Franklin Graham accidentally shows he knows nothing about persecution

From my friends at Think Progress comes a sad obliviousness regarding actual anti-Christian persecution versus a wrecked sense of entitlement courtesy of Franklin Graham. For the record, the lgbtq community is not targeting so-called Christian businesses.




Think Progress added:

 Christians do, in fact, face persecution in many parts of the world, and militant groups such as ISIS have oppressed and murdered followers of Christ during terrorist attacks and in territories they occupy. But as the Religion News Service pointed out, it is unclear where Graham gets his staggering claim that 100,000 a year are killed because of their faith in Christ. By contrast, the Christian organization Open Doors — which tracks violence against Christians — reports a much smaller number: around 4,000. Regardless, this kind of persecution does not appear to be comparable to the American context, where the majority of citizens still identify as Christian according to Pew Research. To be sure, white evangelical Christians such as Graham have often claimed in polls that they face “discrimination,” sometimes by citing the debate over whether conservative Christians should be allowed to deny service to LGBTQ people. Yet most religious Americans don’t support “religious refusals”: according to a 2016 survey from PRRI, majorities of almost every major faith group in the country — including Mormons, Catholics, and white mainline Protestants — oppose allowing a small business to refuse LGBTQ people service by citing their faith. Only one group — white evangelical Protestants — expressed 50 percent support for the idea.

Family Research Council exploits Mother's Day to denigrate same-sex families

One would think that at least Mother's Day would be safe from being exploited against the lgbtq community. No such luck as long as anti-lgbtq group the Family Research Council is around.

 Check out this blurb from its president, Tony Perkins:

Just the sound of the word "mother" evokes a feeling of tenderness and reassurance in the minds of most. Even Jesus, when He was communicating His compassion for the people of Jerusalem used the metaphor of a hen gathering her chicks under her wing to protect and shelter them. (He saved the rooster for another occasion.) In the age of political correctness and gender confusion, suggesting that women and men have distinct, non-interchangeable roles is probably enough to get your picture posted in the nearest post office for crimes against the sensitive and easily offended! But while truth can be contradicted and denied, it cannot be changed.  

 To be emotionally and physically healthy, children need a mom and a dad. Not just parents that are present, but a mom and dad who are involved in their lives. On Sunday, we will celebrate motherhood. We will celebrate the women whose unconditional devotion to their children motivates them on a recurring basis to choose unparalleled self-sacrifice and causes them to remain devoted even in times of great suffering. Women like Christina Simoes, who may never walk again because of her devotion to her young son. When their apartment was engulfed in flames, the 23-year-old did the only thing that came naturally: she saved her son. Without thought to her own safety, she cradled him to her chest and jumped out the window. "I didn't think about it. All I was thinking about was getting him out of there. He mattered way more than I did," she said. Suffering from severe back injuries, she was interviewed a few years ago in the hospital. Knowing her little boy was safe was the greatest Mother's Day present she could imagine. Like so many mothers, she shrugged off her bravery. "I don't think that I'm any special hero at all. I'm just Cameron's mom," Christina said. It's that same kind of selfless sacrifice that defines moms around the globe. 

 I'm grateful for the love and compassion of a mother -- sometimes expressed in years past with a whack upside the head, but most often with a hug, a kiss and reassurance that things were going to be okay. I've had the privilege of not only have a great mother, but for the last 31 years being married to a woman who is a great mother to my children. To my mother and to my wife -- thank you and Happy Mother's Day.

Come on Tony. It would have been a nice piece if you didn't feel the need to add all of that ugly shade against same-sex families. Not only is it inaccurate (A large number of studies show that children thrive very well in same-sex households), and totally unnecessary, but it was also tacky.  Just plain tacky.

No holiday should ever be used to denigrate a group of people or exploited in an attempt to make them look and feel inferior. Particularly not  Mother's Day. Some children are being raised in a heterosexual mother/father household. Some are being raised by a single mother or a single father, grandparents, or any adult who has taken the responsibility. And a good many of these homes are led by members of the lgbtq community.

Really though, none of it should make a difference as long as the children in the household are given love, support, and are having their physical needs met. Parenthood is not a competition, nor should it be an excuse to create a caste system. One home environment should never be used to look down upon another.

The very fact that Perkins attempts to do this tells us that he obviously did not heed the lessons of love and compassion his mother attempted to instill in him.

Yeah. I said it.

Anti-lgbtq hate group's prayer to God is heartless, self-serving tripe

FRC president Tony Perkins

While it's generally not my practice to mock anyone's prayer to God, I will make an exception when it comes to prayers from anti-lgbtq hate group the Family Research Council. The organization took it upon itself to ask God to the following:

Lord, Obergefell v. Hodges was an assault upon Your institution of marriage, the cornerstone of society. The effort to mainstream transgenderism is an assault on You as Creator and the heart of Your created order. Please help us to prevent the conferring of special rights and privileges for those who embrace aberrant sexual identities, and those who seek to re-engineer American society and law to require god-fearing Americans to submit to such moral subversion. Please stop parent's rights from being violated, the massive confusion of our youth and the effort to capture their souls. Intervene to waken us, our pastors, churches, families, neighbors, and friends to engage in this fight and win it! (Gen 1:27; 5:2;6:19; Dt 22:5; Josh 1:7; Neh 4:14; Dan 9:8; Mt 19:4; Rom 1:32; 1 Jn 3:8)

Now I could be upset at the above prayer, but I'm not. I will simply remind folks of the many times FRC has been caught and called out for using either junk science, cherry-picked information, or outright lies against the lgbtq community. With all of the Bible verses FRC cites, it's fascinating that the organization seems to have omitted the ones about not lying and not bearing false witness.

But I think it would be more apropo to point out another prayer FRC made before its anti-lgbtq soliloquy.  It speaks more to the organization's hypocrisy and preoccupation with social issues over basic kindness.

May God shepherd the Senate to improve and not damage the AHCA. May measures to prevent taxpayer funding of abortion and Planned Parenthood remain intact in the Senate version. Pray that reconciliation will produce an excellent bill that both Houses can pass. And may Americans look to God as their healer and not government. (Ex 15:26; 23:2; Dt 19:10; 2 Chr 16:12; Phil 1:10; 1 Tim 1:5; Jas 3:17)

You read right. FRC is praying to God that allows the Senate to pass that awful healthcare bill which is supposed to repeal Obamacare.  That's same bill which is extremely unpopular  because it would take healthcare away from millions of Americans, could increase premiums for older Americans, and generally plays havoc with defining what "pre-existing conditions" can be used to deny insurance coverage.

People are scared about this bill and have been letting their Congressional leaders know it in boisterously angry town hall meetings.

But to FRC, the only thing which seems to matter is that the AHCA defunds Planned Parenthood. And what about the people scared about what the AHCA could potentially do to their healthcare and thus their lives? One would think that in invoking God's attention, FRC would ask that He assuage their fears.

No such luck. Instead, FRC offers a flippant side comment about  Americans depending on God as their healer, as if God will float from Heaven Himself and lay hands on people whose healthcare would be taken away or premiums would go up.

Or even worse, it's as if FRC is asking God:

Dear God, please stop those nasty homosexuals and transgenders from getting married or getting any rights in general so they won't think that they are just as good as us heterosexuals. And about the AHCA, please let it pass so that Planned Parenthood can be totally defunded. 

Amen. 

Oh wait a minute. Those people who are scared that the AHCA would take away their healthcare, takemuch needed money out of their pockets, or basically cost them lives . . well do whatever to them. They rely on government too much anyway. 

For real this time amen.

So not only is the Family Research Council conveniently forgetting the Biblical verses which speak against lying and bearing false witness, the organization sounds like it is also abandoning the verses which speaks about kindness and compassion to others.


Hat tip to Right Wing Watch.

'The Advocate counts down the top 50 homopobes of the last 50 years' & other Thur midday news briefs

Kim Davis (top), Tony Perkins (middle), and James Dobson (bottom) all made The Advocate list of top homophobes.

The 50 Biggest Homophobes of the Last 50 Years - The Advocate creates a controversial but highly necessary list. Knowing your history includes knowing those who stood in the way of your equality and dignity. Poor Porno Pete LaBarbera. He didn't make the list.  But a gay man did.

Target doubles down on Pride celebrations despite anti-LGBT boycott - props to Target for sticking to its guns. The religious right has been using the chain like a basketball. 

Berkeley schools go beyond bathrooms to support gender non-conforming students - It's comforting to see schools not fall for the "bathroom predator' lie. 

 The Census Won’t Collect L.G.B.T. Data. That’s a Problem. - Damn right it's a problem. 

 West Virginia Supreme Court Rules Anti-Gay Assaults Are Not Hate Crimes - Excuse me?

Anti-lgbtq right conveniently quiet after exoneration of teacher they targeted

Last month, anti-lgbtq organizations and personalities targeted a high school teacher, Lora Jane Riedas, of Riverview High School in Florida. They claimed she bullied Christian students. The fact that she is openly gay was the proverbial icing on the cake to these folks as they implied all sorts of ugly things about her, particularly the story that she made students remove cross necklaces while in her classroom. That specific gem was hyped extensively by various religious right and conservative news sources, facebook pages, and discussion boards. Anti-lgbtq hate group The Liberty Counsel began the chaos against Riedas by sending a letter to the Hillsborough school district detailing the charges. Naturally, the school district investigated..

Via People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch, came news last week that the investigation ended and Riedas has been totally exonerated:

 . . . the school released the results of its investigation and found Liberty Counsel’s claims to be without merit: 

 A teacher at Riverview High School who was accused by a conservative organization of banning crosses while advocating for gay rights has been cleared of wrongdoing after a school district investigation. Lora Jane Riedas, who teaches freshman math and is faculty advisor of Riverview’s Gay Straight Alliance, said she did not allow rosaries, as they are considered gang symbols and not allowed in the school dress code. She said she did not discuss lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in class. All 10 students interviewed by district investigators backed her up on that point, although some contradicted her on the issue of the crosses.  

A letter released by the school examined the allegations made by Liberty Counsel and found no evidence to support any of them.

 Here is the interesting, or rather not to be unexpected part, of this entire controversy. All of these organizations and personalities who made Riedas appear as if she was bullying Christian students have been conveniently silent regarding her exoneration. To my knowledge, there has not been any mention of Riedas's exoneration by any of the groups, figures, or conservative news sources which portrayed her as a huge anti-Christian bigot.

Their convenient silence gives you an actual perspective of their supposed Christian mindset, doesn't it? Seriously, it looks to me that the Liberty Counsel targeted this teacher to create some type of moral panic about lgbtqs targeting Christians. Had it not blown up in the organization's face, my guess is it and several other conservative organizations and groups would have continued to hype the situation up to give a degree of credibility to their "religious liberty" talking points, i.e. justifying discrimination against lgbtqs on religious grounds.

That being the case, we shouldn't be so quick to celebrate just yet. The Liberty Counsel and its cohorts were unsuccessful this time, but I bet they are, probably even as I write this, moving on to a new situation which they hope to exploit the false boogeyman of "anti-Christian gay bullies."

'TX adoption discrimination bill could especially harm lgbtq children' & other Wed midday news briefs

Texas advances bill allowing discrimination against LGBTQ kids and families - Texas again. And this is really bad. Not only could a 'license to discriminate' bill allow adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex families, but according to Think Progress, this bill could also allow agencies to subject lgbtq children under their care to "religious education." I'm so not liking this.

Discrimination in Texas: House Passes Anti-LGBTQ Bill HB 3859 - More info about that awful bill.

Texas bill could keep transgender kids out of high school sports - Seriously, why has Texas declared war on lgbtq children? 

MT Republican: Protecting LGBTQ Americans Is Bad For Business - The intense stupidity of homophobia is such that folks can claim that we don't need anti-discrimination laws because we are rich and well-educated while simultaneously claiming that we are drug-addicted alcoholics. 

Trump’s Army Secretary Pick Is Victim Of ‘Gay Gestapo,’ Right Wing Activists Claim - I thought we were the 'Gay Mafia.' I was kinda favorable to that description of us.

Five years ago, Obama became first president to support marriage equality

I think I'm slightly a day late on this, but I'm still going to note this historical event. Five years ago, President Obama  made a wonderful announcement supporting marriage equality. It's worth remembering, particularly when one thinks of the monstrosity in the White House at the present.