What with the "Justice Sunday" event, recent legislative events in Washington, religious groups trying to prevent access to certain classes of contraceptives, blah blah blah, I keep hearing Christian conservatives talking about a "war on Christianity," about how they're the victims of intolerance. How can they say this with a straight face? Today I saw this from a blog: "Why do the Democrats now accuse people of faith of despicable demagoguery? Well, because people of faith dare to make the charge that the Democrats are lynching people of faith, and they make the charge while standing under an old elm tree with a rope around their neck.... Now, of what use is religion if it doesn't impact a person's moral choices? Doesn't blocking people based on their perceived moral views, views based on their religious faith, amount to blocking them based on the very faith that forms those views?" (From
http://www.nicedoggie.net/archives/2...king_relig.php)
It seems like the difference is extremely clear:
1. Intolerance is denying the validity of another's identity or opinions. What is happening with protests against Christian Conservatives is that we are attempting to prevent them from IMPOSING their opinions on the rest of us as legislation and legislative interpretation from the bench.
2. Blocking people on their perceived moral views is not the same as blocking them based on their faith; there are many Christians who have come to different conclusions than the conservative judges who are being nominated. It seems the worst kind of red herring to hide behind the rubric of "religious discrimination" just because people don't agree with your
interpretation of how your religion ought to be applied to everyone else on earth.
Why is nobody (the media) pointing out this obvious logical flaw? Nobody is telling Christians they can't practice their faith - we're just trying to impress upon them that according to the constitution they're not allowed to impose their faith - or their morals derived from their faith - on the rest of us.
Is anybody else just scared shitless by the direction this is taking? The only hope I see is that most of the public doesn't agree with the conservative right's agenda. Hopefully the next election will bear this out. And hopefully this kind of ridiculous campaign against TRUE American values will spur moderates to action to match the organized campaign of the Christian Right.