Growing Pains

There’s a world of hurt and confusion in this story, as well as the de rigeur Tennessee connection:

Federal authorities last week arrested and charged a Tennessee pastor with aiding in the “international parental kidnapping” of a girl who has been missing since late 2009 and is at the center of a lengthy custody battle between her two mothers — a onetime lesbian couple who were in a civil union.

The two had a bitter falling-out after one became an evangelical Christian and denounced the other’s continued “homosexual lifestyle.”

[...]

Lisa Miller, the girl’s biological mother and a newly fervent Baptist, was championed by conservatives for her efforts to shield her daughter from homosexuality. A Vermont court had granted her primary custody of the daughter, Isabella Ruth Miller-Jenkins, after Ms. Miller split with her partner, Janet Jenkins, in 2003. But the court also declared Ms. Jenkins to be a legal parent with liberal visiting rights, and Ms. Miller, who had moved with the girl to Virginia, defied repeated orders to permit the visits.

The case took a turn in late 2009, as the Vermont family court, citing Ms. Miller’s noncompliance, shifted primary custody to Ms. Jenkins. Ms. Miller and Isabella, who is now 9, disappeared. A warrant was issued for Ms. Miller’s arrest, and they have not been heard from since.

I’ve always said that the reason we need to have legal gay marriage is so we can have legal gay divorce. Even under the best of circumstances, divorce is an ugly business but if you’re gay, breaking up really is hard to do. Gay divorce is truly a legal nightmare for lots of reasons related to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, differing state laws, and all sorts of complications.

The Miller-Jenkins case is a perfect example of this. As I read the story in Sunday’s paper, I thought about how this whole situation reflected the cultural shifts of the past few decades -- changes we’re still coming to terms with in society at large. The issues at play are those same cultural issues which surface every election and are a major factor in our politics.

Once upon a time in America a situation like this would never exist: there would be no doubt as to whether a court would award custody or visitation rights to an avowed lesbian, there would be no question as to who was right or wrong in this scenario. For that matter, it would be pretty much a given that a same-sex couple would be infertile. But the past 30-40 years have seen major cultural changes, not to mention medical advances. Not all of these changes have been embraced by the totality of our religious and legal institutions. We're still sifting through it all, and I'd say it will take about a generation for all of this stuff to finally settle out.

And I have no doubt which way it will go. The culture wars are over and the right has lost; they just don't know it yet. Throughout its history America has always expanded its table to invite ever more groups of people to democracy's banquet; we've never taken seats away. That doesn't mean it's been an easy or effortless thing, far from it. And I think a lot of the knee-jerk legislation we see in places like Arizona and Tennessee attacking GLBT citizens and immigrants and the poor are all just a response to this societal shift we're going through right now.

We live in a post-Christian, post-racial, post-Roe-v-Wade, post-internet, post-biomedical engineering, post climate change, post-you-name-it age, and that's a lot of change for one society to handle. It's inevitable that we've splintered as we have, it's a predictable response by a large group of people to a lot of change. But I have great expectations for the next 20 years.

We're just going through some growing pains, that's all.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

[UPDATE]:

Don't know if this was before or after he was briefly jailed for refusing to pay a $1 bond. What a dufus.

----------------------

File this one under shit you can't make up:

Quran-burning Florida pastor's gun accidentally fires in Michigan

DEARBORN, Mich. -- A controversial anti-Muslim pastor from Florida accidentally fired his .40-caliber handgun while he was at a FOX television studio Thursday night, according to police.

Terry Jones, 59, of Gainesville, was getting in the passenger side of his car at 11:10 p.m. after an interview when the Taurus handgun went off, sending a bullet into the floorboard, Southfield Police Lt. Nick Loussia said Friday.

I may be rethinking my position on gun control. [/sarcasm]

Stupid? Corrupt? Or Immoral?

That’s really the only thing I have to say in regards to this story. Yes, John Boehner took time away from perfecting his golf game this weekend to come to Nashville and lecture the National Religious Broadcasters on the morality of the national debt.

I really don’t think I need to be lectured on financial management by someone who put this nation into debt in the first place. And I really don’t want to be lectured on morality by someone who has voted for poverty, war, death, torture, fear, and destruction of the earth, air and seas at every opportunity.

Nor do I need to be lectured on morality by someone who seems to think the national budget should be balanced on the backs of middle class and low-income working people, while maintaining the wealthiest people in this country should be allowed to feast at the nation’s banquet table without paying a dime. Just three months ago he was shedding tears about the need to extend Bush-era tax cuts for America's millionaires; now he's telling us the nation is broke? Gee, I wonder how that happened.

No, my question is why the National Religious Broadcasters wants to be lectured on morality by someone like John Boehner? What does this say about you folks? It says quite a lot, really. These are folks who sorely need to have their false gospel challenged by someone like Jim Wallis, the evangelical leader and social justice crusader who had this to say about the GOPs budget priorities:

U.S. military spending is now 56 percent of the world's military expenditures and is more than the military budgets of the next 20 countries in the world combined. To believe all that money is necessary for genuine American security is simply no longer credible. To say it is more important than bed nets that prevent malaria, vaccines that prevent deadly diseases, or child health and family nutrition for low-income families is simply immoral. Again, these are ideological choices, not smart fiscal ones. To prioritize endless military spending over critical, life-saving programs for the poor is to reverse the biblical instruction to beat our swords into plowshares. The proposed budget cuts would beat plowshares into more swords. These priorities are not only immoral, they are unbiblical.

This is a message that the membership of the National Religious Broadcasters needs to hear -- these people who operate Christian radio and television stations all around the country, the people pretending to serve families across the public airwaves (here’s a fun exercise: Google “safe for the whole family” and see what you get.)

But they don't want to hear that message. Why should they? It's so much easier to stay in their happy place. Theirs is a smug, self-satisfied faith which sees worldly prosperity not as evil but as a reward from heaven. This allows them to give a "Faith And Freedom Award" to Rep. Mike Pence, who just denied poor women access to pap smears, breast exams, STD testing, cancer treatment and the like. How’s that for today’s Christians, eh? No, National Religious Broadcasters, you need to stay in your comfort zone, where Jesus showers his love upon the righteous -- you know, the wealthy white people driving around in fancy cars. Let’s not worry our pretty little heads about the folks who have been struggling thanks to the policies of political leaders you support. That might be icky.

Carry on, NRB.

Raging Christian Asshole Of The Week

That would be the American Family Assn.’s Bryan Fischer, who directed his intolerance toward Native Americans:

In a post published Monday on the Rightly Concerned blog – a project of the AFA – Fischer railed on native peoples for not being Christian, claiming it’s their own fault that they lost their land and were forced onto reservations to cope with terrible living conditions.

“Superstition, savagery and sexual immorality” morally disqualified Native Americans from “sovereign control of American soil,” Fischer said. That, plus the superior battle skills of Europeans gave the latter “rightful and legal sovereign control” of American land through what he delicately described as “the right of conquest.” Fischer went on to blame poverty and alcoholism on Indian reservations on Native Americans themselves, because they “continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition” and refuse to come into “the light of Christianity” and assimilate “into Christian culture.”

Sure, ‘cause as we all know, there aren’t any Christians who experience poverty or alcoholism.

And I have to say, this notion that genocide, pillage and plunder are perfectly okay because you believe yourself culturally superior is a unique interpretation of Scripture. Sadly, the history of Western Civilization is filled with examples of genocidal monsters who believed exactly as Fischer does. Fortunately, today we hold up people like this to scorn and public shame, for that is surely what they deserve.

For their part, the Native American Rights Fund responded:

NARF declines to comment because the article is not worth dignifying with a reply.

I can appreciate that stance: when you’re on the receiving end of something so outrageous I can see the necessity of turning the other cheek, which is a piece of Scripture Fischer apparentoy hasn’t read. But the rest of us need to be aware that Bryan Fischer attitudes are still out there and being disseminated across the airwaves.

I do wonder how influential the AFA is these days. One failed boycott after another (Home Depot, Walt Disney Co., 7-Eleven, American Airlines, etc. all seem to be doing just fine, thank you) would seem to indicate, not very much. Then again, last month Newsweek called Bryan Fischer “a media darling.” Fischer, of course, is the same nutwagon who back in December claimed “President Obama wants to give America back to the Indians.”

And of course, you have presidential hopefuls like Tim Pawlenty appearing on Fischer’s radio program last month. I’d like to be fair to T-Paw and point out that this was before Fischer’s inflammatory comments about Native Americans but I can't. Because Fischer has a history of making equally inflammatory, hateful comments about gays, Muslims, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, etc. (a nice little run-down of Fischer’s hate speech can be heard here.)

I really find it astonishing that conservative candidates like Tim Pawlenty turn a blind eye to this hateful rhetoric in a craven effort to reach out to Fischer’s audience. Really? Really? You want the homophobic, intolerant vote? Seriously? You really feel the need to suck up to a guy who repeatedly makes inflammatory, intolerant statements?

What does this say about you? And what does this say about your party? What, have you folks not alienated enough minority groups? You've got to find more ethnic groups to drive away from the Republican Party? Is that it?

I really don't get it.

Petulant Pastors Seeking Headlines

This Sunday seven Tennessee pastors will take their marching orders from the Alliance Defense Fund--a Fundiegelical answer to the ACLU based in Scottsdale, AZ--and “bait” the IRS with pulpit politicking:

"For governor, I'm going to encourage people to vote for Bill Haslam," said David Shelley, pastor of Smith Springs Baptist, one of seven Tennessee religious leaders who plan to take part in the pulpit protest. He also will throw his support behind Republican congressional candidate David Hall and Republican statehouse candidate Jim Gotto and urge his congregation to skip the spot on the ballot where state Sen. Thelma Harper, a Democrat, is running unopposed.

"My support for these candidates has nothing to do with their party or their skin color or any other non-biblically related issue," he said.

This is absolutely hilarious, since Shelley is perfectly free to tell everyone who to vote for any time he wishes, save the one hour Sunday morning that he’s speaking from the pulpit in his capacity as pastor of a tax-exempt religious organization.

So you know, fine. More power to you. And be prepared to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s for your trouble. Hey Pastor Shelley: I just quoted the Bible at you. You do know that, right?

Idiots.

This is all about meaningless grandstanding and nothing about religion. Let's face it, pretty much anyone who attends Smith Springs Baptist Church is probably planning to vote Republican. So basically you’re hoping to open a legal can of worms just because some out of state right wingers are trying to make a name for themselves by keeping the culture wars alive.

Sadly, no one appears to be paying attention. Whaah! Yes, it appears Shelley and the rest of these Petulant Pastors pulled this stunt last year too. The IRS still hasn’t taken the bait:

Participants in the ADF's pulpit protest send audio or videotape of their sermons to the IRS, but so far the agency has ignored them. The agency declined to comment on the issue, other than to share a copy of its regulations for tax-exempt religious organizations.

I’m torn between gloating over the fact that their pathetic screaming for attention has been ignored and wishing they did get their tax-exempt status yanked just because they are violating law and I thought we had these laws for a reason. Someone point me to that place in the Bible where Jesus says to give your money to lawyers to fight a battle over the First Amendment instead of caring for the poor? Must be in the Gospel According To Wingnuts.

Anyway, I’ve written about this before (notably here) but what idiots like David Shelley don’t get is that separation of church and state protects the church from state interference, not the other way around. And as I’ve written before, one needs look no further than those evul abortion-loving homosexual-embracing morally bankrupt socialisticky Scandinavian countries, which until very recently (2008 in Norway’s case) had state religions. As I wrote in 2009:

Yes, that’s right, up until last year, every person born in “secular, liberal” Norway was automatically born a Lutheran. If you wanted to raise your kids Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Baptist or atheist, you had to petition the government. Can you believe that?



The Norwegian government still finances the Lutheran Church, and until last year appointed church bishops. In other words, the government had authority over the church. Can you imagine? Can you imagine your tax dollars funding church salaries?

Secular, liberal, socialisticky Sweden had a state religion until 2009. The constitution of Denmark still lists the Evangelical Lutheran Church as the country’s official state religion and they receive government subsidies.

I wonder if David Shelley really understands what this means. I’m thinking not. Let’s have President Obama pick the leader of the Southern Baptist Convention and appoint the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. How would you like that? That is what it means to have a state religion, assholes.

The wall of separation you try so hard to pretend does not exist protects the church from government influence. It’s what allows the Southern Baptists to discriminate against gays in their hiring -- except in those programs they take government money to perform. Because then you are acting on behalf of all of us, not just Southern Baptists, and we don't all believe what you believe. I know you think you are right but some of us disagree. I really don't get why this is so hard for some people to understand.

This wall of separation is also what allows Pastor Shelley to opt out of paying Social Security tax on his personal salary. It allows Smith Springs Baptist to not pay property tax on its rather substantial acreage off of Nolensville Road. It allows the church to not be taxed on its income. You enjoy these benefits because We The People have decided you benefit the community in other ways, such as caring for the poor and elderly and the sick.

So look, people. This stuff isn’t hard. There is a huge benefit to being a religious institution in this country. You are free to preach that “Negroes are not equal with other races” (actual 1966 LDS doctrine!) and the government will not interfere. You can be as mean and hateful towards gays, Muslims, or anyone else you want and call it God's Word, no matter how abominable some folks may find it. That is your right. You get a free ride and the government can't say squat to you. You can even host candidates' forums like the one Church of Christ-affiliated David Lipscomb University just held here in Nashville. Or the Southern Baptist-affiliated Belmont University's presidential debate in 2008. Heck, my own church had the candidates for Nashville Mayor appear in our Fellowship Hall every Sunday to speak to us about their vision for the city. It was very informative.

But autonomy from the government is a two-way street. If you want the government to leave you alone no matter how heinous you want to be, even if your beliefs are far outside the mainstream, then you have to stay out of politics. You can talk morals and beliefs and current events and issues all you want but you can't tell people who to vote for in your sermon. That's the one line you can't cross, and it's the line that allows you to enjoy all of those other benefits.

But people like David Shelley don't get that. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

Culture, Politics & Faith

Whenever I blog about religion and mention that not all Christians are intolerant right wing Republicans who bash gays and oppress women, inevitably a few folks come forward to sniff, “well I sure wish these liberal Christians would speak up, then.” The implication being: liberal Christians aren’t working very hard thus their message is not seen or heard.

That always pisses me off enormously because I happen to know some very amazing Christians who are powerful social justice activists. These folks are working very hard and making tremendous sacrifices for the cause of justice. People like my friend Rev. Stacy Rector, former Associate Pastor at Second Presbyterian Church here in Nashville, and now executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. I think of another Nashvillian, Don Beisswenger, retired Vanderbilt Divinity School professor who went to Federal prison for six months for his non-violent protest of the School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia. I think of Nashvillian Father Charles Strobel, who founded Room In The Inn. It’s thanks to him that hundreds of Nashville’s homeless have food, shelter and access to other services every winter (and you don’t get more Nashville than Father Strobel: his brother Jerry was manager of the Grand Ole Opry for 30 years).

I’m sorry that you don’t know these people. They are a tremendous gift to Nashville and our city is lucky to have them.

On the national level, I’m sorry you don’t know of Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners and Call To Renewal. He recently took on Glenn Beck when Beck attacked churches which practice social justice. Have you not heard of Shane Claiborne in Philadelphia? Surely I don’t have to remind folks that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a preacher man and President Jimmy Carter referred to himself as “born again”?

Have you never read the writings of the late William Sloane Coffin? His collection The Heart Is A Little To The Left: Essays On Public Morality is the quintessential primer on liberal Christianity for those wanting an answer to the religious right’s claims of Scriptural authority. Reading that book changed my life.

It does annoy me that I know these folks and others do not. But then I remember that my secular friends can’t be expected to read the same things I do and visit the same websites I do. If you aren’t interested in religion, then Pastor John Shuck’s website probably has not crossed your radar. Shuck, a tireless warrior for GLBT equality, pastors a Presbyterian church in Elizabethton, Tennessee--not the stereotypical Southern religious leader. But there you have it. There’s more than one face to Christianity, even here in the mid-South.

My secular friends by necessity operate in the world our corporate media has created, and for much of the past 30 years that has meant Christian = Right Wing Republican. For the most part the media ignores liberal voices of faith in favor of the James Dobson/Pat Robertson/Ralph Reed model, in part because we do not fit the established narrative and in part because right wing Christians have built media empires like the “Christian Broadcasting Network” through which they disseminate their message. The Network of Spiritual Progressives is not on every CNN producer’s Rolodex.

During the Bush years it seemed that every news show included an interview with Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention or Focus on the Family’s James Dobson or CBN’s David Brody or any of the other mouthpieces of the religious right. And it occurred to me that this is because the religious right operates in the realm of politics, which is about power. The religious left for the most part does not do this. The religious left seems to operate in the realm of social change. This is an important distinction.

People on the religious left are quietly doing their thing, trying to end poverty and injustice and serve the homeless and end wars while the religious right is making a lot of noise for the cameras at events like "Justice Sunday." And I really had to stop and think about why that is, and if it’s a good thing or if it even matters.

Thinking about this led me to revisit this post I wrote back in January, “Your Modern Conservative Inferiority Complex.” In that piece I quoted a column by Julian Sanchez in which he writes:

The secret shame of the conservative base is that they’ve internalized the enemy’s secular cosmopolitan value set and status hierarchy—hence this obsession with the idea that somewhere, someone who went to Harvard might be snickering at them.

That resonated with me then, and it still rings true today. Looking at the incoherent message of the Tea Party and the conservative flip-flopping on things like the budget deficit, which didn’t matter during Bush’s spending spree but suddenly matters very much as President Obama tries to rebuild the economy, it’s clear that the right is short on ideas and long on anger, and this anger comes from the right’s cultural irrelevance. The right might score political wins but it is forever complaining that it is oppressed, that “liberal Hollywood” or the “liberal media” treats it unfairly, that everyone is out to get them. Why is that? It’s because for all its political muscle, the right is culturally insignificant. The culture wars are over, and the right lost. That is increasingly obvious to everyone, including, in fact, the religious right.

And this seems to connect to the religious left vs right issue. The religious right battled its cultural insignificance by providing its own alternative to the established culture: Christian music, movies, books and the like, sold at Christian bookstore chains. They have responded to the culture at large by removing themselves from it, at the same time it tried to exert more political muscle. This strikes me as odd and might explain why the right's political wins are hollow ones, why their political leaders like America's Vuvuzela Sarah Palin leave most of us scratching our heads. The religious right, like the political right, is worried about power. The political left is about power too, but the religious left is not. Victories for the religious left are not necessarily political ones, and therein lies the difference.

The religious right is vocal, but it's become increasingly impotent, because it chose to remove itself from those areas of the culture where lasting change is made, and instead devoted itself to empty grandstanding. We need only look at the Justice Sunday events, which were all about not letting Democrats filibuster Bush's judicial nominees. Today we have conservatives claiming it's perfectly okay to filibsuter Obama's judicial nominees, and if you Google "Justice Sunday" the second entry after Wikipedia's is the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee's spring human rights program. Despite all of the media hoopla, the religious right's "Justice Sunday" events are no more than a Wikipedia entry--a footnote to history.

So the next time someone tells me they “wish the religious left would step up,” I'm going to hit the pause button for a moment to think about what it means. I'm not sure I want a religious left worried about power. I'd rather they leave the empty grandstanding to a culturally impotent minority, and instead keep fighting the good fight to end poverty, war, social injustice, environmental destruction and the like. Because political victories are temporal. Political winds blow right and left, but social change is lasting. And so far the left seems to have that battle won.

What A Difference Same Sex Marriage Makes

Feb. 25, 2010::

Catholic Charities USA Calls for Affordable and Accessible Healthcare for All

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In accordance with its 100 year history of working to reduce poverty in America, Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) and its President, Rev. Larry Snyder, today called for Healthcare Summit attendees to put politics aside and unify behind the need to once and for all bring affordable and accessible health care to all Americans.

March 1, 2010:

Letter from Catholic Charities president and CEO to staff

[...]

Catholic Charities will continue to honor the health plan coverage that current employees have as of March 1, 2010. As of March 2, a new plan will be in effect that will cover new employees and requests for benefit changes by current employees. The new plan will provide the same level of coverage for employees and their dependents that you now have, with one exception: spouses not in the plan as of March 1 will not be eligible for coverage in the future. If your spouse currently has coverage in our Plan, he/she may continue to be covered by the health benefit plan, even if you later add a dependent or decide to change your option level (e.g., change from low option to high option).

We sincerely regret that we have to make this change, but it is necessary to allow Catholic Charities to continue to provide essential services to the clients we serve in partnership with the District of Columbia while remaining consistent with the tenets of our religious faith.

Summary: The District of Columbia’s new law recognizing same sex marriage has prompted Catholic Charities to drop insurance coverage for all spouses of employees not currently covered by their insurance plan.

Catholic Charities had already shut down its foster care and public adoption program.

To which I respond: assholes.

Memory Hole: TV Advertising Edition

Gosh, remember this?

CBS, NBC ban church ad inviting gays
Networks wont run church spot featuring gay couple; say ad runs contrary to company policies.

December 2, 2004: 9:47 AM EST
By Steve Hargreaves, CNN/Money Staff Writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The CBS and NBC networks have refused to run an ad by a liberal church promoting the acceptance of people regardless of sexual orientation because the networks believe the ad is advocacy advertising.

The 30-second spot, run by the United Church of Christ, features two muscle-bound bouncers standing outside a church, selecting people who could attend service and those who could not. Among those kept out are two males who appear to be a couple. Written text then appears saying, in part, "Jesus didn't turn people away, neither do we."

For those who don’t remember, the ad is here:



Apparently that message was too offensive to CBS five years ago. Now, they not only are airing a Focus on the Family ad about abortion, they actually worked with Focus on the Family to vet scripts and other ad content to ensure it would pass network muster:

[...]Focus on the Family, the Colorado Springs-based conservative Christian group founded by Dr. James Dobson, says that it has actually been working closely with CBS executives for months on the ad's script.

"There were discussions about the specific wording of the spot," said Gary Schneeberger, spokesperson for Focus on the Family. "And we came to a compromise. To an agreement." Schneeberger declined to comment on exactly how CBS changed the ad's message.

CBS has said that in the last year, in an acknowledgment of "industry norms," it loosened previous restrictions on advocacy advertisements, accepting ads that pushed for health reform and environmental activism.

But pro-choice advocates complain the network didn't publicize the policy change and hasn't applied it consistently, citing a rejected Super Bowl ad from gay dating Web site ManCrunch.com. According to Schneeberger, Focus on the Family was not aware of an explicit policy change inside the network, either. "It was only last week that they indicated that they changed any policy," he said.

"We've worked with [CBS] almost since the beginning," Schneeberger added. "Our senior vice presidents talked to CBS executives throughout the process. It was a very cordial, very professional, fruitful relationship."

Well isn’t that cozy. So apparently CBS has taken sides in the culture wars, deciding a progressive denomination’s message of GLBT tolerance is unacceptable, but a right-wing church organization’s message about abortion is suitable for airing during the Super Bowl.

Good to know.

It also sounds to me like CBS worked hard to get this Focus on the Family ad on the air and only after people pointed out their hypocrisy, did they invent this "policy change" excuse.

Of course I'm just speculating.

Rifle Jesus Lives

[UPDATE 2]:

Trijicon will remove Bible verses from its government rifle sights. I mean, duh. You get a government contract, you modify your product.

-----------------------------

[UPDATE]:

Faithful America responds with a petition.

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Well now I’ve heard everything:

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

[...]

Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, which is based in Wixom, Michigan, said the inscriptions "have always been there" and said there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding them. Munson said the issue was being raised by a group that is "not Christian." The company has said the practice began under its founder, Glyn Bindon, a devout Christian from South Africa who was killed in a 2003 plane crash.

Well, fuck you and your $660 million contract, which I hope is yanked out from under your greedy little war profiteering hands faster than you can say “I never knew ye, ye evildoers.” What kind of sick fuck thinks putting Bible verses in rifle sights used by soldiers in war is anything close to appropriate? Are you people crazy?

I’m sick of these idiots and their Rifle Jesus and their warmongering in the name of the Lord. I’m sick of your twisted religion that glorifies death and your assumption that anyone who doesn’t agree with you “isn’t a Christian” so their opinion doesn’t count.

You’re an abomination.

And to "the church," which I realize is a diverse bunch: shame on you, too. The only way someone could justify such heresy with the remark that "the issue was being raised by a group that is "not Christian" is because the church has been timid on issues of war and violence. Yes, there have been plenty of church folks who have spoken out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but not enough have spoken out when their fellow Christians have used the Bible to endorse all sorts of corrupted theology. So shame on us all.

Deals With The Devil

I have one question for my local NBC affiliate, WSMV: is the money you get from Pat Robertson to broadcast The 700 Club worth the knock to your integrity as he spouts this kind of bullshit?

WSMV has aired Pat Robertson’s programming for years in its own “deal with the devil.” It gets a substantial amount of money for this programming, or so I’ve been told. While there are no less than half a dozen independent and cable stations in this market broadcasting Pat Robertson’s nonsense, when a major network like WSMV does it, it lends a credibility to Robertson and his intolerant message. And it's time for WSMV to own up to its responsibility to the community.

Even worse, WSMV airs Robertson's program right after The Today Show. Last time I was at my doctor’s office, they had The Today Show on in the waiting room. As we waited, the programming switched over to the 700 Club. I was appalled at what I heard. Although the waiting room was full, I asked everyone in the room if they minded if I changed the channel. Universally, to a person, they all expressed great relief. No one wants to hear that crap, WSMV. If they do, let them hunt for it on community access.

Pat Robertson’s stock in trade is outrageous, divisive, fear-porn. A few of his greatest hits:

• In January of this year Robertson told his viewers to "buy gold and get your money out of America as fast as you can.” Left unsaid was Robertson’s ownership of a Liberian gold mine--something Robertson finagled in his own “deal with a devil,” in this case former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor currently on trial for war crimes.

• In October 2009 Pat Robertson called on Israelis to "arm” the Temple Mount, the Jerusalem holy site claimed by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

• In 2005 he called on the American government to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

And of course Robertson is famous for numerous anti-Muslim remarks over the years, including most recently saying Islam is "not a religion” but “a violent political system bent on the overthrow of governments of the world and world domination.”

These are all things Pat Robertson said on The 700 Club. Not private conversations, but on the television show WSMV takes money to broadcast. If that’s not a deal with the devil, I don’t know what is.

And let me add: Pat Robertson is not just offensive to Americans, he’s also offensive to Christians. Many are speaking out now: you can read Jarrod McKenna’s piece on Robertson’s "gospel of disgrace.” Here Nashville’s own Jars of Clay tells Sally Quinn that perhaps Robertson shouldn’t have a platform any longer.

I can definitely agree with that sentiment. WSMV, pull the plug on Pat Robertson. Or is the money more important? You know, a couple years ago WSMV got in trouble with the FCC for not airing enough children's programming. Seems to me there's something better you should be doing with that time-slot.

Schmierer-monger

Don Schmierer, former board member of “pray away the gay” group Exodus International, was one of three American evangelicals who traveled to Uganda last year to participate in a conference about sexual orientation. Following that visit Uganda proposed legislation that would imprison and execute gays. Needless to say, there’s been a bit of negative fallout from that trip.

So Don Schmierer and the rest have gone into damage-control mode. I heard a short interview with him on today’s Here & Now (give it a listen yourself here, it’s short). Schmierer is trying to distance himself from some of the more hateful messaging at that conference by fellow panelist Scott Lively, who compared homosexuality to beastiality and pedophilia. But Schmierer is in deep denial if he thinks his stance on gays is any less intolerant or hateful than those of folks like Lively.

Schmierer did say he thought the Ugandan anti-gay law was “horrible”:

I can’t believe anybody’s doing that type of thing. Not today. I mean, good night.

Shocking that our patented American fearmongering tying gays to pedophilia and beastiality would, in a Third World country not known for its high democratic standards, result in extreme measures like a gay death penalty. I kept waiting for Schmierer to take some responsibility but he never did, in fact, he denied any responsibility at all and tried to claim he was brought to the conference under false pretenses. He said he “didn’t know what I was walking into.”

That explains why he vociferously objected to Scott Lively’s hate speech at the time, to make sure his Ugandan audience knew where he stood. Oh wait. It doesn’t appear he did. (Furthermore, it’s a lie: Ex-Gay Watch says they warned Exodus International about what they were getting into.)

Here & Now interviewer Robin Young asked Schmierer what he counsels parents whose children have come out and he responded (keep in mind this is my own quickie transcript):

I teach parents how to help connect with their kids. One of the first things I say .. some of the nicest people I’ve ever met on the face of the earth are gay people. We talk about how to listen to each other. The second thing I teach them is how to affirm them for who they are.

“Affirm” is one of those liberal church words which means to accept GLBT folks and their families unconditionally. If you are a gay person looking for a church home, you look for one that advertises itself as “affirming,” or sometimes, “welcoming and affirming.” It’s a type of code word and everyone in the church world knows what it means. And let me add: there are lots of affirming churches out there, even right here in the Bible Belt. I can think of half a dozen here in Nashville right off the top of my head.

So to hear Don Schmierer say he counsels parents to “affirm” their gay children when he in fact meant no such thing struck me as the height of weasledom. I’ve got no doubt in my mind that Schmierer knew exactly what he was saying. I suspect he’s trying to change the definition of “affirming” among church people from “we accept you and your family--your partner, your children--unconditionally, just as you are. Welcome to God’s table,” to “we won’t kill you or throw you in jail.”

And in fact, kudos to Robin Young for asking the follow-up question,

Do you teach parents to affirm their children if they are gay?

to which Schierer responded

I didn’t say that!

Schmierer sounded annoyed that Young even asked the question. Methinks Schmierer got smacked in the face by the reality that his own argument is just as intolerant as Lively’s, just a different shade.

Schmierer and his fellow “pray away the gay” people have this crackpot theory that sexual orientation is connected to a person’s “disconnect” from the same sex parent. In other words, if you’re a gay guy, you are that way because you didn’t connect with your father, and if you’re a lesbian woman, you are that way because you didn’t connect with your mother. That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard, and it’s certainly completely at odds with modern psychiatric beliefs and practice. It sounds like an old wive’s tale, to me.

Schmierer went on in this interview to equate sexual orientation with “other addictions” (!!) and said he’d never met a healthy, happy homosexual person. So that pretty much tells us all we need to know about Don Schmierer. He can say he was “duped” all he wants, but you are deep in denial if you think a life’s work devoted to telling gays that there’s something wrong with them could somehow not lead to an extreme measure like the Ugandan gay death penalty.

Still Embarrassed By My Fellow Tennesseans

[UPDATE]:

Absolutely perfect: Palin/Wiseman 2012.

A movement has begun!

--------------------------------

Oh, Tennessee! What are we to do with thee?

I honestly don’t know how much longer I can endure stupid headlines like this one:

Muslim Obama hates "Charlie Brown"?

And then read on to find yet another story originating with a wackadoodle Tennessee politician. It's hard to present our state as a vibrant place for industry to locate when our local pols insist on acting like a bunch of hayseeds.

The Commercial Appeal reports:

In the opinion of Arlington Mayor Russell Wiseman, President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night on the war in Afghanistan was deliberately timed to block the Christian message of the "Peanuts" television Christmas special.

Wiseman made the statements on his Facebook page, where he declared Obama to be a Muslim. Only people on Wiseman's "friend's list" had access to the post. He has more than 1,600 friends on Facebook.

"Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim president is there, what a load.....try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose. Ask the man if he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he will give you a 10 minute disertation (sic) about it....w...hen the answer should simply be 'yes'...."

(Extra irony points for noting the mayor's name is Wiseman, he said something stupid, and it's all about Christmas. Trifecta!)

Arlington is a tiny hamlet off of I-40 which, according to the Mayor’s "welcome” statement is “a vibrant and caring community that is a premier place to live, work, and raise a family.”

Really? I’m not sure I want to live there. The Commercial Appeal goes on:

In Wiseman's extensive thread that attacked the president, his supporters and Muslims, he stated "...you obama people need to move to a muslim country...oh wait, that's America....pitiful."

At another point he said, "you know, our forefathers had it written in the original Constitution that ONLY property owners could vote, if that has stayed in there, things would be different........"

What an innovative, albeit unconstitutional, idea. Perhaps Mayor Wiseman will consider such a policy for the next Arlington election?

If you want to let Mayor Wiseman know your thoughts on his diatribe, you can e-mail him here.

Blasphemy

[UPDATE]:

A friend writes of this story:

And do you know why the Psalmist is calling down such horrid curses on the leader's head?

According to my NRSV, the Psalmist says at 109:16--

For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and brokenhearted to their death.

And at 109: 30-31, the Psalmist concludes--

With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord; I will praise him in the midst of the throng. For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save them from those who would condemn them to death.

Google THAT, Cheri Douglas.
____________________________________

Aunt B is rightfully horrified by the “Pray For Obama: Psalm 109:8” T-shirt. She writes:

So, when this small subset of folks start throwing out Bible verses like only a small, chosen group will know or be able to find out what they mean? They look like dumbasses. Guess what? The Bible is a perennial best seller. Churches give them away for free. You can read them on the internet. Your secret code is not secret.

And therein lies the problem. We live in a secular culture, and in the internet age, free and easy access to Scripture is coupled with Biblical illiteracy to create a whole mess of problems. The result is everything from a botched bumper sticker slogan to people claiming there’s a Biblical justification for bigotry, war, oppression, and even “free market ideas.”

For those in the dark, Psalm 109:8 reads:

"Let his days be few; and let another take his office."

Ha ha. That’s so funny. Neat little inside joke for the wingnut Obama-haters. Problem is, Psalm 109:9 says:

"Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow."

Ooops. Not so funny anymore.

I think what we have here is a classic case of someone cherry-picking a piece of Scripture to make a political point, and folks, that just never ends well.

And yes, they end up looking like dumbasses:

Twitter user Cheri Douglas felt compelled to share the psalm with others. Reached by phone, she said she found it on a website while searching for Bible passages relating to leadership – a topic on which she writes, speaks, and consults for a living.

Ms. Douglas was unaware of the verses that followed the ones she referenced and doesn’t think that those who shared the psalm wish the President harm.

“I don’t believe there’s Christians who wish him ill will,” she says.

But Douglas does say she’s unhappy with the president and used the psalm to convey that she’d like him to serve only one term.

I don't think anyone any of these folks seriously wish the president harm either. But this is what it means to live in a post-Christian world. People who don’t really understand Scripture, are unfamiliar with the meanings of certain passages (like a Psalm sung for “Vengeance Invoked upon Adversaries”), and have no sense of context or Biblical interpretation just throw shit out there without really knowing what they are doing.

A hundred years ago this would have been called blasphemy. Now it’s just called reading the Bible on the internet. But then, a hundred years ago this never would have happened because religion was a much bigger part of American society then, and people weren't quite so Biblically illiterate.

Even better are the people who take these passages of Biblical Scripture out of context and try to make a mint hawking T-shirts and bumper stickers. The intersection of church and market is always an interesting place, fraught with peril and full of all sorts of spiritual potholes. Jesus overturned the money-lenders’ tables for a reason, people. Maybe the Cheri Douglases of the world haven’t Googled that particular piece of Scripture yet.

It’s a dangerous thing when people who are basically Biblically ignorant can Google their way through the Old and New Testaments and think they’ve got some kind of spiritual authority. Have you ever read the Bible? It’s tough stuff. It takes more than just a mouse click to understand what you are reading.

But this is where we’re at, people. This is how we get ridiculous ideas like the Conservative Bible project and people convinced that Obama is the anti-Christ. You know, a little religious education in schools wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

It’s War On Christmas Time!

Gosh, and here I thought everyone was going skip the formalities this year, what with the recession and two real wars going on. But not ones to disappoint, the American Family Assn. has fired the opening salvo in the annual War On Christmas, calling for a boycott of Gap Inc.:

AFA is calling for a limited two-month boycott of Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, the three stores owned by San Francisco-based Gap Inc., over the company’s censorship of the word "Christmas."

Right. Because one group’s free speech is another group’s censorship.

Last year, Gap issued this politically-correct statement to Christmas shoppers: "Gap recognizes that many traditions are celebrated throughout this season and we feel it is important to display holiday signage that is inclusive to everyone."



Christmas is special because of Jesus. It's not just a "winter holiday." For millions of Americans the giving and receiving of gifts is in honor of the One who gave Himself. For the Gap to pretend that isn't the foundation of the Christmas season is political correctness at best and religious bigotry at worst.

Yes but for millions more Americans the getting and receiving of gifts is in honor of the secular commercial/consumer event known as “The Holidays” and for the American Family Assn. to pretend otherwise is sheer dishonesty.

Sorry but launch all the boycotts you like, that bell won't be unrung. You will, however, present yourselves as a bunch of religious bigots that no one save a bunch of old Scrooges would want to be associated with.

Because nothing celebrates the birth of the Prince of Peace like an old-fashioned culture war.

How Not To Evangelize

Via Pith In The Wind we have an update on the “Not Religious? You’re Not Alone” billboard I wrote about here.

Now, as many of my regular readers know, Southern Beale is “religious.” However I’m as offended as the most avowed atheist at the way religion is used as both a marketing tool, get rich quick scam, and a political wedge in this country. In fact, there’s a lot about modern American religion that offends me these days. So when a secular group does a little old-fashioned billboard evangelism (and trust me, Nashville has seen plenty of the other kind--including, in answer to the lady who called, one at Harding and I-65 which said you will burn in hell if you don't believe in God), I think it’s a positive step. News flash to the churchy set: you got a little competition in the message wars.

Of course, some folks didn't like it. Here are the messages Secular Life received on their answering machine from a few of those people:

And They Wonder Why We Laugh At Them

Always last to get the story, today’s Tennessean finally covers Andy Schlafly’s Conservative Bible project, two weeks after blogs first broke the news.

You know, Nashville is the home of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Sunday School Publishing Board of the National Baptist Convention, United Methodist Communications, and the Christian music and media industry. We are regarded as the “Protestant Vatican.” You’re just now covering this story?

Note to the Tennessean: this is why I no longer read your paper.

But anyway, now that my daily fishwrap has finally gotten around to it, I get to poke some fun at them.

Let’s watch Schlafly (spawn of conservative crusader Phyllis Schlafly) defend the Conservative Bible’s rewriting of Mark 10:25:

[...] the King James Version says, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Liberals have used that passage to attack the wealthy, Schlafly said. The Conservative Bible substitutes "a man who cares only for money" for rich man.

"I don't think Jesus is saying, 'Let's all be lazy so we can get to heaven.' That's not the message. And, if you translate the word rich as simply rich, some people are going to get the message that 'I am going to be lazy so I can get to heaven easier,' " said Schlafly, who graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer science and from Harvard Law School as an attorney, according to his Web site.

Whoa there, buckaroo! “Translate the word rich as simply rich?” How else can you translate it?

And since when do you translate “poor” as “lazy”? That’s a giant leap right there, and it certainly tells us everything we need to know about Schlafly’s twisted world view.

I feel sorry for conservatives like Schlafly, who have recently been faced with the complete failure of their ideology. It was bound to happen: you can’t place one foot on a horse called Biblical Morality and the other on a horse called Capitalism and expect to get too far before you're flat on your ass at the inevitable fork in the road.

(How’s that for a metaphor mash-up?)

But for sheer silliness I love the Conservative Bible’s take on the whole “new wine into old wineskins” passage:

“And no man puts fresh grape juice into old bottles. The fresh juice will burst the bottles, spilling the juice and damaging the bottles. Fresh juice must be put into new bottles.”

Ha ha ha ha ha! That’s just so lame and just so wrong! Because fresh juice won’t burst bottles. Seriously, go into the kitchen and try it, right now. I'll wait. In fact, fresh juice won’t burst wineskins either, because it’s the fermentation process that leads to the bursting. Without the “wine” part you just lose the entire metaphor. When you lose the metaphor the entire thing has lost its meaning.

Which is just so perfect. This is your religion on conservatism: devoid of all meaning. What a relief. This moment has been coming for years and now that it's finally arrived I'd like to thank Andy Schlafly. For unbeknownst to him he has revealed the hypocrisy of his ideological brethren, folks like Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer, Ralph Reed, Rick Scarborough and James Dobson. You know, the entire insane clown posse that is the Conservative Christian/Moral Majority movement. I don’t see what Schlafly is doing as being any different from what Dobson and the rest do on a daily basis. They rewrite the Bible every day to suit their ideology; at least Schlafly is being honest about it.

The Conservative Bible project is the inevitable result of 30 years of “Moral Majority” folks being treated as the face and voice of American Christianity. Sooner or later someone was going to notice that what right wing Christians preached wasn’t exactly what the Bible said. How absolutely perfect that it would be a computer engineer who is the son of a prominent conservative crusader, with absolutely no Biblical education save the warped theology he was raised on. How absolutely precious that he'd conclude that the problem can't possibly be his politics but his Bible.

It's all finally come crashing down. Perhaps now, finally, we can all collectively acknowledge the farce that is the religious right.

Let Me Tell You About An Exciting New Money-Making Opportunity

Somehow I got on the e-mail list for VisionAmerica, Rick Scarborough’s conservative Christian organization known for its “Take Back America” and “War On Christians” conferences. The subject line? “A.C.O.R.N. Stopped!”

Funny that some supposed Christians would be interested in a purely political story like ACORN. But whatever.

Like so many of these things, if you click on the link you are presented an opportunity to blast-fax the entire U.S. Senate, stating your opposition to your tax money going to ACORN. Oddly, it also says you “oppose the Jennings nomination”--WTF? I’m guessing this is a typo, that they’ve just recycled a previous blast fax e-mail opposing “safe schools czar” Kevin Jennings. Clearly they were in a hurry and why not?

They charge $29 to blast the Senate! And for $54 you can blast the Senate AND make a donation.

Again: WTF?

I get dozens of these things a week. No legitimate advocacy group demands a donation to blast-fax the U.S. Congress.

But the folks at VisionAmerica don’t see it that way. They see a politically-driven story like ACORN as a terrific money-making opportunity, and clearly they wanted to strike while ACORN was still all the rage on Fox and right-wing radio. Don’t wait, act now! You won’t want to miss this amazing chance to fleece a bunch of gullible Fox News watchers suckered in by the latest Glenn Beck/Sean Hannity wingnuttery!

They aren’t the only ones. TPM alerts us to this “Birthermercial”, an infomercial running around the country questioning President Obama’s legitimacy and hawking $30 bumper stickers plus this awesome opportunity:

For a $30 contribution, viewers also get a fax sent in their name to the 50 state attorneys general and Attorney General Eric Holder demanding that President Obama produce his real birth certificate.

Hilarious! I can’t imagine they’ll get too many offers (though those behind the group say they generated "something like 1500 to 2000 faxes" their first week. Let me be the first to call bullshit on that one.)

If there’s one thing I hate most about our political discourse these days it’s how both right and left use the daily uproar to raise funds. On Friday Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) got kudos from the left for her “your mama” retort to Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ); less than 24 hours later I get a fundraising e-mail from the DSCC with Stabenow’s name attached and the subject line “Yesterday.”

While the left might not be quite as obvious about it as the wingnut right--I haven’t yet received an e-mail from a liberal organization charging me money to blast-fax Congress--they still make money off of the outrage du jour.

In America today, the populace is sharply divided (or at least, our media tells us we are). Manufactured stories, from demonizing ACORN to the latest wacko nonsense to emanate from Michelle Bachmann’s mouth, are quickly dissemninated across the mass media via Twitter and blogs, then further dissected on cable news and talk radio. When the public is thoroughly riled up, the fundraising e-mails go out. It’s a reprehensible exploitation of people’s very real fears and concerns.

In short, like everything else in this country, our political discourse has been reduced to just another money-making opportunity.

God help America. We’ve been infected with the money bug and it's destroying us.

Making Strides

This morning I watched CNN jump to cover the “Values Voters” confab, interviewing Tony Perkins and treating this like the biggest event since last weekend’s Tea Party (which, contrary to Fox News, was covered quite thoroughly by the networks. But more on that later.)

MSNBC and Fox also sent reporters to the event, apparently disrupting those in attendance.

In fact, do a Google news search for “Values Voters” and you get coverage by all of the mainstream media outlets. In short, there’s plenty of media attention on this event. And I’m not saying there shouldn’t be but...

I wonder how many news outlets will cover this?

Yet as the numbers show, the religious right is increasingly being matched by a nascent “religious left.” Some 24 percent of the adult population, about 45 million Americans, shares the “traditional” religious mindset of conservative religious activists, but 18 percent, about 38 million adults, shares the “modernist” mindset that is characteristic of progressive religious activists.

As for the survey, “I don’t think this project would have occurred to anyone 10 years ago because I don’t think people took the idea of progressive religious activism seriously 10 years ago,” said E.J. Dionne, a liberal-leaning Catholic and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who was on a panel presenting the new study of religious activists, conducted by Public Religion Research and the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics. Michael Cromartie of the conservative-leaning Ethics and Public Policy Center was also at the release in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. He noted that the report puts to rest the question of whether there is a “God gap” between Republicans and Democrats: “Clearly, from this data, it’s not only closing. It’s closed.”

When it comes to theological and social issues, the survey does show that the divide between the two camps remains vast. Conservatives are focused on two main issues— abortion and same-sex marriage — while liberals spread their concerns more widely and focus on pocketbook issues like poverty and health care and jobs. Faith versus works, one might say.

I find this very encouraging. Because, although the media hasn’t seemed to notice, the progressive Christian message is being heard. It’s Biblical and it makes sense: you can’t follow Prosperity Jesus or Rifle Jesus and not have at least a few of your cherished views challenged by Scripture.

There have been dozens of liberal Christian conferences, marches, summits, you name it. I don’t recall seeing any media attention of the scale the Values Voters get. Back in 2005 over 100 religious activists were arrested for protesting President Bush’s budget. The event did not go completely unnoticed by the media but it didn’t generate the non-stop coverage that conservative Christian groups routinely receive.

I wonder why that is?

In covering the treatment MSNBC received at the Values Voter summit, Josh Marshall opined:

Later Update: Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, the sponsoring organization, just went on stage and apologized to MSNBC for the incident. It was an entertaining moment. But there's something the whole turn of events illustrates. And that is that the event planners from FRC and the cable net folks are basically the same people. Each part of the same business, the same game. They know each other, understand each others rules, etc. It's the incensed attendees who are the ones who are sort of out of the loop. I'm not sure who that puts in a better or worse light. But that's what I mean by at least one of the culture clashes.

I think there’s a lot of truth to that observation. Cable news and right wing groups like the Family Research Council are part of the same game, each with its prescribed role, each comfortably in tune with the other. And that’s why it’s so difficult for a group like progressive faith voices to get attention. We’re not in the Rolodex. We aren’t on their radar, but maybe we don’t need to be. Maybe we don't want to be part of that game. It's corrupting, after all. And the message is getting out, regardless.

God works in mysterious ways.

Darwin v. Dobson? Really?

If you want to see the excellent Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly in “Creation,” a film about Charles Darwin, you might have to leave the country or wait for the DVD. The film has failed to find a U.S. distributor, says producer Jeremy Thomas, because distributors are afraid of the religious right:

"The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they've seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.

That sucks, since I remember seeing previews for the film and it looked really cool.

Thomas believes U.S. distributors are cowed by conservative Christian groups like Focus on the Family and the American Family Assn., and are afraid of controversy. The article points to comments on Christian entertainment websites about the film, notes that “Creation” opened the Toronto Film Festival and received positive reviews from The Hollywood Reporter, and concludes that U.S. film distributors are too chicken shit to take on the religious right.

I dunno, I’m gonna call bullshit on that one. For one thing, Icon Productions is distributing the film in the U.K. and Australia. That’s Mel Gibson’s production company; is he really that scared of James Dobson and Pat Robertson and the rest of the fundiegelicals who think he hung the moon since he smacked Jesus around for three hours in "The Passion Of The Christ"?

More to the point, since when has Hollywood ever cared what conservative Christian groups think--unless they are trying to enlist their support selling something, like the “Narnia” movies? They released Bill Maher’s “Religulous,” didn’t they? Oliver Stone’s “W”? Michael Moore’s films? They release all sorts of controversial stuff to American movie theaters, from sex- and violence-filled fare to more serious treatises on gays, AIDs, religion, you name it.

So I doubt any distributor gives a crap what Donald Wildmon or James Dobson have to say. Controversy is usually good to drum up a little publicity about a film. And maybe that’s what Jeremy Thomas is trying to do here: generate a little controversy to spark some interest in the U.S. media.

I’d definitely like to see the film, though. In the meantime, they have a really cool website. Below is a description of the film and the trailer. Hope U.S. distributors stop messing around and release the film here.

Creation was developed by BBC Films and the UK Film Council, and stars Bettany's real-life wife Jennifer Connelly as Darwin's deeply religious wife, Emma. It is based on the book, Annie's Box, by Darwin's great-great-grandson, Randal Keynes, and portrays the naturalist as a family man tormented by the death in 1851 of Annie, his favourite child. She is played in the film by 10-year-old newcomer Martha West, the daughter of The Wire star Dominic West.

Karma Gets Focus On The Family

Focus On The Family has a $6 million budget shortfall this year, according to the AP, and has been forced to go begging to its donors yet again.

Aww. Can you hear me playing the world’s tiniest violin for you folks? No?

Last November, you may recall, the group was forced to trim 20% of its staff, after sinking $500,000 into California’s Prop 8 campaign. Well, they won that battle but it looks like they lost the war:

Focus on the Family also says it will no longer stage "Love Won Out" conferences, which promise to "help men and women dissatisfied with living homosexually understand that same-sex attractions can be overcome."

The events will go on, instead staged by Orlando, Fla.-based Exodus International.

I always say, karma’s a bitch!