Tragically, the fact that The Washington Times is owned and published by a batty religious cult is lost on most of its readers and many conservative politicians. When Ronald Reagen called it the "best newspaper in America" and his "preferred morning read", I can't help but to wonder if he understand that it's a house organ for neo-conservative Korean cult leader Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Says a lot about the truth of Ronald Reagan.
Ordinarily I wouldn't care about the views of a third rate Hollywood actor with a lower IQ than his chimp co-star, but Ronald Reagan is considered by a majority of Americans to be this nation's second greatest president after Abraham Lincoln, a statistical fact that frequently scares the shit out of me.
Anyone alive and thinking during the Reagan years remembers two thing: Reagan's homophobia resulted in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of gay men and, secondly, Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev brought down communism. the Soviet Empire and ended the Cold War and then Reagan and American Conservatives stole the credit.
Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize for his accomplishments. Reagan got a glowing editorial in The Washington Times.
And once again the editorial board of The Washington Times is on the case of truth, this time defending religious freedom, noting that gay marriage is the greatest threat to the First Amendment since, well, the Soviet Union, I suppose.
"California did more than just legalize same-sex marriages in June. Its decision has the potential to threaten one of America's greatest freedoms - religious liberty - by ruling that sexual orientation is a matter of discrimination," begins the lead editorial in a recent edition of stupidity's official newsletter.
Among other things, this is the most popular newspaper among Washington's African-American community and widely read by conservative members of Congress; so while it would be tempting to simply use this newspaper to scoop poop, its influence is both undeniable and disturbing.
The Washington Times is outraged that sexual orientation, a sin and an abomination, is being equated to race, gender, age, political affiliation and religious belief.
"This categorization enables homosexuals, transgenders and others to cite their sexual tendencies as grounds for discrimination in lawsuits against employers, insurance companies and those administering such civil duties as granting marriage licenses."
"Legal professionals bridging the political spectrum agree that if there is not careful lawmaking, vigilant voters and open dialogue, the ruling could lead to churches and other houses of worship, as well as religious nonprofits, losing tax breaks, rights to license marriages and preach on the issue of homosexuality."
Some of us, of course, think this development is long overdue. Nothing is more insane or constitutionally appalling than to give financial rewards to those who oppose equality and tolerance, and arrogantly abuse freedom to advocate theocracy over democracy.
"Part of the problem is that most religious-based institutions receive some form of government funding (partly due to President Bush's faith-based initiative, which has been endorsed by John McCain and Barack Obama, who touts his own initiative on the campaign trail). The initiative seeks to strengthen faith-based and community organizations and expand their capacity to provide federally funded social services. The idea, of course, is that these community-oriented groups are better suited to deliver services to local families and individuals.
"The question that arises now is how is the government going to rectify the fact that many Judeo-Christian organizations "discriminate" against same-sex individuals and couples by reinforcing, as the Bible does, that homosexuality is an "abomination," by refusing to rent their facilities to homosexuals and by denying the sacrament of holy matrimony to same-sex couples."
As an aside, I would like to note that among the many lies spread by religious fundamentalists is this "Judeo-Christian" nonsense since over 90% of Jewish houses of worship today accept the ordination of gay clergy and same sex marriage.
So, The Washington Times warns that the legalization of marriage equality in California and Massachusetts could result in
"...a snowball of problems for those religious groups that refuse to sacrifice their beliefs for the sake of public policy, including but not limited to lawsuits from homosexuals for discrimination in hiring and revocation of tax breaks from the government.
"This has already proven true in Boston, where the Catholic Charities adoption agency refused to place children in the care of same-sex couples, adhering to the Roman Catholic Church's condemnation of same-sex marriage. The result? Catholic Charities of Boston ended its 103-year-old adoption program in June 2006 - opting to relinquish its founding mission rather than abandon the Catholic Church's teaching and comply with Massachusetts state law requiring that gays be allowed to adopt children.
"There was a similar case in Sacramento, where Catholic Charities refused to insure an employee's prescription for birth control. Once again, the organization stood by Catholic teaching. This time, the organization was forced by the California Supreme Court to provide its employees in California with medical coverage for birth control, in spite of its religious objections to contraception.
"These two cases alone - both of which occurred prior to California's recent ruling on same-sex marriage - have sweeping implications for religion-based groups. Moreover, the implications threaten one of America's greatest freedoms: religious liberty. What will Americans do about that?"
As is usually the case, The Washington Times and other religion-based enemies of freedom and democracy, twist the meaning of Religious Freedom beyond recognition, reason and sense. The First Amendment says that government shall in no way favor one religion over any other. It in no way says that any religion will hold sway over the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness so well and clearly described in the United States Constitution. Equality, according to the Constitution, is, in principle, for all Americans, not just for idiots who cloak their stupidity, bigotry and barbarism in Jesus. The principle of Religious Freedom in no way empowers any religion to flush law and the Constitution down the toilet.
As a nation, our perversion of religious freedom remains a great threat to the American Democracy. And with clowns and fascists masquerading as Presidents and with Cult-based propoganda machines masquerading as legititmte newspapers, the American Dream is quickly turning into a nightmare.
Today's paper has an article by a preacher who claims that the price of gasoline has come down recently because his organization staged pray-ins at several gas stations looking for divine intervention - which he said they got.
Hot do nut jobs like this get certified much less accrue followers?
Jesus would be rolling in his grave if he hadn't already vacated it (or so I've been told).
Posted by: Alan down in Florida | Thursday, 14 August 2008 at 12:09 PM
Richard,
the answer is clear: we need to declare homosexuality a religion. It would give "cock worship" and "on your knees" new meaning. will you be our patron saint?
Posted by: tom | Thursday, 14 August 2008 at 08:41 PM