Commentary Tidbits

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: Congressional Leaders, Presidential Candidates Court Religious Right, As Theocratic Movement Gears Up For 2012

Religion News Service: Seven things we learned from the Values Voter Summit 

A Feather Adrift: Annual Grifters Conference Held in Shangri-La

Stephanie's Written Word: When She Woke

Salon: Introducing: A Tea People's History

Military Religious Freedom Foundation: A Triumph for the Constitution at the US Air Force Academy

Katha Pollitt at the Nation: Ban Birth Control? They Wouldn't Dare ...

The Atheist Experience: Matt Slick defends "honor killing": a woman's hymen is worth more than her life

Friendly Atheist: An Atheist Goes to a Christian Men's Conference,
Part 1 and Part 2

(Hat tip to Infidel753 for several of these links)

News Tidbits

Washington Post: Judge rejects appeal of Ohio teacher fired for allegedly preaching religious beliefs in class

Washington Post: Poll: Three in four pastors say Mormons aren’t Christian

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Eddie Long, New Birth seek to recoup settlement money

CNN: Straddling the line between church and politics in 2012 GOP race

Christian Science Monitor: Sex, race, and religion: Speed bumps along the campaign trail

Toronto Sun: School prayer 'slippery slope,' rally told

Edge Boston: Santorum: Race is Identity, Gay is Sexual Conduct

My Northwest: Gay Be Gone! Michele Bachmann's Ex-Lesbian Friend Can Pray your Gay Away

"Don't Be The Weird One"

Gil Mertz, the Family Research Council's regional director of development, served as master of ceremonies at the 2011 Values Voters Summit. At the beginning of the summit on Friday, October 7th, he urged attendees not to be "the weird one."

"Unfortunately, there are some unscrupulous members of the media who will go out of their way to find the weirdest person they can. They will provoke you, they will try to get you to say or do something that they can film and show on their air and say, 'See? This is what all Values Voters are like.' So repeat it with me. Don't be the weird one. That's my job."

:: facepalm ::

Right-Wingers Weren't the Only Voices at the 2011 Values Voters Summit

American Atheists table outside the
2011 Values Voters Summit

Many of the right-wing messages at the 2011 Values Voters Summit caused observers some consternation. I'd like to highlight the other groups in Washington last weekend who presented an alternative message to that of the Values Voters Summit.

First, American Atheists set up an information table outside the Omni Shoreham Hotel. The people manning the table were having polite conversations with summit attendees when I swung by, and their table was stocked with atheist magazines and pamphlets. At a conference brimming with right-wing Christian rhetoric, the presence of atheists, however low-key, was refreshing.

Second, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Truth Wins Out scheduled a press conference on October 7th to draw attention to two of the summit's sponsors, the American Family Association (AFA) and the Family Research Council (FRC). The SPLC has categorized both organizations as hate groups due to their discredited anti-gay propaganda. The press conference also heralded the release of a new SPLC report, The Anti-Gay Lobby: The Family Research Council, the American Family Association, & the Demonization of LGBT People.

It comforts me to know that the troubling messages of Values Voters Summit participants have not gone unnoticed. Kudos to the SPLC, Truth Wins Out, and American Atheists for their efforts.


For additional commentary, visit the following links.

Think Progress: Southern Poverty Law Center Reminds GOP of the Hate Groups Behind Values Voters Summit

Joe.My.God: Fischer vs. SPLC

Reproductive Issues at the 2011 Values Voters Summit

Plastic fetuses at the Pro-Life
Across America table at the
2011 Values Voters Summit

(To read about tensions between evangelicals and Mormons at the 2011 Values Voters Summit, click here. To read about homophobia at the summit, click here. To read about science and nature at the summit, click here. To read about Glenn Beck's talk, click here.)

What would a Religious Right event be without anti-abortion rhetoric? Abortion and LGBT rights are perhaps the most central issues to the Religious Right, and the Values Voters Summit provided right-wing leaders with an opportunity to denounce both.

First, I was struck by the strong presence of anti-abortion organizations in the exhibit room, with information tables from Pro-Life Across America, Crossroads Pro-Life, Americans United for Life, and several other groups present. Even organizations that did not focus exclusively on abortion spoke of it in their literature. For example, the Samaritan Ministries table had pamphlets that read, "Do You Support Abortion, Sexual Immorality, Drug & Alcohol Abuse with Your Health Insurance?"

In the main ballroom, Values Voter Summit speakers wasted no time in denouncing abortion and its defenders. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins criticized the Obama administration's stance on abortion and contraception. At the 15:10 mark of C-SPAN's Friday morning coverage video, he had this to say.

"And let's look at the social values of this president. Overturn the Mexico City policy which prohibits your tax dollars from being used to promote abortion in foreign countries. Directing more and more tax dollars to ineffective and unethical embryonic stem cell research. Directing more money to the United Nations family planning which is a major funder of anti-child policies like China's one-child policy. Directing more funding to abortion through Obamacare. Mandating coverage of contraception including abortifacients by faith-based organizations."

Speaker of the House John Boehner, whose anti-abortion stance is well-known, defended the Hyde Amendment at the 30:22 mark of the C-SPAN Friday morning video.

"Making sure that the Hyde Amendment becomes the law of the land once again to prohibit federal taxpayer dollars from being used to fund elective abortion was passed by the House and we're going to continue to press to make this the law of the land."

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney also denounced abortion, expressing his approval of the Hyde Amendment as well. If elected president, Romney promised to end funding for Planned Parenthood and encourage the overturning of Roe v. Wade in favor of delegating abortion policies to the states.

Glenn Beck at the 2011 Values Voters Summit

Glenn Beck at the
2011 Values Voters Summit

(To read about tensions between evangelicals and Mormons at the 2011 Values Voters Summit, click here. To read about homophobia, click here. To read about science, click here. To read about reproductive issues, click here.)

Saturday afternoon of the 2011 Values Voters Summit included a highly anticipated talk by Glenn Beck. When I returned to the Omni Shoreham Hotel after lunch, there was already a long line forming outside the main ballroom. Hundreds of people formed a line that spilled into the hallway, all eager to have a seat in the ballroom when Beck spoke.

After a talk by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the moment had arrived. Glenn Beck walked on stage to the sound of thunderous applause from the audience. As I listened to his talk, I was struck not only by his preacher-like delivery (also apparent at the Restoring Courage rally), but how his message alternated between praise for American glory and contempt for leftists.

Beck began his speech by describing America at the time of the Civil War, when both North and South seethed with anger and longed for revenge. During an incident in which his vice president was drunk and belligerent, President Lincoln calmed him by saying, "and with malice toward none." Malice is not the correct path, Beck said, an ironic quote from a man with a history of mean-spirited statements.

News & Commentary Tidbits: 2011 Values Voters Summit Edition

Christian Science Monitor: Why Ron Paul did well among social conservatives at the Values Voter Summit

News One: America Needs A True Revolution Of Values

SPLC Hatewatch: Extremists of Many Stripes Gather at Values Voter Summit 2011

Huffington Post: GOP Campaigns Court 'Values Voters' at D.C. Summit

Talking Points Memo: Rick Santorum: When Selecting Candidate, ‘Look At Who They Lay Down With At Night’

Science and Nature at the 2011 Values Voters Summit

(To read about homophobia at the 2011 Values Voters Summit, click here. To read about tensions between evangelicals and Mormons, click here. To read about reproductive issues, click here. To read about Glenn Beck's speech, click here.)

So far, this blog has covered anti-Mormon and anti-gay rhetoric at the 2011 Values Voters Summit. I'd also like to discuss what some speakers were saying about science and nature. Although science and nature did not figure as prominently as other issues at the summit, what two speakers said nevertheless deserve attention.

First, in his opening speech, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins listed several Obama administration economic policies he disagreed with. At the 15:00 mark of this C-SPAN Friday morning coverage video, Perkins insisted that environmental regulations were supposedly detrimental to job creation, saying "there's the EPA's global warming crusade that is choking out the businesses that create the very jobs that Washington promises."

Perkins thus tried to delegitimize climate change as a "crusade", framing the EPA's efforts as somehow inimical to America's economic health. Memories of Herman Cain's contempt for the EPA at the Fox News/Google debate immediately came to mind. The idea that unabated climate change could have a detrimental impact on the economy, not to mention public health, was never considered.

Second, the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer made the outrageous claim that a president who believes in evolution would not safeguard the people's rights.

"I submit to you that not a single one of our inalienable rights will be safe in the hands of a president who believes that we evolved from slime and we are the descendants of apes and baboons. Now if you doubt me, look at the nation-states in the 20th century which rejected the creator god of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Nazi Germany. Stalinist Russia. Communist China. The one thing all these secular states share in common is dead bodies."

First, Bryan, supporters of evolution do not posit that humans evolved from apes; they argue that humans and modern apes had a common ancestor. Second, there have been many non-Christian countries that did not devolve into fascism and mass murder. The leaps in logic were breathtaking.

In effect, Fischer was framing evolution as a moral issue. In Fischer's worldview, belief in evolution is incompatible with belief in the Christian God, and therefore incompatible with morality as he understands it. Unfortunately, such a worldview could make it very easy to demonize those who accept evolution.

Perkins is not alone in his antipathy toward climate change policies, and that Fischer is not alone in his views on evolution and morality. Indeed their rhetoric may shed light on why some right-wing people continue to look askance at evolution and climate change. Importantly, both evolution and climate change suggest that humans are not independent of or superior to nature, but part of it, and that our existence is intertwined with that of other life forms and our environment. This concept, I think, is what right-wing Christians such as Perkins and Fischer may find so unpalatable.


For additional commentary, visit the following links.

Right Wing Watch: Fischer: Rights Endangered if President Believes in Evolution

Little Green Footballs: Unreal: At Values Voter Summit, Bryan Fischer Says Rights Are Endangered if President Believes in Evolution

Thoughts from Kansas: Dispatch from the Values Voters Summit

Homophobia at the 2011 Values Voters Summit

Bryan Fischer at
2011 Values Voters Summit

(To read about tensions between evangelicals and Mormons at the 2011 Values Voters Summit, click here. To read about science and nature, click here. To read about reproductive issues, click here. To read about Glenn Beck's speech, click here.)

In my prior post, I expressed amazement that several voices at the Values Voters Summit frowned on anti-Mormon statements made by Robert Jeffress and Bryan Fischer, while overlooking homophobic rhetoric at the event. In this post, I'd like to focus on anti-gay organizations and speeches at the 2011 Values Voters Summit.

In the exhibit hall, dozens of right-wing organizations set up information tables, with materials on abortion, human trafficking, Israel, media, and other issues. However, tables for two homophobic organizations -- the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) -- caught my attention. NOM is a national organization opposed to same-sex marriage, while PFOX is one of the organizations involved in the so-called "ex-gay" movement.

The PFOX table was selling copies of Wild Elephant (also published as Chased by an Elephant), which takes a dim view of homosexuality and pre-marital sex. Also on the table was a companion book for children entitled Me Tarzan, You Jane, which states that marriage is between a man and a woman while urging kids to respect "God's age-old rules" for feelings and behavior. Pamphlets on the table bore titles such as "Can Sexual Orientation Change?", "Gender Identity Confusion", and "Tolerance for the Ex-Gay Community." Oy!

Mormons and Evangelicals Clash at 2011 Values Voters Summit

Sign atop a truck outside of
2011 Values Voters Summit

(To read about science and nature at the 2011 Values Voters Summit, click here. To read about homophobia, click here. To read about reproductive issues, click here. To read about Glenn Beck's speech, click here.)

Before I share my account of speeches and sights at the 2011 Values Voters Summit, I want to bring attention to tensions between Mormons and anti-Mormon evangelicals at the summit. As some commentators expected, not only did some attendees express antipathy toward Mormonism, but Mitt Romney and Glenn Beck also spoke out (albeit gently) against anti-Mormon sentiments.

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association (one of the Values Voters Summit's co-sponsors) created controversy earlier this year when he made a controversial comments about Mormons on AFA's Focal Point. This fact was not lost on Mitt Romney, a Mormon himself. During his speech at the summit on Saturday, October 8th, Romney did not name names, but criticized one of the conference speakers for using "poisonous language."

"We should remember that decency and civility are values too. One of the speakers who will follow me today has crossed that line, I think. Poisonous language doesn’t advance our cause. It has never softened a single heart or changed a single mind. The blessings of faith carry the responsibility of civil and respectful debate."

Glenn Beck, also a Mormon, defended his faith during an afternoon speech on October 8th. Acknowledging the right of unnamed Values Voters Summit speakers to criticize his beliefs, Beck  nevertheless made it clear that he would not apologize for his Mormon religion. "I am a proud member of the Church of Jesus Christ," he told listeners.