Family Research Council caught falsely accusing Congresswoman of religious bigotry

A story that seems to be under the headlights but very appropriate involves how  the Family Research Council got caught inaccurately accusing a Congresswoman of being a  religious bigot.

The entire story is here in Faith In Public Life:

 . . .  the Family Research Council sent out a press release with the headline "FRC Calls On President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Senator Reid to Repudiate Diana DeGette's Religious Bigotry," which stated

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins today called on President Obama and Congressional leaders to repudiate comments made by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) to The Hill's Michael O'Brien that "religiously-affiliated groups...should be shut out of the process" in the health care debate because of their support for the Stupak/Pitts amendment. She told The Hill, "Last I heard, we had separation of church and state in this country," she said. "I've got to say that I think the Catholic bishops and all of the other groups shouldn't have input."

Faith in Public Life refutes this:

1) ) Congresswoman DeGette's remarks didn't come from an interview with The Hill's Michael O'Brien. Rather, they came from O'Brien's report about DeGette's appearance on ABC News's "Top Line" broadcast today.

2) In that Top Line appearance, Congresswoman DeGette said religious groups should have input in the debate.

The webpage Tracking American Evangelicals adds more context to FRC's deception by juxtaposing the organization's truncation of Congresswoman DeGette's comments to what she actually said:

Congresswoman DeGette's comments - “I gotta tell you, last I heard we had separation of church and state. I don’t think the Catholic bishops are in charge of writing our healthcare bill. I think that they are one of many groups that we should listen to, but in the end they should be concerned that 36 million more people in this country will get healthcare. Many of them are their parishioners.” 

FRC's version of her comments - “religiously-affiliated groups…should be shut out of the process” in the health care debate because of their support for the Stupak/Pitts amendment. She told The Hill, “Last I heard, we had separation of church and state in this country,” she said. “I’ve got to say that I think the Catholic bishops and all of the other groups shouldn’t have input.”

The site also said that because of scrutiny and complaints from organizations such as Faith in Public Life, FRC revised the comment:

However, Rep. DeGette accused the Catholic Bishops of controlling the outcome of the health care legislation and also accused them and other conservative Christians of violating the ‘wall of separation’ between church and state. 

If only the lgbt community could muster up such force to make the Family Research Council own up to all of the times it cites Paul Cameron as well as the many times it distorts legitimate studies to spin false images of our community.