Yeah yeah... I know. Blogs been a bit quiet.
The 50 Billion Dollar Putin-palooza that was the 2014 Winter Olympics ended with fireworks and the folks in Sochi even poking fun at their own mishaps over the course of the Games. Dancers recreated the technical glitch from the opening ceremony when one of the five Olympic rings failed to open. So fair play to Sochi.
Meanwhile back in the United States, the American Taliban finally decided it was tired of losing the culture war and decided to strike back Putin-Style at LGBT Americans, and try to pass "religious freedom projection laws". Which are laws that basically say, you can violate any civil rights laws you want by claiming that God told you to. Yes, you read that correctly. The state of Arizona is one of the first to go so far as to actually pass such a law. The question now is whether Arizona's Republican Governor, Jan Brewer will sign it into law.
But Arizona is just the tip of the bigotry iceberg. A a number of other conservative states, including, Kansas, Tennessee and Georgia, have similar legislation working its way through their respective state legislatures. All this taking place in the shadow of Russia's modern day "Nuremberg Laws" targeting Gays and Lesbians, and the American Taliban's latest overseas achievement, in Uganda.
The idea that it should be legal to discriminate against someone because your particular religion says so, is not new. Women and other minorities are marginalized in many parts of the world solely on basis of religious edict.
The Wing Nuts on the American Religious and Cultural right wing, realizing they can't win the debate on facts, and seeing the massive shift in attitudes on cultural issues; Have decided the best defense is to claim that THEY are the real victims here , and granting equality to people they don't like, is an "attack" on their religious beliefs.
Of course the chance of these new state laws, should they be enacted, actually surviving the legal challenges that would most certain follow, are remote at best. Yet it signals an interesting shift in the tactics of anti-Gay American Taliban. It also presents a real opportunity for the Religious Left to stand up for the religious freedom of people who actually follow the teachings of Christ. Or as Seattle-based writer/activist Dan Savage calls them, NALT (Not All Like That) Christians.
Dan has a point...
Meanwhile back in the United States, the American Taliban finally decided it was tired of losing the culture war and decided to strike back Putin-Style at LGBT Americans, and try to pass "religious freedom projection laws". Which are laws that basically say, you can violate any civil rights laws you want by claiming that God told you to. Yes, you read that correctly. The state of Arizona is one of the first to go so far as to actually pass such a law. The question now is whether Arizona's Republican Governor, Jan Brewer will sign it into law.
But Arizona is just the tip of the bigotry iceberg. A a number of other conservative states, including, Kansas, Tennessee and Georgia, have similar legislation working its way through their respective state legislatures. All this taking place in the shadow of Russia's modern day "Nuremberg Laws" targeting Gays and Lesbians, and the American Taliban's latest overseas achievement, in Uganda.
The Wing Nuts on the American Religious and Cultural right wing, realizing they can't win the debate on facts, and seeing the massive shift in attitudes on cultural issues; Have decided the best defense is to claim that THEY are the real victims here , and granting equality to people they don't like, is an "attack" on their religious beliefs.
Of course the chance of these new state laws, should they be enacted, actually surviving the legal challenges that would most certain follow, are remote at best. Yet it signals an interesting shift in the tactics of anti-Gay American Taliban. It also presents a real opportunity for the Religious Left to stand up for the religious freedom of people who actually follow the teachings of Christ. Or as Seattle-based writer/activist Dan Savage calls them, NALT (Not All Like That) Christians.
Dan has a point...
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