Southern Baptist Convention Steps Up Anti-Gay Stance on Immigration Bill

Like the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention ("SBC") regularly closes its eyes to sexual abuse by SBC pastors and, when it recognizes the massive problem at all, it is typically to disclaim responsibility and say that churches are independent of SBC control.  Of course, that never stops the SBC from throwing parishes out of the SBC if they are too gay friendly.  It's definitely an example of talking out of both sides of their mouths so as to take no action on the huge sex abuse problem withing the denomination.  Also, like the Catholic Church, few things - other than money and controlling the lives of others - is more important than persecuting gays.   A case in point?  The SBC's hysteria against including same sex bi-national couples in the pending immigration reform bill.  Bob Felton has a good rundown on the SBC's anti-gay bigotry at Civil Commotion.  Here are highlights:

The SBC’s Richard Land has issued a strongly-worded letter promising active opposition to the pending immigration bill if it makes any provision for same-sex couples.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm has made it clear to United States senators it will “actively oppose” immigration reform legislation if it includes provisions for same-sex partners.

In a Tuesday (May 14) letter, Richard Land told Judiciary Committee leaders the “issue is a deal-breaker” for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).

“On this point we seek to be ‘Waterford’ crystal clear: If [any] same-sex partner reunification provision is included in an immigration reform overhaul, the [ERLC] would not merely hold a neutral position on the broader bill, but would instead actively oppose it.”

Seriously? The bill is irredeemable if it treats the life-sized choices of gays with respect? There is no benefit or value in the bill which could overcome that? Hostility to gays is all or nothing?
It gets better.

“First, we have biblical concerns. As a matter of interpretation of Scripture, Southern Baptists do not condone any sexual relationship beyond the sacred bonds of marriage between a man and a woman. Most Southern Baptists, therefore, could not in good conscience support efforts by the government to aid the reunification of same-sex partners.”

One wonders: Is the SBC inflexibly opposed to all legislation which contemplates a deviation from Biblical prescriptions, or is it only legislation which contemplates treating gays with ordinary human decency? I think it must be the latter, because the SBC has never gone on record demanding that adulterous wives and insolent children be stoned.

And just where does he get off insisting that the laws of a secular Republic must comport with the Bible? Does the man know nothing of his country’s history?  Seriously, the haughtiness and ignorance are just breathtaking.

The sooner that conservative denominations like the SBC die off, the better off the nation will be.  All they bring to the table is hate and bigotry.  And let's not forget the SBC's origins: it broke off from the larger Baptist churches in the 1800's for the sole purpose of supporting slavery.  It's not a history to be proud of and the mindset has change little over the past century and a half.

Younger Republicans "Evolve" On Gay Marriage

A recent poll shows nearly 40 percent of Republicans ages 18-24 support same-sex marriage. | Reuters

Regardless of how the U. S. Supreme Court rules in the pending gay marriage cases, the Christofascists and "family values" organizations will continue to face a growing menace: younger Republicans who are increasingly supportive of gay marriage.  And as the GOP's base ages and as the elderly component (perhaps) thankfully dies off, this menace will only increase.  At some point, no matter how much folks like Mike Huckabee and Tony Perkins threaten the GOP, it will become untenable for the GOP to maintain its anti-gay positions and policies.  Here are highlights a Politico article that looks at the Christofascists' growing problem:

As the Supreme Court takes up same-sex marriage on Tuesday, a growing number of young Republicans are waving the white flag in the culture war over gay weddings — with many opting to focus on economic issues instead.

That shift is evident among conservative youth from GOP college activists to young right-leaning Beltway pundits to heartland churchgoers under 30, political and religious leaders say.

Richard Land, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told POLITICO that young members of his community are no longer interested in vocalizing opposition to same-sex marriage.  .  .  .  . “[They say,] ‘It feels intolerant. We believe what we believe, they have a right to what they want to believe. Marriage should be a church thing, not a legal thing.’”

"There’s a ton of momentum right now,” said Tyler Deaton, the campaign manager for Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry, the GOP-friendly branch of the broader Freedom to Marry coalition, which supports gay marriage. The group counts among its members the Huntsman daughters, Meghan McCain and MSNBC talk show host S.E. Cupp.

“For young people … it really is a generational [issue],” said Hamilton, a Leawood, Kan.-based pastor who delivered the sermon at President Barack Obama’s inaugural National Prayer Service. “For the church as a whole, it used to be that people who were raising up gay rights, wanting to change the denomination’s position, were people on the left. Today, it’s not about left and right. It’s about older and younger generations.”

Let's hope that this trend accelerates and that it leaves the Christofascists increasingly in the political wilderness.

Anti-Gay Richard Land Reprimanded and Show Cancelled After Racist Remarks

My experience has been that when harbors hate and one is a bigot towards one group, it's likely that the individual also harbors similar feelings towards other minority groups.  Richard Land, laughably the chief ethics official of the Southern Baptist Convention ("SBC"), is a case in point.  Land is viciously anti-gay and would appear to be a racist as well.  In the wake of the murder of Trayvon Martin Land shot off his big mouth with vitriolic and inflammatory remarks attacking Barack Obama and supporting racial profiling of blacks.  Apparently, this was too much from a PR perspective even for the SBC which came into being when southern Baptist churches broke from the American Baptist Association so that they could continue to support slavery.  Land has reportedly been reprimanded and has had his hate spouting radio show cancelled.  What the SBC should have done was flat out fired Land and given him his walking papers.  The Richmond Times-Dispatch has details.  Here are highlights:

The Southern Baptist Convention's ethics chief was reprimanded today and his radio show canceled after he made inflammatory comments about the Trayvon Martin case.

Among other things, Richard Land accused President Barack Obama and other black leaders of shamefully exploiting Martin's death for political gain. He also said racial profiling was understandable given the crime statistics for black men.

Land’s comments upset many black Southern Baptist leaders, one of whom called for Land's resignation. The controversy got more intense when a blogger revealed that Land's commentary was copied nearly verbatim from an editorial in The Washington Times, although Land did not credit the newspaper on the air.  After an investigation, the trustees board of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission reprimanded Land for the comments and the plagiarism. Land, who is the commission's president, has previously apologized for both.

The commission takes public stands on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. In his position at the commission’s head for nearly 24 years, the outspoken Land has become the Southern Baptist Convention’s most visible spokesman.

But his comments on Martin came as the nation’s largest Protestant denomination is attempting to distance itself from a past that includes support for slavery and segregation. Faced with declining membership, the Nashville-based SBC is trying to broaden its appeal beyond its traditional white, Southern base - a goal that Land supports.

The board’s statement, which was released in the Baptist Press, calls Land’s comments about Martin "hurtful, irresponsible, insensitive, and racially charged."  .   .   .   . 
"We must now redouble our efforts to regain lost ground, to heal re-opened wounds, and to realize the dream of a Southern Baptist Convention that is just as diverse as the population of our great Nation."  The statement also reprimands Land for his unattributed use of The Washington Times editorial, saying he unwisely accepted practices that occur in the radio industry.


"Finally," the statement reads, "we have carefully considered the content and purpose of the Richard Land Live! broadcast. We find that they are not congruent with the mission of the ERLC."  On the call-in show, Land discusses the news of the day, including politics. The board says the show will be cancelled as soon as possible within the bounds of their contract with the Salem Radio Network.

Religion's War on Gays

Via City Watch

A piece in City Watch has an interview with Mel White, founder of Soul Force, which takes a pretty negative look at the status of gays in America - at least gays living outside of progressive major metropolitan areas (which excludes pretty much all f the cities in Virginia).  Despite the "It Gets Better" campaign, White maintains that for many in the LGBT community, things may actually be getting worse in "fly over states" as the Christian Right ramps up its efforts to denigrate and marginalizes gays and their families.  He gives particular focus on Lynchburg, Virginia which has come to be dominated by Liberty University and its creationist believing and gay-hating zealots.  While White may take too gloomy a view in someways, his indictment of religion is dead on.  Here are some excerpts: 

White and hundreds of Soulforce volunteers protest outside megachurches that preach hatred and bigotry in the name of religion. White travels to communities where young gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgender people have committed suicide.

He holds memorial services for them in front of the church doors. He accuses the pastors of these churches of murder. His books “Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America” and “Holy Terror: Lies the Christian Right Tell Us to Deny Gay Equality,” are two of the most important works that examine the innate cruelty and proto-fascism of the Christian right.

At its heart it is the church. The churches should be convicted, not just Ravi. He’s just an extension of the hatred that people feel about this threat, this gay threat. Pope Benedict XVI should be on trial. Richard Land from the Southern Baptists should be on trial. Religious leaders, Protestant and Catholic, should be on trial. They made this happen, but too few Americans make the connection.”

White applauds President Obama for taking a personal stand for marriage equality. But he also notes that the president’s statement was accompanied by a reiteration that states have the right to determine their own policies toward marriage.

Despite gains by gays in the wider culture, especially in the entertainment industry, and despite the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the civil rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in most states are deteriorating, White said. 

White and Nixon left Virginia for California a few weeks ago because the culture, he says, had become increasingly inhospitable to gay couples. In distressed communities across the country there is a correlating rise in intolerance, hate talk and homophobia.

“When I moved to Lynchburg it was a blue city, in spite of Liberty University being there,” White said.   “We had an amazing progressive woman, Shannon Valentine, as our state representative. She visited our home. We had a progressive mayor and a progressive City Council. In 2009 everything went to hell. Our new attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, is crazy. 

“We have 29 states that do not outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,” White said.   Transgender Americans are invariably the worst victims of discrimination and violence. And yet there are 44 states that do not outlaw discrimination on the basis of gender identity. There are 44 states that have laws or constitutional amendments denying us the rights of marriage, claiming our relationships are unholy, that we’re sick and icky,” White said.
 
“Too many of my sisters and brothers in the gay community don’t seem to understand the power of religion,” White lamented. “They have been rejected by religion. They hate the idea of religion. Therefore, they’re not going to deal with religion, which is fatal, because religion is the heart of homophobia.

“Without religion there would be no homophobia. What other source of homophobia is there but six verses in the Bible? When Bible literalists preach that LGBT people are going to hell they become Christian terrorists. They use fear as their weapon, like all terrorists. They are seeking to deny our religious and civil rights. They threaten to turn our democracy into a fundamentalist theocracy. And if we don’t reverse the trend there is the very real possibility that in the end we will all be governed according to their perverted version of biblical law.”  

Yes, it's a grim perspective, but living in a state like Virginia where we just witnessed religious extremism on a wide basis in the Virginia General Assembly, it is very important to recognize that the ultimate enemy of LGBT equality is religion.   

SBC's Richard Land Gets Slammed for Racist Comments and Attacks on Obama

After the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy and the leadership of the Mormon Church there are few supposed religious leaders who are more anti-gay and more strongly aligned to the Republican Party than Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention -a church denomination that, given its strongly racists and pro-segregation past, ought to know well enough to steer clear of racial issues all together. But such prudence and discretion and acknowledgement of the SBC's foul history did not deter Richard Land from running his loud mouth against Barack Obama and in the process exposing the SBC for what it is. Right Wing Watch has details. Here are some highlights:

Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, yesterday took up a defiant tone against charges that he used racially-insensitive language during his radio show in his attack on President Obama and civil rights activists over the Trayvon Martin case, saying that he is being “mugged” by the media for simply “criticizing this rush to judgment.” Land on his show had said that “it was Mr. Obama” who turned the Trayvon Martin shooting into a national issue” by pouring “gasoline on the racialist fires” in order to help “gin up the black vote” for his re-election with the aid of “race hustlers.”

But black SBC pastors, including the incoming-president of the convention, criticized Land’s comments and one threatened to introduce a resolution condemning Land at an upcoming meeting, and other Baptists commented that it was reminiscent of Southern Baptists’ past work against the civil rights movement and helped feed “the deep-seated resentment toward people of color held by some white Southern Baptists.” Land’s problems didn’t end there.

Land kept up with his “sorry if you misunderstood” mantra in a letter to SBC president Bryant Wright posted late on yesterday where he again offered a non-apology about the “misunderstanding” regarding his comments, complaining that he “overestimated the progress” the country has made on issues involving race . . . .

Let's be clear. Land is a bigoted douche bag who hates blacks pretty much as he hates gays even as he wraps himself in false piety and false religiosity.

Southern Baptist Leader - Gays Seek “Sexual Paganization of Society”

As if bound and determined to underscore the fact that so-called Christians are the principal enemies of LGBT equality, extremist Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's ("SBC") misnamed Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, was on an anti-LGBT rant the other day in which he accused LGBT citizens of seeking the "sexual paganization of society" and claimed that gays recruited children down to the grade school level. Obviously, the SBC's idea of ethics encompasses spreading deliberate lies about others. As for religious liberty, it's a totally one way street where all are supposed to be subjected to SBC dogma. Here's a video clip of the batshitery:

Here are more details from the Right Wing Watch site:

During the program, Land warned that gay rights activists seek to "reduce [Christians] to the level of the Ku Klux Klan" so that they will be ostracized by society and went on to assert that gays are "recruiting" children, which is a form a child abuse, while claiming that homosexuality is "incomprehensible." In the end, Land claimed, gays really just want to destroy the institution of marriage in order to bring about the "full-blown paganization" of America.

They're recruiting down in the grade school levels. They're recruiting people for homosexual clubs and it's really child abuse is what it is.

You need to find out what's going on in your school. You need to ask your children what's going on, you need to see what books their reading, you need to know what the teacher is talking about because, I'm telling you, they are trying to brainwash our children in the public schools.

Even if you take out AIDS, male homosexuals die much earlier than heterosexual males do because of the inherently dangerous - health dangerous stuff that they engage in. But I don't think that's the big issue - I think that's a side issue. I think the real issue is they want to destroy marriage.

I don't think gays need to do anything to make conservative Christians look like dedicated members of the KKK. Folks like Land are doing the job for us without any of us lifting a finger.

Ending the Culture of Hate and Opposing Those Who Sustain It

Sharon Stapel, the executive director of the NYC Anti-Violence Project, who coordinates the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects, has a piece in The Advocate that looks at the ongoing culture of anti-gay hatred fueled in large part by anti-gay churches and denominations and re-enforced by anti-gay laws such as Don't Ask, Don't Tell ("DADT") which serve no real purpose other than to denigrate LGBT Americans and punish gays for nonconformity with Christianist religious beliefs. All of the apologists who argue for affording deference to religious based bigotry and all the politicians who kiss up to anti-gay bigots (like Obama kissing Rick Warren's fat ass) are accessories to the actions of those who either directly inflict physical harm on LGBT individuals or sustain a toxic societal atmosphere where suicide continues to seem the best option for far too many members of the LGBT community. That's right, by their actions and/or inaction, the Pope Benedict XVI, Richard Land, Maggie Gallagher, Peter LaBarbera, the Mormon Church leadership, countless "Godly Christians" and, of course, Barack Obama are all guilty of sustaining the culture of hate. And because of this, they have blood on their hands. Here are highlights from the article:
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Suicides. Gay bashings. Targeting and torturing people just because they are gay. It has been a difficult time for any of us who love our kids, our friends, our families, and our neighbors — to watch people we love beaten and killed because of who they are.
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For every person who speaks to the necessity to achieve equality and respect for LGBT people, there is another who spews anti-LGBT rhetoric. With bus tours preaching against gay folks or signs that promote nooses as the “solution” to same-sex marriage, these are dangerous times. Tens of millions of dollars are spent by so-called community leaders and antigay groups each year to denigrate and denounce LGBT people, creating a culture of hate that results in attacks and suicides.
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Antigay rhetoric promotes the stigma and isolation that drives LGBT youths to take their own lives and encourages violent gay bashings, and we've seen the very real harm this does. Hate speech creates a hostile environment that demeans LGBT people and encourages physical attacks against our communities. Anti-LGBT hate speech is dangerous, it is ignorant, and it is wrong.
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The rhetoric is all that more dangerous because it is supported by national anti-LGBT policy. Every national law in this country, save one, either excludes LGBT people or discriminates against us. The only law that protects us, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, is the one meant to prosecute those who would harm us because of this culture of hate. And in what has become a painful irony, the government’s failure to repeal the laws that actively discriminate against us — "don't ask, don't tell," the Defense of Marriage Act — and refusal to pass those that would acknowledge our equality, such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or a fully inclusive Civil Rights Act, contributes to this culture of hate.
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So what is the solution? We have to change the culture of hate. We have to demand immediate equality because we have been put on notice: It is, literally, deadly to wait. Our laws must not only protect LGBT people but also proclaim our equality to everyone and denounce those who would target us for discrimination and violence.
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If you were affected by the stories of gay kids killing themselves, if you were horrified to see gay people targeted and tortured, if you think that people should be able to walk down the street without being jumped and beaten simply for being who they are, then this is your issue. And now, more than ever, we need our straight allies to say, “I will not tolerate this anti-LGBT rhetoric.

Southern Baptists Denounce Gays

The other major U.S. denomination that seems to have an undue obsession with all things sexual besides the Roman Catholic church is the Southern Baptist Convention. You know, the denomination that first came into being back at the time of the U.S. Civil War when it broke away from the larger Baptist convention because its members sought to uphold slavery. Besides subtle racism, gay sex seems to preoccupy far to many in the SBC leadership. Indeed, I cannot help but wonder about SBC big shot Richard Land (pictured at right) who seems almost as obsessed with gay sex as Peter "Porno Pete" LaBarbera and the always prissy and hysterically anti-gay Robert Knight. These guys are more obsessed with gay sex than - well, even the horniest gay men. Meanwhile, the SBC has major problems with sexual abuse by pastors, but given the denomination's decentralized structure, its far easier to turn a blind eye to the problem and try to pretend the issues doesn't exist. At their ongoing denomination convention the SBC has once again condemned gays. The Associated Baptist Press has more details:

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[R]esolutions approved on the closing day of the June 15-16 SBC annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., denounced a proposal to repeal the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy banning open service by gays and opposed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act pending in Congress. The law would expand federal employment-discrimination law to prevent people from being fired because of their sexual orientation.
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Another resolution gave attention to the “scandal of Southern Baptist divorce,” noting that despite the convention’s defense of the sanctity of marriage, studies indicate that conservative Protestants divorce at rates equal to or higher than the general population.
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“We have been prophetic in confronting assaults in the outside culture on God’s design for marriage while rarely speaking with the same alarm and force to a scandal that has become all too commonplace in our own churches,” the statement said.
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It called on churches to limit marriage to “only those who are biblically qualified to be married to one another and who demonstrate an understanding of the meaning of lifelong love and fidelity.”

Southern Baptist Convention Still Has a Hard on For Gays

I really wonder about the emotional/mental health of Christianists like the SBC's Richard Land (pictured at left) who have an absolute obsession with LGBT citizens and seem Hell bent to deprive us of civil rights and benefits that other Americans receive. Perhaps Land - like a number of the hysterical homophobes of the Christian Right - needs to hire himself a hot male escort and satisfy his inner yearnings. Seriously, the man needs to get over the fact that God made some people gay. End of story. Land's latest screed against gays appears in the Baptist Press where he has his panties in a knot over gay couples receiving employee benefits like married heterosexuals. He ludicrously claims the provision of benefits discriminates against voluntarily unmarried heterosexuals while ignoring the fact that due to the efforts of bigots like himself, gays in most states do not have the luxury of deciding not to marry. Here are some highlights of SBC's whining:

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WASHINGTON (BP)--Same-sex domestic partners legislation forwarded to the U.S. House of Representatives undermines the federal protection of traditional marriage and promotes financial irresponsibility, critics say.
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The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act would extend benefits now reserved for the spouses of federal employees to the same-sex, domestic partners of such workers. The bill, H.R. 2517, would bestow on homosexual partners of federal employees such benefits as health insurance, retirement and disability benefits, group life insurance, and family and medical leave.
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Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land criticized the proposal both before and after the committee's vote. "Most Southern Baptists believe that the only relationship that should be defined by its sexual nature and should have special benefits accrued to it is heterosexual marriage," said Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Nov. 25. "Thus, we oppose granting domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples, as well as heterosexual couples who are living together outside of marriage. This bill discriminates against heterosexual couples living together outside of wedlock in that it only grants domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples. We have made it clear we are opposed to both."
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Under the bill, Land told Issa, "the federal government would in effect take a step toward implementing same-sex marriage nationwide." It "would also force taxpayers to fund relationships to which millions object based on deeply held religious convictions," Land said in the letter.
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Towns said, "Providing gay and lesbian federal workers with the same family benefits that their married co-workers receive will ensure that the federal government maintains its role as a model employer in the United States, and it will foster an inclusive workplace so that we can attract the best and brightest Americans to federal service."
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Land - like the majority of Christianists - just cannot grasps that we are talking about a civil government providing benefits for civil employees. Mr. Land' "deeply held religious beliefs" are irrelevant under the U.S. Constitution. Federal benefits should NOT be controlled by one set of bigoted religious beliefs.

Explosion of Hate Mocks Christian Values

Since the Iowa Supreme Court ruling a week ago which was soon followed by the legislative triumphs for gay marriage in Vermont and Washington, D.C., the explosion of hate from Christianists and the dehumanizing and untruthful things that they are disseminating about LGBT individuals in my view are a travesty and make a mockery of Christ's message. After all, Christ said that the two great Commandments were to love God and to love thy neighbor as they self. Moreover, the Gospels repeatedly show Christ as condemning the self-righteous and sanctimonious who smugly judged and condemned others in contravention to the command to love thy neighbor. The Christianists claim to believe the Bible is inerrant and must be followed verbatim as "the word of God." Why then do they pick and choose what they want to follow as if the Bible were an al carte menu?

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Let's be candid, from the National Organization for Marriage and it's bogus ad with paid actors pretending to be real ordinary citizens to commentaries in National Review and statements by Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention what we have seen is unbridled hatred for other humans merely because we do not subscribe to a particular set of religious beliefs. The statements are truly hate filled and - in my view - will provide another basis for more citizens to look at the Christian message and walk away shaking their heads in disgust. Andrew Sullivan has it right when he says that these folks hold gay lives in contempt. Here are some highlights of the "love" being disseminated by professed Christians. I begin with the National Review comment:

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Few social goods will come from recognizing same-sex couples as married. Some practical benefits may accrue to the couples, but most of them could easily be realized without changing marriage laws. Same-sex couples will also receive the symbolic affirmation of being treated by the state as equivalent to a traditional married couple — but this spurious equality is a cost of the new laws, not a benefit. One still sometimes hears people make the allegedly “conservative” case for same-sex marriage that it will reduce promiscuity and encourage commitment among homosexuals. This prospect seems improbable, and in any case these do not strike us as important governmental goals.

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Then we have Richard Land at the SBC who is rapidly becoming as extreme a homophobe as Peter LaBarbera and Fred Phelps making Southern Baptists as a whole appear to be a most unloving crowd. Land's official title is "president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the Southern Baptist Convention's official entity assigned to address social, moral, and ethical concerns, with particular attention to their impact on American families and their faith." Here are Land's incendiary statements:

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Once again, it was the judiciary branch of state government rending the nation’s moral fabric, bent on rewriting our country’s social construct. With no residency requirements, the [Iowa] court’s opinion means at the end of April when the order goes into effect, same-sex couples will be free to travel from other states to exchange “vows” in the Iowa Heartland.

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This ruling turns Iowa into a destination for same-sex “marriages.” No doubt there are weekend travel packages already being planned. Iowa will soon be the Las Vegas of same-sex “marriage” for America. And you know those folks won’t be resettling in the Hawkeye State, but will be heading back home–perhaps to your state.

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The Iowa Supreme Court couldn’t have ruled that an amendment to the constitution is “unconstitutional.” If they had done that, then a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” would be imperiled. If the California Supreme Court does this in the case they are currently considering, then we’d have to say that our entire system of government is coming to a tragic end.

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Another comes from the Baptist Press where Eric Schumacher pastor of Northbrook Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, maintains that gay marriage is more catastrophic than a 500 year flood and will"eternal damage" that cannot be repaired and which will "erode" civilization. Here are some highlights:

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On April 3, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a state law limiting marriage to one man and one woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution. Licenses will be issued to homosexual couples April 27. It is not hyperbole to say that this ruling has the potential to be the worst disaster to strike the state of Iowa.

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Flood waters destroy houses, ruin offices buildings and displace families. Yet, recovery happens. Houses are rebuilt. Businesses relocate. Families eventually find housing. Legalized "homosexual marriage," on the other hand, does far more pervasive and irrecoverable damage. Civilization itself is eroded as marriage, the central building block of culture and society, is redefined. Soon, our sons and daughters are confused about what it means to be male and female, as "homosexual marriage" gains both legal status and visibility in neighborhoods and the classroom.

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Flood waters erode the soil. "Gay marriage" erodes the soul. A flood impacts for a decade. "Same-sex marriage" destroys generations. A flood draws a community together. "Homosexual marriage" tears the family apart. Communities recover from floods. The promotion of un-natural unions has an eternal consequence.

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As I have said in prior posts over the nearly two years I have been actively blogging, messages like these are akin to how the Nazi regime dehumanized and denigrated Jews in the run up to the Holocaust. How many people will hear these messages and feel totally justified in violence against LGBT citizens. It is bigotry and religious based discrimination of the worst order.

Christianist Crocodile Tears

It's a bit mind boggling, but the Christo-fascists like James Dobson and Tony Perkins and similar religious fanatics who do not hesitate to condemn and bad mouth others are whining and shedding crocodile tears over being referred to as the "Religious Right." These folks are as un-Christian as they come, lie incessantly, knowingly cite bogus research, and have turned bay bashing into a cottage industry, yet they cannot stand the fact that their own hateful actions have now given the term "Religious Right" an extremely negative connotation - especially among younger voters who are increasingly flocking to the Democratic Party. One account of the disingenuous tears is at Right Wing Watch which describes the whining as follows:

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It seems that leaders of the Religious Right are tired of being associated with the Religious Right because nobody likes the Religious Right. Unfortunately for them, they are the Religious Right and that is what we are going to keep calling them . . . . If the phrase "Religious Right" has negative connotations, it probably stems primarily from the fact that the people who have traditionally represented the Religious Right have caused it to, you know, have negative connotations.

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When people like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson go on television and blame the 9/11 attacks on "pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, [and] all of them who have tried to secularize America," that is the sort of thing that tends to create negative impressions about the Religious Right.

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Christianity Today provides some quotes from some of the worse hate merchants (e.g, Gary Bauer, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, Tony Perkins of FRC, and a spokesman for Focus on the Family) who seek kid glove treatment for themselves even though they give none to others. Perhaps if they did not act like fascists and did not make hate towards other their stock in trade the term would not be viewed so negatively. Here are some highlights:

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However, several politically conservative evangelicals said in interviews that they do not want to be identified with the "Religious Right," "Christian Right," "Moral Majority," or other phrases still thrown around by journalist and academia. "There is an ongoing battle for the vocabulary of our debate," said Gary Bauer, president of American Values. "It amazes me how often in public discourse really pejorative phrases are used, like the 'American Taliban,' 'fundamentalists,' 'Christian fascists,' and 'extreme Religious Right.' "

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[M]any groups would rather distance themselves from the Religious Right, even though they may agree on several political issues. Richard Land said he corrects numerous reporters who call him a leader of the Religious Right, explaining that he represents a group of Southern Baptists who would probably consider themselves conservative evangelicals.

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Coming up with the best term to describe religious groups who are politically conservative can be tricky for writers. Rice University sociologist Bill Martin, who authored the book With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America, resists the term "religious conservative" because it has connotations with a group that identifies itself as theologically conservative.

Southern Baptists Losing Members

The Southern Baptist Convention is among the most anti-gay denominations around, with spokesman, Richard Land (at left), nearly foaming at the mouth at times during his denunciation of LGBT Americans. Thus, I find it ironic and a source of amusement that the SBC is losing membership at record rates. Could it just be that Americans are growing tired of a denomination which often seems to define itself by who it hates? Losses seem particularly high among the younger generations. For example, I know that the Baptist church the boyfriend's parents attend seems to have a far older congregation than my more progressive ELCA parish that has more younger couples and youth. An article in the Washington Post that looks at this phenomenon. Here are some highlights:

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After decades of growth, the nation's largest group of Protestants, the Southern Baptist Convention, is reporting losses (in church membership and recorded baptisms) for the third year in a row. Baptisms are at a 20-year low, a figure liable to put an eternity-conscious church into a severe depression.

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Cutbacks at Southern Baptist seminaries and agencies are even hitting the denomination's bold, new marketing strategy designed to spread the gospel (and increase the flock) to every soul in North America by 2020. The campaign, called "God's Plan for Sharing" (Yes, GPS), includes a new image media campaign, "We Are Southern Baptists."

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No doubt there are market forces behind the SBC's declining statistics.

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1. The product is less appealing. Southern Baptists still profess the belief in Christ is the only path to salvation. But a new Pew Forum analysis shows that a majority of all American Christians (52%) think at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life. More surprising, among evangelicals surveyed, 35 percent said Muslims can go to heaven, 33 percent said Hindus can, and 26 percent said atheists can.

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2. The brand is less appealing. After 30 years of theo-political warfare within the denomination and the culture, which has included the merciless purging of evangelical moderates and even conservatives from all Southern Baptist school and agencies, not to mention strong public support for the Republican Party and Administration, the words "Southern Baptist" carry more negatives than positives. The largest and most prominent Southern Baptist congregation in America -- Rick Warren's Saddleback Church -- doesn't even use the word Baptist in its name.

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3. The market is changing. Nearly all predominantly white Christian denominations (Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal) in America are seeing a slow but steady decline in membership, a decline that reflects changing U.S. demographics. "This is not about orthodoxy or unorthodoxy or failed methods," Baptist historian Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest School of Divinity in North Carolina, told Peter Smith of the (Louisville) Courier-Journal. "This is about demographics and sociology."

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Just a thought, but perhaps if the SBC had a more loving message and did not condemn the majority of the human race most of the time, it might make the SBC brand an easier sell. Jettisoning bigots like Richard Land might be a positive first step in the process.

Newsweek Draws Fire on Gay Marriage; Bush: Bible Not Literal

As predicted, the regular Christianist loud mouths are in a frenzy hyperventilating over the Newsweek story on the Biblical basis for gay marriage that I talked about just yesterday. The always homophobic blowhards Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention and Tony Perkins of Family Research Council make the same old disingenuous anti-gay arguments and Ralph Reed - who I met in person at a political meeting some years back where he sent my gaydar into overdrive - chimes in too, apparently seeking attention after his ill-fated political run in Georgia. What strikes me most is that without the pretext of always working to "protect marriage," these guys would all be basically out of jobs In other news, the Chimperator made comments that will likely cause James Dobson wet himself. First, here are highlights from Politico concerning the shrieking against Newsweek (btw, remember that Perkins has NO theological credentials of his own):

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Leading social conservatives blasted Newsweek for its current cover story, "The Religious Case for Gay Marriage," which they said misinterprets both biblical scripture and their own political movement. “It doesn’t surprise me. Newsweek has been so far in the tank on the homosexual issue, for so long, they need scuba gear and breathing apparatus,” said Richard Land, who heads the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. “I don’t think it’s going to change the minds of anyone who takes biblical teachings seriously.”

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Tony Perkins, president of the socially conservative Family Research Council, agreed, calling Newsweek’s cover story “yet another attack on orthodox Christianity.” “I hardly think that Newsweek is a credible venue for theological discussion,” said Perkins. “I mean, I thought it was just full of holes.”

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In addition to contesting Newsweek’s specific scriptural arguments, some social conservatives took issue with the basic premise of the magazine’s story: that conservative opposition to same-sex marriage is based on specific biblical instructions. “I see it as an attempt to caricature and reduce to a cartoon the social conservative belief in the efficacy of traditional marriage, and try to reduce it to some formulaic, scriptural literalism,” said Ralph Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition.

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In an e-mail to Politico, Maggie Gallagher, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, took a similar line, calling marriage “the one necessary adult relation in society – the way we bring together male and female to bring the next generation to life in a way that connects those children in love to their own mother and father.”

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On a somewhat related note, during an interview, the Chimperator said what can only be considered as heresy by the most unhinged Christianists. Namely, that the Bible is not to be construed literally and that the theory of evolution is not incompatible with the Bible. Here are some highlights from Raw Story:

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US President George W. Bush said in an interview Monday that the Bible is "probably not" literally true and that a belief that God created the world is compatible with the theory of evolution. "I think you can have both," Bush, who leaves office January 20, told ABC television, adding "You're getting me way out of my lane here.

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"I think that God created the Earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty and I don't think it's incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution," he told ABC television. Asked whether the Bible was literally true, Bush replied: "Probably not. No, I'm not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it."

Southern Baptists Launch Get-Out-the-Vote Effort

Every LGBT citizen should feel the hair on the back of their neck raise up at the news that the Southern Baptist Convention ("SBC") - an organization as corrupt in its handling of sex abuse by clergy and as contemptuous of the separation of church and state as the Vatican - is launching an effort to get its gay-hating members out to the polls in November. The effort will run from September 24th through November 2nd, two days before the general election. All as the GOP works on an anti-gay plank for its platform going into the fall election. As Hillary Clinton said last night, it is crucial that John McCain and the policies of the Bush regime be defeated, not just in the interests of gay rights but for many other reasons. Richard Land, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (liberty that is for only those who live by the SBC religious beliefs), is an ardent opponent of gay rights and leading Christo-fascist. He and those like him truly scare me - I believe he views gay Americans as a vermin to be exterminated or at minimum driven into hiding. Here are highlights from the Washington Post:

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Southern Baptists are organizing a nationwide prayer campaign to accompany their values-voter registration drive, seeking spiritual renewal for families and churches, and God's favor for public officials who are guided by the Bible. . . . The effort . . . is jointly led this year by Southern Baptists, the largest Protestant group in the country, and the Family Research Council, a conservative Washington-based advocacy group.

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The Rev. Richard Land, head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the 16.3 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, said Tuesday that more than 1,300 churches have signed up for the prayer campaign so far.

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"Our vision statement is an American society that affirms and practices Judeo-Christian values rooted in biblical authority," Land said. "America will be better off if people who are voting are seeking God's guidance."

Churches Being Renamed to Escape "Baptist" Stigma

The Washington Post has an interesting column about the growing trend of some churches - within the Southern Baptisit Convention ("SBC") in particular - changing their names so as to avoid all the negative connotations that go with the "Baptist" brand: ultra conservative, gay-hating, intolerant, anti-immigrant/latino, etc. Other than the Roman Catholic Church (which isn't racist - see I said one good thing about it), no denomination in the nation seems as Hell bent to go back in time and ignore changes in the world and the advances in medical and mental health knowledge. The increasingly toxic message put out by Richard Land and other prominant Christianists in the SBC leadership is taking a toll on the denomination and those mistakenly deemed to be affiliated with it. It seems a reputation for bigotry and hatred towards others does have a price. Here are some story highlights:

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The Rev. Todd Thomason looked out at the nearly empty pews of his congregation at Baptist Temple Church last Sunday. . . . "We're probably the most progressive church in the city, but 'Baptist Temple' sounds weird, like it's charismatic and conservative," Thomason said. He worried that the word "Baptist" had become indelibly tied to the political religious right.

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Recent national surveys show that in an attempt to fill pews, a small but steadily growing number of Christian churches are changing their names and even their religious denominations. Wycoff Baptist in New Jersey became Cornerstone Christian Church. First Baptist in Concord, N.H., is now Centerpoint Church. The Reformed Church in America outside Detroit became Crosswinds Community Church. Even the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant group in the country, whose 16 million membership has declined in recent years, has hosted church-naming seminars asking the question, "To Baptist or Not to Baptist?" The convention meets this week to consider a 10-year program designed to stem the membership loss.

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"The word Baptist is such a turnoff," said David Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Connecticut, who has documented the name-changing trend. "There is a kind of national skepticism about evangelical Christianity because of the religious right and the connection to the Bush administration. You say 'Baptist' and people almost automatically think conservative."

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The Rev. Stephen Welch, executive director of Northstar Church Network, an association of Baptist churches in Northern Virginia, said few new churches have "Baptist" in their names. "I don't think it's a matter of being ashamed, but wanting to position the church where there's less confusion about who you are and who is welcome."

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But in recent years, the world has come to equate all Baptists with only the denomination's most conservative branch. "When you have to spend your time in explain-and-defend mode, saying, 'I'm not one of those Baptists,' it gets in the way of explaining who you are," said Pat Eddington, a Baptist Temple member who's been pushing for the name change.

Time - The Evangelicals' New Clothes

I must admit that it was entertaining to read this Time Magazine article (http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1711615,00.html) at basically mocks some of the ego-inflated, self-annoited "leaders" of the Christian Right and looks at their inability to dictate candidate support to the Republcan Party in this year's primary elections. May their influence continue to wane for the betterment of both the GOP and the nation. James Dobson and similar anti-gay bigots have held power - both real and perceived - for far too long in the GOP. Here are some story highlights:

So only after Fred and Rudy and Mitt have dropped out, and McCain has all but mathematically sealed the G.O.P. nomination, does Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson come out and endorse Mike Huckabee as "our best remaining choice for President of the United States," now that it can't possibly make a difference. Given how this season has unfolded, there is something beautifully appropriate about that.

Those who claim to be in public life to promote and defend certain values can least afford to look craven. We may expect that from the every-man-for-himself plutocrats; but the virtuecrats are supposed to believe in something. So when Robertson et al ignored the conspicuous apostasies of Rudy and, in his earlier more liberal life, Romney, in order to jump on the bandwagon, they exposed a much less lofty agenda: they just liked their seat at the table, they didn't want to lose, and they didn't seem to realize that by signing on with a front-runner, they were following, not leading; demonstrating weakness, not strength.

What this plot twist has really exposed is that the shepherds have no sheep. You get the sense that rank-and-file evangelicals are just as sick of their own "leaders" as they are of the political arena in general. This actually represents a return to normal: evangelicals have historically been suspicious of getting too deeply involved in worldly matters, preferring a focus on individual salvation. So their willingness to vote their hearts with Huck and leave the rest to the Lord is perfectly normal behavior.

Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant

It will be interesting to see where this movement goes, but in the short term it is heartening to see that a growing number of Baptists do not like being included within the general messages of homophobia, hate and intolerance which have become the hallmark of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Baptists described in this article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/30/AR2008013003745.html?hpid=sec-religion) seek to be seen as a kinder, more loving and Christ centered type of Christians that focus on social justice as opposed to a never ending anti-gay jihad and constant condemnation of others. We certainly need more Christians acting like Christians following Christ as opposed to what has become the norm when one listens to the likes of Richard Land, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, et al. Here are some story high lights:

ATLANTA -- Former President Carter called divisions among Christians a "cancer" in the church, as he opened a meeting meant to unite moderate Baptists across racial and theological lines and show their tradition goes beyond conservative Southern Baptist beliefs. The assembly, "Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant," included four major black denominations, Baptists from throughout North America and former members of the Southern Baptist Convention upset by its rightward shift. Carter was a lead organizer of the event.

Thousands of participants prayed and held hands across a massive exhibit hall at the first session Wednesday night. Carter, a longtime Bible teacher at his Plains, Ga., church, called the three-day gathering "the most momentous event in my religious life." He repeatedly cautioned the audience not to criticize others during the meeting. "What is the prevailing image of Christians today?" Carter said. "It's the image of divisions among brothers and sisters of Christ as we struggle for authority or argue about the interpretation of individual verses in the Holy Scripture."

The meeting involves 30 Baptist groups that represent millions of people and span a range of theological and political beliefs. Many oppose abortion and same-sex marriage and ordain only men. However, they all heavily emphasize Scripture on social justice. Carter and many other Baptists severed ties with the Southern Baptist Convention when conservatives took control of the denomination in the 1970s and 1980s, waging a bitter fight over interpreting the Bible. With 16.3 million members, Southern Baptists are not only the largest U.S. Baptist group, but also the largest Protestant denomination in the country.

Northern and Southern Baptists split in 1845, when Northerners said they wouldn't support missionaries who were slaveholders. Black Baptists generally formed their own denominations and had their own splits over civil rights strategies and other issues.

Another Southern Baptist Sex Abuse Case

Increasingly, it seems that the more repressive a religious denomination is in matters of sex and sexuality (particularly in their stances against gay rights), the more cases of sex abuse that seem to be rampant throughout the denomination. While the Roman Catholic Church wins the prize hands down for repressive sexual teachings combine with incredibly wide spread sex abuse of minors by priests, the Southern Baptists seem to have a similar problem with its clergy. The latest Southern Baptist abuse case comes from Arizona, but it is only one of dozens and dozens of cases. It would appear that Richard Land of the SBC might do better tending to his own denomination's obvious systemic problem rather than running about on a constant anti-gay jihad. Here are some highlights from EthicsDaily.com (http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=10022):

A grand jury in Tucson, Ariz., has indicted a Southern Baptist youth minister arrested Jan. 11 on eight counts of sexual abuse of a minor, a local television station reported Friday. According to KOLD News 13, the five-page indictment details charges against Christopher Decaire, 57, who was arrested after police served a search warrant on East Tucson Baptist Church. Decaire had worked two years as a part-time minister but volunteered in the church's student ministry before that for six years.

Last week Pastor John Anderson told EthicsDaily.com that East Tucson Baptist Church found itself in "uncharted waters" in dealing with accusations that a trusted staff member sexually abused a 13-year-old girl. "They don't teach this in seminary," Anderson told a Tucson newspaper. But the church is hardly alone. EthicsDaily.com has reported on at least 72 news stories about sexual abuse by clergy, the vast majority involving allegations against Southern Baptist ministers, since September 2006. Stories included reports of 11 arrests, three convictions and one suicide in 2007 alone. Other stories included a church that allowed a convicted sex offender to preach from its pulpit while knowing about his past and an executive director of a Baptist children's home who asked for leniency in the sentencing of a pastor who confessed to criminal sexual assault of a teenage girl.

SBC president Frank Page went on record to deny clergy predators are a "systemic" problem and accuse victim advocates of using the issue for personal gain. Robert Parham of the Baptist Center for Ethics accused Southern Baptist leaders of "hiding behind a false wall of local church autonomy" as an excuse not to act.