I came across this 'freak out!' email sent by the Family Research Counsel, the organization of fundie nutcase Tony Perkins, on People For the American Way's Right Wing Watch. The subject is the NJ Supreme Court decision regarding same sex marriage:
The court is already working to strip marriage of any meaning, and now it looks to foist its counterfeit on the church. Will we soon see this same "discrimination" as grounds to force homosexuality on our houses of worship? The church is already under attack-from those inside who want to advance an agenda of approval, and those outside, who hope to use the politics of intimidation to crush the freedom of religion. The ruling makes this much clear: the church must be prepared to defend its right of conscience and conviction.
Boy, how much crazy stuff and lies can you jam into a paragraph? How did the NJ decision force churches to do anything? What it does is force the state legislature to address the disparity in rights between straights and gays that limiting marriage creates. It's not like the Massachussetts decision, which made gay marriage possible.
But this has been something that the religious right has been harping on -- make same sex marriage legal and churches will be forced to perform them.
Let me tell you a story. A couple I know -- one man and one woman -- decided to get married a few years ago and approached their church about it. They were told that the church wouldn't marry them as long as they were living together.
Everyone they told about this thought it was incredibly stupid. Why on Earth should one of them move out so they could get married, then move right back in together? We all agreed that this was crazy.
But, you know what no one did? No one suggested they sue the church and make them marry the two. No one suggested that we lobby for some sort of law. What almost everyone did suggest was that the couple say, "Fuck this church," and get married elsewhere -- which they did. The church they originally belonged to is now short two members.
I find it really hard to believe that this was the first time this had come up with this church. Yet the rule remains in place, despite the fact that most people think it's nuts. There were plenty of churches who were happy to accept a family that were living together outside of marriage.
And the same thing's true with gay marriage ceremonies -- there's no shortage of churches happy to perform them. Don't believe me? Click here for a list. And there are also Justices of the Peace -- a church isn't even required for a wedding.
Yet, here's the religious right, claiming that same sex marriage will somehow make an exemption to the First Amendment, which protects religious liberty. What they don't do -- what they never do -- is explain how. It's just going to happen and that's that.
Maybe it's because the religious right are foolishly opposed to the First Amendment -- they oppose wiccan military chaplains, for example. They believe that because they want to screw over other religions, other religions want to screw them. It's called projection -- the belief that everyone else's morals and ethics are as fucked up as yours.
Luckily for us, that can't possibly be true. People like Tony Perkins are pretty much the bottom of the barrel.
Tags: news politics civil rights religious right gay propaganda Family Research Council Tony Perkins
