| Topic: |
Sociology > Education |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
25 Mar 2006 06:50:41 AM |
| Object: |
War on Christians? |
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Mar06/Berkowitz24.htm
[excerpts]
War on Christians?
by Bill Berkowitz
www.dissidentvoice.org
March 24, 2006
"The left will continue to accuse us of trying to 'Christianize
America.' Because it can't debate us on the issues, it seeks to demonize
us. But we are the inheritors of the faith tradition that is part of the
fabric of America. We seek to return America to the Godly values espoused
by leaders like Washington, Adams, Lincoln and Reagan. And we have just as
much right to be actively involved in the political process as other
citizens."
-- Pastor Rick Scarborough
"A specter is haunting America, and it is not socialism and certainly
not communism. It is the specter of Americans kneeling in submission to a
particular interpretation of a religion that has become an ideology, an
all-encompassing way of life. It is the specter of our nation ruled by the
extreme Christian right, who would make the United States a 'Christian
nation' where their version of God's law supersedes all human law --
including the Constitution."
-- Rabbi James Rudin, "The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right's
Plans for the Rest of Us" (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006).
If this past holiday season's "War on Christmas" -- which occupied a
disproportionate amount of air time on the 24/7 cable television networks,
especially over at the Fox News Channel -- didn't really gain traction, and
the "War on Valentines Day" -- a battle initiated by Christian conservative
parents that claimed their children were discouraged from bringing
Valentines Day cards with religious messages to their classrooms -- was a
profound dud, what should we make of the latest evocation of "war on"
phraseology by Christian conservatives?
According to the good folks at Vision America (VA), there's a "war on
Christians" being waged in this country. You want proof? Consider the
following nuggets provided by VA:
*
Christmas symbols and greetings purged
*
Judge bans "In God We Trust" from Pledge of Allegiance
*
Chaplain told he can't pray in Jesus' name
*
Removal of 10 Commandments monuments
*
Move to stifle religious expression at Air Force Academy
*
Christians arrested for praying at a "gay pride" rally in
Philadelphia
*
Homosexual "marriage" by judicial decree in Mass.
*
Blasphemous "Da Vinci Code" movie hits theaters in May
*
Churches torched in Alabama
*
Court says parental rights end at schoolhouse door
While whining about Christians being under attack has been a standard
operating tool of the religious right, Vision America has taken it to a new
level, organizing the first full-fledged conference devoted to presenting
evidence that there's a "war on Christians" in the United States.
The conference, called "The War on Christians and the Values Voter in
2006," will be held on March 27 and 28, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in
Washington, D.C.
In full martyr mode, Pastor Rick Scarborough, the President of Vision
America, recently said that he expected "attacks" on "our 'War On
Christians' conference" would "accelerate" as conference time "approaches."
;snip'
Promised speakers at the "War on Christians" conference include "such
Values Vote leaders" as Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Gary Bauer, the
president of American Values, Alan Keyes, the recently defeated Republican
Senatorial candidate from Illinois, Phyllis Schlafly, the founder of Eagle
Forum and a 50-plus-year conservative activist, Janet Parshall, a popular
right wing radio talk show host, Ohio's Pastor Rod Parsley, the founder and
president of the Center for Moral Clarity, the beleaguered and indicted
Congressman, Tom DeLay (R-TX), and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX).
Scheduled panels include The Gay Agenda: America Won't Be Happy; The ACLU
And Radical Secularism: Driving God From The Public Square; Hollywood:
Christians Through A Distorted Lens; Jews Confront The War On Christians;
The Judiciary: Overruling God; The Media: Megaphone For Anti-Faith Values;
and Taking Our Faith To The Ballot Box.
;snip'
According to its website, Vision America's mission is "to inform, encourage
and mobilize pastors and their congregations to be proactive in restoring
Judeo-Christian values to the moral and civic framework in their
communities, states, and our nation."
The organization's advisory board includes such Christian conservative
leaders such as the Coral Ridge Ministries' D. James Kennedy, the American
Family Association's Donald Wildmon, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Adrian Rogers
and Laurence White, a Lutheran minister who serves as the national
co-chairman along with Scarborough.
The organization was founded "to reach across the nation and help mobilize
thousands of his fellow pastors of all denominations...[to] promote active
citizenship."
Scarborough's country
And. according to several articles published over the past year or so, Rick
Scarborough has been doing just that. The May 16, 2005 issue of Time
magazine reported that "Scarborough has been the kind of dedicated activist
the G.O.P. has to thank for much of its current dominance." For more than a
decade he "has used his pulpit to help elect conservative judges and
politicians," while Vision America, "has recruited 3,000 to 4,000 'patriot
pastors' in parts of the South and Midwest to help get out the
evangelical-Christian vote."
[end excerpts]
***************************************************************
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the US and a couple from overseas as well]
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
****************************************************************
USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************
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