I was flipping though the channels Saturday evening when I came across an hour long report by Brit Hume on the Fox News Channel. It was called “Religion in America: Church & State”. Yes, I took a shower after watching it. It was shown originally back in December when the fake “war on Christmas” was at its peak. Unfortunately it was not “a fair and balanced examination”. In fact, the report had a definite point of view and a majority of the talking heads were people opposed to religious liberty by keeping government neutral in religion. It also showed how a biased view point and selective evidence can slant what is called a news report.
Category: Politics
The Washington Post published a story today that talked about the slow death of the Christian Coalition. It seems that due to Pat Robertson’s big mouth and a settlement with the IRS over violations of their tax exemption, the CC is in debt and people are leaving the group in droves.
It seems that when the majority religious sects have a government policy go against them and their religion – they make a legal claim demanding separation of church and state. They never ask for it when a policy – say the Faith Based Initiative – supports them or gives them an advantage – like government funding.
I posted earlier about not having a transcript or article about the recent “The War on Christians and Values Voters in 2006” hosted by the religious right front group Vision America. I had an idea of what would be talked about – same old same old tired arguments – but I wanted to read about the conference and maybe some details about it. Thanks to the blog Writing Right, I was led to an article on the People for the American Way site that gave me what I needed.
It seems that Pastor Rick Scarborough, the founder and leader of Vision America, in introducing Rep. Tom DeLay, former majority leader in the US House of Represenatives, told the audience that DeLay was in legal trouble because he stood up for Jesus. The inference being that DeLay’s legal troubles came about because he is a hardcore religious conservative – as if the charges aren’t really true. Their BIG issue is called “The ValuesVoters’ Contract with Congress: A Declaration of American Renewal” which is similar to the infamous “Contract for America” that Republicans signed when they won the majority in the US House back in 1994. Being a religious group there are the usual religious conservative wish items like a ban on abortion, forcing religious expression in government, ban on gay marriage, and a ban on cloning.
With 2006 being an election year, the Ohio legislature was busy trying to pass some laws that would show voters how important they were – even though a closer look would show that the legislature was pandering. Election year pandering takes the form of passing laws addressing some issue that 99% of the population would agree with and that wouldn’t bite them in the ass while campaigning. This year the issue is sex abuse against children. Another law directed at Catholic Priests who have abused children was changed after heavy lobbying by US Bishops. While the law includes a requirement of the Church to report suspected abuse and creates a registry of non-convicted abusive Priests (those who are held liable in civil court after a trial but who’s criminal statute of limitations have run out), a provision to allow previous victims a chance to file civil suits for old cases was removed.