In contrast to the retrograde tendencies of a few rarified and tiny but influental factions on the American religious right - including the Institute On Religion And Democracy - that are becoming increasingly marginalized*, the US religious mainstream is rapidly moving into high gear, in aggressive advocacy for mitigating Global Warming.

One of the true "dirty secrets" of dominionism--that being the promotion of all manner of abuse, including child abuse and spiritual abuse--is coming out more in the open, thanks to the hard work of people determined to keep this from being swept under the carpet.

One of the other forms of abuse--the abuse of animals--is not only often explicitly condoned by dominionists, but--as it turns out--some of the worst abusers of animals happen to be dominionists...including dominionist-friendly legislators.

And Bill Frist is among the ugliest of them all, from dissecting cats whilst they are alive to supporting people who deliberately cripple show horses.  More below...

John Hostettler has co-sponsored the "Christian Supremacy Act" ( HR 2679 ) that is coming up for a vote Tuesday, September.

Who is John Hostettler ? Well, here are a few vignettes that should help us to triangulate a bit on Indiana's 8th District Federal Congressional Representative.  ( also see a fairly well fleshed out Wikipedia article on Hostettler )

Mr. Hostettler seems to have some distinctly odd views. I wouldn't want to lump his interest in carrying concealed weapons among those, but his estimation of his ability to get concealed automatic weapons past security checkpoints seems a bit off to say the least.

Moving along, Hostettler may hold the belief that breast-cancer survivors have all had abortions ( in reference to a Christian right claim of an abortion-breaast cancer link, to slightly notorious ( by now ) incident from September 2002.  )

Here's Hostettler receiving an award from D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries ( scroll approx 1/2 - 2/3 way down page ) . Who is D.James Kennedy ? - Here's a quote :

Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society. - D. James Kennedy

John Hostettler can be found at Christian nationalist homeschooling legal-defense conferences and in attendance to support Indiana's new generation of young republicans,  and he doesn't much like immigrants ( and, he demands action on that issue )  or ( see below ) gays - or at least the right of gays to marry.

Here's Hostettler inveighing against Massachusett's legalization of same-sex marriages in an op-ed for the American Conservative union Foundation :

Thirty-eight states already protect traditional marriage under DOMA. By exercising this Constitutional legislative authority we can preserve each state's traditional right to determine its own marriage policies without federal court interference.

There is a radical element in America working to change our dictionaries, our Bibles, our traditions and our laws. But it's not the institution of marriage that needs redefining. It is our understanding of the federal courts and the limitations placed on them by the U.S. Constitution. Equipped with knowledge, the American people can reclaim the governance that is rightfully theirs.

Hostettler opposes highways with 'smutty' names such Interstate 69

Hostettler, a proponent of the interstate extension, agrees.  "Every time I have been out in the public with an `I-69' button on my lapel, teenagers point and snicker at it.  I have had many ask me if they can have my button.  I believe it is time to change the name of the highway.  It is the moral thing to do."

John Hostettler is alleged, also ( I can't verify this )  to made statements, while running for office in 1994,  to the effect that "the Jews killed Jesus" and in support of individuals to own any weapon the government has in its arsenal including nuclear weapons( From OurCongress.org, unverified ).

The Baptist Joint Committee has released a statement on the bill, the "Public Expression of Religion Act," which Bruce mentioned in his great post "Establishment Clause Adult Attention Deficit Disorder" last week, and I've written about previously.

If you are opposed to this kind of election-time religion binge that would empower your local government to flaunt the Establishment Clause with impunity, give your House Rep a call and let them know that people really do care about enforcing this valuable constitutional protection. After the vote, I'll post details in this diary. [UPDATE: The debate is over in the House. Fabulous speeches by especially Rep. Chet Edwards (D-TX) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) in opposition to the bill. Roll call vote will be later today.] [UPDATE 2: The bill passed, largely on party lines, 244-173.]

On his website today, RenewAmerica.us, religious right leader Alan Keyes attacked DefCon. According to Mr. Keyes, "Defcon created a front group in Ohio titled "Help Ohio Public Education" (HOPE). Voters were led to believe that the front group is a grass roots movement in Ohio. Quite to the contrary, it consists of two leftist college professors who are sock puppets for Defcon."

Full text of the leaked Kline memo ( also see: Kansas Attorney General Kline's Leaked Memo For Church Involvement In Politics

[ Note: news of The Kline Memo Circulated A Few Days Ago Via The Interfaith Alliance : See press release below ] Jews On First has written a detailed summary of the scandal emerging around a recent memo, written by Kansas Attorney Phil Kline and advocating aggressive church involvement in politics, that was recently leaked to the press:

[ here's the original memo ]

In a tough battle for reelection, Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline gave his campaign staff detailed instructions on how to use churches to raise funds, recruit campaign volunteers and collect voter contact information. He wrote the instructions in a memo obtained by news organizations and JewsOnFirst.org.

Kline writes that the "goal" of receptions, which his staff will organize to dovetail with church services, "is to walk away with contact information, money and volunteers and a committee in each church." He names three of the churches already involved in his campaign.

Kline's August 8th memo lays bare for the world (including Democratic Party leaders who might care to protest) the details of how at least one Republican on the religious right uses churches for electoral operations. There is no reason to assume that Kline just created this campaign model.

Kline's closing instructions about telling cooperating churches how to protect their tax-exempt status, are nonchalantly dismissive. He tells his staff to prepare a "2-pager," only part of which will be about what the law allows.

    Should prepare guidance sheet for those who are showing the church video. 2 pager that includes: goals for showing the video, IRS rules guidance regarding what they can and cannot do (this should not take long -- no use of church assets -- can show it at church as long as they do not deny opposition of showing their own video -- no need to invite the other, just cannot deny -- etc)

"Our efforts in the churches"
Kline is known beyond the realm of bright-red Kansas Republicanism for demanding abortion patients' records and ordering healthcare providers to report teenagers who have sex.

Kline writes that his staff should use the memo (which you can see here) as "a checklist to improve on our efforts" in the churches. He directs them to "maximize my presence in a community. Where possible, get additional churches involved."

[ here is the smoking gun. emphasis mine - BW ]

Kline tells his staff how to form a campaign committee for him at each church that will educate and register voters, "encourage people to contribute and volunteer" and network with their own email lists. He instructs :

   

Recontact all churches and specifically get in touch with key contact there to form a church lay committee for the campaign.

The Evangelical Right brings us a particularly egregious example of blatant partisanship from James Dobson tax-exempt Focus On The Family, as published in FOF's September 2006 edition of Citizen Magazine and written by Dennis Prager, host of a weekday talk show on KRLA 870 AM in Los Angeles.

9-11 was terrible for America. But it's been devastating for liberals... For all its tragedy, at least one good thing came out of 9-11. It exposed the Left's incapacity to deal with evil.... Why won't the Left label and confront evil?

The reasons are not only psychological (fear of confrontation, fear of fighting, fear of dying, loathing of authority figures whether parental or divine, etc.)...

All this leftist aversion to talk about evil has come to the fore since 9-11. In that sense, 9-11 was a catastrophe for the Left. It told most Americans exactly what the Left does not want Americans to believe: that there is major evil in the world which only America can truly fight; that America is not the Great Problem and, even worse, that the Great Problem regards America as its primary enemy; that sometimes only moral violence can end immoral violence; that people do terrible things for reasons having nothing to do with economics; that the U.N. is morally worthless; that America really is exceptional, and that there really is such as a thing as evil and those who fight itare better than those who fight the fighters.

9-11 was terrible for America. But it has thus far been devastating for the Left. That is one reason the Left so hates George W. Bush; and why, in their hearts, they have to hope he--and therefore we--lose in Iraq.

I've been informing readers on Talk2Action for some time about the antics of Paul Yonggi Cho nee David Yonggi Cho--the founder of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul (which is now probably the largest single church worldwide--a reported 900,000 members, largely through satellite congregations throughout South Korea) and now the head of the World Assemblies of God Council, and one of the major forces (if not the major force, in some areas) behind injection of "spiritual warfare" theology throughout the pente and neopente movements.

Most infamously, Cho is strongly connected with the spread of "Third Wave" pentecostalism, most well known from the Toronto and Brownsville "revivals"--a movement which is dominionist in its base theology and which expressly embraces the concept of "spiritual warfare" against, well, the rest of us (as so dramatised in the "Left Behind" books and video-game).  

And, as it turns out, Cho has links to none other than Ted Haggard's New Life Church.  Read on below.

In the record breaking heat of 1998, approximately 5% of the world's population became, at least temporarily, refugees due to weather related disasters.

In late 2004, a story in the prominent online environmental publication Grist, by Glen Scherer, entitled The Godly Must Be Crazy: Christian-right views are swaying politicians and threatening the environment tried to somehow explain, to the unwashed, how the politics of the Christian right effected environmental politics. The title of Scherer's piece more or less said it all: 'they' were substantially different from 'us', and 'they' were insane.....

Time passed.

The Long Island section of the Sunday NY Times has this story:

At Odds Over Schools

Details below:

I recently have come across these internet resources concerning the separation of church and state and thought people here on this website might appreciate them.

The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State -
an extensive website of historical resources on church/state separation.About the author: "Jim Allison is a certificated paralegal and historical-legal researcher and writer living in Virginia Beach. Susan Batte is a lawyer and a member of the US Supreme Court bar who practices in Virginia. Both have been involved in the separation of church and state debate, researching and writing extensively on the subject, for several years."

STOPTHERELIGIOUSRIGHT.ORG: Original writing and research on church/state separation by James Veverka

Liars for Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History: A new book, by Chris Rodda, that thoroughly and painstakingly rebuts historical inaccuracies, distortions, and fabrications by leading historical revisionists of the Christian right.