(Weekly Column)
In his latest screed, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat implored those who are opposed to Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay views to, “Say what you really think: that the exercise of our religion threatens all that’s good and decent, and that you’re going to use the levers of power to bend us to your will.”
Well, let’s toss the idea right back at Douthat. “Say what you really think: that you and other fundamentalist Christians are superior and that allowing people with whom you disagree to have equal rights and opportunities threatens all that’s good and decent, and that you’re going to continue in the un-American business of using the levers of power to bend us to your will.”
Fundamentalist Christian authors George Grant and Gary North best summarized this view in their infamous book, Changing of the Guard:
“But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice. It is dominion we are after. Not just influence. It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time. It is dominion we are after.
This is precisely what fundamentalists have been doing for as long as they could get away with it. When it was permissible, they would bully non-Christian students into reciting their sectarian prayers in public schools.
How about race?
“If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God’s word and had desired to do the Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 [Brown v. Board of Education] decision would never have been made,” Rev. Jerry Falwell once wrote. “The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn the line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.”
For much of American history, secular Americans were forced to abide by repressive Blue Laws, which dictated when people could drink alcohol or sell goods and services. For example, until April 2011, one could not buy alcohol in Georgia on Sundays because the states’ former governor, Sonny Perdue, was a right wing teetotaler. Even now, instead of individuals having the right to decide when they drink in Georgia, it is voted on in each county.
Given this historically despotic behavior by religious majorities, isn’t it rather hypocritical for fundamentalists to now claim that their religious freedom is threatened because Boston mayor Tom Menino is against having Chick-Fil-A open up in Boston?
“You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population,” the mayor said, with his comments echoed by the mayors of Chicago and Washington, DC.
The histrionic fundies are now pretending to be martyrs. However, I’d love to have them answer a simple question: If Gov. Perdue can use his beliefs to tell people they can’t have a cold beer on a hot summer day in Georgia, than why can’t Mayor Menino use his equally heartfelt beliefs to tell people that they can’t have a greasy chicken sandwich in Boston?
The answer is that fundies believe that religious freedom is a one-way street. For example, they can gang up on secular and religious minorities and vote for a dry county and that is “liberty.” But if voters ever decide to vote for a city free of fundie fowl, it suddenly becomes a perfidious act of religious persecution. You either adhere to their values, or they scream “victim!”
The same principles apply for marriage equality. There are religious denominations and clergy who would perform same-sex unions. However, they aren’t allowed because fundies think that their beliefs supersede both secular law and the religious freedom of others.
Chick-fil-A CEO, Dan Cathy, is an example of this double standard. While he trumpets his own personal religious liberty, he funds the Family Research Council (FRC), a group that has no compunction about limiting freedom.
“The oft-repeated mantra ‘you can’t legislate morality’–the contention that moral arguments have no place in formulating public policy–is absurd,” FRC writes in a brochure opposing same-sex marriage. “It is the duty of legislators to evaluate the right legislation needed to correct some wrong or injustice, or promote some positive or good result.”
Isn’t that exactly what Mayor Menino is doing – using his sense of morality to correct an injustice?
Contrary to their insincere shrieks, there is no crisis of religious liberty for fundamentalist Christians. The problem is that they have been drunk on their own power for so long that they equate the exercise of religion with forcing others to live by their restrictive rules. Because they can no longer dominate, dictate, and discriminate without push-back, they are whining that they are somehow suppressed.
The truth is, Chick-fil-A should be able to open wherever it wants in the same way that I should be able to marry in any state that I want. However, as long as fundies insist on a puritanical pecking order where the “moral” majority rules, they have no basis in which to complain when they can’t have their fundie fowl in Boston. The fundies must decide if they want dominion or democracy, but it is doubtful that both ideas can co-exist in the free society they claim to cherish.
Let those pompous a******s scream “victim.” Until they are physically attacked, fired from jobs, murdered, bullied – literally to death – in schools and on the streets, have their children taken from them on account of their beliefs, they are pissing in the wind and they know it.
Maybe a good IRS audit of their non-exempt filthy churches is what is in order.
make that “non-taxpaying churches.”
Another huge problem is that “freedom of religion” has mutated from “freedom of worship” to “freedom to whatever the f**k I want”. What it originally meant is the freedom to believe what you want without the government throwing you in jail just for that. It was never meant to be freedom of action in all cases. The courts have long interpreted it that way too, but with the US moving ever farther right in the last 30 years, the actions they allow have increased dramatically too.
Excellent column, Wayne. Dross of the New York Times should not be allowed to write postcards from prison. He seems to think it is OK for a company CEO to create a hostile work environment for LGBTers and for the family members, friends and associates who support their equality. That is the real issue, at least where Sikkk-fil-Hate has franchises in places with laws against anti-LGBT discrimination. Cathy has created a hostile work environment for such people. Yes, Dross, the heterosupremacist delusion is as bad as the master race delusion. No, Dross. Hiding your bigotry behind the cloaks of a “God” figure does not make your bigotry any better. Why does the New York Times, in this day and age, have a gay-bashing theocratic bigot as one of its regular columnists?
It’s not just a hostile work environment for gay people, but anyone who doesn’t conform 100% to their beliefs and religious expectations:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0723/080.html
For example, they are currently being sued by a woman who was demoted from a manager position so that she could be a “stay at home mother”.
Of course freedom for fundies is a one-way-street. They say all manner of bigoted crap and they’re “expressing their deeply held beliefs”. We respond and we’re “silencing them”. They boycott a new business every week and they’re “standing up for traditional values”. We boycott a business and we’re “engaging in economic bullying”. The list is endless.
The arbitors of religious hate must be silenced, forever.
Cathy is NOT preaching hate….he is stating what his beliefs are, He believes as the bible states marriage is between a man and a woman.
2 hens or 2 roosters arent going to produce eggs…Be Gay to ur hearts content, and fight for the right to be married, this man who runs the cleanest,most friendly , fast food chain in America has a right o his opinion
Bartow, no one cares that 2 hens or 2 roosters aren’t going to produce eggs, many heterosexual married couples are infertile as well.
When you can’t see your way clear to allow others to have the same rights you do you’re a hater no matter how much you try to hide behind the bible and an imaginary god in a vain attempt to justify your bigotry.
And no one said Cathy didn’t have a right to his opinion. We have a right to criticize him for it as well.
Bartow, I should point out that he is taking the profits from his business, not his personal income, and donating it to groups that oppress us. There’s a difference there. He is entitled to his own opinion, but we are entitled to show our disapproval of that opinion. The right to free speech and the right to freedom of worship are not a free pass from the consequences of those words and actions that result from them, they are only a guarantee that the government won’t arrest you for exercising them, and those rights are not absolute (e.g. if you’re endangering people’s lives or safety, that overrides your so-called freedoms).
bartow,
You’re the typical Christian fundie,and you’ve just proven the point of this post.
Fundie: “Gay people are disgusting perverts who shouldn’t be allowed to marry. The Bible says so!”
Gay person: “That’s bigoted and discriminatory.”
Fundie: “Why are you trying to silence me?!?!?!?! I was only stating my deeply held belief!!!!! I have a right to FREE SPEECH!!! Why won’t you respect MY RIGHTS!!!!”
Cathy has a right to his opinion, as do I. I choose not to give my money to people who are going to turn around and use that money to support hatred and bigotry.
It’s no coincidence that school bullies behave the exact same way.
Actually, Bartow, two hens can produce eggs just fine.
Liberty no longer supports the foundation of America. I am a lesbian who respects ALL counter (intuitive) beliefs. I love my spouse of 26 years as much or more than you love yours. Find a legitimate Christian mission.
@ Bartow…How many wives did King Solomon have??? How many concubines????? It is such B.S. that the Bible says marriage is between “one man and one woman”. Clearly, you fundies don’t know how to read anything other than your bigoted, hateful preachers dictate to you. Do a little independent thinking and reading sometime…you might even learn a little something. Until then…don’t come to an intelligent debate ill-equipped! Now, go eat some greasy processed chicken!
I find it it interesting how hateful many of these posts are toward each other. I’m confused about why it is so common to attack other people in the process of stating your own opinion and your disdain for someone else’s opinions. Both sides claim tolerance at some point, yet both sides hurl vicious and hateful statements at the other. This strikes me as a very sad situation, perhaps moreso than the actual topic at hand. It also makes actually reading the commentary on these columns very laborious and depressing. I would like to know what other people think on the topic but frequently find that it is too difficult to wade through the insults to find the opinions.
You speak as if there is some sort of equivalency Recca. Why should we tolerate the unprovoked attacks on our lives and families? It’s attitudes like yours that keep the issue of school bullying from being solved because the victims just get in trouble for defending themselves.
Recca,
Since when do we claim tolerance for bigotry on this site?
Just askin.
Detach bigoted Christians from my rights as a citizen and let to marry my spouse, and Christian fundamentalists can all think they are Napoleon or can fly off of buildings for all I care.
But they shovel tons of cash to deny my right to marry my spouse and then wonder why folks like me get all ‘American’ in their faces, demanding our ‘civil rights’.
Southern Christian preachers used to site the bible to justify slavery. Stinky!
The bible teaches as little about liberty and democracy as it does about airplanes and indoor plumbing.
Drop the religious outrage routine. This is America.
I belong to a church — the Quakers — that supports marriage equality; my meeting has held several Meetings for Worship for the Celebration of Marriage between same-sex couples. So why should the state and other Christians be allowed to trample on my religious freedom?
The fundamentalists aren’t the only Christians. They’re just the ones with the biggest mouths and the better lobbyists.
They’re not better lobbyists, Bobby, just better paid.
You left wing liberals are all nuts!
I agree with Sharon Lane! You’d have to be nuts to constantly fight against all the lies, bigotry and ignorance those right wing idiots are always dishing out!
Sharon is a bottomless pit of originality.
If a group believes that God has told them what is right and wrong, as the fundies do, reasoning with them is impossible because can’t be wrong. Unfortunately, many feel the need to impose their beliefs on others. The following is from the blog of Denny Burk,Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate arm of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary “… Christians must seek the good of their neighbor in the public space. Our neighbor’s good, however, is defined by God, not by our neighbor. That means that from time to time, Christians will love their neighbor by seeking his good even when our neighbor disagrees with what his good is. In the current debate, God defines the good when it comes to marriage.”
I’m tired of the religious mantra of “you’re the one who is intolerant” if you protest against their beliefs. If there is a bully in the school yard spreading hurtful lies about a certain group of kids, other kids join him, give him money for a microphone, pamphlets for the teaching staff and help him spread his hate, they are aiding a bully. If the children being persecuted rise up and protest, are they intolerant of the bully and his minions? Yes, and rightfully. When you use money and power to influence the bully of bigotry, it is no longer an “opinion,” it’s called being active as a group in making darn sure that certain people do not have the same civil rights as you. I AM intolerant of that type of persecution, period.
Don’t you realize if we are called “bullies,” and our response is a “Well, you are one first,” then that makes us hypocrites as well. This boycott is the wrong idea. We should instead take them up on their proported offer to have a discussion about it, televise it even!
Bill, standing up to bullying is not bullying. Boycott’s are a time tested means of providing consequences for people who do something patently immoral. Having a “discussion” only gives credibility to the idea that there is some sort of equivalency between “everyone should have equal rights” and “gays are child-molestors who will cause the downfall of civilization”. It’s attitudes like yours that perpetuate the school bullying problem by punishing victims for defending themselves.
I have never commented online before but I am moved to say to these people of G-d: Pay your f*ing taxes or shut your f*ing mouth.
Yeah Bill. Discussions with fundies have been real productive. Are you kidding me?
Churches get the right to speak when they start paying taxes like everybody else.
Religious phonies have been on welfare long enough, and now have the nerve to cry foul when anybody disagrees with them. Hateful, vicious thugs — like the fundies — don’t deserve respect, or a voice.
Go Wayne!
I LOVE this cartoon — best metaphor ever!!!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4359162737007&set=a.1191501707461.2029199.1225926368&type=1&theater