We can see this with the growth of religious right organizations like Pharmacists for Life that, by encouraging and supporting pharmacists who refuse to dispense contraceptives, impose their religious doctrines on the general public. It's also at work with the increasing emphasis on evangelism in the workplace; with the aggressive proselytizing and climate of Christian nationalism at the Air Force Academy; and with the increasingly sectarian character of government-funded social services, courtesy of Bush's faith-based initiative. The woman in the mink coat that Joan wrote about was driven out of her party; now we're seeing people driven out of their jobs.
As I'll be writing in a Salon piece next week, this growing, diffuse campaign to Christianize all kinds of institutions from within is part of what has Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League so alarmed. I'm not sure what the best strategy is to counter it, because the lines separating evangelical self-expression and comradeship, which they have every right to, from improper coercion and subversion, can be difficult to draw. Nor does the establishment clause necessarily protect us in the private sphere. Obviously, in some cases people can make civil rights claims, but what I'm worried about, and not clear on how to respond to, is this attempt to polarize every bit of our public life along religious lines.
The long march through the institutions | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)
The long march through the institutions | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)
|
BlogsBartholomew's Notes On ReligionChip BerletMax BlumenthalThe Panda's ThumbFrederick Clarkson Chuck Currie DefCon father Jake Stops The World John Gorenfeld Religion Clause Chris Mooney Religious Right Watch The Revealer Jesus Politics Majority Report Radio Blog Mainstream Baptist Orcinus Dispatches from the Culture Wars Ex-Gay Watch The Wall of Separation Blog From The Capital:a blog on religious liberty issues and the separation of church and stateOrganizationsAmerican Booksellers Foundation for Freedom of ExpressionACLUAnti-Defamation LeagueAmerican Library AssociationChristian Alliance for ProgressCitizens ProjectDefCon: Campaign to Defend The ConstitutionFaithful America People For the American wayInstitute For Democracy StudiesInterfaith AllianceJews On First: Defending the First AmendmentAmerican Fundamentalists Americans United for Separation of Church and StateBaptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty The Clergy and laity Network Political Research Associates Theocracy Watch Media Matters for AmericaMilitary Religious Freedom FoundationMontana Human Rights NetworkNational Center For Science EducationReligious Coalition for Reproductive ChoiceThe RevealerSouthern Poverty Law CenterTexas Freedom NetworkCrossLeft: Organizing the Christian LeftTheocracy WatchTruth Wins Out" |
|||||||||||||