Rendering Unto Caesar: A Peek Under the Hood of the Dominionist Machine
If you ever wondered what it would be like to attend a Klan rally, I suspect that a meeting of the Family Research Council comes pretty close. A recent convention of that bastion of religious bigotry has been published on the Internet for the whole online world to see. The video is an excellent artifact for the study of reaction to progress. It gives us a glimpse into an Orwellian world where despotism is promoted in the name of religious freedom.
[Video inside]
The issue at hand is the sorry plight of a beleaguered military sergeant who had been reprimanded for misconduct that he professes to be an exercise of his constitutional rights. He paints a picture of military personnel cowed into silence by regulations that are intended to maintain decorum in a pluralistic military organization. Fundamentalists are groaning over the oppressive burden of restrictions against proselytism and against the denigration of soldiers considered to be sinners.
One of the speakers at the meeting is an advocate for fundamentalist chaplains in the military. It is ironic that he quotes a famous Freemason who instituted the chaplaincy in order to serve Christian soldiers. Fundamentalists think of Masonry as a form of devil worship. One of our students remarked that the quote referred to "good Christian" rather than vicious, brutal, bigoted Christian soldiers.
The chaplain advocate showed his reactionary hand when he described how awful it would be for fundamentalist children to be exposed to public displays of affection by same-sex couples. People in the audience could easily agree with that assessment. People who live outside the narrow confines of Redneckistan might not sympathize with the plight of these homophobic people.
One of the speakers, a former military intelligence general, overtly decried the policy of tolerance in the military. He considers religious pluralism to be communistic. He even advocates a conspiracy theory about preparations for martial law. It is clear that fear and intolerance are some of the key traditional family values promoted by the Family Research Council.
There is concern on the part of legitimate military religious freedom advocates that repressive measures may be part of the reaction against progress. In reducing the hostility against homosexuals and freethinkers, bigots in the military are turning the heat up on their own kind. This creates a sacrificial lamb effect that makes the beleaguered bigot seem like a martyr.
One of the greatest ironies of the whole affair is that the chaplain advocate tried to hide his naked aggression behind the fig leaf of biblical misinterpretation. He claims that the Bible says that marriage is only between one man and one woman, which it does not. He also claims that he believes that the Bible says what it says. He clearly advocates a Bible that says that which it does not say. I suspect that his basic problem is that he has not yet figured out the distinction between good and evil.
What advice do you have for the benighted souls at the Family Research Council?
Links: Faux News on the sergeant's case. Zack Ford rebuts Faux News story.
[Video inside]
Click to viewThe issue at hand is the sorry plight of a beleaguered military sergeant who had been reprimanded for misconduct that he professes to be an exercise of his constitutional rights. He paints a picture of military personnel cowed into silence by regulations that are intended to maintain decorum in a pluralistic military organization. Fundamentalists are groaning over the oppressive burden of restrictions against proselytism and against the denigration of soldiers considered to be sinners.
One of the speakers at the meeting is an advocate for fundamentalist chaplains in the military. It is ironic that he quotes a famous Freemason who instituted the chaplaincy in order to serve Christian soldiers. Fundamentalists think of Masonry as a form of devil worship. One of our students remarked that the quote referred to "good Christian" rather than vicious, brutal, bigoted Christian soldiers.
The chaplain advocate showed his reactionary hand when he described how awful it would be for fundamentalist children to be exposed to public displays of affection by same-sex couples. People in the audience could easily agree with that assessment. People who live outside the narrow confines of Redneckistan might not sympathize with the plight of these homophobic people.
One of the speakers, a former military intelligence general, overtly decried the policy of tolerance in the military. He considers religious pluralism to be communistic. He even advocates a conspiracy theory about preparations for martial law. It is clear that fear and intolerance are some of the key traditional family values promoted by the Family Research Council.
There is concern on the part of legitimate military religious freedom advocates that repressive measures may be part of the reaction against progress. In reducing the hostility against homosexuals and freethinkers, bigots in the military are turning the heat up on their own kind. This creates a sacrificial lamb effect that makes the beleaguered bigot seem like a martyr.
One of the greatest ironies of the whole affair is that the chaplain advocate tried to hide his naked aggression behind the fig leaf of biblical misinterpretation. He claims that the Bible says that marriage is only between one man and one woman, which it does not. He also claims that he believes that the Bible says what it says. He clearly advocates a Bible that says that which it does not say. I suspect that his basic problem is that he has not yet figured out the distinction between good and evil.
What advice do you have for the benighted souls at the Family Research Council?
Links: Faux News on the sergeant's case. Zack Ford rebuts Faux News story.