Monday News Roundup: Rick Warren, Minnesota’s “Crazy Lady” and more

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  Rick Warren, the anti-gay pastor of Saddleback Church (who, incidentally gave the invocation at President Obama's inauguration) tries to spin Prop 8 support and stay neutral on Uganda. Rick may also have "Family" ties
  
  • Via Towleroad: On Death Penalty for Gays: Uganda, Rick Warren, and 'The Family'
    
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    Does Rick Warren support Uganda's kill the Gays bill?
    
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      Queerty
      
    • Americablog Gay
      
    
    
  
  
• The GayTM is closed, unless you are provably on the side of equal rights for gays.
  
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  Catholic Abuse Scandal:
  
  • It takes an abused village, via Enlightened Catholicism
    
  • Joe My God
    
  
  
• Response to Washington Post article from Sunday's roundup: Voices of LGBTs of Color must be heard, Via Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
  
• More thoughts on "What is a Gay Cathoic to do?" Via Queering the Church
  
• G.A.Y.: The Bulletin Campaign begins in New Jersey Parishes.
  
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  ENDA delay, HRC claims Wockner is out of touch:
  
  • Via Towleroad
    
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    Rex Wockner
    
  
  
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  Michelle Bachmann, Minnesota's Crazy Lady
  
  • Beverly LaHaye: "Religion and politics do mix." Michelle Bachmann says "thanks"
    
  • Apparently Ed Schultz doesn't know anything about "the Crazy Lady" either
    
  
  
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  Healthcare
  
  • Fact Checking the Republicans on: Healthcare Reform costs Most insured people would see rates fall or stay the same.
    
  • Why is healthcare reform controversial again? Via MNPublius
    
  
  
• Queerty: Uganda still gets PEPFAR funds even though it is trying to criminalize the people PEPFAR could help
  
• Queerty: What does World Aids Day mean in an era when so many are living with it?
  
• Queerty: Homosexuality is like alcoholism, and Lesbianism is a choice, says Jamaican psychiatrist
  
• AmericaBlog: Hillary Clinton speaks out about Uganda
  
• Box Turtle Bulletin: Southern Baptists oppose domestic partnership benefits for gays
  
• Prop. #8 campaign leader: "Traditional Marriage" really only means "No Gays" , via Box Turtle Bulletin
  
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  Daily Kos: Drooping Dem Enthusiasm
  
  • Change these Numbers
    
  • 2010 Elections Hinge on Reinviogoration of Dem base
    
  
  
• Susan Russell: Episcopal House of Deputies speaks out re: Uganda's anti-gay legislation
  
• Lou Sheldon's group, the Traditional Values Coalition, has signed on to the Manhattan Declaration , via G.A.Y.
  
• Pam's House Blend: White House defies court order to provide equal benefits

Straw Man Question: By prohibiting Gay marriage aren't we violating the separation of church and state?

The Family Policy Institute of Washington has released a video entitled "By Prohibiting Gay Marriage Aren't We Violating the Separation of Church and State?"  and their Joseph Backholm answers the question:

No.


The phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear anywhere in the United States or Washington State Constitutions. Regardless, the fact that people of a particular religious faith share common ideas does not mean that those ideas are necessarily unconstitutional because they are religious.

To the contrary, our laws against stealing, killing, lying, perjury, incest, rape, battery, and destruction of property were all religious tenets before they were laws. No one wants to repeal the criminal code because its major themes were first recorded in the Bible.

The idea that a preference for heterosexual marriage is unconstitutional simply because it is consistent with a religious doctrine is legally and constitutionally unsupportable.

Our Founding Fathers wanted to avoid a situation where a religious organization wrote the law for the country. However, they did not intend to create a country in which citizens and elected officials were forbidden from reading, discussing, thinking about, or legislating ideas that happened to be religious in nature

The problem is that he is completely missing the point.  He is correct in stating that prohibiting marriage equality does not violate the separation of church and state.   Like Joseph indicated in the video, the concept of a eparation between church and state was to prevent religious organizations writing the laws of the country. 

More after the jump

Intersections of Church and State: Healthcare, Outing Priests, Marriage Equality, Parenting and more!

All over the web there are Church-State intersections. Here's a roundup:

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  Healthcare:
  
• Daily Kos: I Will Pray For You -- Send Money --Christian Scientists want provision for "Spiritual Healthcare" in Healthcare reform Bill
• Abortion:
• Enlightened Catholic: Back and forth between Bishop Tobin of RI and Patrick Kennedy over Kennedy's stance on abortion rights, and Tobin's refusal to serve Kennedy communion
• G.A.Y.: Was she arrested for "simply praying near an abortion clinic"?
• Bearing False Witness: FCR Mischaracterizes Congresswoman Diana DeGette's remarks about the separation of church and state, via Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
• Outing Priests:
• Fr. Geoff Arrow: Would Outing gay priests do more harm than good?
• OTOH, can we afford to remain silent? A Pro-Outing argument from Enlightened Catholic
• Marriage Equality:
• PinkNews: Straight couple applying for a UK civil partnership have their application rejected based on their sexuality
•  G.A.Y.:NOM is gearing up in New Jersey
•  Parenting:
• Holy Bullies: Lesbian mother wins custody case against 'ex-gay' partner
•  Ideological Purity
• Joe.My.God: Republican 'Purity' test Problem is, according to Keith Olbermann on his Countdown yesterday, President Reagan would have failed! (Ok, this one is more solely on the state side, but the case can be argued that Homophobic attitudes from the Church
•  Social Justice
• Joe.My.God: DC Catholic Charities whines about bad press due to the US Council of Bishops declaration.
•  Crooks & Liars: AZ woman forced to give birth in shackles due to undocumented immigrant status and racial profiling. Sentenced inmates are treated better!
•  Towelroad: City of Atlanta, Police Chief and 48 Officers Sued for Raid on Atlanta Eagle

Where are the progressives?

In the furor over the Catholic Bishops threat to cut off services to the least among the citizens of Washington DC simply to make a political point, and the subsequent announcement of the Manhattan Declaration, it is very easy to overlook the positive Christian voices preaching acceptance.


Episcopal Bishop John Bryson Chane posted an op-ed in the Washington Post detailing “A Christian Case for Same Sex Marriage”. He’s got some interesting points, and it is an interesting read. It is an extreme contrast to most of the hate-filled rhetoric coming from the religious right.

What I wonder about is why the positive voices seem to get lost in the babble when the negative voices come through loud and clear? Perhaps it’s because we tend to take our supporters for granted. Why put time and effort into lobbying someone who already agrees with you? Americans have a slang term for this, incidentally based in religious imagery—“preaching to the choir.”

Another reason could be that the media thrives on controversy. The only time support is notable is when a formerly unsupportive person or organization switches positions. Most of the positive GLBT Christian voices, like the Episcopal Church in America, the MCC, and others, have been consistently positive for years, so they are no longer generating controversy. Even when something does generate controversy, like the ELCA decision this summer, it boils down to a tempest in a teapot. Most of the general public and even many of the church’s laity are ignorant of what is going on, and even if they know, they brush it off as ‘politics as usual’ and see it as having little bearing on their daily life.

Conversely, the Religious Right knows how to mobilize their base. Fear is a very powerful motivator. While it is not a direction I’d necessarily like to see progressives move in, I wonder if part of the issue is that they’ve been taking the “See, you have nothing to be afraid of” approach.

With the crazies ratcheting up their base, can the Progressives afford to sit on the sidelines or refuse to stoop to their opponent’s level? That’s what happened to get Maine Question 1 passed and strip away marriage rights for gay couples. The base was whipped up into a fearful froth, and the progressives said, “Oh, I don’t need to vote because so-and-so who agrees with me is going to vote for the side of this bill I support.” When you do that, it’s a case of Anybody, Everybody, Somebody and Nobody.

Well, I'm somebody. Are you?

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Who is the wierd guy standing on the corner of Church street shouting?

Bill Donohue is at it again.  Mr. Donohue is a rabidly conservative, Catholic man who runs what he calls the "Catholic League" defending what he sees as smears and insults to the Catholic Church and its teachings.  This time Mr. Donohue is screeching about the website ChurchOuting.org.  From their website:

For generations, in Catholic churches across the country, LGBT youth are told they should be ashamed of who they are and that they should lead loveless lives as social and religious abominations. The emotional, psychological and spiritual abuse inflicted on them by Catholic priests and our church hierarchy is in reality as damaging as the physical or sexual child abuse anyone would quickly condemn. Yet to this abuse, few raise their voices and say "ENOUGH!"


It is shameful that in many Catholic churches, this abuse is being supported by men, who are gay themselves, leading closeted lives of self-persecution and quiet desperation.

Even more shameful, is that many of these priests, while remaining silent, actually lead duplicitous lives rich with romantic and sexual relationships -- both homosexual and heterosexual.

This hypocrisy must end.

 The website was created partially in response to the Manhattan Declaration.  Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God has the details. 

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When does Church turn into State?

UPDATED 11/20/2009: Jeremy's got the text of this "manifesto" up at Good As You.

 As a Christian, a political liberal, and a gay man, I often find myself dismayed and torn when leaders claiming to speak for one group I am part of say something negative about another group that I am part of. That is part of why the Manhattan Declaration is so disturbing. The full document is set to be released at noon today, but excerpts and commentary have been popping up around the blogosphere ahead of the release.

AP: Christian Leaders issue Call of Conscience
NY Times: Religious Leaders unite on Political Issues

The document is signed by multiple Catholic bishops; James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Anus Family; the president of the National Assoc. of Evangelicals; and various seminary leaders, pastors and professors. In it, the signers are stating their continued opposition to abortion, stem-cell research, same-sex marriage, and anti-discrimination statutes, among other issues. 

My take after the jump