6 Sneaky Ways the Christian Right Foists Its Biblical Agenda on America

This is the article and link to the title of the OP, and it's the last post I will be making today.

I will highlight the 'six points', and then leave readers to investigate it further.
It delineates how the Christian Right is subverting the nation with their hatred and bigotry.

Since the beginning, the Christian right has been aware that the First Amendment makes it impossible for them to use “God said so” to justify legislation. They’ve spent decades grafting secular reasons onto what are fundamentally attempts to foist their views on the rest of the country, often going out of their way to conceal the religious origins of their policy ideas. In response, I created this list of what the religious right wants; what nonsense secular reason they give for wanting it; and the actual, true reason, usually down to chapter and verse.

Each point extexted below has an additional two explanations following it.
First, 'the secular reasons they give', and then
'The unconstitutional, actual religious reasons'.

I find it highly relevant to what is going on in this country. (I almost put 'God-forsaken' there, but, since I'm very opinionated about this, I decided against it. Well, I guess I just did it anyway. But, oh well. It is what it is.)

I urge everyone to read the article. It will only take you a few minutes, and will help with perspective on this insidious agenda.

1) What they want: A rollback on environmental protections. This is but one of many ways the religious right has merged its interests with that of corporate America.

2) What they want: For the government to take money from the public school system and give it to private schools in the form of vouchers. They’ve had remarkable success at this by hijacking the larger, secular debate over education.

3) What they want: No Equal Rights Amendment. While this battle to prevent the Constitution from being amended to give women equal rights, which the right won, was mostly fought in the late '70s and early '80s, Christian right-controlled legislatures occasionally take time to vote against it today.

4) What they want: A ban on gay marriage. Often cast as "protecting" traditional marriage.

5) What they want: To end the teaching of evolution in schools. This battle has been going on since at least the 1920s, and every time it comes around, the religious right gets a little better at hiding its religious motivations behind secularist claims.

6) What they want: To restrict access to abortion and contraception. Everyone knows the religious right has it out for abortion rights, but recently attacks on contraception access have also been increasing.

People need to be aware of what is going on.
Every single one of the discussion points in the article talks about how they 'couch' it in secular terms, and then what is the actual unconstitutional 'agenda' behind it.

I hope some of you will respond with your thoughts, rebuttals, opinions, etc.
My opinion? Scary stuff indeed.

It is scary stuff, and something that's been happening for many years. Recently, the push has been to get religious "politicians" elected under the guise of the Tea Party so they can make laws based on religion. And with the gerrymandering of the congressional districts, they have been fairly successful.

We've got to VOTE for people who will maintain our secular way of governing every chance we get, or before long, we will be living under the Christian version of Sharia Law.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic

Benevolent Heretic, I am honored that you chimed in here.
Thanks for your thoughts.
It is scary, indeed.
~wild

reply to post by wildtimes

The history of movements has shown that when they start taking a political position, they fall apart because things change.

The American right wing Christian Conservative Fundamentalist Evangelical co-opting of Christianity is something that Jesus himself would be outraged over I think, and if he were in their pews he would say something and would get thrown out of the building on his ass.

I think it's a disgrace and an outrage, the co-mingling of religion and politics in the US when what was intended by God and Jesus was the co-mingling of the living Spirit of God and man.

When I see their mouthpieces on TV I want to throw something at them!

And I'm a true Christian believer.

reply to post by wildtimes

"insidious agenda"

C'mon. Apart from trying to ban evolution in schools (which is idiotic,) all of these things are conservative political issues. Do they have to be cast as an "insidious agenda" just because some anti-Christian site claims that the reason people are in favour or against these issues is because they are conservative Christians?

As a middle of the road Christian, I am against #1, for #2, against #3 (if it weren't 40 years past due, it might be more relevant to cite in the article,) for #4, obviously against #5 and for #6. Call me an extremist, though only one of those is really religious in nature (anti-abortion.)

I don't see that anyone needs to be a Christian to be behind any of these (including #5, I'm sure that there are conservative Jews and Muslims who aren't fans.)

reply to post by wildtimes


Starred and Flagged! Excellent topic! We need more of these kinds of threads to call out the religious right for the manipulative lobbyists that they are!

With religious nutters at the top of the political food chain, as they are, is it any wonder that we have representatives on the congressional science committees that think women don't get pregnant from rape and don't "believe" in evolution?

They're trying to legislate their religious views, claiming the moral high ground. But, in this day of "space age dreams" they are still preaching iron age myths and fairy tales.

reply to post by wildtimes
First off I would like to say that yes there are groups of Uber Right Wing Christian Conservatives who will use any means possible to inject their religious beliefs into law, but I think it is only fair to admit that there are also Uber Left Wing Atheist Liberals who will use any means possible to inject their secular humanist beliefs into law.

I consider myself to be an average Christian Conservative and am by no means single minded on a lot of the issues at hand. For example: a rollback on environmental protections. To me this issue has more to do with corporate lobbying than one's religious views. I also think people who support such rollbacks are those whose livelihoods depend on some of these regulations. In the southern states a lot of folks depend on oil (drilling, refining, shipping) and a lot of those folks are Christian Conservatives.

Public school voucher programs: I'm not so sure that this is a Christian Right thing. Everyone wants their children to get a good education. If your children attend a school that is not providing them with an adequate education then you should be able to put your kids in a school that does, and as not all people can afford to pay for a private school vouchers can be a really good thing for ALL children. My personal opinion however is that if a school continually rates very poorly and the children aren't learning what they need is that rather than give them vouchers to attend other schools the school districts should fire the entire staffs of the schools and use the "voucher" money to pay for better teachers and administrators.

I believe that equal rights means exactly that- EQUAL. Anyone who would care to undo that is a jerk, plain and simple. That isn't a Christian Right thing, it's a male chauvinist pig thing. Trying to revoke the equal rights amendment will always fail as there aren't even enough among the Christian Right who would vote for such a thing. It's a case of old farts who are set in their ways and want to boss women around.

The issue of gay marriage I must admit for the most part is a Christian Right thing, and yes they are going to continue to fight it tooth and nail. Let me state for the record that not all Christians oppose gay marriage. Many feel like we should not judge others and if they marry it is between them and their maker and none of our business. According to the Bible homosexuality is a sin- but so is a lot of other things that most of us do every day. None of us are without sin,and we should all love and respect each other regardless. Live and let live.

I am a firm supporter of teaching evolution in schools.To me the theory of evolution does not interfere with my belief in creationism and the two go together hand in hand and compliment each other. Neither theory alone holds all the answers but together they paint a more complete picture. Those who oppose evolution being taught in schools should home school their children, but I think they would be hurting them by doing so. Many Christians believe the same and the one's who want evolution banned from schools are a minority.

Contraception and abortion- those are tough issues. While many churches preach against such things most congregations and parishoners use them. I support a woman's right to both. I do not like abortion but it is not my place to tell a woman what she can or cannot do with her own body, and I certainly would never want to force a woman to raise a child she never wanted to have. If a woman were to ask for my opinion I would do my best to talk her out of it, but no matter her decision I would love her anyway. Now some churches are fighting being forced to pay for employees contraceptives. That is their right not to offer them, just as some companies dont offer dental or vision coverage. Contraceptives are cheap enough to buy for yourself and the churches will still pay for the woman's yearly exam- she would only need to pay for the actual contraceptives out of pocket. If a woman can't afford that there are women's clinics everywhere that will help if necessary.

Some of the issues are indeed being pushed by the so-called Christian Right but if you haven't noticed these type things seldom if ever get passed into law. Those pushing so hard for some of these changes don't have enough support even among their own parties to be able to do so, and they certainly don't have support amon all Christians.

reply to post by littled16


Thanks, littled.
I appreciate and understand your points. These issues are such explosive ones.....I hope that the nation can try to calm down enough to discuss them civilly.

This issue in Boston has got me really rattled. Sorry for the brief reply....
~wild

reply to post by wildtimes


Except for perhaps the evolution bit those are all just Conservative/Libertarian issues.

reply to post by NOTurTypical


And? You agree with all of them except for the 'bit about evolution'?
Please help me understand where you stand on these issues.
If the article is bogus, I want to know. If it is representative of what's actually going on, I want to know that, too.
Thanks in advance.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
reply to post by wildtimes

 

Except for perhaps the evolution bit those are all just Conservative/Libertarian issues.

Exactly.

The fact that the country is still a majority Christian nation (for the time being) means that conservative Christians will be behind most of those issues, but it is disingenuous, on the part of the author of the article, to claim that Christianity is behind it all.

I've never, in my life, heard anyone say "God wants us to ruin the Earth. Rock on, oil companies!!!"

reply to post by adjensen


Yeah, saw our post after I posted. People who aren't even religious who are Constitutionalists are against most of those things because they don't fall within the enumerated powers granted under the Constitution. And what you said about number 5 is quite true, last time I checked there wasn't some massive grassroots pro-gay marriage movement in the Jewish or Islamic communities.

But let's just blame it all on the Christians, why not a bit of oil fashioned rhetoric and demagoguing??

Originally posted by wildtimes
reply to post by NOTurTypical

 

And? You agree with all of them except for the 'bit about evolution'?
Please help me understand where you stand on these issues.
If the article is bogus, I want to know. If it is representative of what's actually going on, I want to know that, too.
Thanks in advance.

It's bogus because it's not only being pushed by Christians. Libertarian and Secular Conservatives are also against those things. Mostly because they don't believe the Federal government should have anything to do with them.

reply to post by NOTurTypical

It's bogus because it's not only being pushed by Christians. Libertarian and Secular Conservatives are also against those things. Mostly because they don't believe the Federal government should have anything to do with them.

Fair enough......
but there are people lobbying with loudness and money to influence the government in these general directions to implement LAWS against these things. Not just 'butt out', but MAKE LAWS against them.

They aren't just 'not believing the Fed Govt should have anything to do with them,', they WANT the Fed Govt to back them up and to vilify everyone who disagrees with their 'issue stances'. That is the problem as I see it.

Originally posted by wildtimes
They aren't just 'not believing the Fed Govt should have anything to do with them,', they WANT the Fed Govt to back them up and to vilify everyone who disagrees with their 'issue stances'. That is the problem as I see it.

But those are political issues, not religious ones. Yes, most of the people who might say that are Christian, but they're saying it because they are conservative/libertarian, not because they're Christian.

The author of your article is misleading their readers, intentional or not.

Originally posted by wildtimes
reply to post by NOTurTypical

 

It's bogus because it's not only being pushed by Christians. Libertarian and Secular Conservatives are also against those things. Mostly because they don't believe the Federal government should have anything to do with them.

Fair enough......
but there are people lobbying with loudness and money to influence the government in these general directions to implement LAWS against these things. Not just 'butt out', but MAKE LAWS against them.

They aren't just 'not believing the Fed Govt should have anything to do with them,', they WANT the Fed Govt to back them up and to vilify everyone who disagrees with their 'issue stances'. That is the problem as I see it.

I don't think you know very much of the basis of argument of Constitutionalists, Federalists, Libertarians, or Fiscal Conservatives. Not trying to offend at all, but most all their reasoning has nothing to do with religion, save perhaps the evolution point.

reply to post by wildtimes


I actually agree with 2, 5 and I agree with stricter enforcement for children under 18 when it comes to number 6.

2. My daughter went to a non denomination private charter school for JH. And it was run remarkably better than the public schools. If private schools can offer better education for the same money, than education needs to go private or the uninion and the entire system needs to be destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up.

5. I am highly intelligent and highly researched on this subject. Currently from a pure science standpoint apart from any speculation, Young Earth Creationists have just as much credibility as Evolutionist. Teach them both and the science that points to each or teach neither.

6.If I am going to be told by my government that my teenager is my responsibility than I would just assume her not have access to any of this without my consent. Before you bash I don't have an issue with contraceptives and as a male I withhold judgment on abortion as I can not fully understand what happens to the woman.

reply to post by sacgamer25


I believe the Federal Dept. of Education needs to be abolished. For one, it's not an enumerated power granted to the Fed. by the Constitution. Secondly, those dollars should stay within the school district instead of being taxed out of the district, sent to Washington, and then sent back to the same district minus a bit for beauracracy and red tape. Those dollars should stay right where they are and the school boards responsible directly to the community they service.

reply to post by sacgamer25


Why would I 'bash' you, sac?
I posted an article from a third-party site. I stated my reaction to it.

I was hoping to get a broad spectrum of opinions about it....
all I can say is that it made sense to me. I want to be wrong about what I see happening....
but the fact is, I see the Right-Wing Conservative Christian hard-liners getting noisier and pushier, and the article pointed out some things that I think are worth looking at.

NuT;
adj;
okay. Point taken.
Thanks for your participation.