Religious Intolerance

Bill Frist, the Republican Majority leader, is attending a teleconference which claims that, through the use of the filibuster, Democrats are forcing people to choose between public service and faith. The conference organizers include:Some of the nation's most influential evangelical Protestants are participating in the teleconference in Louisville, including Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; Chuck Colson, the born-again Watergate figure and founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries; and Dr. Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. So, it's about faith, is it boys? Well, here is the sort of faith Dr. Al Mohler supports:Fearing the positive press given American Muslims in recent weeks and Bush's call for pluralism, one SBC leader attacked Islam in a seminary chapel address. He said Christians, Jews and Muslims did not serve the same God.

Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, told seminary students that Islamic theology "kills the soul." He said Islam "lies about God" and "presents a false gospel."

He made similar comments about Catholics a year ago on a cable TV program. Mohler said the Roman Catholic Church was "a false church and it teaches a false gospel."

We hear over and over again that Democrats somehow don't respect people of faith. The real difference, I believe, is that Democrats and progressives are pluralists, while the modern conservative movement is opposed to all those who do not fit a narrowly conceived and ill-defined "civilication identity." That Democrats have been labeled the party of religious intolerance when leading Republicans, including Bill Frist and President Bush, associate with the likes of Al Mohler is perhaps the most remarkable flat-earth achievement of the Republican Noise Machine to date.

Tags: Culture (all tags)

Comments

9 Comments

Propaganda kills the soul of America
I think the third reich arose out
of a false history , and a false intellectualism.

If you wish to identify yourself as
chic, and godless. Bear in mind
Thomas Mann's letter to the Dean
in the early forties,  read that document.

It always happens in concert with super cool,
leading intellectuals as well as the people
who think the older world was glorious
and bright. And it always justifies some
diminishment of civil liberties in the
name of emergency action. Both parties
will move quickly to say they're not
doing anything wrong, but both parties
are really only about milking the
cash cow. They see average americans
as either stupid, gullible, or as a resource
to be had. Kind of like sheep, only they
are bad shepherds.

Don't be afraid to be a fool for christ.
If you want to get to heaven..
stay out of the way of the bloodstained bandit..

you know the song. one for paul. one for silas..

>:)

by turnerbroadcasting 2005-04-18 10:36AM | 0 recs
BTW Dobson is one of the Great Doctors IMHO
and a good father. I recommend reading
"Hide or Seek" - one of his earliest works,
it helps with raising young boys.

Dobson, who heads up "focus on the family"
is a Californian who pioneered the treatment
of phenylketonuric children, a pediatric
disorder that he helped cure almost completely
(kids who have it simply need certain vitamins,
 although there's more to it than that).

"Don't judge by a man's face, or height, for
this  [david's brother] is not the one. I don't
make decisions the way you do! Men judge by
outward appearance, but I look at a mans
thoughts and intentions."

1 Samuel 16:7

Every child is entitled to hold us head
up in confidence, and security.
I am not under the impression that
focus on the family has anything to do
with the general dumbing down and pussification
of america's youth, I would hope
that the other political elements -
ie. the stance against gay activism -
and so on, are just part of a political
game but I could be wrong.

I hope that in the end, however it
shakes out, we get better schools,
and better science and math performance
out of our country.

by turnerbroadcasting 2005-04-18 10:46AM | 0 recs
Re: BTW Dobson is one of the Great Doctors IMHO
Dobson's parenting books also support very strict childrearing, corporal punishment (spare the rod, spoil the child) and aren't my idea of good parenting.
by Mimikatz 2005-04-18 03:19PM | 0 recs
Dobson vs. Sears: Red vs. Blue
I think every parent and Drs. Dobson and Sears would both agree that raising a child a very difficult task.

Unfortunately, I think Dobson proposes a "one size fits all model" that is a disservice to parenting for several reasons but mostly because he minimizes differences between children.

What disturbs me most about Dobson is that this self-promoting "family values" person is so homophobic. I see no love or nurturing in his attitudes. His true agenda is political, not the improvement and support of families.  Go to his web site http://www.focusonyourchild.com and see the heavy skew toward information about politics.  How the IRS lets this organization persist as a non-for-profit is beyond me.

I provide further comments on this topic under this diary.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/4/18/22728/8700

by sawgrass727 2005-04-18 08:16PM | 0 recs
Chronic Victimhood Syndrome
It's essential to the backlash narrative that those who oppose Reep corruption be perceived as opposing everything most Americans hold most dear. Liberals are accused of wanting to take away every right we have, from the right to earn a living (by taxing away your income to give it to lazy unemployables and the like), to the right to defend ourselves (against imaginary threats like Saddam's nukes) to the right to worship.
by catastrophile 2005-04-18 11:17AM | 0 recs
Watergate figure?
Don't they mean "Watergate felon?"
by Drew 2005-04-18 11:36AM | 0 recs
Re: Watergate figure?
Ah, but he found Christ in prison.  Remember the great American fondness for sinners who find Jesus, like the accused rapist in Atlanta who shot the judge but was converted.  All is forgiven.
by Mimikatz 2005-04-18 03:22PM | 0 recs
Religion... sigh
My response to the religious nuts is to make fun of them.  I wrote a satirical "Modest Proposal" recently.  You may find it entertaining.  A few people have taken it seriously, which kind of scares me...  Anyway, it can be found here.
by mrcolson 2005-04-18 07:49PM | 0 recs
by hpvv 2005-12-19 09:52PM | 0 recs

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