The Advantage of Promoting Rigid Orthodoxy
Carlos printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Fri Feb 03, 2006 at 01:45:43 PM EST
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force National Religious Leadership Roundtable has released an important study that should be of interest to all of us concerned about the Christian Right. While the study does not reveal anything substantially new, it does give a very comprehensive and detailed picture of the influence of both the anti-gay and pro-gay forces currently at work in the various religious groups. Most disturbing is the empirical verification of what we already knew; that secular conservative groups are aggressively funding the spread of anti-gay ideas within religious denominations as a tool for political control.
The study suggests that it is time for secular and religious progressives to learn how to work together to challenge the way the secular right is exploiting the prejudices of the religious right for their own purposes.

Although this study focuses on LBGT issues, we should note that this suggestion for broader cooperation between secular and religious progressives is something that should be applicable in a general way as a smart strategy of confronting the religious right.

Some excerpts from the study:

Recent political events underscore the need for progressives to reclaim the dialogue on values in the United States. In the last few months, secular progressive organizations have undertaken an unprecedented effort to reach out to people of faith in order to reframe the way religion and values are discussed in the public square. This effort is of particular importance to those working toward LGBT equality because the strongest opposition to that equality comes from religious conservatives. Progressives have many potential allies within the faith communities, and this report is the first attempt to create an inventory of major groups working within denominations and religious traditions to affect change for LGBT people. [    ]

The opposition to pro-LGBT denominational networks is particularly virulent and widespread. Secular conservative forces
have seen the advantage of promoting rigid orthodoxy in the mainline churches in the United States. This sense of importance has not been shared by progressive secular organizations and foundations, and therefore, pro-LGBT groups in these denominations find themselves massively outgunned in terms of staff, resources and funding. The anti-gay groups surveyed in this report out-spend the pro-LGBT organizations in the same denominations by an average of 8 to 1. [   ]

Particularly disturbing is the Institute for Religion and Democracy, an organization which has been attempting to destroy
progressivism in three of the major denominations: the Presbyterian Church USA, the Episcopal Church in the United States, and the United Methodist Church. The IRD's board is made up of many leaders from the conservative political establishment,
including the American Enterprise Institute, Concerned Women for America, and the Weekly Standard. [    ]

According to Alfred Ross of the Institute for Democratic Studies, IRD's agenda is "part of a longstanding and comprehensive
agenda of ultraconservative forces to transform key elements of our mainstream consensus. The mainline denominations
are another prime target, representing billions of dollars in assets as well as formidable communications capacities that exert
moral influence in defining `Judeo-Christian values' for policymakers and voters. Under particularly aggressive attack are the
Presbyterian, United Methodist and Episcopal churches with their combined membership of 14 million. The right has already succeeded in taking over the largest Protestant denomination in the nation, the Southern Baptist Convention, and is using it effectively to advance its agenda." [    ]

Progressive secular and religious organizations working in support of LGBT issues have much to gain from working with one another. The critical next steps for secular progressive organizations moving toward meaningful collaboration require significant
adaptation. Working together means including religious leaders' issues in progressive agendas and enabling them to speak in their own voices for social change. Religious organizations have historically been committed to cultural transformation. Learning from their approach to this commitment could help the progressive movement achieve more than the formal victories of legislation and litigation; a commitment to cultural transformation could provide powerful new strategies for making justice a reality in people's daily lives.




Display:
As I've been imploring since my recent arrival here, our priority should be to expose and discredit the source of this backlash--neoconservatism and their corporate backers.

Now the trick is to develop a rapid response mechanism to inject our message into the mainstream media.

by Frank Cocozzelli on Sun Feb 05, 2006 at 10:43:46 AM EST


Has this report been posted at DKos?  It should be but I don't want to repeat if trout or Fred has already posted it there.

by tikkun on Thu Mar 09, 2006 at 10:32:31 AM EST


WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (374 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (199 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (111 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (251 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (64 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (177 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (107 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (211 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (163 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (180 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (331 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (148 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.