Now this is a subject that I have written about a few times here on D-Kos and some have said that I have exaggerated in the past. Personally I believe that I understated the case, and I will now rectify this:
The brutal cold blooded murder of Dr. Tiller is yet another alarm call to what the right wing evangelicals [talibangelicals] have been preaching for a long time now, they have been aided and abetted by the right wing talking heads. Thus they have been given some credibility within the politics of today.
I am done with mocking the Talibangelicals with humour, its gone way beyond funny and I am done with just laughing at the extremist right wing talking heads. It is time everyone held these individuals who incite hate crimes to be responsible for their words.
Words led to the holocaust, words led to Stalin's Great Purge, words led to the killing fields of Pol Pot's Cambodia, and words led to the genocides of Rwanda and Sudan. There is nothing more dangerous than words sanctioned by a religious cult. Whatever you believe Christianity to mean these people believe that they are Christians and the bible is abused to propagate their hate. Fundamentalist Muslims are held accountable by our government for their words and actions, fundamentalist Christians should now be held to the same standards.
My other related diaries:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
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http://www.dailykos.com/...
I am a non-theist Buddhist and my partner is a devout Catholic, so I am not about to denigrate religion per se just the way that it is being abused today in the US.
For me Dr Tiller's murder was a logical result of the politics of hate and he was by no means the first nor will he be the last.
Violent protests, in the form of arson, firebombing, and vandalism started in the early 1970's in the U.S. Then, as now, most of the violence appears to be the acts of religiously-motivated criminals acting alone. However, recent cases involving the assassination and attempted murder of abortion providers in both the U.S. and Canada have shown that perpetrators appear to be sheltered by a network of sympathizers.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/...
The violence has diminished over the last few years and now after the drubbing that the Republican Party received in 2006 and 2008. It looks like violence it will be on the increase again since the so called base and the talking heads are ramping up the rhetoric.
The other knock on effect will a heightened Roe v Wade questioning of Sotomayor during her confirmation hearings.
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
That is why I am always shocked when a candidate/politician, is asked the questions about their religion as we all know the chance of a non-Christian becoming President is pretty much zero. However it has now got to the state where their church attendance and who is their preacher/priest is pertinent to their being elected. We have also allowed the right wing to define us as godless liberals, our faith [or lack of] has nothing to do with it, it just means that we are teh evil.
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Let us take a look at some of the notable quotes from famous notorious Talibangelicals.
1] Pat Robertson.
"We have insulted God" with legal abortion and resrictions on religion in public places. "Then we say 'why does this happen?' Well, why it's happening is that God Almighty is lifting his protection from us." [referring to 9-11]
"The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
"Lord, give us righteous judges who will not try to legislate and dominate this society. Take control, Lord! We ask for additional vacancies on the court."
"Many of those people involved with Adolf Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals--the two things seem to go together."
"You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist."
The 700 club is now owned by Disney [via ABC and CBN] and the CEO is his son Gordon, and is shown around the world.
2] James Dobson
Every case they bring up would not be affected one iota, not one bit, by this hate crimes legislation ... What this bill does is, it starts saying [that] some classes, some types of people, are more important to protect than others. That divides America, it's un-American.
He is worrying about himself and Pat.
"Isn't it amazing that there's such a sizable number of people in the media and in the liberal community that despise this country and its freedoms, and they're doing everything they can to undermine it?"
"Homosexuals are not monogamous. They want to destroy the institution of marriage. It will destroy marriage. It will destroy the Earth."
"Christians have made arguments on both sides of this question. I certainly believe that God is displeased with America for its pride and arrogance, for killing 40 million unborn babies, for the universality of profanity and for other forms of immorality. However, rather than trying to forge a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the terrorist attacks and America’s abandonment of biblical principles, which I think is wrong, we need to accept the truth that this nation will suffer in many ways for departing from the principles of righteousness. "The wages of sin is death," as it says in Romans 6, both for individuals and for entire cultures.
Affirm deny then reaffirm.
3] Jerry Falwell
"I hope to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be."
AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.
Good Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions.
It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening.
The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior.
4] Others
"In winning a nation to the gospel, the sword as well as the pen must be used." R.J. Rushdooney
Rushdooney was also against racial integration and a holocaust denier
"America is now groaning! Atheistic secular humanist's should be removed from office and Christians should be elected. We can all then rejoice continually as our children and our nation will be more safe. Government and true Christianity are inseparable." Robert Simonds
"There is no such thing as separation of church and state. It is merely a figment of the imagination of infidels." W. A. Criswell
When the Chris-tian majority takes over this country, there will be no satanic churches, no more free distri-bution of pornography, no more abortion on demand, and no more talk of rights for homo-sexuals. After the Christian majority takes control, pluralism (i.e., multicultural-ism) will be seen as immoral and evil and the state will not permit anybody the right to practice evil. Gary Potter President, Catholics for Christian Political Action
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These may not be your idea of "Christian doctrine" however this is preached across the land, and the very essence of what they are saying goes against our founding principles. Our nation was founded upon tolerance and not persecution.
The use of religion to spread a gospel of hate and intolerance across the land must be fought at every turn.
It is no wonder that some of their 'flock' take their words at face value and in the extreme.
In the next part I will discuss how the extreme right are welding/has welded this 'doctrine' into mainstream debate. During the Bush years using this rhetoric became almost acceptable and the right are very loath to let go yet as we see they have become even more radical in the last few months.
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Incitement of another to perform a crime is a crime in itself independent of whatever faith you claim to possess.
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Part III: Will look at the media and political wings of the Talibangelical movement
Part II: Will be highlighting the extreme Talibangelical cults.