Religious Right Watch

Paul Cameron's falsehoods persist

Thanks to the newsletter of the Australian website, Beware Of the God, we're reminded that only a year ago this article ran in the Boston Globe. The President of the United States was caught citing false information peddled by a false researcher, Paul Cameron, a darling to many in the Christian Right.

Study on gay adoption disputed by specialists

WASHINGTON -- President Bush had a ready answer when asked in January for his view of adoption by same-sex couples: "Studies have shown that the ideal is where a child is raised in a married family with a man and a woman,” the president said.

Bush’s assertion raised eyebrows among specialists. The American Academy of Pediatrics, composed of leaders in the field, had found no meaningful difference between children raised by same-sex and heterosexual couples, based on a 2002 report written largely by a Boston pediatrician, Dr. Ellen C. Perrin.

But Bush’s statement was celebrated at a tiny think tank called the Family Research Institute, where the founder, Dr. Paul Cameron, believes Bush was referring to studies he has published in academic journals that are critical of gays and lesbians as parents. Cameron has published numerous studies with titles such as ‘’Gay Foster Parents More Apt to Molest” - a conclusion disputed by many other researchers. [...]

Senior Bush aides, asked for the basis of the comment about adoption, now say they are unaware of any studies comparing heterosexual and same-sex adoptions – by Cameron or by any pediatric association. The president, they say, was probably referring to studies that show children are better off living with both biological parents – though those studies have nothing to do with adoption by same-sex couples.

And more recently, this article by David Holthouse for the Southern Poverty Law Center:

Anti-gay researcher Paul Cameron’s falsehoods are well known. The incredible thing is the people who still cite them.

[...] Nearly 600 evangelical Christians packed into the gymnasium of the Calvary Christian Academy in Forth Worth, Texas, to witness a ceremony on a Sunday in June. With a flourish of his pen, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed the first bill while the televangelist at his side praised Jesus. Gov. Perry shared the stage with celebrity Pentecostal faith healer Rob Parsley, whose television program is carried by 1,400 stations nationwide. [...]

The first document Perry signed that day was a parental notification law requiring girls under 18 to obtain parental permission before having an abortion. The second proposed that the state constitution be amended to specifically prohibit gays and lesbians from marrying. [...]

Parsley heaped praise on Gov. Perry for “protecting the children of Texas from the gay agenda.” Then he rattled off a series of shocking statistics: “Gay sex is a veritable breeding ground for disease,” he said. “Only 1% of the homosexual population in America will die of old age. The average life expectancy for a homosexual in the United States of America is 43 years of age. A lesbian can only expect to live to be 45 years of age. Homosexuals represent 2% of the population, yet today they’re carrying 60% of the known cases of syphilis.”

The televangelist did not reveal where he got those numbers. He stated them starkly as facts to be accepted on blind faith. But they are not facts. They are gross distortions lifted straight from the pages of pseudo-scientific studies by Dr. Paul Cameron, a crackpot psychologist and champion of the anti-gay crusade.

-IseFire

It's about reclaiming citizenship.

Adele Stan makes a great point--brought to my attention by Frederick Clarkson's valuable post on Talk2Action--that liberals need to be wise enough to "give up the notion" that the religious among them can create

a cohesive religious left movement that could act as an effective counterforce to the animus of the religious right. Instead...liberals would do well to claim our own moral agency by virtue of our own humanity and the essential values of liberalism, which encompass the most admirable tenets of the world's great religions.

Hear! Hear!

When politicians like Sen. Barak Obama demonize secularists, I have my fears confirmed that the "essential values of liberalism"--a phrase that I, not Stan in the original article, stressed above--are something many moderate and even liberal Democratic politicians, and not just rank and file liberals, either undervalue or can't articulate.

Once again, Frederick Clarkson on Talk2Action.org finds a gem online and places it into a worthy setting. This time, the gem is a great post by Mr. Boma in response to Sen. Obama's speech.

The key to halting the rise of the Religious Right is also the key to Democrats solving their problem of securing the republic and recapturing the hearts and minds of Americans: reclaiming citizenship, reclaiming it based on those same values that are the foundation of our Constitution. They are values that are secular and grounded in ideas of the Enlightenment that are themselves traced back not to the Bible or any religion, but to political philosophies, more to documents like the Magna Carta than, say, the Books of I & II Kings.

-IseFire

Christianists love power in Poland, too

It's not just in the United States that there exist self-proclaimed Christians who quickly prove to be freedom-fearing, democracy-weakening, power-loving, radicalized nationalist conservatives first, and utterly un-Christ-like mis-conveyors of the Gospel second, if at all; who dangerously blend religion and government in the name of morality, and rise to power not by emulating Jesus, but by scapegoating and appealing to voters' sense of victimhood.

In Poland, the anti-democracy poison of Christian nationalism comes in the bitter-tasting form of what might be termed "papal-fascism"--for it is steeped in an ultra-nationalistic pseudo-Roman Catholicism promoted by the twin brothers, Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Polish President and Prime Minister respectfully--the former having appointed the latter to his position of power, as Beware of the God recently noted.

These two are bad news. (Drawing of the populist rightwing twosome by David Levine.)

I strongly suspect that at the very least trans-Atlantic greetings have passed to the brothers grim from one or more admirers among the Christian Right's leadership in America, which includes but certainly isn't limited to these folks.

Christian nationalists of the world unite! (You have nothing to lose except possibly your organizations' tax-exempt status. Maybe. But probably not.)

"Civil rights under Bush: It's a conservative Christian thing"

The War Room recently highlighted the work of The Boston Globe's Charlie Savage, who is

back with a new investigative report, this one exposing the way that the Bush administration has quietly gone about transforming the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division into a force for conservative legal views.

The War Room points out also that

The last we heard from the Savage, he was shining a light on the way in which George W. Bush uses signing statements as a sort of veto lite for legislation he doesn't like but lacks the political will to veto.

Sen. Arlen Specter may be preparing to sue the president over his signing statement.

The War Room notes, relating to Savage's examination of the Justice Department, that the Bush

administration has stuffed "the permanent ranks with lawyers who have strong conservative credentials but little experience in civil rights." The numbers are striking. In the two years before Ashcroft changed the hiring procedures, 77 percent of the lawyers who got jobs in the Civil Rights Division had civil rights experience, Savage found. In the three years after, only 42 percent of them did -- and more than half of those "gained their experience either by defending employers against discrimination lawsuits or by fighting against race-conscious policies," Savage found.

So what kind of experience did the new breed of lawyers bring? Of 45 lawyers hired since 2003, 11 lawyers were members of the Federalist Society; seven were members of the Republican National Lawyers Association; six claimed membership in conservative Christian groups; and several more worked previously for conservatives like Ken Starr, Ed Meese and Trent Lott, Savage found.

What does it all mean? That's not so surprising, either. "The division is bringing fewer voting rights and employment cases involving systematic discrimination against African-Americans," Savage said, "and more alleging reverse discrimination against whites and religious discrimination against Christians."

The republic's unraveling continues.

It is being systematically deconstructed from within and attacked by conservatives and the Christian Right from without, too. The rightwing is a menace to true freedom and greater democracy: From redistricting in Texas to voter suppression in Ohio (more here) and Florida, from the rise of an imperial presidency, which Christians Conservatives myopically adore--blithely unaware of the fact that it could someday be used against them by a president that isn't one of their own--to the codification of discrimination and support for bigoted attitudes against African-Americans, immigrants, gay Americans, women, so-called "secularists," couples of the same or different sex living together, non-Christians, and even Democrats--who the rightwing label as being "traitors" for wanting to protect the Constitution, free speech, civil rights, basic social programs, and public debate about issues of the day.

Ralph Reed Loses Primary

Ralph Reed, the former youthful leader of the Christian Coalition, lost the primary race for the Georgia Republican Party's Lieutenant Governor candidate.

Does Reed's loss to state Sen. Casey Cagle indicate the failing abilities of the religious right in the electoral process?  Unfortunately, no.  Reed suffered from close connections to disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and his opponent made sure voters knew it.

But the election does offer a glimmer of good news.  Reed put his heart and soul into a race for a nearly powerless position with little prestige.  And he lost it.  Another star from the right's constellation has fallen, hopefully never to rise again.

posted by The League: Reassembled

The way Obama is like LaHaye

It's distressing to see Democratic leaders like Sen. Barak Obama buy into the lie perpetuated by the Religious Right that, as Chip Berlet summarized, "secularists and humanists are by definition antagonistic to religion and spirituality."

Obama recently said, "Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering the public square."

Huh? Yes, there's a big "secularist" conspiracy or movement or trend to do that in much the same way that there is a Jewish conspiracy or movement or trend to eat Christian babies, in much the same way that there's a "gay" conspiracy to "convert" young people to homosexuality.

Jeez. Obama should know better. And people like Frederick Clarkson are wise to call Obama on his sad misunderstanding.

Secularists are not by definition antagonistic to religion and spirituality. Period. It's a lie to say otherwise.

Humanists certainly are not by definition antagonistic to religion and spirituality! In fact, humanism comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes, including Christian humanism, which is venerable: it can arguably be traced back to Erasmus.

And it also needs to be pointed out that strict separationists, like myself, who believe in a rigorous separation of church and state in light of the Constitution are not synonymous with anything. Some separationists are evangelical Christians, some are secular humanists, some are Christian humanists, some are something else altogether. To be in favor of the separation of church and state is just that, by definition, and nothing more.

That's why groups like the Christian Alliance are important: they are Christians, but as far as I can tell, they are strict separationists.

In the meantime, we all need to keep trying to illuminate things for Sen. Obama and others who are quick to scapegoat "secularists."

-IseFire

The Right is "180 degrees WRONG" on gay marriage

Complete with stats, Troutfishing's fantastic post on Talk To Action and dKos is a must-read. (Excerpts below)

[I]n the first two years of legal same sex marriage in the Bay State, Massachusetts showed a more rapid decline [in the divorce rate] and will very likely hold on to its title as the US state with the lowest divorce rate in the nation. . . .

The institution of marriage in Massachusetts, as measured by the rate of divorce, has not been healthier in at least half  a century regardless of dire predictions of Christian Right leaders and Catholic Bishops. . . .

the group of US states arguably most hostile to divorce, those which have passed both state laws and also state constitutional amendments prohibiting same sex marriage, lag dramatically in terms of divorce rate improvement when compared to same sex marriage friendly states.
. . . . .
If leaders of the religious right are correct that there is a connection between same sex marriage and the health of the institution of  marriage, then they will certainly want to become advocates of marriage equality.  The continued lead of Massachusetts  as the lowest divorce rate leader in the US would indicate that same sex marriage helps to preserve rather than destroy traditional heterosexual marriages.

-IseFire

Wrapped-up

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."

-Sinclair Lewis, 1885-1951, American novelist and playwright, first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1930)

(Photograph by George Vye)

-sji

Church's $2.5 million Christian Statue of Liberty

Perhaps its feet are made of clay. The article (excerpts below) didn't say.

A Memphis church that claims a membership of 12,000 will unveil a 72-foot-tall statue during Fourth of July services.

The Statue of Liberation looks a lot like the Statue of Liberty, but the famous torch is replaced by a cross. Instead of the inscription about giving the lady the tired and poor, there are Roman numerals for the Ten Commandments.
.....
Across the street from the church is a convenience store where Mary Preyer is a manager. She's eager to see the statue unveiled, but says its funding could have been put to better use for the neighborhood.

Ms. Preyer has what's known in the trade as commonsense.

This seems like a good time to revisit some great online resources:

Hear Frederick Clarkson discuss the topic of the separation of Church and State.

Hear Michelle Goldberg discuss findings in her book, Kingdom Coming.

-IseFire

McCain's problematic probably

Sen. John McCain recently appeared at the Aspen Music Festival to answer audience questions. From The Aspen Times:

In the final question of the evening, an audience member asked McCain to outline his stance on teaching evolution and creationism in schools.

"I think Americans should be exposed to every point of view," he said. "I happen to believe in evolution. ... I respect those who think the world was created in seven days. Should it be taught as a science class? Probably not."

Nevertheless, the senator said he does believe in God, and he doesn't think Christian groups have too much influence on the Republican Party.

"I think there's room for the religious right in our party," he said.

And for those who think that faction holds too much sway, McCain had a strong message: "Get in the arena. Go out there and register to vote and recruit candidates."

McCain thinks creationism should probably not be taught in science class. Note that this is akin to saying that alchemy or palm-reading should probably not be taught in science class. McCain: possibly a gutless &/or clueless wonder when it comes to preparing our children for the global, competitive arena of scientific research and the expansion of knowledge within the life sciences.

But, on how to stop the religious right, he's correct enough: it's about electoral politics--pure and simple! Organize, recruit candidates, organize, vote, organize, and did I mention organize! "Get in the arena." Indeed.

-IseFire