Americans United - Citizenlinkhttps://au.org/tags/citizenlink
enCrying Wolf: Religious Right Falsely Claims Anti-Christian Discrimination By Pentagonhttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/crying-wolf-religious-right-falsely-claims-anti-christian-discrimination-by
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">It is rather rare that Christians are actually discriminated against in the United States, a nice perk that comes from being in the majority.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Religious Right forces have been in a tizzy lately over a rumor that if U.S. military personnel express their Christian faith, it could lead to disciplinary action.  But as usual, <a href="http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130502/NEWS/305030027/Military-says-no-court-martials-sharing-faith">it seems fundamentalist charges of persecution are greatly exaggerated</a>.</p><p>In recent weeks,<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/02/evangelical-pentagon-department-of-defense/2130583/"> the Religious Right cried wolf</a> in response to reports that the Pentagon was considering a policy change that could go so far as to court-martial the faithful simply for sharing their faith.</p><p>As tends to happen, this rumor lead to some pretty heated rhetoric from the usual suspects.</p><p>Family Research Council President Tony Perkins expressed outrage that the Obama administration is involved in an “anti-Christian offensive.”  His colleague, FRC Executive Vice President Lt.  Gen. (Ret.)  William “Jerry” Boykin, added, “If this policy goes forward, Christians within the military who speak of their faith could now be prosecuted as enemies of the state. ”</p><p>Jay Sekulow, head of TV preacher Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice, made similar remarks.</p><p>“There are ominous signs the U.S. military is turning its back on religious freedom,” he warned, adding that Pentagon officials are considering “new policies that may roll back religious liberty – especially for Christians. ”</p><p>CitizenLink, an affiliate of Focus on the Family, also expressed alarm about supposed anti-Christian discrimination and rehashed Perkins’ comments.</p><p>There’s just one teeny problem with these claims of persecution: they’re not true.</p><p>So what started this nasty rumor?  It seems Fox News is partly to blame.  Warren Throckmorton, a professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, said Fox commentator Todd Starnes took a quote from Lt.  Cmdr.  Nate Christensen out of context and fueled the controversy.</p><p><a href="http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/pentagon-religious-proselytizing-is-not-permitted.html">On April 30, Starnes wrote</a>: “The Pentagon confirmed to Fox News that Christian evangelism is against regulations. ”</p><p>That statement was followed by this: “‘Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense,’ LCDR Nate Christensen said in a written statement.  He declined to say if any chaplains or service members had been prosecuted for such an offense. ‘ Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis and it would be inappropriate to speculate on the outcome in specific cases,’ he said. ”</p><p>But as Throckmorton pointed out, <a href="http://wthrockmorton.com/2013/05/on-the-military-and-religious-proselytizing-military-spokesmans-original-comments-used-out-of-context/">that wasn’t even close to Christensen’s entire statement</a>.</p><p>The military spokesperson also told Fox News: “The Department of Defense places a high value on the rights of members of the Military Services to observe the tenets of their respective religions and respects (and supports by its policy) the rights of others to their own religious beliefs, including the right to hold no beliefs.  The Department does not endorse any one religion or religious organization, and provides free access of religion for all members of the military services. ”</p><p>Christensen continued, “Court martials and non-judicial punishment are decided on case-by-case basis and it would be inappropriate to speculate on the outcome in specific cases.  However, religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense. ”</p><p>That’s some pretty important detail, but I can see why Starnes ignored it – “Pentagon Values Rights of Military Service Members” doesn’t make for much of an inflammatory headline.</p><p>It is rather rare that Christians are actually discriminated against in the United States, a nice perk that comes from being in the majority.  Maybe that’s why the Religious Right leaders have to resort to exaggerations and outright falsehoods to drum up sympathy and rally their grassroots troops.</p><p>Sorry Tony Perkins, et al.,  but we’re not buying it on this one.  The military may be looking to curb aggressive and inappropriate proselytizing, and rightfully so.  But at this moment, there is no evidence to suggest that simply expressing one’s religious beliefs would lead to any sort of punishment.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/outside-workplace-discrimination-exemptions-religious-practice-including-military-prisons">Outside the Workplace: Discrimination, Exemptions &amp; Religious Practice (including in the Military, Prisons, Housing, Healthcare, etc.)</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-perkins">Tony Perkins</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jay-sekulow">Jay Sekulow</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-research-council">Family Research Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-center-for-law-and-justice">American Center for Law and Justice</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/citizenlink">Citizenlink</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/warren-throckmorton">Warren Throckmorton</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/nate-christensen">Nate Christensen</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/todd-starnes">Todd Starnes</a></span></div></div>Fri, 03 May 2013 17:28:49 +0000Simon Brown8347 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/crying-wolf-religious-right-falsely-claims-anti-christian-discrimination-by#commentsAlternative Universe: Iowa Presidential Forum Exposes Religious Right Disconnect From Reality https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/alternative-universe-iowa-presidential-forum-exposes-religious-right
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Religious Right activists and their political allies simply make stuff up.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>I spent two hours Saturday evening in front of my computer watching the Religious Right’s “Thanksgiving Family Forum.”  The <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/20/well-choreographed-family-forum-boasts-several-unscripted-moments/">event</a>, which took place at First Federated Church, a large fundamentalist congregation in Des Moines, featured six of the leading Republican presidential candidates – U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, former U.S senator Rick Santorum, Gov. Rick Perry, businessman Herman Cain and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. ( Mitt Romney begged off.)</p><p>The event was jointly sponsored by an Iowa group called The Family Leader, the National Organization for Marriage and CitizenLink, the overtly political arm of Focus on the Family.  The discussion targeted issues like same-sex marriage, abortion and the role of religion in politics.  Moderator Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster, gave each candidate a chance to explain his or her Christian faith.</p><p>I sat through the whole thing, and my takeaway is this: I continue to be amazed at how Religious Right activists and their political allies simply make stuff up.  Facts to them are pliable things that need not be acknowledged if inconvenient or unpleasant.  They live in their own reality.</p><p>I can’t dissect the entire event.  I don’t have that much time or patience.  But I did take a few notes and want today to explain a few basic things to the Religious Right:</p><p><em>Thomas Jefferson and James Madison don’t agree with you.</em> You hate the separation of church and state; Jefferson and Madison loved it.  Jefferson and Madison worked together to end the government-established church in Virginia and guarantee religious liberty for all.  Jefferson coined the metaphor of a “wall of separation between church and state.”  Madison spoke of the “total separation of the church from the state.”  Neither favored an officially Christian government.  They are not on your side; stop invoking them.</p><p><em>The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are two different documents designed to do different things.  </em>There’s no doubt that the Declaration of Independence is an important historical document.  It was a bold statement of our nation’s desire to be free from British control.  But it does not list our rights.  The rights of Americans are outlined in the Constitution, not the Declaration.  I realize that it bothers you that the Constitution is secular and that you place great stock in the fact that the Declaration contains a deistic reference to the “Creator,” but that does not change this simple fact: The foundational governing document of the nation is the Constitution – and it does not state that we are an officially Christian nation.</p><p><em>We have three co-equal branches of government.</em> It’s discouraging to hear you cheer when candidates vow to stop the courts from handing down decisions that you don’t like.  Our system grants the president no such powers – and for good reason.  We’re not a dictatorship, after all.  An independent judiciary is essential to the maintenance of a free society.  When you applaud a man who promises to fire, harass and intimidate judges and turn the courts into a rubber-stamp body, you are advocating for autocracy.  Aside from the separation of church and state, there is another important type of separation in our Constitution: the separation of powers.  You might want to read up on it.</p><p><em>When you advocate denying public office to people on the basis of what they believe (or don’t believe) about God, you are being bigots.</em> Article VI of the Constitution states that there shall be no religious test for federal office.  People are free to reject political hopefuls on the basis of their beliefs, of course, but candidates should not promote this type of bigotry.  We would have no difficulty labeling a person who says that a Jew is unfit for the presidency an anti-Semite.  Likewise, a person who says that an atheist is unfit for that office should be called what he or she is: a bigot.  It’s not something to be proud of.</p><p><em>You cannot simultaneously argue that decisions are best left to states and localities and demand federal control when states and localities do something you don’t like.</em> Several candidates attacked Washington, D.C., policy-makers and asserted that states and local governments should have more control, much to the delight of the audience.  They talked about how people should have the freedom to make decisions on the local level.  But apparently that freedom does not extend to making decisions that the Religious Right does not like.  Moments later, many of these same candidates vowed to stop states from legalizing same-sex marriage or civil unions and demanded to criminalize abortion in all 50 states by federal writ.  When you promote this type of intellectual disconnect, you expose yourself as the giant hypocrites that you are.</p><p>The day before the event, Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn <a href="http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/11/18/sold-out-presidential-forum-in-des-moines-will-get-beneath-the-talking-points/">said in a statement</a>, “It’s a shame that so many candidates see fit to attend this fundamentalist Christian inquisition masquerading as a debate.  Our nation faces many serious problems, but a lack of religion in our political system isn’t one of them.  In fact, this election has already become deeply entangled with religion, with four candidates now claiming that God told them to run.  Enough is enough. ”</p><p>The event is online <a href="http://www.citizenlink.com/2011/11/19/thanksgiving-family-forum-complete-video/">here</a> if you really want to see it.  Take my advice and keep a bottle of Maalox handy.</p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-groups%E2%80%99-involvement-in-candidate-elections">Religious Groups’ Involvement in Candidate Elections</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/other-issues-regarding-churches-and-politics">Other Issues regarding Churches and Politics</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/court-stripping-efforts-deprive-courts-authority">Court Stripping: Efforts to Deprive Courts of Authority</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/responding-common-attacks-church-state-separation">Responding to Common Attacks on Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/citizenlink">Citizenlink</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/focus-family">Focus On The Family</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-leader">FAMiLY Leader</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/iowa">Iowa</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thanksgiving-family-forum">Thanksgiving Family Forum</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/frank-luntz">Frank Luntz</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thomas-jefferson">thomas jefferson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/james-madison">James Madison</a></span></div></div>Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:14:47 +0000Rob Boston6386 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/alternative-universe-iowa-presidential-forum-exposes-religious-right#comments