Category: Entanglement

December 12, 2017

Religious texts are powerful rhetorical devices because they are subject to interpretation. America has no state religion, but the right wing has strongly endorsed what it preaches are a set of Christian values, making the movement more approachable to the seventy percent of Americans who identify as Christians.

You might think that for people who hold this set of values, Alabama’s Republican candidate for Senate, Roy Moore, would be stoned after five women came forward and made claims that Moore came on to them or worse when they were teenagers. The Christian right, however, seems to have taken a position of denial.

Moore’s not the only one setting a bad example for Christians in politics, either. There’s also our president.

Where Organized Religion and Politics Meet

October 13, 2017
image of The Trump

‘President’ Trump spoke at the ‘Value Voters’ Summit, which is sponsored by anti-LGBTQ hate group the Family Research Council, and promptly offered them some red meat to bolster his own ego and failing administration. What better way to distract from failure than scapegoating other people.

August 28, 2017
image of 10 Commandments Moument on grounds of Lucas County Ohio Courthouse
10 Commandments Moument on grounds of Lucas County Ohio Courthouse

A stone marker has sat on the grounds of the Lucas County Courthouse in Toledo, Ohio for the past 60 years. It’s engraved with the 10 Commandments – a set of Christian religious rules. Supporters of the monument claim the commandments are part of our collective legal history so it should remain on the courthouse lawn. In 2006, a federal court agreed. A reasonable person, looking at the full background of how the monument came to be would come to a different conclusion.

The Lucas County Courthouse is located on Adams Street in downtown Toledo. There aren’t many monuments or markers on the grounds but one that caught my eye is a 10 Commandments monument that was donated by a local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1957. The Eagles placed hundreds of markers across the country starting in the late 1940s through the early 1960s. The markers were placed on courthouses, public schools, and public parks.

July 20, 2017
image of a typical Mosque

On July 13th, The House Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Appropriations bill was voted out of committee 31-32 and heads to the full US House of Representatives for consideration. The bill includes a section that would basically eliminate the Johnson amendment enforcement of the tax code against churches opening them up to used as political tools and bribery facilitators.

February 27, 2017
image of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos who has ties to shadowy religious conservative group
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has ties to shadowy religious conservative group

The Washington Post reported on a ‘secret’ conservative think-tank that has for years wanted to eliminate the US Department of Education and force the Christian religion into the public schools. The report uncovered by the Post and the fact that many members of the group are involved in the present Trump administration should give us supporters of secular education some pause.

February 2, 2017
image of President Smug Trump

During remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump said he wanted to ‘totally destroy the Johnson Amendment’. The amendment is a rule that prohibits churches from giving money or endorsing candidates as part of the deal for federal tax exemption. Trump’s statement puts religious freedom in danger and opens the churches up to dark money that has ruined our election process.