Friday, October 10, 2008

The Anti-Gay Christian Right: "Just Sit Back and Let the Hate Take Care of Them All!"

We have just enough religion to make us hate,

but not enough to make us love.

~ Jonathan Swift


One Of The Seven DEADLIEST Sins:
THE SLOTH OF THE CHURCH!

Almost 90% of hate groups in our country target homosexuals - and Right Wing Christians do nothing to stop their terrorizing gay men and lesbians. While bashing can be related to how active a church is against gays (like Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition) hate groups can still flourish with a church's blessing... by being purposely noncommittal. Actually, the malaise of the churches in this respect is more like laziness: "Why should we bother to act against homosexuals, when the hate groups can do all the work for us?"

O.K., so no church would admit to anything like that, but they surely must be held accountable for another kind of sloth - NOT waging war against the hate groups.


"But groups like the KKK* don't have any significant number of members!" Each hate group might seem small in comparison to a church's congregation, but the members of these hate groups are fired up more with hate than the Holy Spirit.


Let's look at the current "perfect storm" of anti-gay hatred taking place: California's Proposition 8 - the attempt to ban same-sex marriage. According to the hate group watchdog Southern Poverty Law Center there are actually 80 hate groups in California - more than any other state. Second is Texas with 64 (should we be surprised?) and third is Florida with 49.

Listed as hate groups in California for being anti-gay: Traditional Values Coalition (Anaheim, CA led by Rev. Lou Sheldon), Abiding Truth Ministries (Temecula, CA) and Chalcedon Foundation (Valecito, CA). There are 5 groups of the KKK, 11 neo-Nazi groups, 15 racist skinhead groups, and even one Radical Traditionalist Catholic Group (In Los Angeles - Tradition in Action - an anti-Semitic, Sedevecantist group with close ties to Mel Gibson).

And they're all eligible to vote.

The leaders of Right Wing Christianity count on it.

Recently, in a suburb of Kansas City, MO:

Black Gay Couple Receives KKK Death Threat

KCTV News

October 3, 2008

Three months after moving into the Whispering Hills apartment complex, a black gay couple received a flier with the image of a hooded Klansman and the message “Nigger Fags, Leave Or Die.” The African-American couple, who said they are gay and in a committed relationship, said they didn't feel safe at Whispering Hills anymore. Overland Park police are investigating, but said they don't have many leads.
Of course not. Missouri has 29 hates groups. And it's tauted as a VERY Christian/religious state. A full 63% of all hate groups in the country (898) are in only 18 states. Those states usually listed as "The Most Religious" and having the most churches. See how other states rate (Hawaii and Alaska are left out because they ostensibly have no hate groups listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center.



Number of Hate Groups by State (with special emphasis on the top 20):

Alabama - 24, Arizona - 17 , Arkansas - 18, California - 80, Colorado - 12, Connecticut - 6, Delaware - 2, District of Columbia - 8, Florida - 49, Georgia - 42 Idaho - 8 , Illinois - 23, Indiana - 18, Iowa - 14, Kansas - 7, Kentucky - 13 Louisiana - 22, Maine -1, Maryland - 7, Massachusetts-9, Michigan - 26 Minnesota - 7, Mississippi - 28, Missouri - 29 , Montana - 6, Nebraska - 11, New Hampshire - 4, New Jersey - 34, New Mexico - 2 New York -26, North Carolina - 28, North Dakota - 1, Ohio - 28, Oklahoma - 13, Oregon - 11, Pennsylvania - 33, South Carolina - 45, Texas - 67, Utah - 2, Vermont - 1, Virginia - 34, Washington - 20, West Virginia - 7, Wisconsin - 12, Wyoming - 2

The place with the highest number of hate groups per 1 million residents:
District of Columbia


Since when is the last time you heard a sermon targeting a specific hate group in your area?

Just a thought.


*Over the years since it was formed in December 1865, the Klan has typically seen itself as a Christian organization, although in modern times Klan groups are motivated by a variety of theological and political ideologies.