the gay chat rooms and hook up sites were always filled with married Liberty faculty members and Liberty students.  The Loudoun Times looks at this entertaining controversy.  Here are highlights:

Gay students at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville don’t exist. They can’t exist.  So says Dr. Michael Farris, the college’s founder and chancellor.  It’s simple, really. Homosexuals can’t exist at Patrick Henry College because the students sign an honor code, Farris claimed. “[Homosexuals] could not sign our honor code,” Farris said, adding that he considers the actions of gay men and women “sinful.” “Part of the honor code is to be sexually pure,” he added.

So you can imagine the chancellor’s consternation when he learned of Queer at Patrick Henry College, a six-month-old, provocatively-titled blog operated by three pseudonymous writers – all of whom graduated from or have taken classes at the school.

Queer at Patrick Henry College’s intent is to be a “safe online space for closeted students and alumni to share thoughts about LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning) issues, without the risk of school punishment,” according to one of the blog’s founders, who goes by the nom de plume Kate Kane.

“Currently there are three contributors, though we are in contact with other students and graduates who are LGBTQ or identify as straight allies,” Kane said.  Kane and co-founder Alan Scott told the Times-Mirror the reasons for anonymity range from not yet “coming out” to friends and family to professional connections to the school.

The pseudonyms were not chosen by accident. Katherine Kane is the name of “Batwoman” in DC Comics. Kane’s character has received attention for being arguably the most prominent LGBT superhero. Alan Scott is the fictional name of DC Comics’ Golden Age “Green Lantern,” who was recently reintroduced in the series as a gay superhero. The third regular blogger at Queer at Patrick Henry, Captain Jack, takes the name of Jack Harkness, a character from the BBC’s “Doctor Who” and its spinoff “Torchwood.” Harkness is the first non-heterosexual character in televised “Doctor Who.” 

Dr. Farris is not a fan. On Dec. 1 the chancellor sent a message to Queer at Patrick Henry through Facebook.   “This page is in violation of our copyright of the name Patrick Henry College,” Farris wrote. “... you must remove this page at once. On Monday, we will began (sic) the legal steps to seek removal from Facebook and from the courts if necessary. In the process of this matter we can seek discovery from Facebook to learn your identity and seek damages from you as permitted by law. The best thing for all concerned is for you to simply remove this page.”  The next day, Farris withdrew his legal bluff. Again through Facebook, the chancellor and constitutional lawyer stated: “After further consultation, I withdraw my note from yesterday. While we believe in the inappropriate nature of the use of our trademarked name, we believe that litigation is not appropriate.”

But Farris’ correspondence had already put in motion a stirring week on campus, according to people familiar with the situation.  A  source close to the college, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Times-Mirror the blog was “all anyone [was] talking about” on campus.

Upon launching Queer at Patrick Henry (queerPHC.wordpress.com), Kane and Scott were inspired by blogs at other Christian colleges, namely BJUnity at Bob Jones University in upstate South Carolina. Kane and Scott recalled wishing there was a similar support network and outlet for Patrick Henry College students that felt they had no one to talk with about sexuality and the range of emotions that go with realizing one is gay.  “Since we didn’t see any other PHC students or alumni stepping forward to create such a network, we decided to start QPHC,” Kane said.

Known as a favorite institution for Evangelical parents and their children, Patrick Henry College has an estimated enrollment of 325, many of which were homeschooled in their pre-college years. In addition to the college, Farris is the founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), which maintains a close connection with the school – the Purcellville campus serves as the HSLDA headquarters.

 

Scott said he knows numerous students who have experienced feelings of isolation and loneliness because of their sexuality. The college can feel “very oppressive at times,” he said, which is why the blog is so essential.  “Queer at Patrick Henry wants to make sure [students] know theyaren’t alone and that it is possible to both accept one’s queerness and continue strongly in one’s faith,” Scott said.

In his comments to the Times-Mirror, Farris made clear Patrick Henry College is not a friendly environment for homosexuals.

One question naturally comes to mind when considering Patrick Henry College and gay rights and tolerance: “Why would an openly gay, bisexual or transgender person, or someone who’s questioning their sexuality, choose to attend a hard-line Christian institution?”  "It’ s a good question,” Kane said. “And there are a few answers ... I know for me, if my parents were going to sign off on a loan for school, it had to be fundamentalist college.” (Farris said he does not consider the school to be “fundamentalist.”) 

Scott and other sources maintain a surge of conversations about gay issues have come about since word of Farris’ threat spread.  “I remain hopeful for the possibility of more positive interactions with [administration] in the future,” Scott said. “I look forward to when it is possible to have mature, open, honest and loving conversation about LGBTQ issues at PHC without students or alumni experiencing fear of reprisal, rejection, or shaming.” 

In my opinion, few people are more unhinged from reality than Mike Farris.  I love it that Queer at Patrick Henry is forcing Farris to have at least some slight experience with reality and the fact that God made some of us gay notwithstanding the writings of ignorant Neolithic herders that Farris embraces as the literal truth.

Anoka-Hennepin Superintendent Belatedly Admits Anti-Gay Bullying Contributes to Suicides

Anoka-Hennepin School Superintendent Dennis Carlson (pictured) seems to be belatedly admitting that the anti-gay bullying that has been rampant in his school division (located in Michele Bachmann's district) and encouraged by a recently eliminated Christianist backed policy may have contributed to some of the wave of suicides within the district. It's unfortunate that Carlson refused to open his eyes or grow sufficient spine to speak up before lives were needlessly lost. Instead until the Justice Department began its investigation and lawsuits were filed, Carlson seemed only too happy to kiss the asses of the Christianist bigots. Of course the timing of Carlson's statements is suspicious given that mediation efforts are approaching in the lawsuits against the school division. In fact, Tammy Aaberg, a district mother who lost her 15-year-old Justin to suicide caused by anti-gay bullying, notes the suspicious timing of Carlson sudden enlightenment. The Twin Cities Pioneer Press looks at Carlson conveniently timed statement. Here are highlights:

A week before Anoka-Hennepin school leaders are due back in court to try to mediate lawsuits still against the district, Superintendent Dennis Carlson issued an apology to those he might have offended with his comments about the district's past student suicides.

In a one-page statement posted Thursday on the district's website, Carlson said he meant "absolutely no disrespect" to students or parents who might have taken issue with his past remarks on the matter. Earlier, he had said the district's investigation into seven student suicides from November 2009 to July 2010 hadn't found a connection to anti-gay bullying.

Parents of those who died and others in the district have said at least four of the students were bullied for their real or perceived sexual orientation before their deaths. Some have claimed the district's Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy contributed to a hostile environment for gay students. The lawsuits pending against the district also mention the suicides.

Tammy Aaberg . . . said Carlson's statement seems suspiciously timed given what might be an approaching settlement on the lawsuits.

Six former and current students who claim they were bullied for their real or perceived sexual orientation sued Minnesota's largest district last summer. Including relief for the students, the lawsuits seek a repeal of the district's Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy. That policy was replaced this month. . . . . Aaberg - who has become a crusader for gay rights in the district since the death of her son, who was gay - said the apology didn't seem sincere.

In defense of his earlier statements, Carlson said they were made because the district's investigation into the deaths did not uncover evidence to suggest bullying was "the main reason" for the suicides, and also to encourage others who knew or believed otherwise to come forward, his statement this week said.

That explanation fell short for Michele Johnson, who lost her 13-year-old daughter, Samantha, to suicide in 2009 after she was bullied by other students at Anoka Middle School for the Arts because they thought she was gay.

Before Samantha's death, Johnson said, she complained to several administrators about the bullying after finding out her daughter had stopped going to volleyball practices. Nothing was done, she said.

"When Dennis Carlson made that first statement about the investigation, I was just devastated," Johnson recalled. "There was no investigation. Nobody talked to me; nobody talked to Samantha's closest friends....They were just trying to cover their butts."

Covering their butts and kissing the asses of Christianist parents seems to be standard procedure for far too many school administrators. It certainly seems to be the course taken by the York County, Virginia schools after the anti-gay bullying induced suicide of Christian Taylor.

Hate Group Founder, Don Wldmon Endorses Gingrich

As if there weren't already plenty of reasons to feel contempt towards Don Wildmon (pictured at left), the founder of registered hate group American Family Association, he has added further justification with his endorsement of serial adulterer Newt Gingrich for president and additional gratuitous derogatory anti-gay commentary. For those who haven't visited AFA's website, it contains all kinds of fraudulent anti-gay propaganda. In addition, AFA mouthpiece Bryan Fischer has an almost daily case of anti-gay verbal diarrhea. Right Wing Watch reports on Wildmon's endorsement of Gingrich. About the only thing Wildmon gets right is when he says "I’m not trying to say I got any kind of intellect." Wildmon has about as much intellect as a horse's ass (no insult intended to horses) and makes chimpanzees look like lofty intellectuals. His level of truth and veracity makes a pathological liar look like honest Abe. Here are highlights from Right Wing Watch:

[T]he founder of the far-right American Family Association Don Wildmon endorsed Newt Gingrich for president, citing Gingrich’s stringent attacks against the judiciary and the need to stop Mitt Romney from winning the Republican nomination as reasons for his endorsement. Wildmon told AFA spokesman Bryan Fischer, who has harshly criticized Gingrich, that he was originally “ecstatic” about Rick Perry but decided against supporting him due to his poor debate performances and said that only Gingrich can stop “the homosexuals and the liberals” from their plot to “destroy the family” and “the whole of Western Civilization.”

Wildmon: If we don’t have a strong leadership that knows and believes in maintaining our Judeo-Christian heritage, we’re going to lose it. And let me tell you, don’t load up any buses because there’s nowhere else in the world that what we have can be replicated. It’s gone and it is gone forever if Obama or Romney wins the presidency, it’s gone and it’s gone forever. That’s a strong statement, I’m not trying to scare anybody, I’m not trying to say I got any kind of intellect, but I just see it and it’s there and if we lose this country, it’s gone and it can never again be replicated.

Now and I say this with Newt sitting there, only Newt knows Newt’s heart other than God, I think that he has paid his dues, I think he has accepted his forgiveness, God has forgiven him, I forgive him, let’s go on to do what’s best for the country.

I am supporting Newt because I think he’s the best fellow for the job, as far as sin, we know what’s in Newt’s past, Paul was a murderer, Moses was a murderer, David was an adulterer and for all intents and purposes a murderer, the man has paid his dues, he’s been forgiven by God. Am I supporting him? Yes I am. Why? I’ll say it again; I think that everything considered he is the best candidate for the office.

Frankly, Wildmon and those like him in the Christianist/Tea Party base of the GOP are the true threat to America. They embrace ignorance and bigotry and the marginalization of others. Moreover, they are delusional if they think the rest of the world isn't going to leave the USA in the dust if the nation's so-called conservative leadership doesn't stop trying to move the country decades if not centuries backwards in time.

"Personhood" for Embryo Agenda is Theocracy

I've often noted that opposing civil equality for LGBT citizens is only the tip of the iceberg of the Christianist agenda and that also targeted over the longer term are making all abortions illegal, outlawing most forms of contraception, returning mandatory Christian prayer to public schools, and outlawing science based sex education. Many scoff at the notion, but Mississippi may soon demonstrate through its "personhood" for embryo legislation that the objective of criminalizing abortion and many forms of contraception is for real. And if Mississippi is successful and the Republicans take control of the Virginia Senate, person hood for embryos could become reality in Virginia as soon as next years session of the General Assembly. Sadly, most people do not grasp just how relentless and uncaring for the rights of other the theocrats are in fact. We are not dealing with rational or nice people. A column in Religion Dispatches looks at the theocratic agenda the "personhood" agenda represents. Here are highlights:

Mississippi Initiative 26, the “personhood” amendment on the November 8th ballot, is not only dangerous for women’s health and lives—it is dangerous for our democracy. While not recognized as such, it is an openly theocratic endeavor. We should be talking about theocracy because this amendment is not just being fielded in Mississippi—it has been introduced in at least six other states, with more to come.

We know the harm that Initiative 26 would do by effectively ending access to reproductive health care in Mississippi—including banning all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest or the life of the woman; some forms of contraception; and in vitro fertilization. Not to mention the frightening possibility that doctors would not be able to provide life-saving medical treatment to a pregnant woman, for example, in the case of an ectopic pregnancy. We should also be aware that this amendment would enact in law a specific religious view about “personhood”

I call this campaign “theocratic” as a Baptist minister who holds all human life to be sacred. But issues around human life are not as simple as the “personhood” proponents believe. . . . .

It is no secret that personal religious views motivate the “personhood” campaign. The group organizing the Mississippi initiative, Personhood USA, defines itself on its website as a Christian ministry. . . . Mississippi’s largest Christian denomination, the Mississippi Baptist Convention>, is backing the personhood proposal through its lobbying arm, the Christian Action Commission.

[I]n the fashion of those who are determined to embed their religious views in law, there is no acknowledgement that there are other, equally valid views. Because there are a variety of views on such a basic question as “the beginning of life,” the constitution guarantees that decisions about contraception and abortion will be protected by law. And that is where the matter should rest.

As I have said before, the Christianists and their political whores in the Republican Party are a clear and present danger to religious freedom for all and for constitutional government in America. They need to be stopped before it is too late.

Quote of the Day - Andrew Sullivan on Today's GOP

Andrew Sullivan has two comments on his blog here and here that in my view totally sum up today's Republican Party. Here's the first:
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Bruce Bartlett thinks negotiating with today's Republicans requires the skills once needed to negotiate with the Soviets. I think he's being too tough on the Soviets. They were mainly rational.
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The second comment is this:
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Until everyone realizes this madness [Christianism] is at the heart of today's Republican party, we are in danger.
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The rampant irrationality and elevation of misplaced - or by some feigned - religiosity over logic and common sense is increasingly terrifying. The rest of the world must be looking at the USA and thinking that the nation is going insane.

Chuck Colson Seeks to Spread His Toxic Version of Christianity

Given Chuck Colson's history, I've always questioned whether or not he had a "religious conversion" or merely latched on to Christianity as a ruse to restore his reputation and make a good living in his post penitentiary days. Where else other than in a so-called "ministy" can a convicted felon find an easy route to the good life financially and find gullible sheep to give him money freely (I've seen ads on Christian sites about "incorporation one's ministy for $99). Colson strikes me like as so many in the "ex-gay" industry - largely unemployable psychologically disturbed drug users and alcoholics who found Jesus as a route to financial susccess and respectability - at least among the simpleton set. The Washington Post has a piece that looks at Colson's effort to "metastasize" society with his intolerant and exclusionary for of Christianity. Ironically, metastasize is the correct word given that Colson and his followers are, in my view, a form of cancer on society. One has to wonder about the mental health of anyone who would want to be one of Colson's "centurions." I sincerely hope that his efforts fail. We clearly do not need more members of the Christian Taliban in this nation. Here are highlights from the Post article:
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Charles Colson assembles the newest members of his Christian army at a Loudoun County convention hall on a winter Saturday. . . . . They’ve spent the year — and as much as $4,000 — reading the books Colson reads, watching the movies he watches, praying the way he prays. It’s all part of an ambitious effort by Colson to replicate his spiritual DNA and ensure that his vision of Christianity doesn’t die when he does.
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“This is the time for us to metastasize and impact society!” the gravelly-voiced former Nixon aide tells his rapt audience. “And this is a really, really urgent hour.” . . . . They are called Centurions, a name that conjures battle-hardened Roman soldiers. They number 640, and their marching orders from their commander are clear — to expand Christ’s kingdom. “What this country needs,” Colson declares, “is a movement.”
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Colson, who lives in Florida full time after years of dividing his time between the Sunshine State and Northern Virginia, hasn’t lost his taste for politics. He works against measures to legalize gay marriage and served as an informal adviser to former George W. Bush aide Karl Rove. . . . . [He] is treated like a rock star at Christian events.
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“The point was to get more people to be like Chuck,” says Chip Mahon, a retired financial services executive who sits on the board of BreakPoint, the umbrella group for Colson’s various ministries, including the Centurions, which began in 2004.
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Regardless of how traditional evangelicals describe themselves, they are facing some discouraging trends. Polls show that young evangelicals are more concerned about poverty and environmentalism than same-sex marriage or abortion and other “sanctity of life” issues. A few months ago, Apple booted an iPhone app for a conservative Christian manifesto that Colson co-wrote called the Manhattan Declaration because the company deemed the document’s opposition to gay marriage and other “immoral sexual partnerships” to be offensive. Just one of the original signers was under 40.
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Centurions are required to create a three-year ministry plan. Most involve grass-roots evangelizing to work colleagues, neighbors or people at church who think they know Christianity but don’t.
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I find Colson and his followers frightening. Should they ever succeed on a large scale, this nation will be a scary place for anyone who doesn't fit the Christianist mode. At the risk of being called horrible, I see the only positive note in all of this is the fact that at 79, Colson's days of disseminating poison may be limited.

Obama and Afghanistan - Torture and Horrors in the Field Continue

I have been appalled by the manner in which the Obama administration - despite Obama's campaign rhetoric - has more or less allowed all of the misdeeds (dare we say war crimes) prevalent under the rule of the Chimperator and Emperor Palpatine Cheney to largely continue. This sad reality does much to destroy Obama's credibility in my eyes and in the eyes of others and also raises serious questions of morality. While Obama tries to continue to play cute with his stance on social issues in frequent appeasement of the Christianists - e.g., his position of gay marriage and rampant Christianist activities in the military - the reality is that many of the crimes and denigration of civil rights that occurred under Bush/Cheney continue unabated. A post on America Blog reviews portions of a speech given by award-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in January 2011, as reported in Foreign Policy magazine. Much of it is not pretty and I can only believe that U.S. actions are creating future generations with strong anti-American beliefs. The opportunity to change things in Afghanistan - if it ever existed - has long passed and we do damage with each day the USA remains an occupying force in the nation. Here are highlights:
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In any case, Obama did abdicate, very quickly, any control, I think right away, to the people that are running the war, for what reason I don't know. I can tell you, there is a scorecard I always keep and I always look at. Torture? Yep, still going on. It's more complicated now the torture, and there's not as much of it. But one of the things we did, ostensibly to improve the conditions of prisoners, we demanded that the American soldiers operating in Afghanistan could only hold a suspected Taliban for four days, 96 hours. If not... after four days they could not be sure that this person was not a Taliban, he must be freed.
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So what happens of course, is after three or four days, "bang, bang" -- I'm just telling you -- they turn them over to the Afghans and by the time they take three steps away the shots are fired. And that's going on. It hasn't stopped. It's not just me that's complaining about it. But the stuff that goes on in the field, is still going on in the field -- the secret prisons, absolutely, oh you bet they're still running secret prisons.
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There's still an enormous amount of whacking going on right now. What happened is after McChrystal ran into trouble and he was replaced, Petraeus took over the war, General Petraeus -- they call him King David, David Petraeus -- and he has done this in the last 6, 8 months; He has doubled up on the nightly , nightly assassinations. He's escalated the bombing. He's gotten much tougher. His argument is: Let's squeeze them, let's bomb ‘em, let's hit ‘em, and then of course they'll be open to negotiation.
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[T]he Joint Special Operations Command -- JSOC it’s called. . . . "Congress has no oversight of it. It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on.
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"We're going to change mosques into cathedrals." That's an attitude that pervades, I'm here to say, a large percentage of the Special Operations Command, the Joint Special Operations Command and Stanley McChrystal, the one who got in trouble because of the article in Rolling Stone, and his follow-on, a Navy admiral named McRaven, Bill McRaven -- all are members or at least supporters of Knights of Malta. McRaven attended, so I understand, the recent annual convention of the Knights of Malta they had in Cyprus a few months back in November. They're all believers -- many of them are members of Opus Dei. They do see what they are doing -- and this is not an atypical attitude among some military -- it's a crusade, literally.
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Go to the full piece for more of this scary and disturbing information. It's clearly not stuff that would make one proud to be an American.

America's Growing Polarization and the Insanity of the Far Right

Watching the news some evenings truly makes one as WTF is happening to the USA? The willing embrace of ignorance by so many, the growing willingness to speak of and treat other citizens with contempt, if not open violence, and the efforts to dismantle the supports that created the middle class as are occurring in Wisconsin and elsewhere does not bode well for the USA's future. What happened to a nation where citizens lives are supposedly valued? Increasingly, we do not even see the pretense that such is the case. Instead, we see more and more hatred openly exhibited towards blacks, Hispanics, gays, Muslims - indeed anyone who doesn't fit the white Christianist mold. Yes, much of the blame for this atmosphere of national nastiness falls directly at the feet of self-righteous, self-congratulatory Christians - using that term loosely, of course, because their behavior is anything but truly Christian. I find it scary and admittedly continue to question when the day will come where I may choose to simply leave the USA and watch it self-destruct from some foreign nation where rational thought and the ideals supposedly embodied in the U.S. Constitution are actually put into practice (unlike here in Virginia). David Mixner has a post that while somewhat tongue in cheek looks at the growing divide and offers one proposal that sadly makes sense given what we are seeing in the national discourse. Here are some highlights:
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[T]he nation is polarizing and globalization is almost demanding that nations rethink their borders. Election after election since 2000 we have had cliffhangers between a choice of a theocracy or a progressive democracy. Battles over social issues, immigration issues and how we treat the poor and needy have only increased the divide.
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Why don't the blue states join Canada in a new confederation called the United States of Canada? . . . We'll have our energy located in Alberta which will become our new Texas. With a little practice we can pick up that peculiar accent and maybe make it a little bit more interesting. They already have baseball teams and we like hockey! Canada knows how to do Olympics and has great skiing.
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The Canadians spend near $30 billion for defense and the United States currently spends over $600 Billion. Think of the money we can spend on schools, the environment and high speed rail!
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The newly constituted United States of America (JesusLand) can relocate their capitol to either Atlanta or Dallas. . . . . They can spend all that money fighting useless "Christian Wars" and looking for non-existent nuclear weapons. At last they could have a theocracy with a formal national religion and a nation based on laws from the Bible. They can round up all those homosexuals and send them to that Canada place. "Y'all Pray, You Hear" can be the national motto. They can teach their kids in their homes and no longer have to pay property taxes for schools. Those in need....well, screw them....they should be working.
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Maybe, just maybe....we should consider it.......

Air Force Officer Vows to Violate Orders if DADT Repealed

In yet further proof that the military needs to shed itself of Christian extremists who think they and their beliefs are above the law, a whack job in the Air Force - one Force Lt. Col. Stacy L. Maxey - has publicly vowed via a letter in Stars and Stripes to disregard military regulations if DADT is repealed. Apparently, Maxey only feels good about himself when he can treat others with hate and contempt. His ass needs to be court martialed and he needs to be booted from the military, hopefully with a loss of retirement pay and ideally some jail time uf he carries through on his threat. We hear whining from the far right about Muslims and gays in the military, but in my view, these radical, hate filled Christians pose a huge danger to the military and are clearly NOT living up to their oaths to support and defend the Constitution. This nation is NOT a religious theocracy, even though that's what folks like Maxey want it to be. I'd also question what major psychological problems is Maxey harboring if the thought of gays sends him so far over the edge? Is he another closet case like Robert Knight? Here are highlights from Huffington Post:
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Saying that his "commitment to [his] God supersedes [his] commitment to the DOD," Air Force Lt. Col. Stacy L. Maxey has publicly vowed to violate military regulations and his oath to the U.S. Constitution if DADT is repealed. In a letter published by Stars and Stripes, Lt. Col. Maxey claims that it would be hypocritical that he would "be free to express myself if I'm a homosexual, but not if I'm a Christian." . . .
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Here are highlights from Maxey's letter:
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DOD officials plan to tell servicemembers who have a problem with those living a homosexual lifestyle to "learn to deal with it," but they are prepared to counsel and/or slap Christians with paperwork if someone feels "offended" by our witness? Wearing sexual lifestyle choices on your sleeve is OK, but not your faith?
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Here's the truth: I will continue to witness to who I want, when I want and where I want. My commitment to my God supersedes my commitment to the DOD and, if officials are upset about that, then I guess they can "learn to deal with it."
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The Huffington Post piece continues with this, with which I fully agree:

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Upon being emailed Lt. Col. Maxey's Stars and Stripes letter this morning, MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein issued the following statement: "Lt. Col. Stacy L. Maxey is the quintessentially perfect example of a poisonous Poster Child of the vast legion of fundamentalist Christian proselytizing-oppressors operating with unfettered access in today's U.S. armed forces. He and his illegitimate ilk of pernicious spiritual predators must be stopped now and very publicly! Thus, MRFF demands that the United States Air Force immediately and forthwith subject Lt. Col. Maxey to the most severe punishment possible for his disgustingly brazen and incontrovertibly insubordinate screed which is clearly violative of the Uniform Code of Military Justice as well as his sworn oath to the United States Constitution."
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As is always the case with far right Christians. it is ALWAYS about the "rights" superceding the rights of everyone else.

Values Voter Summit: Christians Must Control the Government

This year's Values Voter Summit is yielding a huge harvest of Christianist lunacy and making it very clear that the ultimate goal of these untethered individuals is a takeover of the government and the imposition of a Christianist theocracy. Generally, these folks try to be at least marginally discrete in revealing their anti-Constitutional agenda, but a few of the truly unhinged have let loose and thrown the cards out on the table. One such loonie is Byran Fischer whose rant was caught and is available on You Tube care of Right Wing Watch. Fischer is the real face of the Christian Right - the one they try to hide come election time. Here's a sampling of the verbal diarrhea. The balance of Fischer's rant is at Right Wing Watch.

Here is a sampling of some of Fischer's other previous statements via Pam's House Blend that show the man is a bigot (and in my view, insane). Fischer has:
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** Demanded that no new mosques be built anywhere in America. (8/10/2010)
** Argued that inbreeding has caused Muslims to be stupid and violent. (9/10/2010)
** Says that Muslims should be banned from serving in the U.S. military. (11/9/2009)
** Insisted that all Muslims are traitors, called for the deportation of all Muslims from the U.S. (4/10/2010)
** Claimed that U.S. service members died in vain because the U.S. failed to make Iraq a Christian nation. (8/19/2010)
** Said that "homosexuals should be disqualified from public office." (8/5/2010)
** Insisted that gays are biased, sexually deviant felons, not to mention pedophiles, and should never serve on the Supreme Court. (4/15/2010, 4/16/2010)
** Called gay adoption "a terrible, terrible, inexcusable, inhumane thing to do to children." (8/10/2010)
** Argued that we should "impose the same sanctions on those who engage in homosexual behavior as we do on those who engage in intravenous drug abuse." (2/3/2010)
** Wrote: "The inescapable conclusion is that gay sex is a form of domestic terrorism." (6/10/2010)
** Said: "Hitler discovered that he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough to carry out his orders, but that homosexual solders basically had no limits and the savagery and brutality they were willing to inflict on whomever Hitler sent them after. So he surrounded himself, virtually all of the Stormtroopers, the Brownshirts, were male homosexuals." (5/25/2010)
** Disparaged family values in the Hispanic community: "Also, the illegitimacy rate among Hispanic women is over 50%. I'm not sure pro-family values are as strong in the Hispanic community as Dr. Land wants to believe." (7/23/2010)

Christianism: The Real Force Behind the Mosque Controversy

I have already noted that part of the insane controversy around the proposed Muslim community center proposed for lower Manhattan is being fueled by the shameless pandering and opportunism of low lifers within the Republican Party like Sarah Palin, the thrice married Newt Gingrich, Rep. Peter King and many others. These folks would truly sell out their own mothers if they thought it would find them a vote or two more amongst the untethered from reality GOP base. However, in my view, the real underlying cause of it all is the Christianists' desire to stamp out anyone and any religion that challenges their goal of a quasi-theocratic nation where their sick form of Christianity is allowed to dominate all other religious views. It is all part and parcel of the "our way or the highway" mentality that seems to be the dominant theme of today's conservative Christians who are just as extreme and just as hate-filled as the Islamic extremists that they condemn. The shirt on the protester outside a mosque in Bridgeport, Connecticut - well away from "Ground Zero" via the Connecticut Post pretty much sums up this dangerous mentality. Here are highlights from the accompanying story:
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About a dozen right-wing Christians, carrying placards and yelling "Islam is a lie," angrily confronted worshippers outside a Fairfield Avenue mosque Friday. "Jesus hates Muslims," they screamed at worshippers arriving at the Masjid An-Noor mosque to prepare for the holy month of Ramadan. One protester shoved a placard at a group of young children leaving the mosque. "Murderers," he shouted.
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Police arrived on the scene to separate the groups, but said no arrests were made. Flip Benham, of Dallas, Texas, organizer of the protest, was yelling at the worshipers with a bullhorn. "This is a war in America and we are taking it to the mosques around the country," he said.
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Mustafa Salahuddin, an Ansonia police officer and parishioner at the mosque, calmly watched the protesters from the mosque's parking area. "This is unfortunate, but it's a free country," he commented on the protest. "But I believe Jesus would have been appalled by this. We revere Jesus the same way they do."

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Behavior like this plays right into the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who are only too happy to claim that America is at war against Islam itself rather than merely terrorists. Do people like those in the photo give a damn that they are aiding our enemies? Likely not. It is, after all, all about them and their beliefs and to Hell with everyone else. Christianity is increasingly becoming something vile. In this form, it most assuredly deserves to die.

Los Angeles Times Condemns The Manhattan Declaration

Fortunately, a number of major media outlets have condemned the so-called "Manhattan Declaration" - authored in part by convicted Watergate felon Chuck Colson (pictured at right) which among other things urges far right Christianists to engage in civil disobedience and ignore laws that run contrary to Christianist bigotry. As regular readers know, I view far right Christianist extremist - a term that increasingly includes the U.S. leadership of the Catholic Church - to constitute a danger to the rule of law and constitutional government. Now the Los Angeles Times has joined the chorus of those condemning the newest Christianist Manifesto. Here are some highlights:

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Few today would criticize civil rights activists, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., for participating in or condoning the violation of laws that perpetuated white supremacy -- with the understanding that they would face punishment for their actions. But such civil disobedience is rightly regarded as the exception that proves that the proper redress for unjust laws lies in legislation or in court rulings based on the Constitution.
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That cautious approach has been thrown to the wind by Christian religious leaders who, even as they insist on their right to shape the nation's laws, are reserving the right to violate them in situations far removed from King's witness.
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Last week, a group of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox leaders released a “declaration” reminding fellow believers that "Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is not only permitted, but sometimes required." Then, after a specious invocation of King, the 152 signers hurl this anathema at those who would enact laws protecting abortion or extending the rights of civil (not religious) marriage to same-sex couples.
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Strong words, but also irresponsible and dangerous ones. The strange land described in this statement is one in which a sinister secularist government is determined to force Christians to betray their principles about abortion or the belief that "holy matrimony" is "an institution ordained by God." The idea that same-sex civil marriage will undermine religious marriage is a canard Californians will remember from the campaign for Proposition 8, as is the declaration's complaint that Christian leaders are being prevented from expressing their "religious and moral commitments to the sanctity of life and to the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife."
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This apocalyptic argument for lawbreaking is disingenuous, but it is also dangerous. Did the Roman Catholic bishops who signed the manifesto consider how their endorsement of lawbreaking in a higher cause might embolden the antiabortion terrorists they claim to condemn? Did they stop to think that, by reserving the right to resist laws they don't like, they forfeit the authority to intervene in the enactment of those laws, as they have done in the congressional debate over healthcare reform? They need to be reminded that this is a nation of laws, not of men -- even holy men.

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Sadly, I fear that we are nearing a point (1) where the Christianist extremists of all denominations will need to be confronted and forced to respect the civil laws, and (2) the civil authorities must reject the Christianist efforts to destroy the separation of church and state. These people are lunatic extremists that cannot be reasoned with.

Coverage of Taliban Bob's Thesis Goes International

I use several Google search agents to find stories on varying topics, one of which focuses on Virginia and gays. I was rather surprised this morning to find that the venerable British publication, the Economist, has now done a story on Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell's thesis, thereby exposing the religious right insanity in Virginia to the entire world wide business community. Obviously, one of the tasks of the next governor of Virginia will be to work to create new jobs and attract progressive businesses to the Commonwealth. Having a governor now known throughout the business world as at theocratic whack job doesn't strike me as a positive when Virginia is trying to recruit business relocations to the state. Low taxes go only so far in attracting businesses and a backward and intolerant perception of the state will not make it attractive to many businesses or their key staff members. Companies do NOT want to relocate to areas where their key personnel will refuse to move. One need only look to parts of Virginia like Martinsville with 20% unemployment as an example of how being culturally reactionary is not a positive for recruiting new businesses. Here are some highlights from the Economist:

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SOMETIMES it seems that the candidates for governor of Virginia aren’t running against each other. They’re running away from other people. The Democratic candidate, Creigh Deeds, is fleeing from Barack Obama and his health-care plan. His Republican rival, Bob McDonnell, is hectically distancing himself from—well, himself.

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Over more than two decades in public life, Mr McDonnell has been a reliable social and religious conservative. He successfully diverted attention from his flinty views by playing to voters’ worries about the economy and too much change in Washington. At one point he held a double-digit lead in the polls. Mr Deeds struggled to compete with him—until, at the end of August, he was handed a gift by the candidate himself.

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It came in the form of a long-forgotten 1989 graduate thesis. Mr McDonnell made the mistake of mentioning its existence to the Washington Post; the paper lost no time in splashing it. Its tone is not going down well in the Washington suburbs, where many of Virginia’s voters live.

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As a lawmaker and, later, Virginia’s attorney-general, Mr McDonnell did not forget his research paper. He clamped down on abortion, resisted anti-discrimination protections for gay public employees and aligned the state government with breakaway Episcopal parishes after the appointment of an openly gay bishop. Now, however, he is in hot-disavowal mode.

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His professed conversion was apparently meant to soothe independents. But it may rattle the Republican base. Patrick McSweeney, a former state party chairman, told the Post that Mr McDonnell risks losing votes for retracting his previous views. He can’t win. Mr Deeds, backed by the Democratic National Committee, is fanning the fire with glee. He intends first to reduce Mr McDonnell to a caricature, and then to shift the campaign’s focus to issues on which a governor can actually make a difference: transport, education and public safety.

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Having known Bob McDonnell for 15 years, I remain convinced that his disavowal of his thesis views is not genuine. His has long been beholden to Pat Robertson - who I suspect gave him a large campaign contribution - and The Family Foundation, the Virginia affiliate of James Dobson's Neanderthal organization, Focus on the Family. I just hope moderates and independent voters wake up to who really pulls the puppet strings on Taliban Bob.

A Delusional Cristianist Attacks the Washington Post for Exposing Bob McDonnell

Over the last 6 or more years I have crossed swords with Uber-Christian and hysterical self-hating closet case (that's my assessment) Robert Knight on a number of cases and we have had some battles royal via e-mail. For example, in one exchange where Knight claimed that the Roman Empire fell because of its acceptance of homosexuality when pressed with the real historical facts behind Rome's fall, Knight recanted and admitted that his heated rhetoric was not correct. Yet literally within days he was again making the same false statements to history ignorant audiences. Personally, I believe that Knight, being a self-hating closet case, just cannot handle the thought of gays accepting their God given sexual orientation and having happy, normal lives. The envy just drives him over the top.

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Knight's latest rant over at OneNewsNow - the alleged "news" arm of American Family Association - involves the Washington Post's August 30, 2009, story that brought to light Bob McDonnell's 1989 Christianist thesis written when McDonnell was a 34 year old graduate student. Knight is so over the top and factually off base that one might nearly expect him to wet himself in the midst of his spittle flying frenzy. As is the norm for Knight, he never lets facts and reality get in the way of his demagoguery. Indeed, goes so berserk that he alleges every possible conspiracy other than claiming it was gay rights activists responsible for the thesis coming to light. In truth, it was McDonnell's own remark to the Post reporter that lead her to review the thesis. But then, facts and the truth have never held much sway with Mr. Knight. Here are some highlights of his foaming at the mouth:

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The Washington Post's behavior lately goes so far beyond mere bias that it looks like a caricature cooked up by a comedian or saboteur. The paper's bid to fix the Virginia gubernatorial election is right out of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.

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The Post has launched a bald-faced attempt to "freeze" GOP candidate Robert McDonnell. It would be funny if it were not such a serious breach of journalistic ethics. The campaign began on August 30, with a top of the page, single column headline, "'89 Thesis a Different Side of McDonnell: Va. GOP candidate Wrote on Women, Marriage and Gays."

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As a grad student at what became Regent University, McDonnell penned a paper in 1989 that focuses a biblical lens on public policy. A Post reporter doing opposition research turned it up. Perhaps the most egregious assertion in the Post's eyes is McDonnell's use of the term "fornicators" to describe people who engage in, well, fornication. He didn't think the law should give those folks the same marital rights as those of folks who take a marriage vow.

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Now, it's not bad per se to be a culture warrior. It's okay if you want to redefine marriage, teach children that "safe" fornication and sodomy are fun and inevitable, oppose partial-birth abortion bans, ensure an onslaught of pornography and illegal immigration, expand government and redistribute income as fast as possible. But if you believe that God's plan for natural marriage should be reflected in the law, that sex outside marriage should be discouraged for everyone's benefit, especially children's, then you are a "culture warrior" of a different sort.

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Unless McDonnell wants to go down Allen's trail, he might consider giving a bold defense of the importance of Judeo-Christian values to the founding and continued success of our free republic.

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As I have suggested before, Knight needs to get himself a cute rent boy, satisfy his inner most secret longings, and stop trying to force his extreme religious views on the rest of the citizenry. He might also do well - as would Bob McDonnell - to read the preamble to Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Virginian Statute for Religious Freedom and then look in a mirror and understand that Jefferson was condemning people exactly like Knight and his Christianist allies.

Chris Matthews: We Couldn't Get Anyone to Come on the Show to Defend Bob McDonnell

Most candidates for Governor in Virginia would love coverage on MSNBC's show "Hardball" - that is unless the candidate is Bob McDonnell and the topic involves the extremism of his views. Sometimes you reap what you sow and McDonnell - who has had a hand in virtually every anti-gay piece of legislation over the last 10 years, including the infamous "Marriage Amendment" - is hopefully beginning to get what he deserves.

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