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The Plank in Michael Gerson's Eye

Jim Naughton is the communications director of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC. In "The Plank in Michael Gerson's Eye," Naughton reveals that Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, the man who coined the term "axis of evil," is a member of a schismatic Episcopal churches in Virginia that has placed itself under the authority of Anglican prelate Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria.

No wonder Naughton disingenuously assaults Barack Obama over Rev. Wright's comments but writes nothing about Akinola's persecution of gay people in Nigeria and support for a  massacre of Nigerian Muslims by members of Akinola's Christian Association of Nigeria.

Fort Riley atheist soldier speaks out on lawsuit

From the article:

Known as "the atheist guy," [U.S. Army Specialist Jeremy] Hall has been called immoral, a devil worshipper and — just as severe to some soldiers — gay, none of which, he says, is true. Hall even drove fellow soldiers to church in Iraq and paused while they prayed before meals.

"I see a name and rank and United States flag on their shoulder. That's what I believe everyone else should see," he said.
.....
Hall was a gunner on a Humvee, which took several bullets in its protective shield. Afterward, his commander asked whether he believed in God, Hall said.

"I said, 'No, but I believe in Plexiglas,'" Hall said. "I've never believed I was going to a happy place. You get one life. When I die, I'm worm food."

The issue came to a head when, according to Hall, a superior officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, threatened to bring charges against him for trying to hold a meeting of atheists in Iraq. Welborn has denied Hall's allegations.

"Judgment Day" wins Peabody

The NOVA program, "Judgment Day," about the Kitzmiller v. Dover case in which Intelligent Design was exposed as crypo-Creationism, a form of religious proselytizing, and rightly banned from the science classroom in American public schools, won a Peabody Award.

Congrats to NOVA for defending science education. You can help defend science education by joining the National Center for Science Education (NCSE).

Chris Rodda's review of Waldman's "Founding Faith"

Chris Rodda over at Talk To Action has a good and fairly positive review of Steven Waldman's new book, Founding Faith. While recommending the book, Rodda also does the service of raising some historical inaccuracies in it. Overall though, Rodda's concern is that the book

will give the reader who is not already familiar with the misuse of history in the church/state debate the erroneous impression that the historical distortions come equally from both sides. This is simply not the case.

The religious right's attacks on mainline Protestantism

Over at dkos, Troutfishing wisely calls our attention to the American rightwing's attacks against mainline Protestantism. These attacks began decades ago, but continue right up until today, including the racist and hypocritical talking points about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which the mainstream media mindlessly parrots.

(For some sense of the hypocrisy involved, read this and this about how religious right pastors routinely attack the United States of America and damn it for this or that, and they're called patriots. What is more, Rev. Wright's comments were an echo in biblical language the opinions of the former US ambassador to Iraq.)

Troutfishing highlights the new video Renewal or Ruin? about the perversely named Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD), a component of American radical conservatism's war against mainline Protestant churches. Learn more about the IRD at www.ird-info.com.

From the post:

Attacks on the National Council Of Churches, smearing that body and liberal Christianity in general, as socialist or crypto-marxist, began as early as the 1950's (and possibly even before then) but the  full-blown right wing war on the historically liberal mainline Christian denominations did not begin until the 1980's...

The new left, the progressive left, needs all its components, all its allies and all its possible strength if the nascent movement is to change America and help lead the world away from reactive politics,  away from endless war and towards hope....

Blog Against Theocracy

The March 21-23 weekend "blogswarm" known as Blog Against Theocracy brought a wealth of posts on subjects like the separation of Church and State, freedom of religion, Christian Reconstructionism, Christian Nationalism, the religious right, Creationism, and more.

Also visit First Freedom First, an unofficial partner of the Blog Against Theocracy project and a partnership of the Interfaith Alliance and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU).

Pharyngula on OK State Rep and homophobe . . . Call to action

Pharyngula spoke out about Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern. (More here.)

Kerns is the sponsor of Oklahoma House Bill 2211, the "Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act". You can tell from the title what it is: a bill that would privilege religious opinions over scientific information in public school classrooms.

My letter to Jacqui Smith MP concerning Mehdi Kazemi

As reported in The Independent:

Mehdi Kazemi is a gay teenager from Iran. He sought sanctuary in Britain after his boyfriend was hanged for homosexuality. So why is Britain so determined to send him back to Tehran – to almost certain execution?

I believe no British Government should aid even indirectly the homophobia of a theocratic state.

I sent the below as an e-mail to the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith. You can do the same. Click here to e-mail her.

Dear Madam Secretary,

I am writing to urge the Home Office not to deport Mehdi Kazemi. Iran is a theocratic state that treats gay men and lesbians inhumanly, subjecting them even to execution. Mehdi Kazemi’s boyfriend was executed in Iran. I believe it would be horrible for the Labour Government to force Mr Kazemi to return. Once in Iran, Mr Kazemi’s life—should he be allowed to keep it—would be a living hell given the Iranian authorities’ primitive attitudes towards homosexuality. What is more, it would send a signal to the world that the United Kingdom is not the welcoming place that I know it to be, and that the Government is not a beacon for pragmatic progressivism that I know it aims to be.

Thank you for considering this matter.

Please consider echoing my sentiments by e-mailing the Home Secretary.

The Party Faithful

In examining the religious right it is impossible not to look at its influence on the Republican Party. But it is also important to examine misunderstandings about the religious right.

Some misunderstandings are common, and Amy Sullivan's new book, The Party Faithful, demonstrates that an American evangelical is not necessarily a partisan Republican or even what would generally be considered politically conservative. Sullivan was recently interviewed by Salon.com.

Sullivan is a Democrat and an evangelical Christian. She has deep moral concerns about abortion, but is pro-choice. Also, she is strongly pro-gay rights. Her two main contentions in Party Faithful are that Democrats must stop conceding the evangelical vote to the Republican Party, and that to do this does not require that Democrats become conservative on the issues of abortion or gay rights. She notes that Democratic politicians who refuse to ridicule evangelicals, refuse to stereotype them as rightwing nuts, and who instead make thoughtful shifts in language based on genuine respect for people of faith might be surprised how much evangelical support they get.

Sullivan makes this point by acknowledging simple facts:

Sixteen million evangelicals voted for John Kerry in 2004. So, to write off the entire constituency from the beginning is to ignore people that are already on your side.
.....
I would point you to the elections in 2006 and those in Michigan and Ohio, where you had not just two pro-choice candidates running for the position of governor but two pro-gay rights Democrats, and they were both able to win nearly half of the evangelical vote.... There will always be evangelicals who will never vote for a pro-choice candidate, but you're also going to have a pretty large pool of voters who just don't want to have someone call their personal beliefs right-wing and intolerant.

She outlines the problem this way:

It continues to shock people when I talk to Democratic audiences and I remind them that 87 percent of Americans say that religion is an important part of their lives. And that includes a heck of a lot of Democrats. Republicans are not getting 87 percent of the vote. I continue to meet...Democrats...who insist...that Bill Clinton is not religious, that it's just an act.... Who find it inconceivable that Nancy Pelosi is a committed Catholic, [or think] that whenever she talks about faith now it's just the result of advisors and consultants telling her it's smart, when in fact this is a woman who's been quoting the Bible in closed-door meetings for decades. So I do think Democrats are kind of surprised to learn who the religious are in their midst and I think those are mostly the secular Democrats. The religious Democrats who I talk to are somewhat relieved because they had all been thinking that they were all by themselves.

Frederick Clarkson of Talk To Action noted that Sullivan seems to represent what's been called the "Third Way" for the Democratic Party relative to religion and religiously-charged issues, and he is distrustful of it:

While I agree that it is possible and desirable to adjust language so as not to be unnecessarily off putting to people who are pro-choice, but queasy about the choice itself; this kind of thinking can provide a cover for creeping religious right thinking in the party, something we have seen, for example, from Mara Vanderslice and Eric Sapp's Common Good Strategies.

Blue Like Jazz & evangelical 20-somethings

A recent article (AP) examines the non-fiction book, Blue Like Jazz. According to the article, it's a best-seller among some evangelicals and "puts [a] tolerant face on Christianity." The book's author, Donald Miller, is an evangelical, but the term "Christianity" for him came to mean, "conservative politics, suburban consumerism, and an 'insensitivity to people who aren't like us.'"

The article continues with Miller's words:

"I felt, once again, that there was this underlying hostility for homosexuals and Democrats and, well, hippie types. I cannot tell you how much I did not want liberal or gay people to be my enemies. I liked them," he wrote. "The real issue in the Christian community was that (love) was conditional . . . You were loved in word, but there was, without question, a social commodity that was being withheld from you until you shaped up."

As the article notes, many 20-something evangelicals are buying Miller's book and passing it along. Apparently, he's struck a chord. However, I share the skepticism of Frederick Clarkson of Talk To Action, who stated in an e-mail:

Miller is … heading off in the direction of a depoliticized conservative evangelicalism and getting along with people instead of being arch and judgmental. Seems to be a common thing among the younger generation of evangelicals these days. It is quite unproved, however, if their voting and general political behavior will be much affected by these various shifts.

We shall see.