The main reason why the Religious Right became powerful is not what most people may think. Some would undoubtedly point to the powerful communications media. Others might identify charismatic leaders, the development of"wedge issues," or even changes in evangelical theology in the latter part of the twentieth century that supported, and even demanded, political action. All of these and more, especially taken together, were important factors. But the main reason for the Religious Right's rise to power has been its capacity for political action, particularly electoral politics.
Meanwhile, over on the Religious Left, many of the ingredients are present for a more dynamic movement. But the ingredient that is most remarkably lacking on the Religious Left is the one that made the Religious Right powerful: a capacity for electoral politics. Indeed, there has never been anything on the Religious Left on the scale of say, Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority or Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition--or even any of dozens of significant Religious Right groups--including the 35 state political affiliates of Focus on the Family--that have had any significant national or regional electoral muscle.
Warren Throckmorton has updated the story of Michael Peroutka's donation of a dinosaur skeleton to the Creation Museum.
This report has a picture of Peroutka at the Museum earlier today dedicating the Allosaurus to the museum. This local paper has more on the story. The Museum touts the exhibit as being an indication of proof for a young Earth.
Peroutka has said in the past that the promotion of evolution is an act of “disloyalty” to America.
-- FC
Michael Peroutka, the presidential candidate of the Constitution Party in 2004 and co-founder of the theocratic Institute on the Constitution, made news recently when he flipped his party to run for office in Maryland as a Republican. Less well known in the political community is his donation of a dinosaur skeleton to the creationist museum in Kentucky.
Peroutka's family foundation -- the Elizabeth Streb Peroutka Foundation (named in honor of his mother) -- purchased an allosaurus skeleton for $200,000 in 2004 and spent a decade carefully restoring it. Creation Museum proprietor Ken Ham seems to think that the acquisition of the dinosaur fossil lends his endeavor credibility.
A couple of weeks ago a girl I pick up on the church van declined to get on the bus. She explained she was attending another church in town because it was a special night where they have a monthly scheduled food fight. It was a few days later that I put two and two together. The church was the same one that was receiving monthly government food from the government to feed children. That is right, this church solicited and receives government money using it to provide meals for the local children and then indoctrinate them with their church dogma. Having food fights, like the one in the movie Animal House, is just another way of using up government tax collections.
Michael Peroutka, who ran for president in 2004 on the Constitution Party ticket, is also a singer-songwriter who's planning to release a CD of tunes. He recently toured Michigan high schools and colleges to promote his Christian Reconstructionist vision of how people should "abolish" government and "rebuild it again" in a way that conforms with his theocratic views.
At one supporter's home, Peroutka grabbed his guitar and belted out this ditty for the kids, including boys wearing flannel shirts and suspenders over blue jeans:
The 2013 film "Philomena" tells the moving story of an Irish woman who had an out of wedlock son in the early 1950s. The nuns with whom she was sent to live sent her son to America for adoption. The film is at once the story of Philomena Lee's search for her child - and a lesson in Christ-like forgiveness as well as of enduring Catholic faith.
So, who would find such a story to be anti-Catholic? Why Bill Donohue, of course!
This is a post I update from time-to-time as the need arises or as resources come my way regarding terms we use to define and discuss the religious and political right. -- FC
One of the challenges in writing about the Religious Right and what to do about it is the matter of terms and definitions.
From the earliest days of Talk to Action, we have often written about how unfair labels and terms of demonization are not only inaccurate and opposed to basic standards of scholarship and journalism; but are unrelated to the basic values of people of good will, and often politically counterproductive to boot.
The purpose of this post is not to rehash all that. I should also hasten to say that there are often controversies large and small about terms, just as there are about the movements, organizations and individuals they may be used to describe. I post this not to say that there are always perfect answers, but to point to some resources on basic definitions and usage for those who are interested in trying to get it right.
(The following is a reposting of my 2010 article on the National Day of Prayer. Some of the links are no longer live, but the post continues to be relevant today.)
The "official" National Day of Prayer Task Force, which oversees thousands of National Day of Prayer events, does not represent all Americans. It does not represent all Christians. It doesn't even represent all evangelicals. Leadership of "National Day of Prayer Task Force" events is limited only to those who will sign a form stating that they adhere to the Lausanne Covenant, the belief statement of an international umbrella mission organization started by Billy Graham in 1974. The Lausanne Movement refers to the ongoing structure of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE) which works to streamline and organize worldwide proselytizing of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and "Nominal Christians" which they state are the "approximately one billion people classified as Christians who "still need to be evangelized" and are described as "found extensively among Protestants, Orthodox, and Roman Catholics." In other words, the National Day of Prayer Task Force is limited to leadership that support the goal of ultimately ending all other faiths and belief systems that fall outside of the Lausanne Covenant.
As a former attorney, Fox News's Megyn Kelly should know full well what defamation is, and she should know full well that what she repeatedly said on last Thursday's episode of her show The Kelly File was indeed defamation.
Who is it that Ms. Kelly defamed? Mikey Weinstein, the founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). And what did she say that was defamatory? Well, she repeatedly said that Mikey is an atheist and that MRFF is an atheist organization.
In a six-minute segment about MRFF's demand that, due to the numerous military regulations prohibiting such activities (see my previous post), the Department of Defense cancel the planned participation of uniformed military personnel in Shirley Dobson's big upcoming National Day of Prayer shindig, Ms. Kelly verbally repeated her utterly false claim no less than three times, had the same false claim appear on the screen three times, and then repeated it again in the headline for the story on her show's website.
Ray Moore, best known for his efforts to get Southern Baptists to take their children out of the public schools, is running for the Republican nomination for Lt. Governor of South Carolina. The field comprises Charleston real estate developer Pat McKinney, former Attorney General Henry McMaster and Mike Campbell, son of former Gov. Carroll Campbell. The primary is June 10th.
Moore's platform is consistent with his history. He would abolish what he considers the "pagan" and "godless" public schools and return to 18th century notions of private Christian schools and home schools, which he sees as the "original American model" and the "Biblical model." His campaign slogan is "What once was can be again."
(Fox News host Sean Hannity is in the news due to the backfiring of his shameless promotion of rightist thug Cliven Bundy and his militia backers. Hannity, like so many others, is busy trying to distance themselves from Bundy in light of some particularly vile, racist remarks. This seems like a good moment to recall that Hannity has made a career of promoting figures of the far right. This post was originally published in February of 2013. -- FC)
We are pleased to welcome WB Reeves as a guest front pager. He is a founder of the Neighbors Network, which for seven years in the 1990s investigated and published reports on hate groups operating in the Atlanta area. Some of their reports are now available online, notably a report (PDF) on Christian Reconstructionist Gary DeMar and his colleagues at American Vision. And the Woodruff Library at Emory University has announced the opening of the Neighbors Network archive containing the documentation of of their research and activism. -- FC
Back in the early 90's, before his apotheosis as a Fox News superstar, Hannity was a second string Right Wing shock jock toiling in the Atlanta market. In the run up to the ill fated Atlanta Olympics, our paths crossed.
Kyle Mantyla at Right Wing Watch reports that "On today's radio broadcast, Glenn Beck went full David Barton, claiming that one-third of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence came straight out of the Bible; more specifically, right out of the Book of Deuteronomy." He also wrote this claim is "pure Barton bunk, as Chris Rodda explained back when Barton made this claim on Beck's program in 2010." Below is a reprise of Rodda's post of July 7, 2010. -- FC
This installment of my series debunking the American history lies told on Glenn Beck is about a study published in 1984 in The American Political Science Review, and how that study is misrepresented to make it appear that our founding documents were based on the Bible, especially the Book of Deuteronomy.
(Note: This is part four of an ongoing video series. I would normally provide links to the previous installments, but Vimeo has removed my videos, citing copyright issues, although these videos were well within the limits of "fair use.")
UPDATE: The issue with Vimeo has been resolved. They promptly reviewed my videos and have restored the ones that were removed. I will be updating everything and adding links to the previous installments as soon as possible.
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