This past Sunday, well known or infamous–which ever suits you–fundamentalist Christian leaders, neocon-Congressional Republicans, and other ideologues who long for the “good ole days” when religious, moral supremacist dogma and government were in bed together (also found within the history of Europe and present extremist-Islamic Theocracies of the Middle East), hosted a “Justice Sunday II.” This gathering of theocons and politicians was filled with “woe to the persecuted American Christians” stanzas and of course it would be, just look at all who attended and spoke at the event. Ah yes, the “oppressed majority.” Where’s my violin? (via The Washington Post)
NASHVILLE, Aug. 14 — Prominent conservative political and religious leaders called Sunday night for Senate approval of Supreme Court nominees who will vote to end the constitutional right to abortion, against recognition of same-sex marriage and for fewer restrictions on religious expression in public places.
The Supreme Court has sanctioned “the right to kill unborn children” and opened the door to legalized “homosexual sodomy,” declared Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which co-sponsored “Justice Sunday II.”
James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, told the 2,200 mostly white people in Two Rivers Baptist Church: “It doesn’t matter what we think. The court rules.” The Supreme Court, he said in a video broadcast, has created “an oligarchy. It’s the government by the few.”
An oligarchy, eh? Too effin’ funny. I could say the same about the entire Congress, which is mostly compromised of old, upper-upper-class, white-males, and doesn’t really reflect the cultural diversity and gender population of the country, and once they’re elected they seem to forget about their voting-base (cough* Democrats*cough). Our Supreme Court sure as hell doesn’t reflect the population of the country. If the Congress wasn’t an obnoxiously-wealthy, mostly old white-guy Oligarchy, at least 51% of it would be female and racially it would be close to 15% Latino and 13% African-American, with other races and ethnicities as well. Same thing for the Supreme Court. But enough of this tangent, next……
Rejected Supreme Court nominee Robert H. Bork warned that the high court has defined homosexuality as “a constitutional right . . . and once homosexuality is defined as a constitutional right, there is nothing the states can do about it, nothing the people can do about it.”
Yes, we must stop the courts from allowing LGBT people to be what they were born to be. We must stop consenting adults or consenting older and mature adolescents from engaging in sexual relations their sexual orientation has naturally driven them to seek out and enjoy. Stupid nature!!!
[…]House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) said “activist courts” are imposing “state-sanctioned same-sex marriage” and “partial-birth abortion” and are “ridding the public square of any mention of our nation’s religious heritage” in what amounts to “judicial supremacy, judicial autocracy.”
Insert my snickering to DeLay’s absurd comment about our judiciary here.
In Supreme Court rulings, DeLay said, “rights are invented out of whole cloth. Long-standing traditions are found to be unconstitutional. Moral values that have defined the progress of human civilization for millennia are cast aside in favor of those espoused by a handful of unelected, lifetime-appointed judges.”
Actually I believe “progress” for the human race didn’t come about until intellectuals such as Voltaire started questioning so called absolute, unquestioned-‘unless-you-wanted-to-be-denounced-as-a-heretic’ religious authority, with its moralist superiority and monopoly complex, which ruled the day, back when the religion and government were one in the same.
[…]DeLay was the star in a procession of speakers that included former senator Zell Miller (D-Ga.), Prison Fellowship Ministries founder Chuck Colson and Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly.
Miller criticized the court because it “removed prayer from our public schools . . . legalized the barbaric killing of unborn babies, and it is ready to discard like an outdated hula hoop the universal institution of marriage between a man and a woman.”
Speakers compared the civil rights movement of the 1960s to demands now by Christian groups for restoration of traditional morality. “It’s time we move to the front of the bus and that we take command of the wheel,” said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League. [emphasis mine]
Are they serious? The Civil Rights Movement was about extending civil rights and liberties to groups of people who have been historically denied any justice or rights. Last time I checked since the time of Constantine the Christians have been doing pretty alright for themselves in regards to social power and influence. This so called “Christian movement” is about restricting and probably outright eliminating the rights of people who have long been struggling to secure their rights such as the LGBT Community, women, and people of Color. Talk about a completely wrong analogy.
Liberal religious leaders denounced Justice Sunday at a news conference. “The people who are putting together Justice Sunday seem to be far more interested in power than in justice,” said Barry Lynn, head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “They now control the White House and the Congress. This is an effort to guarantee they will control the courts as well.”[…]
Well they’re two for three in the way of control over the government so far. In short, this so called “Christian movement” is made up of screeching reactionary theoconservatives–many of whom are politicians in the Congress, obsessed in subverting the Constitution with fundamentalist Christian dogma, and rolling this country back to the puritanical era of the American Colonies. Scarlett letters, Salem witch-trial justice, and stocks for all. And if I was a Christian I would be pretty embarrassed by of all of this–especially because of the talking-heads leading this “movement,” who have hijacked a religion that supposed to be based on the life of a man who preached peace, tolerance, compassion, “turn the other cheek and love your enemies and forgive them.” I’m not getting any of that from these fanatics and wingnuts. And what did Christ himself say about homosexuality and abortion? But all of this because our courts and some politicians recognize the Establishment Clause, and *gasp* the rights of women and LGBT people? Seems petty to me, but that’s just me.
Naturally groups such as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force were not all that pleased with the event, and I don’t blame them.
“Once again, the forces of political and religious extremism gathered under the guise of standing up for ‘justice’ to call for tearing down the increasingly porous wall between church and state. And once again, a right-wing leader of Congress, this time House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, was there to attack the bedrock of our democracy, an independent judiciary. Their view on the role of the courts is stunningly regressive. But no one should be surprised: these are the same people who compared the justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Court to Adolf Hitler after the decision ordering marriage equality; who said judges who allowed Michael Schiavo to carry out his wife’s wishes participated in a ‘grisly killing’; and who have criticized the integration of women in the military.
“They are on a mission to extend government control over the most private of decisions … everything from who people fall in love with to reproductive choices to the right to refuse artificial life-extending measures. That they are doing it in the name of religion is nothing new. But the fact that they are the people most enthusiastic about the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court should send a chill down every thinking person’s spine. It is clear the administration assured the sponsors of Justice Sunday II that Roberts can be counted on to support their dreadful vision for this country.
Also see Egalia at Tennessee Guerilla Women’s critique of the event, especially this comment of hers to a troll who can’t (and on purpose) distinguish between campaigning in Black Churches to promote racial equality and campaigning in Churches to promote religion and goverment becoming intertwined…
I’m not surprised that you fail to note the difference between churches acting on behalf of the oppressed and churches acting on behalf of the elite white male power structure that has always been the oppressor.
Ever since Blacks, women and gays got a few rights, you guys have been screaming and scheming to put a stop to it.
Shorter: Back when the Dems had a backbone and didn’t sell out their voting-base, and would hold rallies and such in Black Churches, racial equality and social justice were the focal points and the main objectives of the meeting. Not “oh we poor Christians are loosing our power and we need to get together with politicians and judges, and take back control of the courts, Congress, and White House, and impose our faith on everyone else through the Law.” ‘Justice Sunday I and II’ were blatantly promoting an agenda laden with theocratic undertones (‘overtones’ instead?) and subverting the Law with fundie dogma lorded over the rest of us. Rallies and politicians campaigning in Black Churches were about promoting racial equality and social justice.
Now, do I like it when politicians campaign in Black Churches (or any place of worship or faith regardless of race/ethnicity) even if they’re promoting an agenda for racial equality and reaching out to the African-American Community (which is always fabulous), and it has nothing to do with religion save for the location? No, I do not. Because though the talking point of the meeting may not be religion at all, and instead about promoting social justice and equality for the historically disenfranchized (and still are in some cases) African-American Community, still, the geography can make the whole event “guilty by association” in supporting religion and politics becoming one in the same (which is what these “Justice Sundays” are all about). The line between Church and State can become all too easily blurred even if unintentional, especially when the speakers throw in religious rhetoric that’s supposed to bolster support for ‘the cause’. With the “Justice Sundays” the line was intentionally blurred. So it’s certainly not the reaching out to the African-American Community and promoting racial equality and social justice that makes me uncomfortable, and how could I be uncomfortable for equality and justice for the community that’s “half” apart of me, anyway? It’s the location of where it occurs that makes me uncomfortable, and what subliminal messages could be behind it due to the location. This issue is my personal Catch 22. And I know that the church is the “backbone” of the African-American Community, but still, you get my point.
But who gives a damn about what I approve or disapprove of anyway, I’m just a voter and apart of the “rabble” of this country. So in closing; “Justice Sunday“…at least for the those pushing, supporting, and benefiting from the agenda behind it, should it succeed.
LOL, thanks!