How the Family Research Council exploits religion to justify discrimination, bigotry

Tony Perkins exploits religion.

One thing which helps the anti-gay right push the false notion of private religious freedom is their usage of language.

For example, I present to you a portion of a recent fundraising email from Family Research Council president, Tony Perkins:

As predicted, sexual revolution extremists are answering the question, "After they get national same-sex 'marriage,' then what?" Within four days of the U.S. Supreme Court decision imposing same-sex "marriage" on all of America, James Obergefell, one of the plaintiffs in the case, was part of press conferences of LGBT activists who proclaimed the Supreme Court victory was not enough.

He said, "Friday's historic ruling is a victory, but it's just the beginning."

I believe they are wrong . . . if people like you unite and take action now.

One article called the activists' plans "the next frontier."

This "next frontier" includes taking away your religious freedom. Obergefell and the activists called for laws that would:

• Abolish protections for religious employers to hire according to their sincere beliefs . . .
• Erase protections of religious employees to have a workplace not hostile to their beliefs about marriage . . .
• End protections for religious landlords to rent rooms or other property without violating their religious beliefs.

What's interesting about the last part of this excerpt is how Perkins uses dog whistles and evasions to make discrimination against lgbts sound like a noble and religious cause, i.e. religious liberty.

And bear in mind that he isn't talking about churches or religious organizations. Perkins is clearly talking about secular businesses run by people who may have a religious belief that homosexuality is a sin.

 Allow me to put it another way. Perkins is pushing the idea that

• Businesses should have the right to hire and fire employees on the basis of sexual orientation.
• Businesses should have the right to discriminate against lgbt employees if these employees are married. This means not allowing them to post pictures of their loved ones or invite them to company gatherings.
• Landlords should have the right to practice housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Doesn't sound so appealing without the exploitation of religious liberty thrown in, does it? The sad thing is that we are clearly talking about discrimination. If Perkins was talking about discrimination against African-Americans, people of the Jewish faith, or any other group, his exploitation of religion couldn't hide his prejudice or animus.

It is a pity that when it comes to lgbts, Perkins has an available mainstream audience ready to at least take to heart what he has to say even though he is clearly in the wrong.