Commentary Tidbits

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: Legislation That Threatens Church-State Separation Is Pending In Half The Country

Jezebel: A Proposed Texas Law Would Let Doctors Lie to Women About Their Pregnancies. How Did We Get Here?

Huffington Post: Ex-Westboro Member Reveals What Growing Up In Hate Group Was Like

Buzzfeed: A Glossary of Far-Right Terms and Memes

Lou Engle Still Cranky Over Women's March

A few weeks after Lou Engle tweeted about those who complain about their leaders and protest "with a bitter spirit", he condemned the Women's March. In a March 3rd commentary piece posted at Elijah List, Engle cast the Women's March as "the first shot across the bow" in a "spiritual battle" meant to undermine President Trump. (Hat tip to Right Wing Watch.)

First, Engle sought to convince readers that his fellow Christians were actually the first ones to dream of a large-scale women's march. He claimed that he and other New Apostolic Reformation leaders envisioned a Christian women's march in the nation's capitol years ago.

"Three years ago in a leaders summit in Fredericksburg Virginia, our meeting was sovereignly hijacked as the Lord shifted our focus toward the hidden taproot of strength in the godly women of America. We began to envision something of a million women gathering on the mall in Washington DC, similar to the Promise Keepers gathering, that would be a last-stand breakthrough to hold back darkness in America. Those hours of corporate intercession were as strong and clear as any prophetic moment I have ever encountered in thirty plus years of prayer, but at the time we could not see how it could be brought to pass."

To Engle's disappointment, the 2017 Women's March on D.C. and its sister marches brought together millions of women. The Women's March, which Engle denigrated as "a false heiress", caused Engle to realize that the allegedly "true empowered woman" must make her voice heard.

"That moment arrived January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, as we watched hundreds of thousands of women take to the streets with the purported aim of "empowering women." A vacuum had been created by this election, by historic women's injustices, and it seemed that a false heiress rushed in and was seeking now to become the hinge of history by framing the narrative of a future America that does not acknowledge God's exalted view of women and His Biblical design for her glorious purpose in the earth. Instinctively we had a corporate knowing: it was the time for the true empowered woman to stand up, for the meek (strength-filled humility) shall inherit the earth.

Hundreds of thousands of women watched the March, heard the vitriol, and could not identify with the radical ideologies being expressed that would not acknowledge God's Word and ways in the public controversy. This new woman declared deep inside her heart this is not my revolution." Now, like Esther, she is arising for such a time as this. It's time for this corporate Esther to frame the future by recognizing and taking up her God-given role of persistent public persuasion in the open square as well as that of her humble appeal to God in prayer."

Much like his Religious Right brethren, Engle characterized the Women's March as "radical" and dripping with "vitriol", insisting that godly women would not identify with it. The fact that the Women's March and its sister events resonated with millions of women and men around the globe did not strike him as important. 

Engle then warned readers that the Women's March heralded a "revolutionary rise" against the president and the "Biblical truths" upon which America was supposedly founded. This "brazen challenge of the [supernatural] powers" warranted a response from Christians, he argued.

"The Women's March was the first shot across the bow, heralding a revolutionary rise against the President of the United States, "We the People", and in reality, the foundational Biblical truths upon which our nation was founded. Soon after, the second shot was manifested publicly: an unprecedented global summons of witchcraft to curse President Trump, his cabinet and all of those aligned with a Biblical worldview. Suddenly, the whole controversy was elevated to a global spiritual dimension, inaugurating a spiritual battle that cannot be won on the playing field of protests and political arguments.

Only the Church has the answer to this unprecedented manifestation of witchcraft. Spiritual strategy must be used to overcome this open-faced, brazen challenge of the powers."

Likening the situation in the U.S. to that of Esther and Haman in the Book of Esther, Engle urged readers to participate in a fast so as to "break a major spiritual power of death". He encouraged his fellow believers to take part in a three-day "Esther fast" from March 8-11 to "counter this witchcraft" and pray for President Trump.

Going without food and ecstatic praying haven't brought about the changes you want so far. What makes you think they'll work this time? I wondered.

Engle just can't accept that millions of people dislike his adored president and have no interest in his dominionist vision. Nor can he accept that millions of women and men are rejecting sexism (including the sexism of fundamentalist Christianity) and demanding a more just society. As with issues such as LGBTQ rights and abortion, Engle casts his opponents as angry radicals and puppets of infernal "powers" because demonizing them is easier than actually listening to them.

Clergy Abuse Survivor Resigns from Pontifical Commission

In 2014, Pope Francis established the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, an autonomous advisory body meant to "promote the protection of the dignity of minors and vulnerable adults" in the wake of the Catholic Church's clergy sexual abuse scandals. Marie Collins, an Irish clergy abuse survivor, was appointed to serve on the commission that year. On March 1st, Collins announced her resignation from the commission, having grown frustrated with an intractable Vatican Curia.

In a statement posted at the National Catholic Reporter, Collins listed several "stumbling blocks" that impeded the work of the commission, including "lack of resources, inadequate structures around support staff, slowness of forward movement and cultural resistance", as well as "reluctance of some members of the Vatican Curia to implement the recommendations of the Commission despite their approval by the pope." She condemned members of the Vatican Curia for failing to work alongside the commission and implement its recommendations, including its suggestion that Vatican officials respond to all clergy abuse victim correspondence.

"The reluctance of some in the Vatican Curia to implement recommendations or cooperate with the work of a commission when the purpose is to improve the safety of children and vulnerable adults around the world is unacceptable.

Is this reluctance driven by internal politics, fear of change, clericalism which instills a belief that 'they know best' or a closed mindset which sees abuse as an inconvenience or a clinging to old institutional attitudes?

I do not know the answer but it is devastating in 2017 to see that these men still can put other concerns before the safety of children and vulnerable adults.

The last straw for me, on top of the refusal to cooperate on the Safeguarding Guidelines, has been the refusal, by the same dicastery, to implement one of the simplest recommendations the Commission has put forward to date.

Last year at our request, the pope instructed all departments in the Vatican to ensure all correspondence from victims/survivors receives a response. I learned in a letter from this particular dicastery last month that they are refusing to do so.

I find it impossible to listen to public statements about the deep concern in the church for the care of those whose lives have been blighted by abuse, yet to watch privately as a congregation in the Vatican refuses to even acknowledge their letters! It is a reflection of how this whole abuse crisis in the Church has been handled: with fine words in public and contrary actions behind closed doors.

When I accepted my appointment to the Commission in 2014, I said publicly that if I found what was happening behind closed doors was in conflict with what was being said to the public I would not remain. This point has come. I feel I have no choice but to resign if I am to retain my integrity."

In response to Collins resignation letter, Cardinal Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, rejected the idea that the Vatican could reply to every piece of victim correspondence. According to the National Catholic Reporter, Cardinal Muller told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper that it was a "misunderstanding" to assume that his department "could deal with all the dioceses and religious orders in the world." Local clergy should respond to victim correspondence, he explained, claiming that a Vatican response would undermine "the legitimate principle of diocesan autonomy and subsidiarity".

Melanie Jula Sakoda, East Bay Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), expressed the organization's frustration with the Vatican in a March 1st press release.

 "We share Marie Collins’ justifiable frustration with the “shameful resistance” of Vatican officials to changes in procedures that would protect children. Instead, of implementing changes that would have a direct effect on curtailing the abuse crisis, the Curia continues to set up roadblocks.

While we admire Ms. Collins’ generous offer to continue to work with the Vatican to educate Church leaders on abuse, we believe that the clear answer to eradicating this crisis remains outside of the Church hierarchy.  Victims, witnesses and whistle blowers need to continue speaking out publicly, and police, prosecutors and secular authorities need to continue holding Church officials accountable for both criminal conduct and for the cover up of those crimes."

Collins' resignation from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, as well as revelations that Pope Francis reduced church sanctions against sexually abusive priests, is leading many to question how seriously the Vatican is taking clergy abuse. The Catholic Church has had years to implement policies meant to protect children, with no shortage of input from survivors and professionals, but it continues to drag its feet.

Was the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors meant to bring about change, or was its creation all for show? When will the Vatican finally get serious about protecting its congregants and holding clergy perpetrators accountable?

News Tidbits

Associated Press: Victims, Roman Catholic Church spar over New York sex abuse bill

Associated Press: Connecticut lawmakers consider banning conversion therapy

ABC News: Gay conversion therapy advocates heartened by Pence, Republican electoral victories

Reuters: Ireland: Baby remains found at former Church-run home for unmarried mothers

Pink News: Christian bakers battling ‘gay cake’ fine, despite taking $500,000 donations to pay it

LGBTQ Nation: ACLU demands documents to show Trump’s plans for ‘religious’ discrimination

WRAL: Franklin Graham calls for Beauty and the Beast boycott over gay character

Commentary Tidbits

Christopher Stroop: Educated Evangelicals, Academic Achievement, and Trumpism

The New Yorker: Christian Bakers, Gay Weddings, and a Question for the Supreme Court

Right Wing Watch: The Rise of the ‘Traditionalist International’: How the American Right Learned to Love Moscow in the Era of Trump

HIV Plus: Why Do Some Countries Disapprove of Homosexuality?

The Advocate: What Even Is 'Traditional Marriage'?

National Clinic Violence Survey Shows Increase in Anti-Abortion Violence and Harassment

Last month, the Feminist Majority Foundation released the results of its 14th National Clinic Violence Survey. The annual survey gathers data on violence and harassment endured by U.S. abortion providers, law enforcement responses to anti-abortion violence and harassment, and correlations between anti-abortion violence and clinic proximity to "crisis pregnancy centers". Survey findings suggest that anti-abortion violence and harassment is increasing in the wake of a high-profile smear campaign against Planned Parenthood.

Specifically, the authors argue for a correlation between anti-abortion violence and the release of videos by the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress. In 2015, the Center for Medical Progress released videos showing conversations between Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast staff and anti-choice activists posing as employees of a sham company. The videos were part of a smear campaign that accused Planned Parenthood of illegally selling aborted fetal tissue, when in reality, Planned Parenthood was merely donating fetal tissue to medical research without reaping a profit. Anti-abortion activists used the smear campaign as an excuse to demand defunding for the reproductive health care provider. In 2016, a two month grand jury investigation found no wrongdoing on the part of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, indicting the makers of the videos instead, according to CNN.

The report then connects the Center for Medical Progress videos to a 2015 mass shooting at a Planned Parenthood office in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The suspect, Robert Lewis Dear, allegedly said "no more baby parts" after his arrest. The following spring, a judge deemed Dear mentally incompetent to stand trial and indefinitely confined him to a state mental hospital, according to USA Today.

The report argues that the Colorado Springs shooting and an uptick in violence against abortion providers may indicate that anti-abortion extremists have been galvanized by the video smear campaign.

"This incident and countless anecdotes of increasing levels of violence against providers across the country in the fall of 2015 led us to fear that anti-abortion extremists had been emboldened by the release of these videos. The results of the 2016 National Clinic Violence Survey, the first quantitative measure of nationwide violence recorded since the release of the CMP videos, corroborate these fears."

The anti-abortion violence statistics presented in the report make for sobering reading. Out of a national sample of 319 reproductive health clinics, approximately one-third reported experiencing at least one incident of severe violence or threat of violence in 2016 (compared to 19.7% of surveyed clinics in 2014). Moreover, 16% of clinics in the sample reported experiencing three or more types of severe violence, threats, and/or harassment. Almost two-thirds of clinics indicated that they experience anti-abortion activity (i.e., protests) on a daily or weekly basis. Nearly half of clinics in the sample reported that doctors and staff had been targets of intimidation and threats.

Even though many surveyed clinics reported no violence, the report warns readers that this is not a reason to breathe easy.

"In a war of attrition, anti -abortion extremists strategically target a vulnerable minority of clinics, aiming to force them to close their doors before moving on to the next set of targets. Thus a majority of clinics experience no violence, while a smaller number report numerous acts of violence, threats, or harassment.  For example, one clinic reported experiencing a total of sixteen different types of severe violence and harassment in the first half of 2016."

The importance of supportive law enforcement cannot be overstated with regard to clinic safety. Clinics in the survey that reported "fair" or "poor" experiences with local law enforcement were more likely to experience high rates of harassment and violence than clinics with "good" or "excellent" experiences with law enforcement.

Readers may be familiar with crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which purportedly provide services for women and girls facing unplanned pregnancies. More often than not, CPCs are anti-choice organizations that actively discourage women and girls from seeking abortions (sometimes through deceptive means). The National Clinic Violence Survey found that reproductive health clinics located in close proximity to CPCs experienced more violence and harassment (21.7%) than clinics that did not have a CPC nearby (6.8%). The report claims that some anti-abortion extremists use CPCs as launch sites for their activities.

"Many CPCs located near clinics provide a staging ground for individuals engaging in anti-abortion violence, threats, and harassment. For example, anti-abortion extremist Scott Roeder conducted surveillance of Dr. George Tiller while ‘volunteering’ for the CPC next door to Tiller’s clinic in Wichita, Kansas before shooting and killing him in 2009."

The 14th National Clinic Violence Survey makes it clear that anti-abortion rhetoric is far from harmless. Anti-abortion violence and harassment cannot be understood apart from the wider anti-abortion movement, including its vicious smear campaigns and CPC influence. Even if these anti-abortion propaganda efforts do not advocate violence, they likely embolden anti-abortion extremists who use their propaganda to justify crimes.

For women and girls seeking reproductive health services, this is a nightmare. Access to reproductive health care, including abortion, is already fraught with challenges for many women and girls in the U.S. Clinic protests, harassment campaigns, and anti-abortion violence create an intimidating environment for patients seeking reproductive health care, and are likely intended to frighten them away from clinics. If we care about reproductive rights, we must take the findings of the National Clinic Violence Survey seriously and support reproductive health care providers.

Today's Orange Horrors, and Glimmers of Hope

Protest underway right now in front of the DOJ calling for Sessions' resignation. Livestream here: https://t.co/VLwHC0J0sr pic.twitter.com/4BnfRmyWwm

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) March 2, 2017

Business Insider: Trump wants to publicize crimes committed by immigrants; critics call it 'scapegoating'

Reuters: Trump's EPA budget proposal targets climate, clean water programs

Boston Globe: Jeff Sessions denies meetings with Russian envoy were about campaign

NPR: Democrats Call For Attorney General Sessions To Resign

Politico: Sessions Recuses Himself from Russian Probe

New York Times: Trump to Seek $54 Billion Increase in Military Spending

New York Times: Trump, Offering No Evidence, Says Obama Tapped His Phones

Seattle Times: FBI chief asks Justice Dept. to reject Trump’s claim that Obama ordered wiretap of him

Chicago Tribune: House intel panel to probe Trump wiretap claims

ABC News: Thousands of Trump supporters stage rallies across US, some attract counter-protesters

Associated Press: President Trump's Supporters Clash With Protesters at Rallies



As always, we have good news coming out along with the bad news.

Associated Press: Donors pledge nearly $200 million for family planning

Los Angeles Times: L.A.-area Jewish leaders form coalition in response to Trump's executive actions on immigration and refugees

Quotes from 2017 CPAC

The 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) took place on February 22-25 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. The Trump administration left its mark on the event, with President Trump's rambling speech, Steven Bannon and Reince Priebus presenting a united front, and multiple Trump cabinet picks taking the stage. CPAC was also an opportunity for a pranksters to poke fun at Trump by posing as a Russian Trump fan and distributing Russian flags embossed with Trump's name, which attendees happily waved.

CPAC rhetoric is usually hair-raising and unapologetically right-ring, but this year's event was different, in that it reminded listeners how times have changed under the Trump administration. Quotes from Betsy DeVos, Kellyanne Conway, and Scott Pruitt are unsettling because they come from leaders in high positions of power who have the influence to shape policy for the worst.

First, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos gave a speech at 2017 CPAC in which she demonized the "educational establishment" and universities, an unsettling omen of education policies to come. In a speech transcript posted at the Washington Post, DeVos depicted the U.S. educational system as a failure, blaming the "educational establishment" for resisting reforms. She plugged school vouchers as a right for parents and a solution to real or imagined educational woes.

"But today, we know the system is failing too many kids. Why? Because our nation’s test scores have flatlined. Because 1.3 million children drop out of school every year. Because the previous administration spent seven billion of your dollars on “School Improvement Grants,” thinking they could demonstrate that money alone would solve the problem. Yet their own report, issued as they walked out the door, showed that it had zero impact on student outcomes and performance. They tested their model, and it failed, miserably.

This is not an indictment of teachers. We all know good public school teachers. My mom was one. Good teachers make a real difference. Good teachers deserve to be honored and compensated accordingly.

But the education establishment has been blocking the doorway to reforms, fixes and improvements for a generation.

This not a Left or Right issue. This is an American issue. We need education to work for every child.

Let me ask you: Do you believe parents should be able to choose the best school for their child regardless of their ZIP code or family income? Me too. And so does President Trump."

DeVos painted an ugly picture of higher education, claiming that college and university faculty order students what to do and how to think.

"The fight against the education establishment extends to you too. The faculty, from adjunct professors to deans, tell you what to do, what to say, and more ominously, what to think. They say that if you voted for Donald Trump, you’re a threat to the university community. But the real threat is silencing the First Amendment rights of people with whom you disagree."

DeVos triggered public outrage with her statement that, "I, however, pride myself on being ... perhaps the first person to tell Bernie Sanders to his face that there’s no such thing as a free lunch." Observers interpreted her statement as a insult to the National School Lunch Program, which provides low-cost and free lunches to children living in poverty.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway sat down with Mercedes Schlapp for a conversation at CPAC. According to a transcript posted at Fortune, Conway praised her independent mother (who allegedly never used the word "feminist") and claimed that Donald Trump is a champion of women. Trump's offensive comments about women, not to mention the numerous accusations of sexual harassment and sexual assault made against him, did not enter the conversation.

"I was raised to be a very strong and independent woman without anybody ever saying the word feminist or having any political conversation ... We were taught to ... be free-thinking, independent, to look at your goals. And that old saying, you could never go home was never true in my community. We always felt like we could go home. And I -- I believe that Donald Trump is someone who is not fully understood for how compassionate and what a great boss he is to women. He has been ... promoting and elevating women in the Trump Corporation, in the Trump campaign, in the Trump Cabinet, certainly in the Trump White House. It's just a very natural affinity for him."

Conway also made ill-informed comments about feminism based on "man-basher" stereotypes. She contrasted this caricature of "classic" feminism with "conservative / individual feminism", which encourages women to make their own choices without complaining or reliance on the government. I don't know which was more offensive: her ignorant caricature of feminism, which takes many forms and has helped women make immense strides, or her promotion of a facile "individual feminism" which ignores social and structural inequalities that oppress women.

"So I don't know about calling yourself a feminist. I also, for me, its difficult for me to call myself a feminist in the classic sense because it seems to be very anti-male and it certainly is very pro-abortion in this context. And I'm neither anti-male or pro- abortion, so. There's an individual feminism, if you will, that you make your own choices. Mercedes, I look at myself as a product of my choices, not a victim of my circumstances. And that's really clearly ... what conservatives, feminism, if you will, is all about. My mother didn't feel sorry for herself, she was left with no child support, no alimony at a very young age, with a child to raise, a high school education and she just figured it out. She didn't complain, she didn't rely upon government, she relied upon her own skill set, her own self confidence, her own drive in moxie and her own duty to me and her and she relied upon her family and her faith."

CPAC as a whole did not take environmental threats seriously, judging from the presence of organizations such as the CO2 Coalition and workshops with titles such as "Fake Climate News Camouflaging an Anti-Capitalist Agenda". For example, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt seemed eager to roll back environmental policies as part of "regulatory certainty", telling CPAC attendees about plans to cut back environmental regulations. During Pruitt's conversation with Gina Loudon, Loudon asked the audience if they wanted the EPA to disappear. "A show of hands, those of you who kind of hope that Administrator Pruitt will just sort of make the EPA go away," she asked. Hoots and applause rose from the audience. Pruitt argued that such animosity toward the EPA was justified, arguing that the Obama Administration EPA had seized too much power.

"Well, it's justified. I think as we look over the last several years, the agency that I'm tasked to lead at this point has been used by the previous administration to truly impact our country in ways that we never could have imagined eight years ago. Jobs have been impacted. The authority that the Washington D.C. [office] has, the assumption of power and the accumulation of power, they've taken advantage of that, and so, I think it's justified. I think people across this country look at the EPA much like they look at the IRS, and I hope to be able to change that."

CPAC reminds us of what our country has become, and could become, under the Trump administration. We have an Education Secretary with warped ideas about the education system, an EPA Administrator who seeks to roll back environmental regulations, and a non-feminist White House counsel who has the ear of a misogynist president. Do we need any more reminders of why staying informed and politically active is important in these times?

News Tidbits

PRRI: Americans’ Double Standard on Religious Violence

Newsweek: The Harrowing Story of Life Inside Alabama's Most Sadistic Christian Bootcamp (Trigger warning)

GQ: Peter Popoff, the Born-Again Scoundrel

LGBTQ Nation: Colorado tries to pass conversion therapy ban for minors again

New York Times: As Funds Invoke Bible Values, Others See Intolerance

Los Angeles Times: Meet Daryle Jenkins, the activist who digs up dirt on the far-right

Associated Press: North Carolina: Ex-congregants reveal years of ungodly abuse  (Trigger warning)

Associated Press: Pope quietly trims sanctions for sex abusers seeking mercy

Washington Post: Antiabortion bills forcing doctors to push ‘junk science’ spread across country

Washington Post: ‘She was demonized’: Nicaraguan woman dies after being thrown into fire in exorcism ritual  (Trigger warning)

Commentary Tidbits

Vox: The Handmaid’s Tale is a handbook for surviving oppressive systems

Inter Press Service: The United Nations and the Religious Right

Media Matters for America: The Breitbartification Of CPAC

The Advocate: The National Organization for Marriage May Be Collapsing Before Our Eyes