Archive for category Tribalism & Blind Obedience to Authority

A Causal Link Between Religion and Racism

From Tapped:

A recent analysis of religious attitudes by researchers at Duke, USC and Augsburg College reaches the conclusion that religious people tend to be more racist — and the more religious you are, the more racist you tend to be. It may come as no surprise that some Christians may not practice what they preach, but what is noteworthy about the study is that it draws a causal link between the structure of religious organizations and racism.

The authors note that religion promotes conformity and respect for tradition. Moreover, it tends to be practiced within race, promoting “in-group identity.” Racist attitudes may emerge when “different others” appear to be in competition for resources.

For a number of reasons I find this research disconcerting but also disturbingly accurate.  Religion in practice becomes profoundly tribal, encouraging a strong sense of “us” which all too easily becomes an equally strong aversion to “them.”  Very few churches are racially integrated in a meaningful way.  The church -  which should be an agent of tolerance, diversity and pluralism - becomes instead an agent of prejudice.

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The very special cowardice of Chris Buttars

So I’m watching KUTV’s ten o’clock news last night and they did a story about the Prop 8 film at Sundance, including an interview with Chris Buttars giving him a chance to correct any misimpressions about him the film created for viewers.

Buttars offered the most ridiculous defense I’ve ever heard: Sure he said offensive things but he was tricked into it by people wearing BYU shirts.

You can’t make this shit up.  If someone put this in a film and tried to pass it off as fiction, no one would buy it, it stretches credulity beyond the breaking point.

The film-maker sent the TV station photos from the day showing that he and his crew weren’t wearing BYU shirts.  So, not only is Chris Buttars a bigot, he’s a liar.  But we knew that.

In essence, Buttars’ is saying that what he said (gays are the biggest threat to America) is okay but he would only say it to someone in the club – i.e. to good BYU Mormons who would agree and who would keep his comments secret so he wouldn’t look bad.

What we’re seeing is a very special kind of cowardice on Chris Buttars’ part.  It’s not that he misspoke or said something and he’s changed his mind; he believes what he said and he’d say it again and still believe it.  Chris Buttars wants to not be held accountable for his words.  Like so many anti-gay conservatives, he wants to be able to say anything he wants and not have consequences.  Go to Uganda, tell the folks there that gays are the biggest threat to humanity there is and they must be stopped any way you can and when Uganda says, “Okay, let’s pass a law with the death penalty for gay people” you throw up your hands and say, “Oh my, I never imagined anyone would do such a thing after hearing me speak.”

Chris Buttars: a man of cowardly convictions.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

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A Peek Inside The Brain of a Global Warming Climate Denier

This is too classic to not post. I found this on Facebook. It’s perfect really.

Father of Five: The current decade long cooling trend has thrown a wrench into the alarmists trying to sell America the ‘we are burning up’ tale. It’s a little tough to buy that the globe is warming when there is snow in Florida. So, progressives do what they do best and change the argument. No longer is it global warming, it’s climat…e change. It’s an old trick and they are doing it again.

Then I said:
GOsadElephant

“I think you’ve made a terrible mistake. Do you feel like you were mislead by Bush or the media?Perhaps you are still subject to misleading information? (Link to Richard’s post)

Then he sang…

Father of Five: I’m not mislead, I just look out the window and I can see that we are not warming at all, and I reject the idea that man is responsible for the weather, as if we can control anything significant on earth, if anything Haiti should be a shout loud and clear “Man cannot and will not control this planet!”

If anything, man is the endangered species and.we we should be doing all we can to protect ourselves, as if that would do any good whatsoever. As far as we know, there is no plates or any reason why there should be an earthquake there, and yet, there is was.

I see the earth as its own protector and while I don’t think we should actively try to destroy it, the fallacy of destroying our way of life trying to “save the earth” really has nothing to do with the actual planet and is more about a few people who “know” more than you and I do and will save us because they are “smarter” than we are so they will force us to do their will.

I post this as an artifact of our times for the benefit of future Zoologist and Anthropologists.

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Who Really Killed Dr. Tiller? Murder in the Name of Christianity.

A few things are empirically true about the murder of Kansas Doctor George Tiller this past summer. The murderer, Scott Roeder and his supporters are angry, extremist, fundamentalist Christians.

While all major Christian institutions have condemned the murder, they have also disavowed the tactics of militant anti-abortion folks who legitimize their behavior under the banner of Christianity.

Even Bill O’Reilly, primary provocateur of record, has clearly and explicitly condemned Scott Roeder and the slaying of an innocent man in the name of Christianity. But O’Reilly did not act alone. He was encouraged, CHEERED in fact, by a small number of militant Christians with a clear history of harassment and violence in and around Wichita Kansas. Apparently, bloggers played a major role, some of them even falling over themselves to take credit.

That is why Richard Okelberry’s history of militant anti-abortion speech, long-standing attacks on Dr. Tiller and his  explicit refusal to condemn Tiller’s murder demands closer scrutiny as to the role he played in this horrific affront to human decency and Christian values.

Note: Richard Okelberry hails from Lincoln, Nebraska less than 200 miles from Roeder’s home.

By his own admission, Okelberry began sending letters about Dr. George Tiller at last as early as March 2006. In a post titled (surprise) “Tiller The baby Killer” which features a faked photo of Tiller in jail, Okelberry writes;

Scott Reoder ProvocateurI also sent copies to Planned Parenthood, the areas premier abortion provider, as well as several state representatives and a few nationally syndicated radio talk show hosts…One of those copied was Mr. Bill O’Reilly from the Fox News Channel and the Bill O’Reilly Show. Richard Okelberry March 24, 2006

It is well know by now that up until the time of Tiller’s murder, O’Reilly or guest, had mentioned Tiller (as the Baby Killer) at least 28 times. In the same post Okleberry implicitly claims to have encouraged Bill O’Reilly:

While I have no idea whether or not my correspondence had any effect, I can tell you with all certainty that Bill O’Reilly has now picked up the ball and is running for the ”in-zone.” In fact he has launched an all out campaign against the infamous Kansas doctor that he calls, “Tiller the baby killer.”

In the days following one of Okelberry’s letters O’Reilly said on the air:

“No question Dr. Tiller has blood on his hands. But now so does Governor Sebelius. She is not fit to serve. Nor is any Kansas politician who supports Tiller’s business of destruction. I wouldn’t want to be these people if there is a Judgment Day.

By any measure, this is a veiled death threat.  While O’Reilly has consistently shocked the world with his bullying, cruelty and recklessness, he is not known for originating death threats.  One can only assume that he was referring to threats made by others?  But who?  Who among O’Reilly’s sources was using the term Judgment Day in reference to Tiller?

I think the answer is clear.  This is a Christian term which, in its most popular context, means death, deserving of death to be specific.

Lets take a moment and consider the vitriol in Okelberry’s writings. In this post of less than 500 words attacking Obama and Sebelius, Okelberry refers to Tiller as a “baby killer” no less than SEVEN times.

Militant Anti-Abortionist“…Gov. Sebelius, even threw a party for the infamous Tiller the Baby Killer (George Tiller)…to thank Tiller for his sizable blood money….Tiller the Baby Killer isn’t just your run of the mill abortionist….that will pluck the dead remains of a fully developed baby at 9 months…Tiller the Baby Killer and his wife…”

George Tiller was murdered 90 days later.

While it remains unclear exactly what role his vicious anti-abortion advocacy played in encouraging the cold-blooded murder of George Tiller by Scott Reoder, it is clear that Ricard Okelberry petitioned Bill O’Reilly to villanize a great and brave Doctor who risked his life everyday to protect the health and in many cases, the lives of women. Richard Okelberry bragged about it.

As a prolific contributing author to a popular local Utah blog called KVNU’s For The People, Okelberry’s response to Tiller’s murder was expected to reflect some contrition.  As one who wore his Christianity on his sleeve, we all expected some remorse, at the very least a clear condemnation for this unchristian act.  Instead, in a post entitled Mass Murderer Dies at the Hands of Radical (which was subsequently removed), we got:

Mass Murderer Dies at the Hands of RadicalMy first instinct after hearing of the shooting Sunday was to write an essay on the topic.  Instead I decided to take a moment to allow those on both sides of this issue make their case.  I was not surprised to find some on the right rejoicing over the death of Tiller.

Should we also look at the charitable record of his murderer to justify his actions?  Both of these men were evil and murderous.  They are both GUILTY!

This is the first death of an abortionist at the hands of a pro-lifer in over 20 YEARS!  This is not a pattern, but merely an incident.  Young men living on the South Side of Chicago are far more likely to meet a violent end… in that community, than any abortions is [sic].

In addition to his uncompromising position against womens’ reproductive health rights and flaunting disregard for law, all under the guise of religion, Okelberry has been advocating for the most vile, sickening law enforcement practices imaginable.  Follows is only one example of the kinds of punishment he imagines for young pregnant girls.

I do want to point out that when a 15 year old girl does have an abortion, the genetic material contained in the discarded fetus should be collected by law enforcement and used as evidence of a crime. What crime you ask? First degree, unlawful sexual assault of a minor child is a felony in Nebraska. Richard Okelberry March 24, 2006

The lengthy record of Okelberry’s writing reflect nothing short of the ugliest kind of misogyny and a total disregard for democracy, privacy, law,  Christian doctrine and the Christian community.

Okelberry’s actions and posture on this issue constitute nothing less than the promotion of violence, immorality, misogyny and intolerance through the fraudulent usurpation of Christianity.

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Rick Warren and Other American Conservatives Complicit in Coming Genocide in Uganda

Rick Warren plays a nice moderate evangelical Christian in the US. Outside of the States, though Warren is just another slick, hard core conservative fundamentalist whose preaching leads to horrific outcomes.

Case in point: Uganda is one the verge of passing one of the most horrific laws ever passed – a law condemned by European, Canadian and American leaders. The law will make it illegal to be gay and actually includes thing like life in prison and the death penalty for being gay and daring to actually have sex. Since I’m not actually able to say anything that is acceptable for a nice family blog like OneUtah, I’m going to have to defer comment on this particularly offensive exercise in hatred, bigotry and state sanctioned murder.

Andrew Sullivan has this to say:

Ugandan blogger, GayUganda, is waiting for the new law – inspired by American Christianists, abetted by Rick Warren – that will soon jail or execute him for being who he is. I’m unsure when in history a group of American “Christians” have actually intervened in a foreign country to create what is the equivalent of an ongoing pogrom of terror against a tiny minority, scapegoating them as evil, demanding that their own families inform on them if they are gay or face legal punishment, and threatening the death penalty for any homosexual daring to have a love life. And I can only imagine what the response in America would be if the target were any other minority – Jews or immigrants or the sick – or the usual targets of majoritarian hate. But a declaration of a form of genocide against gays gets shrugged off by the world’s leaders, including the Pope, whose silence is reminiscent of another Pope not so long ago.

Michelle Goldberg, from the American Prospect:

But celebrity American evangelist Rick Warren, a man with enormous influence in Uganda, has so far refused to condemn the bill. When asked, he gave Newsweek this non-response: “The fundamental dignity of every person, our right to be free, and the freedom to make moral choices are gifts endowed by God, our creator. However, it is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations.”

Warren’s silence has repercussions beyond Uganda. Draconian anti-gay legislation is appearing throughout the continent, often closely tied to the explosion of American-style evangelical Christianity. Warren has been a crucial part of that explosion and has tremendous clout with conservative African clergy and with many politicians. “If Warren wants to present himself as someone who cares about human rights, he should be condemning this vigorously,” says Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.

Warren may seem an odd focus for criticism, but he has huge political influence in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi – all nations pursuing brutally regressive anti-gay policies:

Warren is very close to both the Ugandan and the Rwandan leadership. He counts first lady Janet Museveni, who has spoken at Warren’s Saddleback church, as a personal friend. During a visit to the country last year, Warren lent his voice to the anti-gay stance of Uganda’s Anglican bishops. “Dr Warren said that homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus not a human right,” reported one Ugandan newspaper. “‘We shall not tolerate this aspect at all,’ Dr Warren said.”

Both Museveni and Warren have been patrons of Martin Ssempa, the American-educated Pentecostal pastor who is one of Uganda’s leading anti-gay activists. Ssempa, a vigorous supporter of the pending legislation, has published lists, replete with photographs and contact information, of gay and lesbian Ugandans on his Web site and led anti-gay marches through the streets of Kampala. Last year he won an award from the National Fellowship of Born Again Churches in Uganda for his work against homosexuality. (The headline in Uganda’s New Vision newspaper read, “Ssempa Rewarded for Anti-Gay Crusade.”)

Warren did much to elevate Ssempa to his current position, giving him a prominent pulpit at Saddleback Church, where he’s preached several times. As Max Blumenthal reported, in 2005, Rick Warren’s wife, Kay, praised Ssempa from the church’s stage: “You are my brother, Martin, and I love you.” In October, perhaps realizing that his association with Ssempa is bad PR, Warren publicly broke with him, though he didn’t explicitly mention Ssempa’s fierce homophobia.

As influential as Warren is in Uganda, he’s an even bigger man in Rwanda. Declaring Rwanda the world’s first “Purpose Driven Nation,” he’s made it the center of his humanitarian work, and he’s close to the country’s president, Paul Kagame. Two weeks ago, a story in Rwanda’s New Times newspaper began, “Renowned American pastor, Rick Warren, founder of Saddleback Church, yesterday delivered a special sermon at a prayer breakfast with a cross-section of Rwandan leaders, in which President Paul Kagame was chief guest.” (Only in the last paragraph did the article mention that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair attended as well.)

Goldberg ends with this roundhouse:

Rick Warren helped bring the language of the American religious right to Africa. His kind of Christianity, at once puritanical and magical, resonated strongly with people who’ve been angered, frightened and discombobulated by rapid social change. He, like many conservative American pastors, has developed a symbiotic relationship with his African counterparts. In this relationship, the Americans get adulation, a sense of being at the forefront of the faith, and the kind of voice-of-the-downtrodden authenticity that used to belong to liberals alone. The Africans get money, access, and a satisfying sense that they’re now the leaders of their religion, ready to save the West instead of vice versa.

Anti-gay politics are absolutely crucial to this bond. There’s no reason to think that Warren would risk severing it just to do the right thing.

I have never had much use for Rick Warren – but not at least I can find him hateful and despicable with a clear conscience. Again from Andrew Sullivan describing Warren as a silent enabler of vicious hatred:

This is an act of terror and murder against an already beleaguered minority, and Warren is an accessory to it. As a powerful figure in distributing AIDS funding in Uganda, he cannot bring himself to oppose a law that would condemn someone in a gay relationship to death, and imprison him or her for touching another human being, and inciting a wave of informing on family members and friends and acquaintances in order to terrify a sexual minority. This alleged man of God cannot speak out on this – except to protect his own p.r. His schtick of actually being the nice evangelical – a schtick that got him to Obama’s inauguration – is a lie. If he cannot condemn this fascist act of violence against a tiny minority of vulnerable human beings, then his position in this struggle is clear enough. [snip]

He lies. He has taken sides, whenever possible, to stigmatize, demonize and now physically threaten the lives of gay people in his own country and abroad. And his silence on this issue means the deaths of others. Warren needs to come out and condemn this law as evil, which it is. And to stop hiding his own enmeshment with the most virulent forms of fundamentalist hatred under the veil of media-savvy benevolence.

Besides the grotesquery of the law itself, what makes this so troubling is the role being played by American religious conservatives – people like Rick Warren and The Family – which provides housing for wingnut conservatives in a tax free location on C Street in DC. They can’t actually kill gay people in the US so they’re taking horror show on the road.

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LDS Church: “Jump!”, Buttars: “How High?”

If you have not had your head buried in the sand you have likely noticed that Chris Buttars has been going all out to win the “ignorant homophobe of the decade” award. He is a veritable quote mine:
Buttars

In interviews, Buttars says that gays and lesbians are the biggest threat to America and… are inherently amoral

Read the rest of this entry »

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Dallin Oaks: Crybaby Buffoon of the Week

You know, it’s not often I get the chance to say one of the leaders of a religious denomination is so full of shit his eyes are green but Mormon Elder Dallin Oaks has given me the chance. (For those not in the know, Elder is his actual title, not simply a term of respect.)

From today’s Trib:

LDS apostle Dallin H. Oaks on Tuesday likened the post-Proposition 8 backlash against Mormons to the persecution blacks endured during the civil-rights struggle.

What a buffoon. To quote Bugs Bunny, “What an embezzle! What an ultramaroon! What a poltroon!”

Jeanetta Williams, by contrast, is not a buffoon.

Jeanetta Williams, president of the NAACP’s Salt Lake branch, said there is “no comparison.”

“I don’t see where the LDS Church has been denied any of their rights,” she said. “What the gay and lesbian communities are fighting for, that is a civil-rights issue.”

I spent some time reading through the transcript of his remarks and let’s just say it goes wrong at the beginning and stays wrong pretty much throughout. Read the rest of this entry »

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‘Tea Baggers’, America’s The Sphincter

We must take these people seriously enough. Even though they are dumber than rocks and much dumber than the average Al Qaeda foot soldier, they are more dangerous. They have deeply infiltrated our rural lands due to their unique ability to blend in with the average American. They have been interbreeding for a century and they are heavily armed.

We are attempting to build out detailed profiles of the different types. Any input you can provide will be helpful.

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Fake Reasons to Be Angry at the President

According to Glenn Beck, today’s Pennsylvania Avenue rally of right-wing fringe birthers, deathers, tenthers and outright secessionists numbered 60,000 (far short of the predicted two million). I think the protesters have an interesting problem– they don’t want to admit they’re all frustrated Bushbots, mad as hell that we have a mixed-race Democratic President. They have to come up with something else to put on a sign, whether it makes sense or not.

Signs at 9-12 rally

More slogans from today’s protest:

“Oust The Marxist Usurper! – His Czars and Thugs!”
“NObama Care: Obama Lies, Grandma Dies”
“Obamacare makes me sick”
“Save Freedom – STOP Obama”
“The Greatest Communist President We Have Ever Had”
“Obama’s Nuts – That’s Why He’s Involved With ACORN”
“Bury Obamacare With Kennedy”
“Obamunism – Eat The Rich”
“We’ve Hit ‘Barack’ Bottom”
“Obama Is Trying To Kill My Mama”
“Impeach the Muslim Marxist”
“Glenn Beck Is My Hero”
“Obama – More Czars Than The USSR”

FreedomWorks and the other sponsoring astroturf groups billed this event as a “Taxpayer March on Washington” and Faux News labeled it an “Anti-Tax Tea Party,” but the Obama administration hasn’t raised taxes (except for the federal excise tax on cigarettes). It was just an “I hate Obama” protest without a clear message.

Lady Logician snapped some photos of Glenn Beck fans at the Utah State Capitol this morning. Most revealing slogan:

“I disagree with Barack Obama because he’s 100% SOCIALIST… NOT BECAUSE HE’S 50% BLACK!!!”

UPDATE: Media Matters observes that the anti-Obama protest march was the WaPo lead story on Page One. In 2002, the same paper downplayed 100,000 anti-war marchers by burying the story in the Metro section.

More from:
Think Progress
Matt Yglesias
Huffington Post
Media Matters

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Why Seniors are willing to believe the Republicans’ “Kill Granny” Lie

When Republicans started saying the health insurance reform bill included a plan to kill senior citizens, it was such an insane, unhinged claim I was sure no one would take it seriously.

Then I spoke with a family member who is taking seriously. Being of a naturally inquisitive bent, I asked, “Why exactly would you believe something as supremely daft as that?”

The response went something like, “I got an email from a friend who got an email from a friend who heard from someone who had gotten an email and sent the information to me.”

There are three relevant issues here. Read the rest of this entry »

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Symbolic versus Logical Public Discussion

Over at Open Left, Paul Rosenberg has two fascinating posts. Although Paul has them as two separate posts, IMHO he is exploring different parts of the same dynamic in those posts. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dreaming of yesterday that never was . . .

Boy the way Glen Miller played
Songs that made the hit parade.
Guys like us we had it made,
Those were the days.

And you knew who you were then,
Girls were girls and men were men,
Mister we could use a man
Like Herbert Hoover again.

Didn’t need no welfare state,
Everybody pulled his weight.
Gee our old LaSalle ran great.
Those were the days.

I’m reading Margaret Wheatley’s book Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time, and it includes this stunning passage:

The playwright Arthur Miller noted that we know an era has ended when its basic illusions have been exhausted. I would add that these basic illusions not only are exhausted, they are exhausting. As they fail to produce the results we want, we just repeat them with greater desperation, plummeting ourselves into cynicism and despair as we lock into these cycles of failure.

To me, this passage describes American politics for the last two decades – or even longer, probably dating back to 1980 and Reagan’s skin of his teeth win over Carter. Read the rest of this entry »

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