August 1, 2015

Secrets of the extreme religious right: Inside the frightening world of Christian Reconstructionism

The zealots pushing a horrifying vision of "religious freedom" really have in mind a new Biblical slavery

PAUL ROSENBERG

As an unprecedented shift in public opinion brought about the legalization of gay marriage, a vigorous counter-current has been intensifying under the banner of “religious freedom”—an incredibly slippery term.

Perhaps the most radical definition of such freedom comes out of the relatively obscure tradition of Christian Reconstructionism, the subject of a new book by religious studies scholar Julie Ingersoll, Building God’s Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstructionism. As Ingersoll explains, Reconstructionists basically reject the entire framework of secular political thought in which individual rights have meaning, so “freedom” as most Americans understand the term is not the issue at all. Indeed, they argue that such “freedom” is actually slavery—slavery to sin, that is.

Reconstructionists aim to establish a theocracy, though most would no doubt bristle at that description. They do not want to “take over the government” so much as they want to dismantle it. But the end result would be a social order based on biblical law—including all those Old Testament goodies like stoning gay people to death, while at the same time justifying “biblical slavery.” These extreme views are accurate, Ingersoll explained, but at the same time quite misleading in suggesting that Reconstructionism is a fringe movement with little influence on the culture.

‘If someone wants to understand these people, I think the smart thing to do is to take those really inflammatory things, acknowledge that they are there, and set them aside,” Ingersoll advised. “And then look at the stuff that’s less inflammatory, but therefore, I think, more important. I think the Christian schooling, homeschooling, creationism, the approach to economics, I think those kinds of things are far more important.

“The fights that we’re seeing right now over how religious freedom and constitutionally protected equality for the LGBT community, how those two things fit together—or don’t—that fight was presaged by theologian Rousas Rushdoony in the ’60s. He talked about that fight. Not particularly with regard to LGBT, but with regard to the expansion—it was civil rights. He didn’t say explicitly racially-based civil rights, but that’s what he was talking about in the era.”

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http://www.salon.com/2015/07/31/secrets_of_the_extreme_religious_right_inside_the_frightening_world_of_christian_reconstructionism/

August 1, 2015

GOP activist asks Texas AG to defy marriage ruling: ‘Lousy bastards’ letting ‘Sodomites queer...

GOP activist asks Texas AG to defy marriage ruling: ‘Lousy bastards’ letting ‘Sodomites queer our country’

The Texas attorney general told county clerks they could refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after hearing from religious activists who warned against letting “Sodomites queer our country.”

Emails released as part of an open-records request revealed that Christian conservative activists such as Steve Hotze, a Houston physician and an influential Republican activist, contacted Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately to ask him to fight the ruling, reported The Dallas Morning News.

“Greetings in the name of Christ our King!” Hotze wrote, urging Paxton not to comply with the ruling because it did not specifically order states to do so.

“The illegitimate SCOTUS ruling does not name Texas, so fight those lousy bastards,” said Hotze, president of Conservative Republicans of Texas. “They hate God and want to let the Sodomites queer our country.”

Midland energy executive Tim Dunn asked Paxton the day after the June 28 ruling to assist in the legal defense of any Texas businesses, schools or individuals penalized for resisting the ruling on marriage equality.

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http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/gop-activist-asks-texas-ag-to-defy-marriage-ruling-lousy-bastards-letting-sodomites-queer-our-country/

August 1, 2015

Jail for man accused of shooting at George Zimmerman in Florida

Source: Reuters

Florida man returned to jail on Friday to await trial on attempted murder charges in a roadway shooting involving George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer acquitted in the 2012 shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.

A judge revoked the bond of Matthew Apperson, 36, following a complaint that he had violated its conditions by urinating on a neighbor’s front door. Apperson had been released on $35,000 bond and ordered to wear a GPS tracking devise following his arrest earlier this year in connection with a roadside altercation with Zimmerman.

Zimmerman suffered a minor injury from flying glass after Apperson fired a shot at him through his car window, authorities have said. The May incident occurred in Lake Mary, Florida, a suburb of Orlando.

The incident marked Zimmerman’s latest brush with law enforcement since his acquittal in Martin’s death, a case that spurred civil rights rallies and drew attention to Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law.

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Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/jail-for-man-accused-of-shooting-at-george-zimmerman-in-florida/