Short Takes on the Religious Right

While writing a future post on Margaret Somerville and her views on same sex marriage, I had the pleasure over the last couple of days of trolling through some of the darker recesses of the right-wing fundamentalist reality. Here's a few of the golden nuggets dredged up.

He Who Lives By the Sword

James Dobson, the so-called pope of the Religious Right and founder of Focus on the Family (and its Canadian branch plant) isn't feeling the love lately. “I have never seen such hatred in my life. I am being bludgeoned,” he said recently in response to being called the "worst man in America." In the same interview he accused gays and lesbians of "targeting children".

Well, James, I am one person who doesn't hate you. I might think you a blithering idiot for not seeing the connection between your vile rhetoric and a heated response, but I don't hate you.

Demonization

You know how the religious right whinges on and on about being "demonized"? Our rights are being supressed, they moan, we're being demonized by the left and the mainstream media, and so on, ad nauseam? Here's a case of the supporters of same sex marriage being demonized, literally.

The context is a rewrite by Jon Dykstra of The Screwtape Letters; the topic, how the devil is working to end traditional marriage. (Screwtape is C.S. Lewis's imaginary demon who corresponds with an underling about the snares and devices of Hell.) Screwtape says: "That is what this [legalization of same sex marriage] is ultimately about—yet another skirmish in our ongoing war with the Enemy."

The Enemy, of course, is all good fundamentalist Christians who oppose same sex marriage; supporters are minions of Satan.

I guess I should be buying a turkey baster, because man, I'm gonna be roasting.

Who Me, Partisan?

Christianity.ca, the media mouthpiece of the Evangelical Christian Fellowship, recently published a report card on Stephen Harper's performance. Do I need to tell you Canada's New Goverment got an A- overall? Some of the praises sung:

"generally competent, focused, and well-disciplined"

"amazingly well skilful and effective"

"deserve high marks"

"marked success"

"done very well"

"much more impressive as prime minister than he was as opposition leader"

"decisive and focused"

"a strong, articulate, energetic, bold, disciplined and visionary leader"

With a miracle or two and maybe some stigmata, Harper will be elevated to sainthood before the end of the parliamentary term. Even criticism discovered in the article is couched in terms like "the attempt was commendable." In short, not a stinging rebuke is to be found.

Curious such obviously partisan puffery is to be found on a website owned by a registered charity, which by definition is supposed to be nonpartisan. Even curiouser, that the author complements the government for its integrity, while the website's owners are effectively subsidized by the Canadian taxpayer.