News Tidbits

New York Times: In Race for Weiner’s Seat, $75,000 From Foes of Same-Sex Marriage

San Diego Gay and Lesbian News: Fate of Uganda's "Kill The Gays" bill is unknown

Hartford Courant: A Student's Honesty Cost Her A Place At This Christian School

Houston Chronicle: Business, religion cited in North Carolina gay marriage events

Houston Chronicle: Conservative group head blasts BlueCross diversity

Los Angeles Times: South Africa's Zuma names controversial new chief justice

Oregon Live: Conservative Mars Hill Church will start services in Southeast Portland on Sept. 10

American Independent: Catholic Bishops claim feds’ birth control decision violates First Amendment’s religion clause

Minnesota Independent: Minnesota for Marriage hires NOM’s Christopher Plante

Commentary Tidbits

Fallen from Grace: One Million Moms and Their Homophobic Agenda

Sibboleth: Christian Nation? Nope.

Aljazeera: Exposing religious fundamentalism in the US  

Cognitive Discopants: Nothing Says Fun Like Dead Egyptians! 

Huffington Post: Denying Evolution and Denying Global Warming: Is There a Biblical Link?

Right Wing Watch: Bachmann Gushes, Says Schlafly "Most Important Woman In TheUnited States In The Last 100 Years"

News Tidbits

KTLA Los Angeles: Emotions Flare at Church Meeting to Protest California Gay History Bill

Daily Monitor: Parents launch bid to pass shelved gays bill in Uganda

Washington Post: California science center pays group $110,000 over canceled 2009 showing of intelligent design film

New York Daily News: Anti-gay marriage group targets New York GOPers who voted for same-sex nuptials

365 Gay: California anti-gay history referendum faces uphill battle

American Independent: NOM awards Bachmann ‘A’ for abortion views in S.C. presidential forum

Florida Independent: St. Lucie anti-abortion group to protest sex ed funds

Devchelle on Dominionism

Rick Santorum Says the Darndest Things!

On Tuesday, August 30th, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum spoke to students at Penn State's HUB-Robeson Center. Santorum answered questions from students on his presidential campaign, religious beliefs, and views on same-sex marriage. Predictably, his talk was brimming with dubious arguments against same-sex marriage, which he believes will undermine the "moral ecology" of America. However, a video of the talk is worth watching because of the challenge Santorum received from a student who criticized his stance on LGBT issues. (The original video is available on YouTube, but unfortunately its embedding function has been disabled, as it has been on videos of shorter excerpts.)

When asked why he did not support protection for same-sex marriage in the Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the 14th and 15th Amendments, Santorum's response at the 2:11 mark was predictable.

"Well, I don't find it there because I'm not an activist ... looks at the Constitution as a way to  justify my own personal beliefs and impose them on the rest of society. I don't think that's what the Constitution was there for. The Constitution was there to say what it said, not to say what future generations want it to say. From the standpoint of why I don't support a change in the marriage laws, because marriage is--I know I get criticized for saying, but marriage is what marriage is. Marriage existed before government, before the Constitution, before western civilization. Marriage has always been predominantly, overwhelmingly so, reflected in nature as such, the union of one man and one woman. It's reflected in nature, it's reflected in human society, from the very beginning of time."

Reflected in nature? Are you sure about that, Rick?

The Religious Right Around the Globe: Lou Engle Preaches to Russian IHOP

Lou Engle, co-founder of the International House of Prayer (IHOP), is a decidedly energetic preacher, sharing his New Apostolic Reformation ministry around the globe. Engle's anti-gay efforts in Uganda have been well-documented, and his outreach to Spanish-speaking audiences has been noted here. On YouTube, I stumbled upon a video of Engle preaching to Russian IHOP, which provided a unique opportunity to hear the messages he promotes abroad.

With fierce gusto, Engle delivered a passionate talk to a Russian IHOP audience through an interpreter. Many of the talk's topics were familiar, including the intercessory power of Nazarites, Nazirite DNA, the origins of TheCall, his son's Nazirite vow, and the alleged evils of abortion and homosexuality. However, this talk was unique in that it focused heavily on demons (specifically Jezebel), with talk of religion guiding government. As an added surprise, Engle made reference to a petition of 70,000 signatures that he received from the "homosexual community," a likely reference to a petition delivered to IHOP in February. What he had to say about the petition disappointed me, as it suggested that his anti-LGBT attitudes remain strong.

Bachmann and Beck Attribute Hurricane Irene to God

It was only a matter of time, I suppose. Since Religious Right voices have a habit of attributing disasters to God, it comes as no surprise that Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann did the same with Hurricane Irene last week.

First, Media Matters reported that on the August 26th edition of The Glenn Beck Program, Beck urged followers to store food in preparation for crises, insisting that Hurricane Irene was a message from God. An article from the Washington Post suggests that Beck was promoting the LDS virtue of food storage as a form of self-reliance.

"How many warnings do you think you're going to get, and how many warnings do you deserve? This hurricane that is coming through in the east coast, for anyone who's in the east coast and has been listening to me say, 'Food storage. Be prepared. Be somebody who can help others.' You've heard me say this for years ... I've been telling you, don't be in a panic situation. If you've waited, this hurricane is a blessing. It is a blessing. It is God reminding you, as was the earthquake last week, it's God reminding you you're not in control. Things can happen. Be prepared, and be someone who can help others, so when disaster strikes, God forbid, you're not panicking."

Beck seems to have realized that his comment created controversy. In a YouTube video attributed to Beck's recent talk at High Point Church in Arlington, TX, he gave the quote additional context. At the 4:29 mark of the video below, he had this to say.

"I got in trouble today, that I said--I don't even know where I was when I said it--but I said, 'This hurricane is a blessing." Yeah! Yeah, it is. Everything in our life is a blessing. My alcoholism was a blessing. Everything that went wrong in my life was a blessing. If it wasn't for all the bad that happened to me, and what I did with it, I wouldn't be standing here today. There is no bad that God--there is no lemon that God can't make into lemonade."

The merits of food storage notwithstanding, I do not believe that Glenn Beck knows the mind of God, nor do I think it's constructive to attribute divine causes to natural disasters. To boot, I doubt that everyone who lost homes, communities, and loved ones in the hurricane would call Irene a "blessing." This, alas, is yet another example of Glenn Beck being Glenn Beck.

Michele Bachmann also attributed Hurricane Irene to God, and like Beck, suggested that it was God trying to get people's attention. According to an August 29th article in the St. Petersburg Times, Bachmann told a Sarasota audience that she didn't know what else God had to do in order to get politicians' attention. She framed the East Coast earthquake and Hurricane Irene as God's attempts to get politicians to listen to the American people. Bachmann campaign spokeswoman Alice Stewart later told Talking Points Memo that the statement was "in jest."

Frankly, I don't know what disturbs me more: the idea that Bachmann may genuinely believe that God sent the hurricane, or that she would joke about it. Dozens of people died during Hurricane Irene, and countless more saw their homes and communities damaged. If Bachmann was indeed joking about God sending the hurricane to get politicians' attention, she showed startling insensitivity to Irene's victims.

What is at the root of this compulsion to see the divine hand in disasters? Is it a way of finding meaning in seemingly meaningless catastrophes? Is it a primal response to the sheer power and magnitude of natural disasters? More cynically, is it a means by which Religious Right voices can transform God into a sock puppet for their views? Perhaps all of the above are in play.


For additional news and commentary, visit the following links.

CNN: Glenn Beck: Hurricane Irene is a 'Blessing'

Washington Post: Mormon Glenn Beck: Hurricane Irene and East Coast Earthquake a 'Blessing' from God

Talking Points Memo: Michele Bachmann: Earthquake, Irene Were a Wake Up Call from God for Politicians 

Commentary Tidbits

Cognitive Discopants: Tips on Not Getting Duped Again, Part I and II

Colorlines: The Definitive Guide to Bigotry in the 2012 Republican Primaries (So Far)

Peterson Toscano's A Musing: Love in Action shuts down residential program

Talk to Action: Prayer Cures AIDS, Claims Uganda Health Minister Tied To New Apostolic Reformation

Politicus USA: From The Inside: Scammed by the Family Values Money Machine

Media Matters: Pat Robertson Suggests Viewer Leave Episcopal Church Over Gay Priest

The Advocate: The Culture of Satanic Panic 

Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Barber’s Bigoted Psychological Projection

Right Wing Watch: We Are Seeing Natural Disasters "Because Sin Has Reached Biblical Proportions"

News Tidbits

Daily Tarheel: UNC will look into Christian a capella group Psalm 100

Los Angeles Times: Rick Perry's furious effort to court Christian leaders

NPR: Justice Department Toughens Stance On Abortion Protesters

The Advocate: NOM's $100K Fund-raiser: $98,000 Short

American Independent: Operation Rescue president: FACE Act enforcement is political move to silence abortion protests

Florida Independent: Florida Family Policy Council gives award to ‘Choose Life’ couple

Glenn Beck, Human Rights, and Responsibilities

After hosting the Restoring Courage rally in Jerusalem, Glenn Beck was scheduled to give a talk at High Point Church in Arlington, TX. As a side note, Media Matters recently reminded readers that High Point Church canceled the memorial service of a Navy veteran in 2007 because he was gay.

An August 29th podcast recording of Beck's talk is available at www[dot]highpointchurch[dot]com/ under the podcast menu. In that recording of his talk, Beck defended Israel as he did at the Restoring Courage rally, claiming that Israel is not an "oppressor nation", nor is it committing genocide. (Some observers might disagree with this statement, of course.) What struck me most about this talk, however, was Beck's vitriol toward human rights efforts.

At several points in the talk, Beck spoke in harsh terms about the human rights movement. First, he warned listeners about "all the nutjobs in the world" gathering at the upcoming "Durban conference", which was likely a reference to the UN World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa. Also, during a reading of 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, he accused human rights movements of keeping records of wrongs in an unloving fashion.

"All these love movements, all these human rights movements, they keep detailed records of being wronged. Love makes no record of being wronged."

Later in the talk, Beck claimed that the human rights movement had been "perverted" into an impotent "chihuahua" that allegedly operates through fear.

"The human rights movements have been perverted. They are so upside down ... you don't even know what they mean anymore. They don't even know. Yes, they do know what they mean. It's not about love, and it's not about freedom. Dismiss them. Code Pink, all of these other groups. Dismiss them. You have no power except the power of fear, and I'm not fearful. It's like an elephant and a chihuahua. Everybody might think that little chihuahua really means something to the elephant, because it's barking and nipping its heals. Yapyapyapyapyapyap! At some point, the elephant doesn't even know the darn chihuahua is there. The elephant is lord. These movements who are engaging in fear and intimidation, that's a chihuahua. Dismiss them. Dismiss the lies, dismiss the corruption."

The YouTube video below provides audio attributed to another Beck talk, including some vitriolic words about the human rights movement at the 0:31 mark.

"These human rights organizations are a grotesque parody. Martin Luther King would be ashamed ... I've studied the pictures of him. I've looked at them. I put one on my desk for almost a year with him standing there in a group of people, linked arms, walking. The guy had death in his eyes. He knew he was going to die. He knew. So did everybody else there. They all had fear in their eyes. It was a moment in time, a snapshot, but he stood. For what? For equal justice and a chance for man to be free. We must understand that you cannot have a human rights movement without a human responsibility movement. So today, let us declare, we dismiss the parody of the human rights movement. We will fight for human rights when human rights -- and it's everywhere, in our own country and elsewhere -- we will fight for when human rights have been lost or are being trampled, but we will fight using human responsibilities."

In effect, these words belittle the present-day human rights movement by lampooning it as a toothless tiger that favors rights over responsibilities. I encourage anyone who embraces this straw man attack on the human rights movement to actually research what human rights defenders do. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, PLAN International, Physicians for Human Rights, MADRE, and countless other organizations are devoted to investigating human rights violations, exposing atrocities, holding offenders accountable, and fostering reform. They alert the world to horrors such as war crimes, unjust detention, torture, sexual violence, FGM, trafficking, and a host of other abuses. They hold governments accountable for how they treat human beings. They encourage supporters to take a stand against injustice by pressuring governments to redress human rights violations. In short, these organizations work tirelessly to defend human rights while encouraging observers to stand up for the rights of others. They do NOT resemble Beck's straw man.

As an antidote to alleged emphasis on rights over responsibilities, Beck has put forth his "Declaration of Rights and Responsibilities", available at www[dot]glennbeck[dot]com/2011/08/24/declaration-of-rights-responsibilities/. Beck's declaration contains ten responsibilities for readers, most of which are noble and reasonable, such as the responsibility to defend freedom of speech, to honor others' freedom of worship, to aid the less fortunate, and to speak up for those who are unjustly accused. (Some commentators find great irony in this.) Other tasks, such as accountability to God and the responsibility to uphold the Ten Commandments, reveal the Biblical flavor of the document.

Peppered with references to Biblical heroes and "nature's God", Beck's declaration rails against "political correctness" and the alleged silencing of opposing views. The document alleges that the more people focus on their rights, and the more they are allegedly told not to worry about their responsibilities, the more they lose those rights. I don't know why Beck believes that people are demanding rights while shrugging off responsibilities, but I don't see this in the human rights movement.

Beck's acrimony toward the human rights movement is not unique, since other Religious Right figures have looked askance at human rights efforts such as CEDAW, UNCRC, and a 2010 child marriage prevention bill. What troubles me is the way Beck caricatures human rights efforts, painting the movement as a individualist "chihuahua" while ignoring its many positive achievements. Is it because several human rights organizations demand accountability from Israel, a country that Beck lionizes? Is it because Beck wants to distinguish his "Declaration of Rights and Responsibilities" from the human rights movement? I don't know. What I do know is that we should honor human rights work while keeping an eye on anti-human rights movement rhetoric from the Religious Right.