This week's round-up of things religious right from the Greater Blogosphere is a few days later than usual, but not at all short of remarkable and significant posts.
The Daily Kos
Writing specifically about the religious right seems to be becoming a trend at The Daily Kos.
The American Prophet suggests that there is political gold in old Christian Coalition voter guides. He notes that Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) who resigned in disgrace at the first sign his long career of soliciting sex with Congressional pages was about to be exposed -- recieved an 84% rating from the Christian Coalition; Disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) 92% and Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who is in jail for bribery, 100%.
Meteor Blades is disgusted by the ongoing appearances of Rev. Fred Phelps at funerals for American soldiers killed in Iraq.
The reverend started his anti-gay picketing 15 years ago, and claims to have run more than 20,000 protests. He's shown up at numerous funerals of gays or people perceived to be gay, including the funeral of Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in Wyoming in 1998.
What has that to do with the family of Lt. Lyons and the other soldiers, sailors and marines whose funerals contaminated by this turd tongue and his rancid placards? Because he also hates America. Too tolerant of gays, he says. Meaning gays aren't being stoned or burned in the public square to the tune of "God Bless America." Therefore, the deaths of U.S. troops in Iraq are a good thing, God's clear punishment in the form of IEDs.[Improvised Explosive Devices] Divine wrath touched off with a cellphone. He and his synapse-free minions have been showing up at these funerals to shout "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "Thank God for IEDs," and name-calling the grieving parents. So far, they have appeared in 22 states.
Irishwitch has a two parter, reporting on dominionism and Christian Reconstructionism. She also details Christian supremacist effort to remove Harry Potter books from her area public school libraries because the books allegedly promote witchcraft and are about something other than the Christian religion.
moodyinsavannah recalls the landmark 1922 sermon of early 20th century American Protestant leader, Henry Emerson Fosdick.
After his opening, Dr. Fosdick states:
Already all of us must have heard about the people who call themselves the Fundamentalists. Their apparent intention is to drive out of the evangelical churches men and women of liberal opinions. I speak of them the more freely because there are no two denominations more affected by them than the Baptist and the Presbyterian. We should not identify the Fundamentalists with the conservatives. All Fundamentalists are conservatives, but not all conservatives are Fundamentalists. The best conservatives can often give lessons to the liberals in true liberality of spirit, but the Fundamentalist program is essentially illiberal and intolerant.
Dr. Fosdick goes on to explain that the beginning of the 20th century had brought masses of new knowledge about our universe, other peoples, and our beginnings. The liberal Christians welcomed this onslaught and felt it broadened and deepened their spirituality, but the Fundamentalists' reaction was antagonistic.
There is nothing new about the situation. It has happened again and again in history, as, for example, when the stationary earth suddenly began to move and the universe that had been centered in this planet was centered in the sun around which the planets whirled. Whenever such a situation has arisen, there has been only one way out - the new knowledge and the old faith had to be blended in a new combination. Now, the people in this generation who are trying to do this are the liberals, and the Fundamentalists are out on a campaign to shut against them the doors of the Christian fellowship. Shall they be allowed to succeed?
Wall of Separation
Lauren Smith reports:
In a regular segment called "Free Speech," CBS producers invited Brian Rohrbough to share his views on violence in America's schools. Rohrbough, who lost his son in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, wasted no time lamenting God's "forced absence" from public education.
"This country is in a moral free fall," he observed, after pithily expressing his remorse over the day's tragic events. "For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak without moral consequences."
From this he segued into the abortion debate, concluding that "abortion has diminished the value of children."
Rohrbough, of course, has every right to hold and express these views. He, unlike the media, is not obligated to make sure his comments are accurate.
In fact, God has not been "expelled" from our public schools. Children are still allowed to pray during free time, form religious clubs and share their religious beliefs with classmates. Public schools are allowed, indeed encouraged, to teach about the world's diverse religious traditions.
The only power "expelled" from the classroom has been that of the schools to direct their pupils' religious practice. The right has been placed squarely on the child, family and religious leaders where it belongs.
Melissa Rogers
Melissa Rogers has the scoop on a forthcoming book by a Bush administration insider, who discusses the failure of the Faith Based Initiative. That's fine as far as it goes:
I take issue, however, with the fact that [the author] basically blows off any church-state concerns regarding the initiative.
The Panda's Thumb
Reed A.Cartwright has a withering -- and ongoing chapter-by-chapter critique of a new book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design, by Jonathan Wells. The author is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, headquarters of the Intelligent Design movement.
One thing is for sure, Jonathan Wells is too modest. His recently published, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design, is not only politically incorrect but incorrect in most other ways as well: scientifically, logically, historically, legally, academically, and morally.
Jonathan Wells has a Masters of Religious Education from Unification Theological Seminary, a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California: Berkeley. His scientific output is nearly non-existent, consisting of a couple co-authored papers from his days as graduate student and postdoc. However, he was highly motivated to get advanced degrees, as he wrote in an article about his education:
[Rev. Sun Myung Moon's] words, my studies, and my prayers convinced me that I should devote my life to destroying Darwinism, just as many of my fellow Unificationists had already devoted their lives to destroying Marxism. When Father chose me (along with about a dozen other seminary graduates) to enter a Ph.D. program in 1978, I welcomed the opportunity to prepare myself for battle....
Blog from the Capital
Don Byrd discusses a major new Pew poll on religion and public life.
Religious expression about social and political issues is a good and, I think, necessary thing for the faithful. I don't know of any serious church-state separationists who believe religious people must be unconnected to the world or not point our faith towards the pressing issues of the day.
The important question though is not if but how religion should be relating to political life. And there's where they lose me. 52 percent of American Pentecostals said the government should work toward making the United States a Christian country.
Street Prophets
Chuck Currie discusses James Dobson's hypocrisy in the Foley Affair.
Dobson is upset because his refusal to break ranks with the Republican leadership over this issue has been called hypocritical in light of his call for Bill Clinton's impeachment for having an affair with an adult woman.
People for the American Way -- Right Wing Watch
Nick debunks Tony Perkinsre: Foley:
Perkins upped the ante in today's San Francisco Chronicle by dismissing Foley's wrongdoing and the failure of the House Republican leadership to do anything about it, and asserting instead that "the real issue" in the page scandal "is the link between homosexuality and child sexual abuse."...
The implication here--an assertion about which Perkins was more explicit--is that there is a tie between homosexuality and child molestation. To be clear, that assertion is patently false. As Robert Geffner, the editor of The Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, told USA Today, several studies find that homosexuals are no more likely than heterosexuals to molest kids. Indeed, the most prominent "academic" claiming that there is a correlation between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, Paul Cameron, is clearly more interested in demonizing gays than doing legitimate research, as he's argued in the past that "the extermination of homosexuals" should be considered.
Maybe instead of attacking gay people, far-right leaders should ask a more obvious question: Why did top Republican leaders in the House decide to protect their own political power when they could have protected children?
Talk to Action
Bruce Wilson reports on yet another bizarre, and failed, effort by religious right leaders to come to grips with the Foley scandal.
On Friday, October 6, Focus On The Family's radio broadcast was an "Update On The Foley Incident" and featured a conversation, between James Dobson and Focus On The Family Vice President Tom Minnery, in which an obviously angry Dobson wondered what the Foley scandal had to do with him, and Tom Minnery aired a rather suprising concern: "I fear that we're in a society in which you will be held to the standards which you claim."
Ed Brayton discusses the latest claims from the Discovery Institute:
Bruce Chapman of the Discovery Institute provides us with the latest excuse for why ID has produced no supporting research: it's being done under double secret probation at an undisclosed location.
Mainstream Baptist notes the rise of dominionism at Southwestern Baptist Seminary -- the largest Christian seminary in the world. And he's got video.
Joan Bokaer analyzes the dominionist take on property rights.
Renee in Ohio has the transcript of a Christian nationalist's recent appearance in Ohio.
John Dorhauer sees progress among mainstream churches struggling against religious right takeover efforts.
I had spent the morning preaching in a local church at the invitation of their pastor. This church had been under attack by a group of disgruntled members who were meeting in secret and plotting first to remove the pastor, while laying the groundwork later for the church to leave the denomination....
I saw first hand what good leadership will produce when faithful members are equipped with clear information about what is going on; are invited to come to the defense of their own congregation; and display the kind of outspoken courage that I saw that day. Left in the hands of the good folk I met, churches like this one will survive the onslaught and will soon return to the purpose and mission for which they were always intended.
Chip Berlet thinks MSM reports of the death of the religious right have been greatly exaggerated.
Win or lose, skilled Christian Right activists will emerge with stronger grassroots organizations and longer lists of names of potential recruits...
The Christian Right is here to stay, no matter what the outcome of the mid-term elections.
So are we.
[Crossposted at Political Cortex]