Who Are The Ones With The Baseball Bats? Gays or "Religions" Like Tony Perkins and the FRC?

The Audacity of Hatred

The Family Research Council really hit the HATE button today with Tony Perkins' FRC online newsletter: (emphasis my own)

Religious Liberty at Risk?

This Thursday at 10:00 a.m. FRC will host one of the most important panels in its history, a gathering of legal and religious scholars who will discuss the impact on the church of California's sweeping Supreme Court ruling on homosexual marriage. Each time a court rules for homosexual unions, whether full-fledged marriage or something akin to it, the question is raised whether the church and parachurch ministries can continue to reserve their rites and access to their facilities and programs to heterosexual couples. The question is particularly poignant now for a variety of reasons. Increasingly, legislative bodies and human rights commissions overseas are moving against pastors who speak out against homosexual conduct. U.S. courts are citing foreign cases and practices from liberal nations with increasing frequency. In addition, the California ruling on May 15, decided by a 4-3 margin, established homosexuals as a "suspect class" for the purpose of analyzing laws affecting them. That means, for all intents and purposes, that "discrimination" against gay sexuality is the equivalent of racial prejudice under California law.


O.K., let's look at this piece rationally (something that FRC never actually attempts to do since "faith" and reason never mix).

First, the title: Freedom of Religion at Risk? To many people, Freedom of Religion means freedom to worship (or not) in which ever way according to his conscience. Notice that FRC did NOT invite Hindus, Buddhists, and certainly not Muslims. Despite the attendance of one Jewish Orthodox speaker, this judgment fest will be strictly CHRISTIAN ONLY. What Perkins means, of course, is the freedom to spout hatred from the pulpit. He's right to be afraid of this occurrence: for many religious leaders, hatred is about the only thing they can preach. Don't give us this "love the sinner but hate the sin" crap either. Preachers know that this is beyond human nature. They count on it. "Love the sinner" is only a PR spin.

Church and Parachurch Ministries...reserve their rites... Of course they can! The law cannot force them to marry homosexual couples.

...moving out against pastors who speak out against homosexual conduct. The law recognizes that pastors have a certain amount of influence over their flocks (of sheep). And some pastors' rhetoric gets very close to inciting violence. Anyone who is as demonized as gays have been are looked upon as Satan incarnate. The time of the witch burnings in Europe (we only hung ours) 100,000 innocent women (perhaps more) were targeted simply because they were old and had knowledge of herbal medicines. The moment a group of "sinners" is tauted as unrepentent, they are therefore evil and must at least be shunned or at most - be destroyed. As any Muslim-American how this works.

...established homosexuals as a "suspect class" notice that Perkins doesn't fully explain what this means. He allows the pejorative to sink in.

...equivalent of racial prejudice. In a way, it is - especially with the military and the churches themselves. Instead of racially profiling in the usual way, military and religious leaders pass out in-depth pamphlets on how to "spot" a homosexual. Knowing too many show tunes can get you into trouble!

Now let's look at the rest of Perkins' little homophobic event:

Please join us as Seamus Hasson of the Becket Fund, Prof. Chai Feldblum of Georgetown University, Ben Bull of the Alliance Defense Fund, Teresa Stanton Collett of the St. Thomas School of Law, Nathan J. Diament of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations and I discuss this vital issue.

Seamus Hasson: for all practical purposes, Hassen is (although Catholic) a Fundamentalist lawyer who may fight for religious freedom, but also presses for prayer in schools.

Actually, the list contains lawyers. Period. The Alliance Defense Fund is the child of Pat Robertson and his very own Regent University.

Really, would you trust this group to be unbiased? It looks more like the judges indicted at the Nuremberg Trials.

Unfortunately, there are some people who might believe anything these people say, turn it to their own homophobic advantage and manage to get someone killed.

And that's the way of the world.