Editorial - A Summary Of The Hateful Rhetoric Of The 'Talibangelical' Right

Editor's Note: The following was a comment from a person only identified as 'Raphael' posting Friday on the American Family Association's propaganda blog,'OneNewsNow.' Since it is a thoughtful and well laid out argument with considerable accurateness that spells out the baseless and hateful rhetoric of the so-called evangelical christian 'family' organisations and churches, and as it is more than likely that the AFA moderators will remove the post, it was decided to preserve  Raphael 's words and share them with the readership here:

“You’ve got to be taught
Before it’s too late
Before you are 6 or 7 or 8
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You’ve got to be carefully taught.”
~ From the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical production of South Pacific

Growing up in North Carolina, going to church was about community, family, loving thy neighbor and living a virtuous life. Politics never entered into it, and most religious folks seemed like good people. But those were the halcyon days before the Internet, when we had no idea just how many religious folks out there are very bad people.

In a church in Indiana, a little boy sang a song with the lyric “Ain’t no homos gonna make it to heaven,” obviously carefully taught by an adult, and got a standing ovation from the radical evangelical Christian congregation, proving that child abuse is not confined to the home.

The adult who taught the poor kid that charming ditty might agree with the radical evangelical Christian pastor, famous for burning the Koran, who hanged an effigy of President Obama in front of his church featuring a mannequin of the president hanging from a noose, as if lynched. Steve Martin was right: comedy isn’t pretty.

A radical evangelical Christian North Carolina pastor advocated putting gay people behind an electric fence where they would eventually die, just like our favorite German dictator, who actually did it. Another radical evangelical Christian N.C. pastor said that fathers should crack the wrists of their effeminate sons, beating the gay out of them. Spare the rod and spoil the child indeed, not to mention scar him for life.

A radical evangelical Christian Kansas pastor advocated the government’s killing of gays, apparently one instance where he approves of government intervention.

The radical evangelical Christian spokesman for the American Family Association routinely compares gays to Nazis, while talking much like a Nazi. The leader of a radical evangelical Christian outfit, whose entire existence seems to be about spreading antigay hatred, decries gay relationships as “pathetic” and “lifeless” and tells parents not to let gay doctors treat their kids and cautions corporations against hiring gays. I’m glad she’s not my Headhunter.

America’s most prominent radical evangelical Christians have broadcasted hatred and fear of gay people on their programs for decades, tax free, which is probably why Pat Robertson has more security than Lady Gaga.

A radical evangelical Christian counseling student won the right to refuse counseling to those who violate her religious beliefs, opening up a whole Pandora’s Box of future litigation from radical evangelicals of all occupations. What if doctors, policemen or firemen did this?

A radical evangelical Christian Oklahoma legislator said that gays are a worse threat to the nation than terrorists, and rather than get laughed out of town gets reelected, because many Oklahoma voters are stupid. Back in North Carolina, radical evangelical Christians spearheaded an antigay constitutional amendment that wiped out any legal protections whatsoever for gay couples, because many North Carolina voters are stupid.

Prominent Republicans and other radical evangelicals like Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann have not condemned this behavior, by their silence endorsing it. If radical evangelicals ever get their own country, which they clearly want, Huckabee, Santorum and Bachmann want to be their leaders.

With all of this poisonous rhetoric, one might think that gays are the biggest problem in the country. They are not. It is radical evangelical Christians that are the problem.

Radical evangelical Christians, who scream about “freedom” while ignoring everyone else’s, think they have cornered the market on morality but march in lockstep with the most dangerous fringes of the right wing, who wouldn’t know Christlike behavior if Jesus personally demonstrated it with a PowerPoint presentation. I use the term “Radical evangelical Christians” because mainstream Christians are not the problem. Mainstream Christians go to church, try to live their lives according to the teachings of Christ, and leave everyone else alone. Mainstream Christians are, for the most part, mainstream people, the largest religious group in the US. It is the smaller but far more vocal population of radical evangelical Christians that have lost their minds in a frenzy of fear and bigotry, and have come close to destroying public opinion of Christianity itself: the Talibangelicals.

Hiding behind the ludicrous banner of “religious freedom,” radical evangelical Christians have declared open season on Americans they disagree with, attempting to destroy their families, livelihoods, access to services and even encouraging their murder. They believe that their “religious freedom” allows them to disobey laws and change laws for the rest of us to suit their prejudices. They do all this 24 hours a day and 365 days a year from their tax-exempt pulpits, tax-exempt television and radio studios, and tax-exempt “family” organizations.

Being a radical evangelical Christian is a choice. It is unnatural to believe that your faith sanctions inequality, persecution, bullying, abuse and murder, yet they seek to normalize their abnormal behavior. As was proven in the church in Indiana, they recruit children into their deviant lifestyle. A child is not born that way; they must be carefully taught.

It’s an open question whether or not radical evangelicals actually intend to do evil things, but they do. Their words and actions destroy the budding self-images of young gays trying to find their place in a hostile world, and are left adrift as radical evangelicals seek to destroy the institutions and laws built to help undo the damage. Every single time an advance is made in gay equality or an organization tries to aid young gays, radical evangelicals accuse them of “recruiting” and “promoting” and try to stop it. They accuse gays of having higher instances of addiction, self-abuse and suicide, completely denying that they had anything to do with creating the hostile atmosphere that leads directly to it.

And radical evangelicals blindly vote for the most conservative candidates regardless of their qualifications. It doesn’t matter if the candidate is incompetent or dangerous to the republic - as long as they’re antiabortion and antigay, they’ve got the Talibangelical vote. Lawmakers like Steve King (R-IA), Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) wouldn’t have been elected hall monitor without them. And they even cite scripture as supporting the conservative laundry list such as a strong military, small government and low taxes. Don’t start citing scripture unless you’re ready to stone women who aren’t virgins on their wedding night.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects reported that last year more LGBT people were murdered in hate crimes than in any year since the group began keeping records. Radical Evangelical Christians said nothing; they only continued the rhetoric that caused the murder.

Forget their endless protestations of “religious freedom.” They are free to worship as they choose. But they are not free to disobey laws, take away civil rights, force people out of their homes and businesses, destroy legal protections for their families or call for their extermination. Did I miss when the US turned into a theocracy?

Make no mistake: a theocracy is what they want. They believe that Biblical law trumps civil law. They believe that God, not Congress, makes the rules. Despite that religion is a system of beliefs and not provable facts, they insist that their beliefs trump everything and allow them special rights. They declare, with no proof, that America was founded as a “Christian nation” and that the Founders did not intend a separation of church and state, even claiming that freedom of speech does not apply to non-Christians and that only Christians should be elected to public office. These positions alone prove that radical evangelicals are the ones who should be barred from public office, serving in the judicial system, or any other positions of influence.

And any idiot can hide behind “religious freedom.” I could make up a religion that allows me to eat with my dirty feet on the table and then scream religious persecution when the management tries to throw me out of the restaurant. My religion could dictate that I must walk around town in a bowler hat and a jockstrap singing “Mame.” Anything.

Radical evangelical Christian organizations have no problem whatsoever boycotting and harassing organizations with policies they don’t agree with. Why are people so hesitant to do the same to them? Perhaps it just takes too much energy; trying to reason with them is like telling my cat not to vomit on the rug. Or perhaps they don’t want to be accused of “anti-Christian bigotry,” the victimized banner that radical evangelical Christians always fly. It’s always amusing when bigots accuse others of bigotry.

The time has long past where their “religious freedom” has become toxic, no doubt influencing some of their more gullible flock to take matters into their own hands. Who do you think breaks into the homes of gays, defaces their property with graffiti, forces them from their neighborhoods or kills them on the street? It ain’t athiests.

One antidote is to publicize their hatred so the world will know what they are doing. They should then receive endless amounts of very annoying phone calls and emails that will tie up their communications and make their days very unpleasant. The roaches always hate it when you turn the lights on.

Another is to protest them relentlessly, in the media and in person. These people do not quite know what to do when the rest of the world says, “You said what?” They exist in their own bubble where everyone agrees with them, and must be made aware that the majority do not. That’s what happened to Pastor Electric Fence, Pastor Crack The Wrists and Pastor Kill The Gays, and they haven’t been heard from since. Let’s keep it that way.

Most importantly, they should have their tax-exempt status revoked. A real movement to make this happen should begin, and I eagerly await the courageous leader who starts that ball rolling. Hate speech and blatant political action to take away the rights of others should not be subsidized by the taxpayer. The Klu Klux Klan is not tax exempt, and neither should these churches or organizations be. The Founding Fathers intended for the little church on the corner to be tax-free, not a mammoth “family” organization or religious TV network where tax-free profits treat the leader to fabulous dinners and an air-conditioned mobile home for the dogs.

And the media needs to stop interviewing these people like they are any other newsmaker. They should be belittled and ignored, not put on TV. If they must be interviewed, the reporter should treat them like Sean Hannity would treat a Black Panther.

And please, networks, stop giving Tony Perkins a platform. Perkins, of the Family Research Council, a right wing lobbying outfit and recognized hate group that has little to do with families or research, is invited on cable news with alarming regularity to spout endless lies about gay people in the name of “balance,” but he’s basically a Westboro Baptist Church member in a suit. Networks don’t invite a Klansman on a show to talk about race relations, they don’t invite terrorists to discuss the middle east, so why invite Perkins to talk about gay issues? Perkins is stealthy; he speaks calmly on the air but in a shockingly different tone when talking to his own people. He isn’t just against marriage equality; he and his cronies are against gays, period, advocating that they be outlawed and deported. If Perkins must be invited, bring on someone who will knock him into next week.

Spewing hate, teaching hate, then playing the victim. That’s their modus operandi, and outlets like Fox News enable their fiction of a “War On Christianity.” They protest that they are being “silenced” when people disagree with them and call them out. But when they advocate violence and murder, you can by God bet that they should be silenced. One does not have a constitutional right to call for someone’s death, even if they are a very untalented contestant on America’s Got Talent.

One of them said, “If gays aren’t discriminated against, Christians will be.” Not Christians, buddy, just you and your fellow Talibangelicals.

“If Jesus Christ came back and saw what’s being done in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.” ~ Woody Allen, from; 'Hannah And Her Sisters'