| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"johac" |
| Date: |
15 Jun 2006 01:51:38 AM |
| Object: |
Is Brownback Bringing Opus Dei Into The Senate? |
And some think that this piece of work may run for President in '08.
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Is Brownback Bringing Opus Dei Into The Senate?
By Bob Geiger
Created 2006-06-14 09:11
The United States Senate is often called "the greatest deliberative body
in the world" which usually raises the bar on the tenor and intellectual
content of speeches given on the floor and for the official record.
Not so for Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) who took to the Senate floor
last week to deliver a strident push for the bigoted Marriage Protection
Amendment, with massive distortions of the issue and an argument that
was based almost solely on the opinion of a little-known, conservative
think tank affiliated with the Roman Catholic organization, Opus Dei [1].
"The problem we have in front of us is the institution of marriage has
been weakened, and the effort to redefine it on this vast social
experiment that we have going on, redefining marriage differently than
it has ever been defined before," the Kansas Senator grimly intoned last
week. "This effort of this vast social experiment, the early data that
we see from other places, harms the institution of the family, the
raising of the next generation. And it is harmful to the future of the
Republic."
Brownback then went on to give figures for how various states have shown
their hatred of gay people with their own prohibitions on same-sex
marriage and used that as his rationale for a similar amendment to the
U.S. Constitution.
But Brownback really hit his stride when he described a paper, called
"Ten Principles on Marriage and the Public Good," [2] published by a
fairly new and extremely-conservative group at Princeton University.
According to Brownback, the paper is an "Š important statement of
principles from top American scholars [to] be considered carefully by my
colleagues." He then added that the sentiments expressed in the
non-scientific treatise were so vital to our national dialog that they
should "..help guide our debate on this issue."
The paper, sponsored by the Witherspoon Institute [3] at Princeton,
makes a case for banning same-sex marriage altogether. What's
extraordinary, is the idea of a United States Senator attempting to sway
opinion on an amendment that would have altered our Constitution (had it
not been defeated last Wednesday) by using a paper from an organization
linked to Opus Dei, a strict, religious group that some former members
have described as a cult.
Brownback spent a good part of his lengthy Senate speech last week
citing the study and attributing it to "this Princeton group of
scholars" while never mentioning that all of the findings were based on
the ultraconservative Witherspoon Institute bolstered by the involvement
-- directly or indirectly -- of a nonprofit, tax-exempt religious
organization in Opus Dei.
So what exactly is the Witherspoon Institute, whose paper formed the
foundation of Brownback's anti-gay argument?
The Institute, which has only been around since 2003, has close ties to
Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council [4], but is also tightly
aligned with Opus Dei. Indeed, Luis Tellez, the president of the
Witherspoon Institute [5] is also the director and lead cleric [6] of
Opus Dei in Princeton.
Since its founding in 1928, Opus Dei has been known for its
traditionalist values and right-wing political stances. And critics in
academia -- which include former members who sometimes go through
"deprogramming" upon exiting Opus Dei -- charge that organizations like
the Witherspoon Institute are just veiled attempts by Opus Dei to spread
its influence in top-tier academic circles.
So why then, is a U.S. Senator offering to Congress "research" linked to
Opus Dei on something as vital as amending the Constitution? It turns
out that Brownback, who was formerly an evangelical Protestant,
converted to Catholicism by way of Opus Dei [7] in 2002 and was
sponsored in that conversion by Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), a vocal
Opus Dei advocate.
Tellez, the leader of Opus Dei in Princeton, is a numerary, considered
the most conservative of the sect's members -- they are unmarried,
celibate, devote every aspect of their lives to their spiritual beliefs
and turn over their salaries from secular jobs to Opus Dei.
Again, it bears repeating that Tellez is also the head of the
Witherspoon Institute, the group Brownback cited at great length as his
primary argument against gay marriage.
And remember also, it is Brownback, as an Opus Dei convert, who also
leads the charge on Capitol Hill against abortion and stem cell research
and who, along with Santorum, is seen by the Religious Right's as a
point man on culture war issues.
The other central figure in the Witherspoon orbit is Dr. Robert George,
a Princeton professor and a board member in the Institute who, not
coincidentally, helped draft the federal gay-marriage ban [8] that was
just defeated in the Senate. George chaired a meeting of religious
leaders in late 2005, that included Dr. James Dobson and other members
of the extreme Religious Right. In fact, in addition to his pivotal role
in the Witherspoon Institute, George is also a board member at Perkins'
Family Research Council [9], a group known for its bigoted positions on
the gay community.
And, via Brownback, all of this is ultimately finding its way into the
halls of Congress.
While it may not be technically illegal for Brownback to be so clearly
mixing hard-right religious ideology -- and faux-academic papers
promoted by religious organizations like Opus Dei -- with debate on the
Senate floor, it should certainly raise some eyebrows. In a country
where strict separation of church and state is mandated, it seems
Brownback is freely blending the two, attempting to use religious dogma
to influence public policy -- all the while not disclosing to his Senate
colleagues the background sources of the research he is citing.
But this should not be surprising coming from Brownback.
In a January 2006 Rolling Stone article [10], "God's Senator," Brownback
is described as a religious zealot with a view for America's future that
could almost be described as medieval.
"In his dream America, the one he believes both the Bible and the
Constitution promise, the state will simply wither away. In its place
will be a country so suffused with God and the free market that the
social fabric of the last hundred years -- schools, Social Security,
welfare -- will be privatized or simply done away with," reads the
article. "There will be no abortions; sex will be confined to
heterosexual marriage. Men will lead families, mothers will tend
children, and big business and the church will take care of all."
After all, it was Brownback, who came to Congress in 1994 and refused to
sign Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America" [11] because he felt it
wasn't conservative enough. Even then, as a newcomer to the House of
Representatives, Brownback believed that the vast majority of what he
saw as Big Government should simply be eliminated, including the
departments of education, energy and commerce.
And, yes, it was also Brownback who was so outraged at the split-second
glimpse of Janet Jackson's nipple during the 2004 Super Bowl, that he
introduced the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which substantially
raised fines for such simple on-air displays of nudity.
Finally, in addition to being brought into Catholicism by the likes of
Opus Dei and using laundered research by an affiliated group on the
Senate floor, Brownback chairs a meeting every Tuesday night with the
"Values Action Team," consisting of religious leaders like Dobson who
help the Senator formulate his thoughts on public policy issues.
According to Time magazine [12], Opus Dei has assets in the neighborhood
of $2.8 billion and, with John McCain unlikely to significantly rouse
the Religious Right in 2008, look for Brownback to be the guy that Opus
Dei, Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council turn to as
their presidential candidate.
And make no mistake about it: Brownback wants to run. So if you think
his views for a new America, as viewed from the Senate floor, are scary,
think of what he'll be like sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
In his mind, it may already be ordained.
(Links to footnotes at site.)
---
http://www.democrats.com/node/9220
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Is Brownback Bringing Opus Dei Into The Senate? |
15 Jun 2006 03:40:59 AM |
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johac wrote:
So why then, is a U.S. Senator offering to Congress
"research" linked to Opus Dei on something as vital
as amending the Constitution?
And why is this supposed to be any worse or noteworthy
than the fact that it's linked to the Family Research Council?
It has nothing to do with any book, of course. I mean, it
would be stupid to suggest that this country crashed so
far under Bush that even supposedly "intellectuals"
can't tell reality from fantsy... SHEESH!
Man, we didn't lose our way, we shot it in the back of the
head then buried it in a shallow grave inside an empty
lot.
KILLER ALBINOS ARE BEHIND THE SENATE!
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: Is Brownback Bringing Opus Dei Into The Senate? |
16 Jun 2006 12:58:17 AM |
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In article <1150360859.073877.27440@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com>,
wrote:
johac wrote:
So why then, is a U.S. Senator offering to Congress
"research" linked to Opus Dei on something as vital
as amending the Constitution?
And why is this supposed to be any worse or noteworthy
than the fact that it's linked to the Family Research Council?
No.
It has nothing to do with any book, of course. I mean, it
would be stupid to suggest that this country crashed so
far under Bush that even supposedly "intellectuals"
can't tell reality from fantsy... SHEESH!
I don't think that it has anything to do with the book or the movie.
Opus Dei is real, and they do have an interest in politics:
http://www.odan.org/what_is_opus_dei.htm
http://www.tennessean.com/government/archives/03/04/31786118.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_Dei_and_politics
Since they are secretive, much of what is said about them may be rumor
and swamp gas, but there appears to be a connection.
Man, we didn't lose our way, we shot it in the back of the
head then buried it in a shallow grave inside an empty
lot.
KILLER ALBINOS ARE BEHIND THE SENATE!
Doubtful, but OD represents a very conservative branch of the RCC and
many of there political ideas run parallel with those of other Religious
Right groups. How much influence they have in our government is unknown,
but I would keep an eye on them.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Is Brownback Bringing Opus Dei Into The Senate? |
16 Jun 2006 10:27:15 AM |
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johac wrote:
KILLER ALBINOS ARE BEHIND THE SENATE!
Doubtful, but OD represents a very conservative branch of
the RCC
Damn right!
If anything, they are the Catholic equivalent to the religious
Rech.... all too eager to impose their chosen view on
everyone who hasn't chosen it.
As far as I know, this is a relatively new development for
them. If anything, they traditionally appeared more as
Catholic separatists/isolationists.
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: Is Brownback Bringing Opus Dei Into The Senate? |
17 Jun 2006 12:45:08 AM |
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In article <1150471635.062508.60140@f6g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
wrote:
johac wrote:
KILLER ALBINOS ARE BEHIND THE SENATE!
Doubtful, but OD represents a very conservative branch of
the RCC
Damn right!
If anything, they are the Catholic equivalent to the religious
Rech.... all too eager to impose their chosen view on
everyone who hasn't chosen it.
As far as I know, this is a relatively new development for
them. If anything, they traditionally appeared more as
Catholic separatists/isolationists.
It appears that several US politicians are members, but I don't know to
what extent OD influences their lawmaking. The Vatican through the RCC
clergy in America probably have a greater impact.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.
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