When I got home from work yesterday, I turned on NBC Nightly News, and their lead story was about the Sunni extremist religious group called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that has taken over a bunch of cities in northern Iraq and is threatening to seize Baghdad. ISIS has claimed northern Iraq to be a new Islamic caliphate and has threatened violent action against the USA and other western interests who attempt to challenge them. Between this extremist group, Boko Haram in Nigeria, the various Al Qaeda affiliated groups, and Iranian extremists, the mainstream media has been foreshadowing the threat of these religious groups as detrimental to the very freedom of American citizens.
With regards to religious extremist groups, the media is correct. But it seems they're targeting the wrong extremists.
While we have been living with the threat of evil Islamist groups since 9/11, the real threat is coming from the right wing in America. Among the Tea Party groups screaming about their "religious liberty" being infringed upon with no credible evidence to show that, the NRA, theocratic politicians like Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Todd Akin, and Richard Mourdock, and the combined reach of right wing hate media on AM radio and Fox News, Americans' civil liberties and rights have been relentlessly attacked, and more Americans have died as a result of their actions to stop gun control, roll back women's reproductive rights, and deny expanded Medicaid than all of those who have died in the 9/11 attacks and Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined.
Nowhere was this religious extremist assault more evident than in the ridiculous Supreme Court decision handed down yesterday on behalf of Hobby Lobby. In a decision that ignored constitutional law not to mention science, the Supreme Court (or more appropriately, the five right wing justices on the Court) ruled that Hobby Lobby had a right not to provide contraceptive coverage for their female employees because their firm "religious beliefs" indicated that some contraceptives had the effect of aborting fetuses. They made this decision despite receiving numerous amicus briefs from biologists and healthcare professionals showing that this in fact does not happen. Nevertheless, the Court essentially curtailed the rights of women across the country to control their own health in favor of religious extremists. As a result they have opened a Pandora's Box that will result in more and similar challenges to civil liberties and civil rights laws based on the premise of "religious liberty."
It's interesting that as we approach the Fourth of July, which is supposed to celebrate our independence from Great Britain and freedom, our actual freedom has never been under more attack than today, especially by the right wing extremists who claim the mantle of God for their actions. In fact, some African Americans say they will not celebrate Independence Day until they are truly free and equal under the law. After yesterday's decision by the Supreme Court, I'm sure a lot of women feel the same way about this holiday right now.