Wednesday, October 18
"Left, right and religion: a double standard"
"The creation of the religious right was largely a function of the courts and politicians pushing the boundaries the other way.
"Evangelicals were moved to civic activism because the IRS threatened to revoke the tax-exempt status of private Christian schools; because the U.S. Supreme Court removed abortion from the political process; because mentions of the Almighty began to be scrubbed from valedictory addresses for fear that someone, somewhere might take offense. Today, the term 'goddamn' is treated as protected speech, but remove the 'damn' and watch the lawsuits roll in.
"So evangelicals did the only responsible thing they could in a democracy. They organized and reached out. They found allies in churchgoing Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants, Jews and even some agnostics who believed that religion plays a vital role in holding society together.
"In this they were not so different from the civil rights leaders of the past, whose rallying cry was the God-given dignity of every American. The new coalition grew over time to the point that the religious right (or 'values voters,' if you prefer) became the single largest voting bloc in American politics.
"That fact is intolerable to many intellectuals..."
***
A fine primer on the "theocracy" scare by two of America's hip, happenin' young rightish writers, in USA Today of all places.
"Evangelicals were moved to civic activism because the IRS threatened to revoke the tax-exempt status of private Christian schools; because the U.S. Supreme Court removed abortion from the political process; because mentions of the Almighty began to be scrubbed from valedictory addresses for fear that someone, somewhere might take offense. Today, the term 'goddamn' is treated as protected speech, but remove the 'damn' and watch the lawsuits roll in.
"So evangelicals did the only responsible thing they could in a democracy. They organized and reached out. They found allies in churchgoing Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants, Jews and even some agnostics who believed that religion plays a vital role in holding society together.
"In this they were not so different from the civil rights leaders of the past, whose rallying cry was the God-given dignity of every American. The new coalition grew over time to the point that the religious right (or 'values voters,' if you prefer) became the single largest voting bloc in American politics.
"That fact is intolerable to many intellectuals..."
***
A fine primer on the "theocracy" scare by two of America's hip, happenin' young rightish writers, in USA Today of all places.
