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Christian Pol, Attacked for Opposing ‘In God We Trust’ in School, Talks Church and State

By Frederick Clarkson

…God We Trust bills are part of a long term plan for conservative Christian domination, organized by Project Blitz under the rubric of religious freedom, I realized that this is a moment to sit up and take notice. RD: So we have politicians promoting a generic god in the public schools and simultaneously stirring up Christian nationalism. What do you think is going on? JM: Motto proponents make it clear they are promoting their Christian God. Yet,…

Why Won’t Conservatives Call Gay-Bashing a Hate Crime?

By Eric Reitan

…he last 40 years been to achieve social equality for gays and lesbians, to repeal sodomy laws and to gain rights to such things as uncloseted military service and civil marriage? How does any of that qualify as an effort to destroy the family? In a May 23, 2004 televised simulcast to hundreds of churches, entitled “The Battle for Marriage,” Dobson offers his answer: “Traditional marriage between one man and one woman cannot co-exist with homosexua…

Republicans Silent on Islamophobia

By Sarah Posner

Politico reports this morning that some Congressional Republicans are cool to Rep. Peter King’s “radicalization of Islam” hearings. The leadership is split, with Majority Leader Eric Cantor backing him and Speaker John Boehner and Whip Kevin McCarthy not so keen. Let’s be honest, though: this is really about distractions from a legislative agenda more than it is real discomfort with a religiously-motivated witchhunt. If Boehner and McCarthy were…

GOP isn’t Pro-Life After All

By Patricia Miller

…related to icky girl parts. Beyond the contempt for the entire process of reproduction, it takes a special kind of cognitive dissonance to claim that you are “pro-life” but don’t want to pay for women to carry a pregnancy to term. Conservative Republicans are suggesting that a woman on an individual insurance plan who gets pregnant and can’t come up with the $5,000 that it took to buy a pregnancy “rider” before the ACA reforms, should either abor…

Akin Revival

By Sarah Posner

…he podium of a hotel ballroom recently to pray over the kneeling figure of Rep. Todd Akin, a Senate candidate whose campaign had been pronounced dead by national Republican leaders weeks before. Akin’s political revival has become a cause celebre for this group of clerics and other conservatives, who have launched a carefully orchestrated effort to lift the GOP candidate back into contention for a seat that could help decide control of the Senate….

LDS Leaders Owe Repentance and Apology for Cruelty to LGBTQ People and Their Children

By Holly Welker

…ity’s most celebrated ideals?) The statement is akin to a customer service rep lamenting the fact that their employer doesn’t give them the power to solve the problem a customer is reporting. You can all but hear Dallin H. Oaks and Russell M. Nelson of the First Presidency saying, “Look, don’t blame us for the fact that God finds your gayness abhorrent! We’re just messengers!” There’s no acknowledgment of stewardship, no admission of agency and au…

Why Don’t Churches Have to Disclose Lobbying Activities?

By Sarah Posner

Chuck Currie objects to Rep. Lynn Woolsey’s call to have the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) tax-exempt status investigated because of its advocacy for the Stupak-Pitts amendment to the House health care bill. Currie says Woolsey’s proposal infringes on religious freedom. It’s hard imagine any religious group on the right or left coming out in favor of that kind of restriction. Similar arguments have been about the LDS Churc…

DNC Zombie Lie Count: 4

By Daniel Schultz

…on Stupak amendment to the Affordable Care Act; 88% of those seats went to Republicans after Democrats were tied to the assertion that Obamacare funded abortion. Former Democratic Rep. Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, who lost his bid for reelection, noted that antiabortion voters didn’t stop sending people to Congress: “They just stopped sending Democrats.” This takes completely the wrong lesson from the history. For one thing, the Republicans didn’t s…

Romney’s VP Pick of Ryan Will Bring Religion to the Fore

By Sarah Posner

…mney will announce today that he will pick Republican budget-slashing guru Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his running mate. The conventional wisdom is that he’s trying to win over Tea Partiers and fiscal conservatives—but it’s clearly a religious play, too. The pick will (among other things) ignite a religious war of words, if not by the campaigns themselves, by their surrogates. Ryan and House Speaker John Boehner, after all, famously sought the approv…

Guns and the Wyoming Legislator Proposing the Shari’ah Law Ban

By Sarah Posner

…rulings have been based on Islamic law, or Shariah,” the Billings Gazette reports, “But state Rep. Gerald Gay, R-Casper, said his proposed constitutional amendment, House Joint Resolution 8, is meant as a ‘pre-emptive strike’ to ensure judges don’t rely on Shariah in cases involving, for example, arranged marriages, ‘honor killings’ or usury cases.” Gay needs approval of two-thirds of the legislature and the governor’s signature to place the amen…