Republic of Gilead: Church-state separation

Happening now. #BodegaStrike in Brooklyn. More American flags than I've seen at any protest. #NoBanNoWall pic.twitter.com/KiBeKNkTO6
— Raqiyah Mays (@RaqiyahMays) February 2, 2017

NPR: Yemen Aftermath: Trump's First Military Raid Continues To Raise Questions

Associated Press: Trump vows to repeal political limits on churches

Reuters: Trump threatens U.C. Berkeley after protests stop far-right speech

Forbes: Trump's SCOTUS Pick Neil Gorsuch: On Abortion, Religion, Immigration And More

Don't give up. Resistant to the Trump administration continues.

Yahoo News: Evangelical Christians protest Trump refugee ban outside prayer breakfast

NBC News: Apple, Amazon, and Google Are Preparing a Letter to Trump to Protest Travel Ban

Buzzfeed: Twitter Employees Are Donating $1.59 Million To The ACLU After Trump’s Travel Ban

Philly*com: Hundreds of Comcast employees protest Trump's immigration policies

NBC 4 New York: NYC Delis, Bodegas Close Thursday in Protest of Trump Travel Ban

PIX 11: 1,000 Yemeni-American bodega owners rally in Brooklyn against Trump’s travel ban

Trump's Surreal Speech at National Prayer Breakfast

The 65th annual National Prayer Breakfast took place on February 2nd at Washington D.C. Organized by the Fellowship Foundation, the National Prayer Breakfast offers the president an opportunity to discuss faith and its role in American life.

Given who now sits in the Oval Office, the prayer breakfast was bound to be surreal this year. In a transcript of his speech at posted at Time, President Trump rambled, hopped from irrelevant topic to topic, and seemed oblivious to his own logical inconsistencies. For example, Trump used his speech to make fun of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has taken over Trump's former TV show, The Apprentice. (Schwarzenegger later hit back on social media.)

"We had tremendous success on The Apprentice. And when I ran for president, I had to leave the show. That's when I knew for sure that I was doing it. And they hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place. And we know how that turned out. The ratings went down the tubes. It's been a total disaster ... and I want to just pray for Arnold if we can, for those ratings, OK?"

Even when praising members of the armed forced, Trump couldn't resist the urge to remind listeners that he was wealthy and socialized with wealthy people.

"Our soldiers understand that what matters is not party or ideology or creed, but the bonds of loyalty that link us all together as one. America is a nation of believers. In towns all across our land, it's plain to see what we easily forget -- so easily we forget this, that the quality of our lives is not defined by our material success, but by our spiritual success.

I will tell you that and I tell you that from somebody that has had material success and knows tremendous numbers of people with great material success, the most material success. Many of those people are very, very miserable, unhappy people. And I know a lot of people without that, but they have great families. They have great faith; they don't have money, at least, not nearly to the extent. And they're happy. Those, to me, are the successful people, I have to tell you."

Trump gave lip service to how everyone in attendance was "equal in His eyes" and "human beings with souls", which I found hypocritical in the wake of his bigoted comments toward Muslims and women, to say nothing of his anti-immigrant and anti-refugee policies. In keeping with his earlier campaign promise, Trump promised to "destroy" the Johnson Amendment, which grants religious congregations tax exempt status on the condition that they refrain from endorsing candidates.

"It was the great Thomas Jefferson who said, the God who gave us life, gave us liberty. Jefferson asked, can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God. Among those freedoms is the right to worship according to our own beliefs. That is why I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution. I will do that, remember.

Freedom of religion is a sacred right, but it is also a right under threat all around us, and the world is under serious, serious threat in so many different ways. And I've never seen it so much and so openly as since I took the position of president. The world is in trouble, but we're going to straighten it out. OK? That's what I do. I fix things. We're going to straighten it out."

The president shrugged off recent reports of hostile phone conversations with world leaders, telling listeners "don't worry about it".

"When you hear about the tough phone calls I'm having, don't worry about it. Just don't worry about it. They're tough. We have to tough. It's time we're going to be a little tough folks. We're taking advantage of by every nation in the world virtually. It's not going to happen anymore. It's not going to happen anymore."

Perhaps the most absurd moment of Trump's speech was when he condemned ISIS atrocities just days after barring Syrian and Iraqi refugees from the U.S.

"We have seen peace loving Muslims brutalize, victimize, murdered and oppressed by ISIS killers. We have seen threats of extermination against the Jewish people. We have seen a campaign of ISIS and genocide against Christians, where they cut of heads. Not since the Middle Ages have we seen that. We haven't seen that, the cutting off of heads. Now they cut off the heads, they drown people in steel cages. Haven't seen this. I haven't seen this. Nobody's seen this for many, many years. All nations have a moral obligation to speak out against such violence. All nations have a duty to work together to confront it and to confront it viciously if we have to."

He later defended his recent immigration and refugee policies with the excuse that he was protecting the U.S. from evildoers.

"Our nation has the most generous immigration system in the world. But these are those and there are those that would exploit that generosity to undermine the values that we hold so dear. We need security. There are those who would seek to enter our country for the purpose of spreading violence, or oppressing other people based upon their faith or their lifestyle, not right ... In the coming days, we will develop a system to help ensure that those admitted into our country fully embrace our values of religious and personal liberty. And that they reject any form of oppression and discrimination. We want people to come into our nation, but we want people to love us and to love our values, not to hate us and to hate our values."

What kind of self-delusion allows a man to praise religious freedom while bragging that he will undermine separation of church and state? What kind of hypocrisy allows a leader to condemn atrocities while denying refuge to those fleeing the same atrocities? Trump's speech was a stew of Religious Right rhetoric, logical inconsistencies, and rambling that did not remotely approach the eloquence of past presidents' speeches.

To read additional commentary, visit the following links.

The Atlantic: A Publicity Stunt at the National Prayer Breakfast?

MSNBC: Why Trump’s National Prayer Breakfast speech matters

Thursday, January 26, 2017

News Tidbits

LGBTQ Nation: Washington D.C.: Christian protesters burst into pro-LGBT church to condemn ‘Satanic’ ministers

Louisville Courier-Journal: Bill would bring 'Bible literacy' to Kentucky schools

9 News: Colorado religious freedom bill fails in house committee

Argus Leader: South Dakota lawmakers OK alternative teachings on evolution, climate change in schools

Casper Star Tribune: Wyoming legislature considers competing bills concerning gay rights, religion

Edge Media Network: Michele Bachmann: Radical Gays, Blacks & Muslims Planned Women's March to Destroy Freedom

Pink News: Australian Christian Lobby battles to keep ‘gay panic’ murder defence

Saturday, August 27, 2016

News Tidbits

NPR: Clinton: Trump Is 'Taking Hate Groups Mainstream'

Politico: Trump campaign CEO once charged in domestic violence case

Mamba Online: Pastor Steven Anderson’s new secret plans for Johannesburg trip already crumbling

Associated Press: Candidates capitalize on the ever-powerful 'religious vote'

Pennlive: In Pennsylvania House, even prayer practices are proving to be controversial

Christian Today: Mark Driscoll hits out at polygamy and warns it could be legal within two decades

Reuters: 9th Circuit upholds California ban on sexual orientation therapy for minors

Outsports: Lesbian basketball coach sues Catholic school that fired her for marrying her wife

Miami New Times: Miamian Fired for Anointing Desks With Oily Crosses Wasn't Discriminated Against, Judge Rules

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Spiritually manipulated, sexually exploited: A psychiatrist used religion to ply patients for sex (Trigger warning)

Monday, August 15, 2016

Trump and Rubio Consort with Homophobes Before Anniversary of Pulse Massacre, Part II

As discussed in a prior post, Sen. Marco Rubio and Donald Trump both addressed right-wing audiences in Orlando. On August 11th, Trump spoke before an audience of clergy members and their spouses at the Pastors and Pews gathering in Orlando, according to Bloomberg. The event was sponsored by the American Renewal Project, whose founder, David Lane, opposes LGBTQ equality. To add insult to injury for the LGBTQ community the gathering took place shortly before the two-month anniversary of the Orlando Pulse massacre.

C-SPAN posted a video of Trump's speech. At the podium, Trump avoided talk about LGBTQ issues, focusing instead on naked pandering to his conservative evangelical audience. Trump told his listeners that they had been silenced by the Johnson amendment, assuring them that he would repeal the amendment if elected president. Feeding his audience's sense of imagined persecution, Trump promised to address that supposed persecution by weakening church-state separation.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee introduced Trump. At the 2:03 mark, Huckabee assured his audience that Trump had Christian credentials.

"I'm also aware that a lot of my fellow believers and evangelicals sometimes say, 'Is Donald Trump, like, one of us?' Well, let me try to be as blunt as I can be. He may not sit in the front of a church like yours every Sunday. He may not be as expressive or as loud about his own faith or convictions about things like being pro-life, which he is, and if he wasn't, I wouldn't be standing here today. But folks, some people will eat their soup a little louder than others. It doesn't mean that the soup tastes better."

Trump took his place at the podium and spent the next forty minutes reinforcing his audience's imagined persecution complex with phrases such as, "Without religious liberty, you don't have liberty" and "You've been silenced, like a child has been silenced". He called Christian clergy "the most powerful lobby there is, and yet you've been totally silenced," referring to the Johnson amendment that prevents tax-exempt entities such as churches from endorsing political candidates. "It's Lyndon Johnson wanting to silence people that didn't feel so good about him, in particular one church," he said of the policy.

At the 14:01 mark, Trump shared a story in which he was stunned that religious leaders couldn't endorse him because of church-state separation, having been ignorant of the Johnson amendment.

"So I'm in the room with many of the pastors and some ministers, and they're going like, 'Well, we can't really do that.' I said, 'Why? Why can't you do that? I don't understand. I know you like me. Why aren't you endorsing me?' "Well, we just can't' ... These were strong men ... and women ... It wasn't that they didn't want to tell me. It's almost like they got used to this thing around their neck and eyes, and it's almost like they couldn't see ... After a lot of prodding, they said, 'Well, we don't want to lose our tax-exempt status." I said, 'What does that have to do with your tax-exempt status?', not knowing. And it basically has to do with the 501(c)(3) status that they can't get involved from the standpoint of essentially freedom of speech. So you have these powerful people with a great voice. You know that Christianity...has had a very, very tough time."

At the 34:43 mark, Trump pressed his listeners to make voters out of their congregants at all costs.

"You have to get your congregations and you have to get parishioners, you have to get all of your people to go out and vote. You got to get them to sign those cards early. In many cases, you can vote before November 8th. This way, there's no excuses. I joke a lot, and I say if you're sick, if you've just got the worst prognosis that a doctor can give you, if you're lying in bed and you just know you're not going to make it, you have to get up on November 8th and you have to vote."

Considering how disappointing Trump's poll numbers look, it's no wonder that he's begging for every vote he can get.

To read additional commentary, visit the following links.

Bloomberg: Trump Goes Traditional With Florida Meeting of Evangelical Leaders

Right Wing Watch: Donald Trump: Vote For Me To Help Me Get Into Heaven

Mother Jones: Trump Addresses Conference Hosted by a Group Whose Leader Called Homosexuality a Marxist Plot

Friday, August 12, 2016

News Tidbits

Washington Blade: Activists protest Trump, Rubio outside Orlando anti-LGBT conference

Idaho Statesman: Faith healers: Change to Idaho law won’t change our beliefs

Palm Beach Post: Pastor mocks misogyny, challenges any woman to arm wrestle him

ABC News (Australia): Pope Francis 'doubts' sexual abuse case against Cardinal George Pell

Pink News: Archbishops condemn Vice President Joe Biden for officiating same-sex wedding

Religion News Service: Most churchgoers are hearing politics from the pulpit: report

New York Times: Mormons’ Distaste for Donald Trump Puts Utah Up for Grabs

Associated Press: Pastors Sue Illinois Over Gay Conversion Therapy Ban

Buzzfeed: Australian Senator Eric Abetz To Address Anti-Gay Group That Supports Conversion Therapy

LGBTQ Nation: Due to gaffe, antigay hate group raises thousands of dollars for LGBTQ teen gala

KIRO 7: Controversial former Mars Hill pastor preaches at new home

Saturday, July 23, 2016

2016 Republican National Convention: Thiel and Falwell

The Republican National Convention took place from July 18-21 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The last day of the convention included speaker choices who remind us that the Trump campaign is less than enthusiastic about LGBTQ equality and downright contemptuous toward church-state separation.

Among the speakers on the last day of the convention was billionaire Peter Thiel. Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and the first outside investor in Facebook, is also a gay man who was outed against his wishes by Gawker in 2007, according to Time. Thiel's speech, as captured in a Time transcript, played to his audience's feelings of (real or imagined) decline and national failure. Glaringly, he implied that the struggle for LGBTQ equality is a distraction from more important economic issues, as if American couldn't address both at the same time.

Thiel described the modern U.S. in ugly terms, telling listeners that the military is technologically backwards, that the government is more interested in war than space travel, and that the struggle for transgender bathroom rights is a "distraction from our real problems".

"Today our government is broken. Our nuclear bases still use floppy disks. Our newest fighter jets can’t even fly in the rain. And it would be kind to say the government’s software works poorly, because much of the time it doesn’t even work at all. That is a staggering decline for the country that completed the Manhattan project. We don’t accept such incompetence in Silicon Valley, and we must not accept it from our government.

Instead of going to Mars, we have invaded the Middle East. We don’t need to see Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails: her incompetence is in plain sight. She pushed for a war in Libya, and today it’s a training ground for ISIS. On this most important issue Donald Trump is right. It’s time to end the era of stupid wars and rebuild our country.

When I was a kid, the great debate was about how to defeat the Soviet Union. And we won. Now we are told that the great debate is about who gets to use which bathroom. This is a distraction from our real problems. Who cares?"

Thiel asserted that he was proud to be gay, then said that "fake culture wars" only serve to distract Americans from economic problems.

"I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be a Republican. But most of all I am proud to be an American. I don’t pretend to agree with every plank in our party’s platform; but fake culture wars only distract us from our economic decline, and nobody in this race is being honest about it except Donald Trump."

Thiel's attitude of "who cares?" and his disdain for "fake" culture wars was disappointing. The Republican National Convention may have wanted to include a gay speaker to convince LGBTQ voters that it was an enlightened party, but that speaker didn't seem eager to actually talk about LGBTQ issues. Does the GOP want the appearance of open-mindedness without the substance? I think so.

Also on the agenda was Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University. Before encouraging the audience to unite behind Trump and Pence, Falwell rejoiced over the prospect of the Johnson Amendment being repealed under Trump. Currently, the Internal Revenue Code forbids 501(c)(3) organizations such as churches from promoting or opposing political campaigns, a policy that Trump wants to repeal.

"Mr. Trump has added a plank to this party platform to repeal IRS rules sponsored by Lyndon Johnson in 1954 barring churches and nonprofits from expressing political free speech. Conservative universities and churches, however, have been investigated, while authorities have too often turned a blind eye toward liberal groups, including universities where left-wing ideology is so pervasive that they have, in effect, become Democratic voter indoctrination camps. Trust me, the repeal of the Johnson Amendment will create a huge revolution for conservative Christians and for free speech."

Falwell fails to grasp the function of the Johnson Amendment, which is not to limit non-profits' free speech, but to prevent them from abusing their tax-exempt status to endorse candidates. Furthermore, Falwell and Trump fail to recognize the importance of the Johnson Amendment for protecting church-state separation. In Trump, Religious Right leaders like Falwell have found a candidate who will erode the wall of separation and allow them to mingle religion and politics even more.

In my next post, I'll discuss the speech given by Donald Trump himself, and what his speech tells us about his worldview and campaign. Stay tuned.

Friday, July 22, 2016

News Tidbits

Religion News Service: James Dobson joins evangelicals endorsing Trump

NPR: Are Trump Supporters Nostalgic For A Fading White, Christian America?

Washington Post: Emails show outside group’s influence on Mississippi’s ‘religious freedom’ bill

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Group wants Christian flag removed from Georgia courtroom

The Guardian: How Mike Pence wrote the Republican Planned Parenthood attack playbook

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Commentary Tidbits

Mashable: Orlando attack is a 'wake-up call' to stop dehumanizing LGBT people, advocates say

American Prospect: The Religious Right’s Crocodile Tears Over Orlando Shooting

Alternet: Orlando Massacre Comes After Lawmakers in U.S. Filed More Than 200 Anti-LGBT Bills

Wall of Separation: Exploiting Orlando: The Threat Of Rhetoric That Divides Instead Of Unites

The New Civil Rights Movement: 'Ex-Gay' Activist Denounces Use of LGBT Pride Flag to Mourn Orlando Victims

The Advocate: The Baptist Pastor Who Cheered Orlando Murders Isn't Alone

Think Progress: Public Schools Across The Country Are Violating The Separation Of Church And State

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

News Tidbits

The Tennessean: Lawsuit challenges Tennessee counseling law

Indiana Gazette: Pennsylvania Rep. Saccone promotes bill to display 'In God We Trust'

LGBT Weekly: HRC Alabama blasts disgraced Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore over latest stall tactics

Cincinnati*com: Ark Encounter sponsors Indy 500 driver

Associated Press: Mormon church sued by 4th Navajo alleging sexual abuse

Associated Press: Cultural sensitivities obstacle at UN AIDS conference

Cindy Jacobs Encourages Christian Women to Vote

With the 2016 presidential election on the horizon, one Religious Right figure is urging women to vote. Cindy Jacobs, co-founder of Generals International, launched a campaign called Red Shoe Votes to mobilize Christian women voters, according to Charisma News. Red Shoe Votes encourages to register to vote and wear red shoes to the polls, although it carefully refrains from endorsing any candidate or political party.

Upon inspection, the campaign is infused with dominionist values. Red Shoe Votes seeks to "shift the nation" with women's votes and ensure that different spheres of society will be "standing on the firm foundation of biblical truth." The Red Shoe Votes website claims that, "For too long, we as Christian women have allowed so many other voices to speak for us, including influential women who do not share or respect biblical values."

In the Red Shoe Votes Women's Manifesto, organizers lay out their opposition to abortion and transgender identity, as well as their support for "biblically-based systems of education, healthcare, justice, economics, and government".

"We believe in the sanctity of life—that all individuals have the right to life from the point of conception to death; therefore, no one has the right to take the life of another person through crime, abortion, euthanasia, or assisted suicide.

Additionally, we believe that the quality of life for every individual matters; therefore, we believe in addressing systemic issues like poverty, racism, and human trafficking, as well as advocating for biblically-based systems of education, healthcare, justice, economics, and government.

We believe that God entrusted humanity with the stewardship of the earth; therefore, we believe we have a responsibility to properly care for the environment and wisely use our natural resources.

We believe that God intentionally created human beings as male and female; therefore, the gender identity we are born with is not a mistake and is unchangeable. Additionally, we believe that God created men and women as equals; therefore, we believe in addressing systems, doctrines, and practices that treat women as inferior or less valuable."

The authors describe their attitudes toward seven areas of society -- education, family, government, religion, business, media, and arts and entertainment -- which coincide with the seven "mountains" over which Christians must establish dominion in Seven Mountains theology. For example, with regard to family issues, the manifesto recognizes only heterosexual marriage.

"We believe that marriage between one man and one woman is the biblical foundation of the family. We acknowledge that many families have been fractured; therefore, we seek to extend support and promote wholeness for every parent desiring God’s best for their children."

Regarding government, the manifesto encourages Christians to secure positions of political power.

"We believe that Christians should not shrink back from serving in elected and appointed government offices, as this brings peace and justice to the land."

The manifesto sees Christian proselytization and conversion as a "right", adding that Christians are entitled to share their faith in every social institution. Separation of church and state is not mentioned.

"We believe that Jesus Christ is the one true God, the Creator and owner of the world. Every individual has the right to hear that Jesus is God and needs to personally accept Him as Savior.

We believe it is the role of the church to steward His world and represent His kingdom; therefore, it is the right of all people to have the freedom to share their faith in every institution of society."

Red Shoe Votes' promotional video condemns racism and features multiple women of color. Given Cindy Jacob's history of racially insensitive comments, I find this highly ironic.

Red Shoe Votes seems to be a means of getting Religious Right-friendly candidates into office. While Red Shoe Votes does not endorse any candidate or party, we can reasonably assume that its supporters will vote for right-wing candidates in gubernatorial, House, and Senate races. Regarding the presidential election, I doubt that its supporters would vote for Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, given their manifesto's stance on issues such as the place of religion in society, abortion, and LGBTQ issues. Clinton and Sanders have both expressed support for church-state separation, LGBTQ equality and reproductive rights, whereas Trump has taken either ambiguous or negative stances on the issues. However, evangelicals remain divided over Trump, so there is no guarantee that Red Shoe Voters will cast votes for him in significant numbers.

As November draws near, we can expect initiatives such as Red Shoe Votes to encourage Religious Right supporters to vote. While we can safely assume that many such voters will cast ballots for right-wing candidates in state and local elections, their behavior in the presidential election remains to be seen. Will they unite behind Trump, or refrain from supporting either presidential candidate?