Will Virginia GOP Cause Northern Virginia to be Disqualified from Amazon’s HQ2 Selection?

The other day I noted how Indian Republicans seemly blew Indianapolis from consideration for Amazon's new Headquarters by refusing to approve protections for LGBT Indianans.   Seemly, prostituting themselves to the Christofascists in their state was deemed more important than landing 50,000 new jobs for the state.  Virginia Republicans have largely followed the wrongheaded behavior of their Indiana partmates so far in the 2018 by  session of the Virginia General Assembly.  Now, a number of activists are arguing that none of the 9 cities under consideration by Amazon in states without LGBT non-discrimination protections should be eliminated form consideration.  The activists' demand is, in fact, in keeping with Amazon's statement that it values "diversity and equality."  If Virginia loses out because of the GOP's love affair with bigots and bigotry, voters need to send them a message in both November 2018 and November 2019: vote Republicans at all levels out of office.  Meanwhile, call your representatives and state senators in the General Assembly and demand that the vote for passage of non-discrimination bills.  Here are story highlights on the issue: 

Should cities in states that don’t protect LGBT people from discrimination still be considered for Amazon’s second headquarters? Activists from across the nation are coming together to send a clear message to the e-retailer as they consider the options: “No Gay? No Way.”

The tech giant has been a leader in using corporate influence to benefit the LGBT community and has had a queer employee resource group for over a decade. So why are they considering locations that would take away the civil rights of any employees transferred out of the Seattle office?

“We were frankly just stunned that a company with such a great track record of equality and diversity had put all these states into the mix,” Conor Gaughan, the ad-hoc campaign’s manager told USA Today.

Nine out of the twenty finalists for Amazon’s HQ2 are in states that offer no protections for LGBT people. Some of the states are actively hostile to civil rights.

Austin and Dallas, Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis, Miami, Raleigh, N.C., and the D.C. suburbs of northern Virginia do not protect LGBT people from discrimination.

Indiana voted down a proposed hate crimes law this week because it included sexual orientation and gender identity.

Public schools in Texas are required to teach students that homosexuality is unnatural and unacceptable. Tennessee state law prohibits local governments from enacting nondiscrimination laws that include LGBT people.

Amazon’s requirements for the new location were clear, saying it requires “a compatible cultural and community environment” that includes “the presence and support of a diverse population.” Now advocates want them to comply with their own standards.

The coalition of activists plan a protest outside of Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle today, complete with a plane waving a “No Gay? No Way.” banner behind it. They will also be placing billboards on trucks to drive through Seattle streets with the logo emblazoned on them.

Call your senator and member of the House of Delegates today!

Virginia Republicans Need to Learn What Not to Do From Indiana

Despite a new governor who wants Virginia to be "open for business" and welcoming talent from wherever it may come, since the beginning of the 2018 legislative session, Virginia Republicans, especially in the Virginia Senate are demonstrating that (i) the learned nothing from their party's shellacking in the 2017 elections, and (ii) they will go to any lengths to thwart legislation that would grant LGBT Virginians a shred of equality in civil rights and non-discrimination protections.  Del. Bob Marshall may be gone from Richmond, but his spirit lives on amongst knuckle dragging Republicans.  A piece in LGBTQ Nation looks at how a similar mindset in Indiana has likely killed Indianapolis' chances to be the site of Amazon's new headquarters.  Would that Virginia Republicans would learn from Indiana's mistakes and cease striving to make Virginia toxic to companies like Amazon.  Here are article highlights:

Despite overwhelming support for a proposed hate crimes law, Indiana Republicans have squashed the idea to appease their religious right supporters. Indiana is one of only five states without a hate crimes law.

While Indianapolis was named one of twenty finalists for Amazon’s “HQ2” offices that would bring thousands of high paying jobs to the area, the Fortune 500 company was crystal clear that it would choose a location that values diversity and equality. Experts had already expressed reservations that Indiana would land the prime development and today’s decision only adds another nail to the coffin.

The state is still reeling from former Governor Mike Pence’s disastrous attempt to legalize discrimination against LGBT people, but now state Republicans have completely surrendered to the demands of a small minority that demands complete obedience. Pence infamously went on national television to defend the law he signed while surrounded by the state’s most vociferously anti-LGBT activists and refused to say whether he thought LGBT people should be discriminated against.

“Republicans reinforced just how out-of-touch they are with the majority of Hoosiers, blocking a policy nearly two-thirds of Hoosiers support and 45 other states have enacted,” Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody said in an emailed statement.

“Today’s action proves Statehouse Republicans are more than willing to jeopardize Indianapolis’ shot at landing Amazon’s second headquarters to appease shadowy special interests. [Governor Eric] Holcomb’s inaction and Republicans’ appeasement of special interests may have just cost Hoosiers 50,000 good-paying jobs.”

Given the lunacy of both the GOP base in Virginia and the insanity of far too many Republicans in the General Assembly, it will be a crap shoot as to whether Virginia can enact legislation that will show that Virginia values the diversity and equality that companies like Amazon demand.  

Dreamers, Liars and Bad Economics

As noted often on this blog, one of the defining aspects of the Trump/Pence regime is dishonesty and lies.  Trump, a/k/a Der Trumpenführer, tells a lie - even when one isn't needed - and Mike Pence (a typical evangelical Christian who acts as if the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness does not exist) either repeats it or strives to justify the lie.  In the case of the diktat to rescind the DACA program, a cowardly Trump recruited the racist and homophobic Jeff Sessions to lay out false legal and economic reasons to end the program despite the fact that racism and pandering to Trump's white supremacist base are the true motivation.  As a column in the New York Times notes, if the undocumented individuals white and from Western Europe, the rescission would never have occurred. As for the false economic justifications, the column demonstrates why this is all a lie.  Here are excerpts:

Does it matter that Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, tried to justify Donald Trump’s immigration cruelty with junk economics?  It’s definitely not the main issue. Trump’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy is, above all else, immoral. The 800,000 beneficiaries of DACA — the so-called Dreamers — have done nothing wrong; they came to the United States illegally, but not of their own volition, because they were children at the time.

They are, according to all available data, an exemplary segment of our population: hard-working young people, many seeking to improve themselves through higher education. They’re committed to the values of their home — because America is their home.

And it’s self-evidently driven by racial hostility. Does anyone believe this would be happening if the typical Dreamer had been born in, say, Norway rather than Mexico?

Still, Sessions chose to put economics front and center in his statement, declaring that DACA, which allows the Dreamers to work legally, has “denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same jobs to go to illegal aliens.” That’s just false, and the decision to lead with such a falsehood tells you a lot, not just about this decision, but about the Trump administration in general.

The day after announcing that he would rescind DACA, Trump gave a speech on tax reform in which he claimed, as he has on multiple occasions, that America is the “highest-taxed nation in the world.” As fact-checkers have pointed out every time he says this, this isn’t just false, it’s almost the opposite of the truth — the U.S. collects less in taxes, as a share of national income, than almost any other advanced economy. But Trump just keeps repeating the lie.

So having officials make false claims about the economics of DACA is, in a way, just standard operating procedure for this administration. Yet I’d argue that in this context it’s especially noteworthy, and especially vile.

The official administration line is that Trump had no choice, that he was regretfully taking harsh action because DACA was an illegal exercise in executive power — which was also supposedly the reason the statement came from Sessions rather than the president himself. Actually, the legal case for DACA is pretty strong, and putting Sessions in front was probably about Trump’s cowardice more than anything else. . . . . adding “and besides, they’re stealing our jobs” undercuts the whole pretense.

Furthermore, the claim was, as I said, junk economics. The idea that there are a fixed number of jobs, so that if a foreign-born worker takes a job he or she takes it away from a native-born worker, is completely at odds with everything we know about how the economy works. Hearing it from a conservative is especially surreal.

The truth is that letting the Dreamers work legally helps the U.S. economy; pushing them out or into the shadows is bad for everyone except racists.

To understand why, you need to realize that America, like other advanced economies, is facing a double-barreled demographic challenge thanks to declining fertility.

On one side, an aging population means fewer workers paying taxes to support Social Security and Medicare. Demography is the main reason long-run forecasts suggest problems for Social Security, and an important reason for concerns about Medicare. Driving out young workers who will pay into the system for many decades is a way to make these problems worse.

On the other side, declining growth in the working-age population reduces the returns to private investment, increasing the risk of prolonged slumps like the one that followed the 2008 financial crisis.

What about the claim that immigrant workers compete with less-educated native-born workers, driving their wages down and increasing income inequality? Most of the evidence suggests that this claim is wrong, but in any case it’s irrelevant here: The Dreamers are a relatively well-educated group, very different from undocumented immigrants who came as adults.

In short, letting Dreamers work is all economic upside for the rest of our nation, with no downside unless you have something against people with brown skin and Hispanic surnames. Which is, of course, what this is all really about.

Ralph Northam: Anti-LGBT Bills Threatens Virginia’s Economy

In June, 2017, Virginia voters will decide who will be the Democrat candidate for governor of Virginia.  Given the toxic atmosphere in Washington,DC, and the Trump/Pence regime's attacks on LGBT civil rights it is critical that a Democrat be elected to the governor's mansion in November. Minorities and LGBT Virginians should be particularly concerned about the regressive and backward policies that a Republican governor would unleash on the Commonwealth.  But so too should employers seeking to attract the best and brightest and most talented employees to their businesses. in the past the Republican controlled Virginia General Assembly has passed toxic anti-LGBT bills that would have granted special rights to Christian extremists.  Thankfully, Governor McAuliffe vetoed the bills that made it through the legislature.  It is important that his successor recognize the economic damage legalizing hate would have on Virginia.  Ralph Northam - unlike his challenger for the gubernatorial nomination who gives LGBT rights only passing mention on his campaign website - understands this as he laid out in a op-ed in the Virginian Pilot.  Here are column highlights that remind us why we need Ralph Northam in the governor's mansion:

A governor’s priorities and values make an enormous difference in the direction of a state. Recent events have shown us that having the right governor can make all the difference.

Last month, Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed Senate Bill 41. The bill would discriminate against thousands of Virginians and send the absolute wrong message to current and prospective employers who want their employees and their families to live in a welcoming and inclusive commonwealth.

Why does this matter in Virginia? As a member of McAuliffe’s Economic Development Partnership and the Virginia Tourism Corporation, I work hard to make sure that Virginia is business-friendly and welcoming to all. The passage of SB41 through our General Assembly sends a signal to major companies, CEOs, and talented workers that Virginia could be the next North Carolina if we’re not careful.

In recent commentary for CNBC, Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson said “As a global hospitality leader and multistate employer, these legislative skirmishes can be frustrating and costly. We still see a patchwork of gaps in state and local nondiscrimination laws that add complications and uncertainty for our people and local managers. It dismays many of us that, in 29 states, people are still at risk of losing their job just for being gay or transgender. Predictability in nondiscrimination laws would be welcome.”

I am a cofounder and now co-owner of our Norfolk-based pediatric neurology practice, and as a small business owner I know that stability and predictability are attractive traits when planning the growth of your organization. Businesses should be interested in serving the most customers the best product possible, not figuring out the gender or relationship status of people who walk in the door. When Virginia offers a pro-business, all-are-welcome environment, we are better able to compete with other states.

Especially in light of federal budget cuts and sequestration, we have to continue to be innovative and forward thinking to grow our economy. This type of legislation hurts our efforts to attract new businesses and increase jobs, and that is why inclusion will continue to be one of my top priorities.

In my role as lieutenant governor and working with McAuliffe, my priority is to create an environment that best serves all Virginians. That means recruiting new businesses and supporting current businesses in order to bring good-paying jobs and top talent. That means providing basic services that every citizen needs in order to contribute to our common good. And that means ensuring that every Virginian has a fair shot to reach their full potential.

I will fight to keep Virginia focused on these priorities. 

Be assured that more discriminatory bills will be introduced in coming years by Republican legislators seeking to prostitute themselves to Christian extremists who hold undue influence over the GOP (this effort to infuse of religious based hate into the civil laws is one of the reasons I left the GOP a number of years ago as did most of my extended family).  We need a man like Ralph Northam in the governor's mansion to stop attacks of equality and openness in Virginia's economy.

Kathleen Parker Trashes North Carolina Republicans

Like the topic of Donald Trump, I try not to constantly talk about North Carolina and its foul anti-gay law passed in less than 12 hours thanks to self-prostituting Republicans.  However, with North Carolina literally next door and family matters that will force the husband and I to dirty ourselves by crossing the border into the bigotry and religious zealotry that now defines that state, it is a hard topic to avoid.  Especially when Kathleen Parker has once again wandered off the GOP reservation and let loose on the idiocy and extremism that now defines the Republican Party.  Here are excerpts from Parker's latest venting in the Washington Post:

It’s been a long while since South Carolina could look down upon its neighbor to the North.

Thanks to North Carolina’s anti-LGBT legislation (HB2), also referred to as the “bathroom bill,” the state effectively has begun redefining itself from its long-popular characterization as a “vale of humility between two mountains of conceit” (South Carolina and Virginia).

The new law, which ludicrously requires transgender people to use the restroom consistent with the sex on their birth certificates, has liberated South Carolina from its persistent place as the brunt of late-night jokes. Remarking on the law, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) said her state doesn’t have “that problem.” Brava.

The law in question was hurriedly passed last month and signed by North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) in response to what one state official called a restroom free-for-all, referring to sudden hysteria over the possibility of transgender individuals using the “wrong” restroom. How would anyone know? 

This would be riotously funny if it weren’t so patently discriminatory.

Many bad deeds go unpunished, but not this one. The economic fallout from the law already is being felt and the price of not doing business is about to go up. . . . 

But the real showdown will be this weekend when not nearly as many buyers and designers as usual will attend the biannual High Point furniture market — the largest in the nation and the state’s biggest economic event.

A study by Duke University placed the annual economic impact of the High Point market at $5.39 billion. The furnishings industry also generates more than 600,000 visitor days to the state each year and accounts for 37,000 jobs.

If there were a Darwin Award for states, North Carolina would win hands-down. Already the High Point Market Authority reports that hundreds or thousands of the 75,000 retailers and designers who annually attend the market won’t be visiting this year because of HB2, which, come to think of it, sounds appropriately like a disease.

Although North Carolina has been noted in recent years for its increasingly hard-right politics, it is still shocking that a state that boasts several of the nation’s top colleges and universities and is home to the famed Research Triangle, could codify what is so plainly a discriminatory law.

As in all other times when bigotry raises its hideous head, better angels will prevail. Either the courts will overturn the law or the state will come to its senses, if only for economic reasons.

North Carolina has proved itself a valley of ignorance, whose legislators and governor could use a moment of silence to consider their ill-conceived conceit.

Sadly, Parker fails to pinpoint the real cause behind the North Carolina bigotry: GOP slavish self-prostitution by Republicans to the Christofascists - people who are not nice, not decent, not moral, and who are down right foul and who ought to be unwelcome in decent, intelligent society.   Once the GOP shunned such nasty people, but those days are gone.

North Carolina Reaps the Economic Whirlwind for Anti-LGBT Bigotry

The anger being unleashed by corporate America in the wake of that state's passage of a bill that repeals all LGBT non-discrimination protections statewide is truly epic.  What is almost laughable is how unprepared the Republican nitwits who rammed this bill through have been to deal with the fury that they have unleashed.  A small amount of research and consideration of the Supreme Court ruling in Romer v. Evans would have suggested to remotely sentient individuals that HB 2 was a very, very bad idea - at least outside of spittle flecked, knuckle dragging Christofascist circles.  One can only hope that Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe is burning up the telephone lines contacting the businesses that are announcing plans to cancel expansion in North Carolina and soliciting them to move to Virginia.  The opportunities would seem to be numerous between the corporate announcements and conventions being cancelled and/or relocated.   Fist, here are highlights from Paypal's announcement that it is cancelling plans for a global operation in Charlotte:

Two weeks ago, PayPal announced plans to open a new global operations center in Charlotte and employ over 400 people in skilled jobs.  In the short time since then, legislation has been abruptly enacted by the State of North Carolina that invalidates protections of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens and denies these members of our community equal rights under the law.
 The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal’s mission and culture.  As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion into Charlotte.
 This decision reflects PayPal’s deepest values and our strong belief that every person has the right to be treated equally, and with dignity and respect. These principles of fairness, inclusion and equality are at the heart of everything we seek to achieve and stand for as a company. And they compel us to take action to oppose discrimination.    

But Paypal is not alone in rethinking expansion in North Carolina.   Marketing concern Red Ventures is rethinking a 500 person expansion as well.  Here are highlights from Fox 46 News: 

Red Ventures is also considering pulling out of their 500 person expansion in 2016 after HB2 was passed.

"HB2 does not reflect the values of our people, our state or our democratic process. The speed with which it was passed and lack of constituent input enabled a select group of North Carolina representatives to ignore their responsibility to represent the whole state and, instead, eviscerate the civil rights of North Carolinians," The CEO of Red Ventures, Ric Elias said.

Elias said as a CEO who is committed to expanding our Charlotte presence by 500 people in 2016 and thousands after that, I am forced to seriously reconsider adding more jobs in a state that tolerates discrimination. 

The largest threat to North Carolina's economy, however, comes from the specter of lost federal funding.  Here are excerpts from the Washington Post:

At least five federal agencies are weighing whether to withhold funds from North Carolina in response to a recently enacted state law that blocks protections for gay, lesbians and bisexuals, and prohibits transgender individuals from using bathrooms that are not the same as the gender they were assigned at birth.

The ongoing reviews at the Education, Transportation, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services departments are not yet complete, and it is unclear how much federal money might be involved. But the Obama administration’s decision to scrutinize what White House press secretary Josh Earnest described as “both policy and legal questions that are raised by the passage of this law” suggests that the measure signed by Gov. Pat McCrory (R) last month could have major implications for his state.

Earnest said that “individual agencies are undertaking” the review, and the White House had not issued specific guidance on how to proceed. But he emphasized that President Obama said that “ensuring that individual Americans are not discriminated against because of who they love is something that the president feels strongly about,” and he was not surprised that North Carolina officials “are feeling some pressure” on the issue.

David Stacy, government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign, noted that a host of federal laws — from Title IX in the Education Amendments of 1972 to the Affordable Care Act and Violence Against Women Act — have anti-discrimination language that suggests North Carolina could stand to lose funding on a range of fronts.

Personally, I want to see North Carolina crucified.  Ditto for Mississippi which just enacted an even more heinous and expansive law granting special rights to Christofascists.

McAuliffe Promises to Veto Bogus GOP "Religious Freedom" Bills

Gov. McAuliffe (L) and Sen. Carrico (R)

As predicted, the Virginia Republicans are using the U.S. Supreme Court's marriage ruling as a pretense to introduce bills in the 2016 session of the Virginia General Assembly that would give special rights to right wing Christians and allow them to ignore existing non-discrimination laws.  The Bill SB 40, filed by GOP state Senator  Charles W. Carrico, Sr. from Galax, would allow Circuit Court Clerks and deputy Clerk's  to  to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples on "ethical, moral, or religious grounds."  Despite refusing to do their jobs, they would draw their full salaries,  More insanely, the bill would require a process be established where same sex marriage licenses could be obtained at Department of Motor Vehicle offices. 

The second Bill, SB 41 is much broader in scope and would grant special rights to any number of parties:

". . . . no individual authorized to solemnize any marriage shall be required to do so and no religious organization shall be required to provide services, accommodations, facilities, goods, or privileges for a purpose related to the solemnization of any marriage if the action would cause the individual or organization to violate a sincerely held religious belief. . . . ."

In short, right wing Christians would be placed above the laws that bind the rest of society and could refuse hotel accommodations, services, flowers, baked gods, etc., etc., based ultimately on anti-gay animus.   If it is any comfort, gays are not Carrico's only target.  He has also introduced a bill, SB 45, that would bring back Confederate flag license plates to the Commonwealth.   GayRVA looks at Carrico's bogus "religious freedom" bills and Governor McAuliffe's promised veto.  Here are highlights:

In an email sent to GayRVA, a spokesperson for Governor Terry McAuliffe said he would veto two new bills aiming to expand religious freedoms in Virginia.

“Governor McAuliffe believes legislation like this would send the wrong message to people around the globe about the climate Virginia offers businesses and families who may want to locate here,” said Irma Palmer, spokesperson for Governor McAuliffe, about the two bills, submitted by Senator Carrico, mentioned below which aim to make it harder for same-sex couples to marry.

McAuliffe has long said LGBTQ equality is key for the Commonwealth to grow its business markets. Palmer said the Governor supports same-sex marriage and believes “we need to be working to make Virginia more open and welcoming to everyone, not less. Accordingly, he would veto these bills if they pass.”

In an interview with GayRVA, Carrico said the two bills weren’t asked for by any court clerks or state employees, but the call for action on this issue came from his constituents who he said voted firmly in 2006 to support Virginia’s now debunked ban on same-sex marriage.

“I have 200,000 constituents that a vast majority supported marriage as between one man and and one woman,” he said. “They elected me to represent their values and their beliefs and that’s what I’m representing.”

Carrico said same-sex marriage was his specific target on for this bill, and his district’s proximity to states like North Carolina and Kentucky, where action has been taken to allow court clerks to deny marriage licenses, was part of his inspiration.

Carrico claims the backing for the bills came from his constituents, but I suspect the real push came from the hate merchants and parasites at The Family Foundation.  But, in the remote chance Carrico, is correctly blaming the bills on his constituents, it is worthwhile to look at Carrico's district.  It is located in far Southwest Virginia, the economic and cultural basket case of the Commonwealth of Virginia.   From data I located, 27.97% of the households in Gala make less than $15,000 per year versus 12.61% of American households nationally.  56.35% percent of the households in Galax make $30,000 or less per year versus 28.51 percent of American households nationally.   In short, the area is an economically depressed backwater that desperately needs new, progressive businesses to relocate to the area.  However, due to the region's bigotry and backwardness, that is not likely to happen.  Bigotry does indeed have a price.  It's a message that Carrico and his constituents need to grasp. 

Legalizing Gay Marriage Could Boost Virginia's Economy

Our DC Marriage Certificate - Virginia is across the Potomac in the background

Not only does Virginia's anti-gay animus motivated Marshall-Newman Amendment cause talented gays and liberal Millennials to leave Virginia, but it also is a drain on Virginia's economy.  Or at least that is the conclusion of a think tank that has evaluated the economic cost of Virginia's anti-gay bigotry. Having married in Washington, D.C., myself I can attest to the fact that the DC economy benefited from Virginia's bigotry in the form of expenditures made in Washington rather than here in Virginia.  Given the number of friends getting married outside of Virginia, the dollar amount truly adds up.  Here are highlights from the Richmond Times Dispatch:

A report by a think tank at UCLA says legalizing gay marriages in Virginia could generate up to $60 million in spending in three years.

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates that about 7,000 same-sex couples may choose to get married in Virginia within three years of a change in law.

The report says the increased spending on wedding arrangements and by tourists would likely generate up to $3.2 million in state and local tax revenue.

The Republic provides additional details:

The report also estimates that Virginia has already likely lost tens of millions of dollars in spending and more than $1 million in tax revenue as same-sex couples decided to marry in Washington, D.C. and other states where it's been legalized.

"This report clearly shows that allowing lesbian and gay couples to marry in Virginia is not only the right thing to do, but would also have a positive impact on our economy," James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia, said in a statement Tuesday.

"The ban is not only hurting loving lesbian and gay couples in Virginia - it is also hurting our economy. This report shows that all Virginians would benefit from marriage equality."

The report estimates that same-sex couples in Virginia would spend about $7,000 per wedding, which is significantly less than the $28,000 spent on the typical wedding in Virginia. The report says the estimated price tag is lower, in part, because same-sex couples receive less support from their parents. Based on Massachusetts' experience, the report estimates that each same-sex wedding would include 16 out-of-state guests.

The report says the increased spending on wedding arrangements and tourism would create between 459 and 595 jobs within three years.

Virginia is missing out on economic benefit and losing contributing members of society all so that hate filled bigots like Del. Bob Marshall and Victoria Cobb - and black pastors who act like white Christofascists trained circus dogs - can feel superior and avoid facing the fact that their ignorance embracing form of Christianity is dying - largely because of them.