#politics and religion

[haggishlyhagging]

Discrimination against women and denial of power to them in the public political sphere has long been reinforced by organized religion, not only through the church's promulgation of the familiar ideology that women are the "natural" nurturers and sustainers of the "private" sphere exclusively, but through the church's offering women a reduced and compensatory way of working on worldly matters through "doing good." Women in churches have served as a form of cheap domestic labor for the larger political economy, reclaiming the social landscape for the community after it has been stripped of its protective covering. Women in churches have provided the nurturance and emotional release for their families and community that the workplace could not provide. They have been used to mop up the wounds created by the cruelties of industrial capitalism—for example, in making bandages during wartime, sending mittens and canned goods to Peru after American companies have stripped that country of its ability to support its own people; and giving Thanksgiving baskets to the local poor because, in the richest country in the world, we are unable to provide meaningful employment for all our people.

-Sheila Collins, Theology in the Politics of Appalachian Women, 1977

[mostly-funnytwittertweets]

[oxytocinatrocities]

"The House," a parable I drew about leaving the Mormon church.

I've come to think this metaphor also applies pretty well to constitutional originalism and the absurd idolization by both U.S. political parties of a document written hundreds of years ago by men who didn't know about the carbon cycle and owned human slaves.

I want to include some altered version of this in the graphic novel I'm working on, as well :)

[seraphimfall]

there is an insane amount of antisemitism floating around right now.

i just want to say:

this blog loves and supports jewish people.

this blog does NOT conflate the israeli government, or the atrocities it commits, with jewish people.

this blog is disgusted with those who use or express antisemitism.

this blog knows that if someone needs to invoke antisemitism, they do not actually care about helping palestine or the palestinian people.

this blog will do its best to ensure that it remains a safe space for all.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy

by Frederick Clarkson

Frederick Clarkson is a widely published journalist, author and lecturer who specializes in the Radical Right.

Book published March 1, 1997 (Bear in mind, since this book was written things have moved swiftly to the right.)

____________________________________________

“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

– Thomas Jefferson, who was attacked by the religious right in the election of 1800. These words are engraved inside the Jefferson Memorial.

____________________________________________

Back cover

What is behind the violence against abortion clinics, attacks on gays and lesbians and the growing power of the religious right?

Frederick Clarkson makes it clear that beyond the bombers and assassins who sometimes make news, is a growing, if not well understood, movement that encompasses Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition, the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon and the Promise Keepers—the lead agency of the so-called Christian men’s movement.

Drawing on years of rigorous research, Clarkson exposes the wild card of the “theology of vigilantism” which urges the enforcement of “God’s law” and argues for fundamentalist revolution against constitutional democracy. Contrary to popular belief, these figures are usually neither nuts nor alone.

Eternal Hostility concludes with a challenge to leading neoconservative academics who attempt to blame much of the current culture wars on the legalization of abortion while ignoring the theocratic intentions of leading “conservatives.”

____________________________________________

Review

Frederick Clarkson’s Eternal Hostility provides a chilling road map to a growing movement whose roots go back to the founding days of the country. Clarkson asks the reader to consider what it would be like if having an abortion was punishable by death, if gays and lesbians were thrown into jail, or if our constitutional rights were replaced by biblical law. In a stunning analysis, Clarkson debunks the “objective” bestseller Culture Wars to reveal a tract written by a rightwing church elder.

Chastising liberals and the left for failing to recognize the depth of the threat to liberty, Clarkson argues that we must develop a coherent response to a well-organized effort aimed at overthrowing democracy. When he exposes the aims and strategies of such diverse Christian zealots as the “Promise Keepers” and the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon, remember that it was Clarkson who first to exposed the Christian Coalition’s plans to take over the Republican Party, plans which have largely succeeded in several states and was actually seen as it was acted out on television in the 1996 Texas Republic Convention. Clarkson was also the first to expose how elements of the Christian Right were encouraging the formation of citizen “militias” almost five years before the Oklahoma City bombing propelled the militia movement into general public awareness. Eternal Hostility is a warning bell in the night and is essential reading for any secular humanist or freethinker needing to be aroused from a complacency that “it can’t happen here” — because it has, it is, and it may well succeed if enough good men do nothing to stop it.

— Midwest Book Review

____________________________________________

Contents

Introduction by Robert Meneilly  vi

Acknowledgements  viii

1. Eternal Hostility: The Born-Again Struggle  1

2. Neither a Juggernaut nor a Joke:  19 How Overestimating and Underestimating Helps the Christian Right

3. Americans for Theocratic Action:  45 Rev. Sun Myung Moon, “Family Values,” and the Christian Right—One Dangerous Theocrat

4. Laying Down the (Biblical) Law:  77 Christian Reconstructionism by the Book

5. Theocrats in Action: From Theory to Practice  97

6. The Devil in the Details:  125 How the Christian Right’s Vision of Political and Religious Opponents as Satanic May Lead to Religious Warfare

7. Bombings, Assassinations, and Theocratic Revolution:  139 Vigilantes Enforce “God’s Law”

8. The Fight for the Framework:  163 Resetting the Terms of Debate

9. Promise Keepers: The Death of Feminism?  187

10. Defending Democracy: Rethink the Strategy  203

Appendix: Resources  217

Notes  227

Index  264

About the Author  280

____________________________________________

Introduction

Rev. Robert H. Meneilly

As a Presbyterian (USA) clergy with a life-long zeal for both my Christian religion and our democratic country, Eternal Hostility has illuminated my mind and sensitized my heart like nothing I have read in recent times. This is exactly what is needed to help us secure the health of our democracy and preserve true religious liberty. Its honest and intelligent investigative journalism embodies some of the most in-depth research and reporting on the religious right in print. An encounter of my own with the religious right may serve to illustrate the need for this book.

In the spring of 1994, I gave a sermon to our 7,600 member congregation, introducing the personnel, theology, and goals of the radical religious right. The text was subsequently published locally and then in the Sunday New York Times. This drew the wrath of religious right leader James Dobson of Focus on the Family in the form of a full page ad in the Kansas City Star. This was just the tip of a large iceberg of stealth campaigns by the religious right to take over the Republican Party and run for public office in our area. It was then that a local grassroots Mainstream Coalition was formed to challenge the religious right.

I first met Fred Clarkson when we shared the podium at a public forum a few months later in July, 1994, titled “Exposing the Agenda of the Radical Religious Right” and sponsored by Planned Parenthood. The event turned out to be a benchmark in the growing struggle with the religious right in our suburban community outside of Kansas City.

The Planned Parenthood Forum drew extensive coverage from television, radio, and out of town newspapers. Fred spent all day before the evening forum doing interviews. So concerned had the community become that more people had to be turned away than those who packed the large auditorium. On that unforgettable evening, Fred detailed with clarity, and with good humor essential to civil discourse, the imminent threat of the radical religious right to our democratic institutions. This was especially significant in that there were many religious right activists present. It is evident that people are starved for accurate information and analysis about the radical religious right as it affects our communities.

Now Clarkson has drawn on the themes of that address and more, to create a very readable and well-documented book. In bringing out the facts, he is discerning, and not judgmental—a true investigative journalist.

From his critique of authors dealing with the so-called “culture wars,” to his first-hand observation of the founding meetings of the Christian Coalition, much of his writing comes of personal experience, not hearsay. Everything he reports is carefully documented.

Clarkson exposes the distorted use of American colonial history— as some use statistics, interpreting as they will in an attempt to prove whatever they want—and the misreading of the Constitution by the leadership of the religious right. Pat Robertson and his fellow generals in the army do the same with holy Scripture to give their narrow sectarian views the authority of “thus says the Lord.” Clarkson eliminates any confusion; he clearly demonstrates that the Constitution and Bill of Rights were purposefully designed to preserve this democracy and forever save it from being made a theocracy.

Eternal Hostility introduces many important players who receive little media attention, from the anti-democratic “reconstructionist” theologians to James Dobson, long-hailed hero of family values who has been building a prime political empire for a decade. He may well influence more people than the Christian Coalition. His “Focus On The Family” brings in annual revenues of more than $100 million. But while Clarkson issues a warning about these groups and others such as the Unification Church and the Promise Keepers, the author makes clear that apathy on the part of mainline Christians and other centrists is more to be feared. Clarkson insists that “Political participation must not be limited to the voting booth, but active participation in political and electoral life must span the calendar year.”

Too many wonderfully good citizens upon hearing the religious right stand back and say, “They certainly don’t speak for me.” But they do speak for you if you are not doing anything to keep our democracy from being converted to a theocracy!

This book is a masterpiece for God and country!

—Robert H. Meneilly

Robert H. Meneilly founded and then pastored the Village Presbyterian Church (USA) for more than 47 years in Prairie Village, Kansas. It is the second largest mainstream Presbyterian Church in the country. He is one of the founders of the Interfaith Alliance and the Mainstream Coalition, organizations of mainstream religious leaders who oppose the agenda of the religious right.

____________________________________________

“Moon’s Law: God Is Phasing Out Democracy” by Frederick Clarkson

Missing Pieces of the Story of Sun Myung Moon by Frederick Clarkson

Trivializing FFWPU mass weddings and underestimating the Christian Right

The CIG constitution is the paperwork for what Fraser and every Moon org critic has warned was the Moon org’s goal all along

Hak Ja Han’s Cheon Il Guk Constitution is troubling

Church and state: A personal and public tug of war

Sun Myung Moon: “church and the state must become one”

U.S. Presidents Endorse Sun Myung Moon From ‘Spirit World’

United States Congressional investigation of Moon’s organization

Politics and religion interwoven

The Resurrection of Rev Moon

[hellpuppetswithfleshymembers]

[helpfromheaven]

Keep Asking God Questions. He Can Handle It: A Devotional

Habakkuk 1: 1-3 How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far…

[manojnaironline]

Community involvement

My community involvement is negligible. Communities in my area are usually organized on political or religious lines. I prefer to keep away from both. I sincerely believe that politics and religion in their present-day avatar have evolved into monsters. I prefer to serve the community in my own way. I try to plant trees where possible, clear up litter, and keep my surroundings clean. Likewise, I…

[mysharona1987]

[obsessioncollector]

2023 Nativity Scene at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, Bethlehem, Palestine

"In Gaza today, God is under the rubble. He is in the operating room. If Christ were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble. We see his image in every child killed and pulled from under the rubble. In every child in incubators," writes Rev. Munther Isaac of the church.

[junotter]

Part 2 of my modern avatar au, The Gaang (part 1)

[talkstothemoonandstars]

Trump Warns That ‘Cognitively Impaired’ Biden Will ‘Lead Us Into World War 2’ in Confused Speech (Video)

This wasn’t the only mistake Trump made during his speech. At another point, he appeared to imply that he is also beating President Obama in the 2024 election polls.

“As you know, crooked Joe Biden and the radical left thugs have weaponized law enforcement to arrest their leading political opponent, and leading by a lot, including Obam— I’ll tell you what,” Trump said before shifting gears. “You take a look at Obama and take a look at some of the things that he’s done, this is the same thing.”

[mostly-funnytwittertweets]

[coollonniestarr]

(via The Mindless Praetorian Blog: Wow! Parent SILENCES Republican crowd during school board hearing in DEE...)

[politijohn]

Source

Louisiana is ranked 40th in K-12 education quality. Glad to see their politicians’ priorities are right. /s

[autisticexpression2]

We need the obnoxious atheists back. I know they engineered their own destruction by being annoying and pretentious, but it has become apparent how essential to the ecosystem they were. The religious fanatics have become too bold without their natural predators. Jesus wojaks would have been torn to shreds in 2011.