-The Supreme Court of California rules that conservative congregations that split from the Episcopal church will not get to keep the property they meet on.
-Former congressman Bob Barr, who authored the Defense of Marriage Act, now calls for its repeal.
-Focus on the Family’s “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference will be broadcast on GOD TV, a conservative Christian internet-streamed video channel that can also be watched on certain Satellite TV providers. GOD TV claims to reach “almost half a billion people.”
-The Episcopal Diocese of Colorado ordains a lesbian priest.
-Obama invites openly gay bishop Gene Robinson to pray at his inauguration. Shockingly, the religious right is suddenly less sanguine about Obama’s commitment to inclusion.
I’m actually finding the fuss about Bishop Robinson hilarious. Obama will have pissed off *everybody* with prayers by the time this is over! Maybe the idea that it might be simpler to, you know, pray in your home and church and let secular events be secular might gain traction.
Has anyone else noticed how Christianist writers are making a point of using Bishop Robinson’s despised first name, “Vicki”? (I do think his parents were mean to call him that.) I guess they think it backs up what I will generously call their theories. I would not be surprised if he and Barack Hussein Obama, the son of Stanley Ann Dunham, have had a conversation about how right-wingers use and abuse their names punctuated with lots of sympathy, joking and laughter.
Maybe Bob Barr’s mind will change on practicing Wiccans and Pagans serving in the military, too. For now, I think, “Will wonders never cease?”
I’m sad that Love Won Out will be broadcast because I found it so toxic and felt so sorry for the children (adult and otherwise) of the parents who were listening. But I guess that God TV demographic is already tilted in their favor. To complain about that would be like complaining because someone added a dash of Cholula sauce to a bowl of habanero-jalapeno chili.
Let secular events be secular. Now there’s a novel notion!
TRiG.
I’ve noticed this too. Using “hussein” is obvious in its implied insult. The use of “Vicki” is probably done to further “pervert” the Bishop. As in, “he’s a homo AND blurs genders by having a feminine name! PERVERT!!! He might as well wear a sparkly cocktail dress and cakes of make-up when delivering his prayer!!”
PLEASE.
Uh, let’s avoid “Christianist” in the same way we would “Homosexualist” if that’s ok. We have enough alienating labels for people to learn as it is;)
I would agree, the choir will mostly be watching God TV anyway. However, exposing what goes on at LWO to people who have not had enough Kool-Aid to actually pay to visit one, well that might be a good thing. I’ve noticed that the average, rational person is often rather appalled at the inner workings of one of those road shows.
I wonder if Focus and/or Exodus get paid for licensing the video? Both are desperate for funds, which might explain the move.
We just need to continue to expose LWO, Exodus and Focus on the Family for the frauds they are. We now have a much larger stage and a much larger audience with our new administration in Washington. God Bless Barack Obama. We have a tremendous amount of work to do now.
Christianist is a useful word. What term do you suggest for those who wish their religion’s restrictions to be encoded into legislation? Certainly not all Christians have this desire, so we need some term to distinguish.
TRiG.
“We will be a better country when each religious group can trust its members to obey the dictates of their own religious faith without assistance from the legal structure of the country.” Margaret Mead (1901-1978)
I agree with TRiG. “Christianist” is not an insult or denigrating term. It’s a political description, for those who seek to impose conservative Christian beliefs on the whole of society through law. The term was coined as a parallel to “Islamist”–those who not only hold to a very conservative interpretation of Islam, but seek to impose their interpretation of Islamic law on civil governments.
*nods at TRiG and NickS* That is exactly why I use “Christianist.” I find that it’s a great way to distinguish the people I’m mad at, the people who would (and do) put artificial limits on my life because I am a bi Pagan woman who loves another woman, from the majority of Christians. I know there are many Christians on this board, and I wouldn’t want to offend them.
However, this isn’t my blog, so I’ll avoid the word from here on in.
I understand the purpose of the word, but it’s not commonly used outside of a small network, so I also know that many don’t. I would prefer we don’t develop the same type of new-speak alternate language that plagues Exodus. I’ve also seen the term “homosexualist” used by anti-gay sites and I would have a hard time pointing that out in a future post if we are using Christianist.
All in all, I believe we might be more inviting to those who most need the information we provide if there is less confusion about terms that could easily seem aimed at them. I didn’t mean to imply that you were using the word to insult Christians in general 😉
BTW, Jayelle, your input is appreciated.