Christians will be "forced underground." - Pastor Jim Garlow

Legalizing gay marriage will spell "the death of capitalism." - Matthew Hagee

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of gay marriage it "will have lost its legitimacy in its entirety." - Matt Barber & Mat Staver

Marching against same-sex marriage felt like being involved in the "Civil Rights Movement." - Brian Brown


Gays and lesbians "hate God's law and therefore they do hate God." - Peter LaBarbera

If the above statements from members of the conservative evangelical Christian commentariat sound ludicrous yet chilling, outlandish yet eerily familiar, that is because over the years we have become quite familiar with their incessant anti-gay vitriol.  However, the more interesting aspect of this collection of off-the-wall commentary by Pastor Jim Garlow, Matthew Hagee, Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber and Mat Staver, who is also vice president of the Jerry Falwell-founded Liberty University, the National Organization for Marriage's president Brian Brown, and Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, is their fear that the tide of public opinion has turned against them.

After reading the recent report - aka "autopsy" - issued by the Republican National Committee, some conservative Christian leaders are wondering if the GOP is intentionally "throwing the party's social conservatives overboard."

When the Republican Party suffers a resounding electoral defeat, as it did in November, you can pretty much count on the mainstream media to re-up its flirtation with the notion that the Christian Right is dead. Anyone who has watched the growth, development and ebb and flow of this movement over the past four decades, knows that its demise has been grossly exaggerated. Regardless of whatever defeats it may encounter, its well-lubricated infrastructure remains pretty darned solid.  

That being said, however, after November's electoral defeat -- making it 5 of the last 6 national elections in which the GOP lost the popular vote -- Republican Party leaders appear to be distancing themselves from what was once its core constituency. Even more importantly, the GOP appears to be distancing itself from the decades old "culture wars."

Based on the information I've garnered over the past week or so, it would not be fair to characterize Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio - now Pope Francis - as having been complicit with the military dictatorship's imprisonment, torture and murder of more than 30,000 Argentinians during that country's "Dirty War." It would be a lot closer to the truth, however, to see him as a man of inaction; one who, for whatever political, religious and/or personal reasons, chose to remain silent.

While it may be understandable that Bergoglio was unwilling to risk his life during the "Dirty War," which would have been threatened had he vigorously spoken out against the military dictatorship's human rights abuses, it is far less understandable why, for the longest time, he has remained virtually indifferent to those who suffered at the hands of  sexually abusive clergy in Argentina.

Strategies used by the Church to cover up its worldwide sexual abuse scandal included: the Vatican's refusal to cooperate with civil authorities; officially sanctioned priest shifting; the destruction of evidence; punishing whistle-blowers and rewarding enablers; and, blaming the victims.

Last week, the eyes of the world were on Pope Benedict XVI - who apparently expects to be known as Pope Emeritus - as he left the Vatican by helicopter to spend the final hours of what many would characterize as his scandal-dogged papacy, at the papal summer retreat. According to The New York Times, "Onlookers in St. Peter's Square cheered, church bells rang and Romans stood on rooftops to wave flags as he flew by."

To the thousands of survivors of the Roman Catholic Church's worldwide sexual abuse scandals, however, there was little to cheer about.

Yesterday the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a formal statement reacting to the Obama administration's latest effort at compromise on birth control. To no one's surprise, the bishops rejected the proposal.

As you might recall, federal regulations have been issued under the Affordable Care Act concerning what the types of coverage that health care plans must include. Contraceptives are, of course, on the list.

[image, above: Manga Messiah illustration suggests a Jewish rabbinic alliance with Beelzebub]

[image, right: Rabbis, as depicted in Manga Messiah]

[UPDATE, 5:50 PM: the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, in a new press release, states that "these "Manga Messiah" comic books have been distributed liberally across all the service branches and on military bases and naval vessels all over the world including the combat zones of Afghanistan, Iraq, and at many other U.S. armed forces bases in the Area of Responsibility (AOR)."]

The publisher claims that millions of copies of Manga Messiah have been distributed in countries around the globe, from Uganda to Guatemala to Great Britain. And, according to U.S. Army Sergeant Justin Griffith, who also serves as the Military Director for American Atheists, Manga Messiah has been distributed by United States military chaplains.

For a man who has so much to say about media, movies, television, sexuality, and homosexuality, why does Ted Baehr remain silent about America's obsession with guns and gun violence?

Baehr is a conservative Christian movie critic and media pundit who will never be mistaken for Roger Ebert, the Rolling Stone's Peter Travers, or The New York Times' A.O. Scott. Nevertheless, he has found his niche by cranking out movie reviews and media/cultural commentary for the faithful -- conservative evangelical Christians.

Baehr has lots to say about violence in the movies, violent video games, and the secularization of our culture, but he is virtually silent on America's obsession with guns and gun control.

Christian Right leaders continue to insist that the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which took the lives of 26 people, including 20 six and seven-year-old children, happened because Americans have turned their backs on God.

The list of prominent Religious Right leaders spewing this unholy venom now includes Dr. James Dobson, the founder and former head of Focus on the Family, Bryan Fischer, a popular  American Family Association talk-show host, and Franklin Graham, the president and CEO of the tax-exempt Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

These men are bound and determined to look every which way for reasons for the massacre - abortion, same-sex marriage, video games - except at one  staring them in their faces; the uncontrolled and widespread accessibility of guns in this country.

It's commonplace for Religious Right leaders to blame the godlessness of Americans for hurricanes, tornadoes, the 911 attack, and the gay rights movement. And, as someone who regularly monitors and writes about the Religious Right's activities, I am seldom surprised by the events its leaders ascribe to godlessness. Nevertheless, even I was shocked by the comments of two nationally prominent conservative religious leaders in the wake of the Connecticut elementary school murders.

Two of the most shameful observations about the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which killed 26 people, including 20 children, came from Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas Governor, Fox Television Channel news contributor, and host of a Saturday night Fox television program, and Joel Rosenberg, the best-selling author of apocalyptic novels.

By embracing the president of Uganda on the cusp of the country passing a venomous "Anti-Homosexuality Bill," Tony Perkins' Family Research Council is cementing its "hate group" status.

A recent edition of The Family Research Council's "Tony Perkins' Washington Update" pointed out that "During the 50th anniversary of his country's independence, President Yoweri Museveni stood before the world and publicly led Uganda in a prayer of personal and national repentance." Perkins praised Musevani for his remarks condemning "everything from sexual immorality to pride, bitterness and rebellion," and for "taking the very powerful step of dedicating Uganda to God."

The Christian Right's reaction to President Barack Obama's victory over Mitt Romney has been turbo charged, yet somewhat predictable. Glenn Beck, who played a big role in Romney's campaign moaned, "Sometimes God Sucks." Buster Wilson of the American Family Association said that God will punish and curse America for re-electing Obama because of his mistreatment of Israel. Mat Staver, the Dean of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University Law School was grieving "like we have lost a friend or a close relative." Charisma magazine's Steve Strang "felt a profound sense of sadness. ... because ... Obama's policies represent everything wrong with America."

Billy Graham's son, The Rev. Franklin Graham, the president and CEO of the tax-exempt Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, has been both ubiquitous and unhinged in a spate of post-election media appearances. In some of those appearances he maintained that Obama was "waving his fist before God," and that America's economic woes are due to the fact that "we have turned our backs on God."

In one interview, Graham maintained that what America needed now is ... wait for it ... another Jerry Falwell.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving - which means it's time for the Religious Right to start carping about the so-called "war on Christmas."

Actually, there have already been several developments in this alleged war. As an unwilling combatant, I'd like to give you a little round-up of the action so far.