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12/18/2009
NOM leadership: No meat in their arguments, no meat on their Fridays
Want even more proof that the National Organization For Marriage, an organization that presents itself as a broad coalition of various faiths and views joined for the purposes of opposing civil marriage equality (or as they say, "protecting traditional marriage"), is pretty much an offshoot of the Vatican? Well then you must read the following piece. It's a profile of NOM founder and chairman Robert George, which comes from this upcoming weekend's New York Times Magazine. Even though we have long known that George and fellow NOMmers Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown are devout Catholics who rely on that church for their existence and outreach, this new profile might just be the most honest assessment of those ties that we've ever seen:
“If there really is a vast right-wing conspiracy,” the conservative Catholic journal Crisis concluded a few years ago, “its leaders probably meet in George’s kitchen.”
FOR 20 YEARS, George has operated largely out of public view at the intersection of academia, religion and politics. In the past 12 months, however, he has stepped into a more prominent role. With the death of the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a Lutheran minister turned Roman Catholic priest who helped bring evangelicals and Catholics together into a political movement, George has assumed his mantle as the reigning brain of the Christian right. And he is in many ways the public face of the conservative side in the most urgent culture-war battle of the day. The National Organization for Marriage, the advocacy group fighting same-sex marriage in Albany and Trenton, Maine and California, has made him its chairman. Before the 2004 election, he helped a coalition of Christian conservative groups write their proposed amendment to the federal Constitution defining marriage as heterosexual. More than any other scholar, George has staked his reputation on the claim that same-sex marriage violates not only tradition but also human reason.
It’s part of a philosophy that has found support among a group of Catholic bishops who have become some of the most persistent critics of President Obama and the Congressional Democrats. George serves as their intellectual point man. In the past few years, many of the evangelical Protestants who once defined the religious right have turned inward after their disappointment with President George W. Bush. In their place, George’s friends among the Catholic bishops have stepped to the fore, hammering Obama for his pro-choice Catholic cabinet nominees, for being invited to speak at Notre Dame’s commencement, for his stem-cell research policies and most recently for his health care proposals.
...
George’s role as an adviser to these bishops began more than 20 years ago, when he was a young professor and recent Ph.D. A mutual friend introduced him to the Rev. John Myers, then a bishop in Peoria, Ill., who was working on a pastoral letter about the moral obligations of Catholic voters and politicians.
*KEEP READING: The Conservative-Christian Big Thinker [NYT Magazine]
NOM can pretend to be a broad coalition all the want. it's certainly true that they've managed to dupe people from other faiths into supporting their society-weakening version of "reason." But it's simply undeniable that their every last day at the office is motivated, first and foremost, by their commitment to the Holy See. That would be totally fine if they were the National Organization For Tastier Communion Wafers. But as long as they are fighting against a CIVIL concept that does not ever require church involvement (for homosexuals or heterosexuals), we must call them out on their attempst to force their personal church into a codependent relationship with our shared state!
**UPDATE: The reliance on faith continues in NOM's final '09 e-blast:
Your thoughts
"who helped bring evangelicals and Catholics together into a political movement"
Because everyone knows that the place religious dogma and personal beliefs belong are in secular politics that dictate the lives all all people, including non Christians/Catholics.
Can we PLEASE get a Jew to step up and suggest laws that cater only to Hissidic sects and harm the Christians' way of life? Like, say, making a law that bans the sale of any sandwich that has both meat and cheese. Or the sale of pants and skirts shorter than ankle length. Or a law that mandates all married women must cover their hair. Or that electricity shall be banned on Fridays.
Can we for once just show Christians what they do to everyone who isn't of the Jesus fan club EVERY SINGLE DAY by trying and often succeeding on imposing their own personal brand of magic man in the sky beliefs on everyone else?
BTW, on a CNN blog today regarding an article on "the war on Christmas", FotF was mentioned, as was the whole "happy holidays" and the "naughty and nice lists" situations with Gap and other stores. I had some right wing nut job tell me that those people who do not believe Jesus Christ is our lord and savior and that Christianity is the religion of the US and those that atheists/agnostics and non christians are equivilant to the Taliban and Al Quada in his eyes and should just get the hell out of his country.
To which I responded "if I, as an atheist/agnostic person, am equivilant to Al Queda, I guess the US military should send me back the 37 (yes, 37) care packages I sent to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistant through AnySoldier.com. What have you done for humanity recently besides tell non Christians they aren't as cool as you?"
This is why the US is bucked.
Posted by: Stef | Dec 18, 2009 7:14:56 PM
This letter is absolutely disgusting. While same-gender marriage and homosexuality are NOT relevant in discussions of morality and immorality, I cannot contemplate how a man who calls himself a 'Christian' can possibly celebrate birth of the messiah he so worships while knowingly committing grievous harm and supporting an opinion that causes devastating consequences in the lives and families of others.
To you, Brian Brown, I say this: You are an evil human being, one who knows nothing of love, decency, equality, or liberty. Go ahead. Stuff your face this Christmas while you knowingly have supported implementing harm in the lives of others. Proverbial blood is on your hands. You have acted immorally and with great disdain for the greater human condition, believing yourself to be more worthy and more important - enough to advocate on the worth and merit of the lives of others.
Enjoy your Christmas ham. Don't choke on it.
Posted by: RJ | Dec 19, 2009 4:05:33 PM
Someone should tell Brian that his brand of fascism and propaganda are what caused the holocaust in Nazi Germany and brand him with a swastika on his forehead.
Posted by: Mykelb | Dec 21, 2009 12:17:49 AM
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