BLEH!
Thanks a lot, Mike. From David Kuo’s new book on Bush’s bait & switch with the Christian Right:
On use of faith-based bills in Congress as a means of gay-baiting conservative voters:
“Existing federal law permitted churches and other faith-based organizations to hire only people who shared their faith…. Now, however, staffers for Republican representatives Tom DeLay and Dennis Hastert told us their bosses wanted to let organizations hire and fire based on ‘beliefs and practices.’ They wanted the law to allow organizations to require that its employees adhere not just to the religious beliefs, but also to the practices of the organization….
“Critics insisted that this provision targeted gays and lesbians…. Behind closed doors, everyone knew what it was about, and why they were pursuing it. For evangelical House members, their staffers, and for the conservative Christian advocacy community, preventing expansion of gay rights was an almost peerless priority. As they saw it, the single greatest threat to the American family came not from divorce, pornography, gambling, workaholism, materialism, or faithlessness, but rather from the mainstream acceptance of gays and lesbians. The most powerful Christian interest organizations (as opposed to charities), such as the Family Research Council, the Traditional Values Coalition, and everyone else, from the home-schoolers [emphasis added] to the private Christian school associations, agreed….
4 Responses to “BLEH!”
 Comment by Bill B October 17th, 2006 at 7:18 am |
A staffer for my rep. in Congress was quite surprised to learn that there are non-religious homeschoolers. |
 Comment by Jeanne October 17th, 2006 at 10:19 am |
Well, and then there are religious homeschoolers who are of differing faiths and beliefs and political persuasions. Or, who are also Christian but are mainstream Protestant, LDS or Catholic believers rather than fundamentalist or evangelical. To see OR portray homeschooling as made up of purely Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals is an error. To see or portray homeschoolers as fundamentalists at one end, or entirely non-religious at the other end (of a spectrum that does not reflect the diversity of homeschooling families) is also an error. And such portrayal or understanding certainly does not reflect the devoutness of many religious homeschoolers who are not fundamentalists or evangelicals, but are serious about their faith. And it does not reflect that such homeschoolers and their non-religious peers may vote Republican, Democratic, Green, Libertarian or Independent. “Homeschooling” is not monolithic. It is to our own peril to let it be understood as such. However, portraying homeschooling as monolithic has its political benefits for some players, who have been very successful in creating a very particular perception of homeschoolers. To members of Congress and their staffers, such perception is reality. At some point, those of us who are “other” will challenge the perception, either with purpose or merely thru the growth of homeschooling. Or, we’ll continue to reap what the current perception sews among our politicians — at local, state, and more recently, apparently and unfortunately, at the federal level. |
 Comment by Nance Confer October 17th, 2006 at 1:25 pm |
Through growth, is my guess. Just being is powerful stuff. But these pols weren’t/aren’t interested in the reality of the hsing world any more than they were/are interested in what a good Christian would think about any of this. It’s just power and its abuse. Over and over again. Until we finally catch on. But will the new boss be any different from the old boss? Pelosi is promising 100 hours of change. 100 hours to undo 6 years. Well, it’s a start. . . Nance |
 Comment by COD October 17th, 2006 at 2:38 pm |
I suspect Pelosi’s 100 hours will be about as meaningful as the Contract with America’s first 100 days. Still waiting for them to abolish the Dept the Education… |