These are the sort of people that the Family Research Council represents… any questions?
______________________________
A recent report issued by Family Research Council and Liberty Institute claims that Christians are under assault in the USA. On the surface, it looks like a seemingly alarming serious survey focusing on human and religious rights abuse. However, scratch the surface, and its hidden agenda and manipulation of facts become obvious. The subject of this report, and its coverage by Fox News and the rightwing media may not exactly fall into the category of “media bias”, but it does fall into the category of bias and the clever promotion of secret agendas and hate. At first glance, it sounds alarming… US Christians under assault: report, and it’d be alarming, were it true. The report in question has the title, The Survey of Religious Hostility in America (not “A” Survey but the “The” Survey), but its deceptive and designed to damage President Obama’s re-election chances and cleverly propagate, amongst other things, intolerance towards religions not deemed “real” by the fanatical religious Far Right in the USA. The “report” wasted no time in attacking Obama and does so on page (i). The following two pages have the aim of impressing and intimidating us with the doubtlessly impressive résumes of the authors, Kelly Shackelford and Tony Perkins, two individuals who’ve made careers of using their government service and positions to advance their narrow intolerant rightwing views. Perkin’s self-avowed goal is to “…affirm and defend the Judeo-Christian values…” the USA is founded on. Being listed as the leader of a hate group is also amongst his credentials… of course, that isn’t mentioned.
The report cited case after case of what it called discrimination against Christians and Christianity, but failed to present all the facts in each case and failed to note that almost every case they mention relates to issues of separation of church and state. This is very important, as it emphasises one of the goals of the organisations in question, and that is the funding and further integration of the state and the “Christian” faith. These people vilify President Putin and Russia because he received the blessing of the Patriarch. They scream about the rights of those who committed an act of religious hatred and intolerance, who desecrated one of the holiest churches of the Orthodox faith. They twist the facts to their own ends and scream, “There’s no separation of Church and State [in Russia]!” For these people, twisting the facts or leaving them out entirely is an art-form.
The report attacks secularism, homosexual rights, abortion, but nowhere does it mention attacks (and even murders) on members of the Muslim Faith, which the authors see as a “Fanatical Religion”. Who authored and funded the “report” is very important, as it shows that the report was crank from its very creation; they designed it to support pre-planned positions and reach false conclusions which were known from its inception. The Family Research Council, or FRC, purports to support “traditional family values”, something few could speak out against, but how they’ve chosen to go about it is questionable; it promotes the intolerance and marginalising of minorities and all other religions, even Orthodoxy, which they view as not being “real”.
According to Right Wing Watch and other watchdog groups, the group lobbies for state-sponsored prayer in schools, state funding for private schooling (a way for whites to avoid desegregated public schools), censorship in libraries, an end to sex education programs in schools, abstinence as the only method of birth control, an end to reproductive freedom, no abortion even in the case of rape or incest, and the right to discriminate against gays and lesbians. Their goals include:
The Liberty Institute claims they advance “the cause of liberty, including religious liberty”. However, they only support those who share their narrow views, the same as those outlined above. An extensive search found no cases where they defended Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, or any other religious group or faith for that matter. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Family Research Council as a hate group and its leader Tony Perkins as the leader of a hate group. Equality Matters, an organisation that fights for LGBT rights also has an extensive data base on the FRC, as does Media Matters for America.
In summation, the so-called “report” is another thinly disguised attempt by a hate group promoting intolerance and using some of the same tactics used by white supremacist groups, namely the use of provocations to receive a response they can rally against, the omission of facts, and the claim of reverse discrimination. To understand how the hate groups in the USA used the Christian faith for centuries one must delve into the psychology of the “angry white man”; quite frankly, there isn’t enough space in this column for that. Perhaps, some of their points are valid, and I might even agree with one or two, but a healthy democracy must include separation of Church and State, tolerance for other views and other religions, and protecting minorities. We should never use religion as a cover to promote hate or killing, as the FRC does, as the KKK does, as Jihadists do, even as Hitler did. We, as intelligent citizens of the world in the 21st century, must speak out against intolerance and do what we can to stop the hate. After all, if you believe in a higher power, we are all “God’s children”.
27 August 2012
John Robles
Voice of Russia World Service
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_08_27/Alleged-hostility-toward-Christians-in-the-far-right-s-manipulation-of-the-US-media/
Editor:
THIS is why the konvertsy culture warriors are going to leave the Church (on their own accord, mind you). They believe in rot like the FRC report. They wanted to ram it down all our throats. However, the Church shook them off. I believe in what HH teaches… “We respect all human choices, including those involving sexual orientation”… compare that to the bombastic pronouncements of Fathausen, Dahulich, and Moriak. The Church has a nuanced and compassionate stance on (for instance) homosexuals. It doesn’t teach the hatred spouted by the konvertsy. Mind you, the Church’s position doesn’t please the extremists in either camp. Yet… there’s nuance and subtlety, NOT hatred and “one size fits all”… as the case of Nikon Mironov proves to all but the slow learners. The Church says, “Let’s sit down and talk”; the konvertsy radicals say, “You’re out of the Church”. I’d say that one of these things is not like the other! The REAL Church is compassionate and listens… the phoney-baloney konvertsy are full of prelest and affectation, and strike before one can speak. Well… which one do you want to be associated with? It’s your choice, after all…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
As John Robles Sees It… Alleged Hostility toward Christians in the USA is Nothing but Far Right Media Manipulation
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Eastern Orthodox Church, Family Research Council, History of the Eastern Orthodox Church in North America, John Robles, Judeo-Christian, Liberty Institute, Moscow Patriarchate, OCA, Orthodox, Orthodox Church in America, Orthodoxy, Paffhausen, political commentary, politics, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Republican, Right Wing Watch, right-wing, Russia, Russian, Russian Orthodox Church, Separation of church and state, Southern Poverty Law Center, Tony Perkin, United States, USA
These are the sort of people that the Family Research Council represents… any questions?
______________________________
A recent report issued by Family Research Council and Liberty Institute claims that Christians are under assault in the USA. On the surface, it looks like a seemingly alarming serious survey focusing on human and religious rights abuse. However, scratch the surface, and its hidden agenda and manipulation of facts become obvious. The subject of this report, and its coverage by Fox News and the rightwing media may not exactly fall into the category of “media bias”, but it does fall into the category of bias and the clever promotion of secret agendas and hate. At first glance, it sounds alarming… US Christians under assault: report, and it’d be alarming, were it true. The report in question has the title, The Survey of Religious Hostility in America (not “A” Survey but the “The” Survey), but its deceptive and designed to damage President Obama’s re-election chances and cleverly propagate, amongst other things, intolerance towards religions not deemed “real” by the fanatical religious Far Right in the USA. The “report” wasted no time in attacking Obama and does so on page (i). The following two pages have the aim of impressing and intimidating us with the doubtlessly impressive résumes of the authors, Kelly Shackelford and Tony Perkins, two individuals who’ve made careers of using their government service and positions to advance their narrow intolerant rightwing views. Perkin’s self-avowed goal is to “…affirm and defend the Judeo-Christian values…” the USA is founded on. Being listed as the leader of a hate group is also amongst his credentials… of course, that isn’t mentioned.
The report cited case after case of what it called discrimination against Christians and Christianity, but failed to present all the facts in each case and failed to note that almost every case they mention relates to issues of separation of church and state. This is very important, as it emphasises one of the goals of the organisations in question, and that is the funding and further integration of the state and the “Christian” faith. These people vilify President Putin and Russia because he received the blessing of the Patriarch. They scream about the rights of those who committed an act of religious hatred and intolerance, who desecrated one of the holiest churches of the Orthodox faith. They twist the facts to their own ends and scream, “There’s no separation of Church and State [in Russia]!” For these people, twisting the facts or leaving them out entirely is an art-form.
The report attacks secularism, homosexual rights, abortion, but nowhere does it mention attacks (and even murders) on members of the Muslim Faith, which the authors see as a “Fanatical Religion”. Who authored and funded the “report” is very important, as it shows that the report was crank from its very creation; they designed it to support pre-planned positions and reach false conclusions which were known from its inception. The Family Research Council, or FRC, purports to support “traditional family values”, something few could speak out against, but how they’ve chosen to go about it is questionable; it promotes the intolerance and marginalising of minorities and all other religions, even Orthodoxy, which they view as not being “real”.
According to Right Wing Watch and other watchdog groups, the group lobbies for state-sponsored prayer in schools, state funding for private schooling (a way for whites to avoid desegregated public schools), censorship in libraries, an end to sex education programs in schools, abstinence as the only method of birth control, an end to reproductive freedom, no abortion even in the case of rape or incest, and the right to discriminate against gays and lesbians. Their goals include:
The Liberty Institute claims they advance “the cause of liberty, including religious liberty”. However, they only support those who share their narrow views, the same as those outlined above. An extensive search found no cases where they defended Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, or any other religious group or faith for that matter. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Family Research Council as a hate group and its leader Tony Perkins as the leader of a hate group. Equality Matters, an organisation that fights for LGBT rights also has an extensive data base on the FRC, as does Media Matters for America.
In summation, the so-called “report” is another thinly disguised attempt by a hate group promoting intolerance and using some of the same tactics used by white supremacist groups, namely the use of provocations to receive a response they can rally against, the omission of facts, and the claim of reverse discrimination. To understand how the hate groups in the USA used the Christian faith for centuries one must delve into the psychology of the “angry white man”; quite frankly, there isn’t enough space in this column for that. Perhaps, some of their points are valid, and I might even agree with one or two, but a healthy democracy must include separation of Church and State, tolerance for other views and other religions, and protecting minorities. We should never use religion as a cover to promote hate or killing, as the FRC does, as the KKK does, as Jihadists do, even as Hitler did. We, as intelligent citizens of the world in the 21st century, must speak out against intolerance and do what we can to stop the hate. After all, if you believe in a higher power, we are all “God’s children”.
John Robles
Voice of Russia World Service
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_08_27/Alleged-hostility-toward-Christians-in-the-far-right-s-manipulation-of-the-US-media/
Editor:
THIS is why the konvertsy culture warriors are going to leave the Church (on their own accord, mind you). They believe in rot like the FRC report. They wanted to ram it down all our throats. However, the Church shook them off. I believe in what HH teaches… “We respect all human choices, including those involving sexual orientation”… compare that to the bombastic pronouncements of Fathausen, Dahulich, and Moriak. The Church has a nuanced and compassionate stance on (for instance) homosexuals. It doesn’t teach the hatred spouted by the konvertsy. Mind you, the Church’s position doesn’t please the extremists in either camp. Yet… there’s nuance and subtlety, NOT hatred and “one size fits all”… as the case of Nikon Mironov proves to all but the slow learners. The Church says, “Let’s sit down and talk”; the konvertsy radicals say, “You’re out of the Church”. I’d say that one of these things is not like the other! The REAL Church is compassionate and listens… the phoney-baloney konvertsy are full of prelest and affectation, and strike before one can speak. Well… which one do you want to be associated with? It’s your choice, after all…
BMD