A forked tongue.

[ladyinred]

Here is a viewpoint I'd like people to consider...Jesus often admonished his followers to be as innocent at doves but as wise as serpents.. Well this speaks of the contradictory speech and actions of many on the religious right... They may throw a bone of appeasement to the gay community by apologizing for offending with past statements. But actions speak louder than words. Have they really changed? Think about the agenda they promote, think about present words they speak and actions they are taking..Pat Robertson is a classic example... They may look you in the face and act sincere, but in their minds they are thinking something else... That's why they often contradict themselves with their words and actions. What is in their heart may be totally different story than what they are telling you. Remember the parable that Jesus taught about the good tree bearing good fruit and a bad tree bearing bad fruit and that by their fruits you shall know them.. This is exactly the point, look at a mans actions more than his words. it will tell you a great deal about that person. Not that I want to be a naysayer of everyone's sincerity but let's face it there are people who are blatantly insincere and will tell you what you want to hear to get you off their back. Food for thought. Look at the agenda they are promoting to undermine gay rights, let's face the facts, folks..

[ladyinred]

Classic Robertson style.Scapegoating goes on-- "Homosexuals are that way"
As the Mark Foley scandal continues to unfold, Republicans and the radical right keep on looking for others to blame or with whom they can share the blame. So far the easiest scapegoat seems to be homosexual people in general. Pat Robertson, to no one's surprise, is saying that this is the homosexual's nature. Paul Weyrich, a radical right spokesman, who helps spread the "agenda," says homosexuals are "obscessed with sex."

Suddenly the Republican Party is accused of being afraid to offend homosexuals because of political correctness. If they are afraid to offend, it must be a new thing! In the past they certainly have not had such inhibitions.

The good news is that this scapegoating is not taking hold with the public. The approval ratings for Bush, Congress, and the Agenda are in a new state of decline.

What can revive Republican fortunes between now and the election? Some type of "October surprise?" Terror alerts are a good way to go. Or maybe Osama has been captured and they will pull him out to parade him around the country in a cage, right before the election. Or a new war? Or war threats? We will just have to wait and see. I doubt that the public will be so gullible this time, but I may be wrong.

To read about Robertson's and Weyrich's take on the scandal see: MEDIAMATTERS FOR AMERICA On top of that Pat Robertson has blamed gays for abortions and no fault divorces... Blame the responsibility of other people's actions on someone else..Makes sense.....not :- P WHAT A COP OUT.. The man needs psychological help himself, he needs a reality check for one..

[ladyinred]

Another website that is fully aware of how the religious right operates is http://www.talk2action.org/ There was an interesting article awhile back called, "While we slept" Which explained how the religious right has used subterfuge to take over the republican party and influence other denominations as well.There are other relative articles such as "The lady in the mink coat." You can read more about their endeavors and clandestine activities on the website above.
The Woman in A Mink Coat
By Joan Bokaer Wed Nov 23, 2005 at 08:49:19 AM

The year was 1986. I was on a speaking tour of Iowa, talking about the Religious Right's support for nuclear weapons. As usual, after the talk several people approached me. But this time one woman stood out. She was wearing a mink coat. I remember her because it wasn't often in the nuclear disarmament movement that you see someone wearing a mink coat, especially indoors. As she spoke to me, she was visibly shaking, fighting to hold back tears. She said that she couldn't bear to go to Republican Party meetings anymore and handed me a memo from Pat Robertson. It read:

How to Participate in a Political Party

Rule the world for God.
Give the impression that you are there to work for the party, not push an ideology.
Hide your strength.
Don't flaunt your Christianity.
Christians need to take leadership positions. Party officers control political parties and so it is very important that mature Christians have a majority of leadership positions, God willing.



I was to see Pat Robertson in person two years later when he was running for President. We were both speaking in the same hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire. After my talk, I slipped into the room where he was speaking to his supporters. I just remember two things: the venom and the numbers. He talked about those "homosexuals" and "feminists" with such fury that the words came out of his mouth like venom. He was scary.
But his speech was mostly about numbers. He gave a date, then subtracted another date, then added something ... I had no idea where all this addition and subtraction was leading until he came to the sum and his eyes lit up. The final tally came to the number 666 -- the mark of the Beast. That's all I remember of that event - the venom and the numbers.

Soon after his numbers speech in Manchester, Robertson pulled off a coup. He actually beat Vice President George HW Bush in the Republican Iowa caucuses for President, 1988. He lost the primaries soundly, but his upset in Iowa should have been a wake-up call. But it wasn't. At least not for me. Robertson was defeated.

One year later the Moral Majority disbanded. The Moral Majority was created in 1979 by Republican strategists to swell the ranks of the Republican Party by recruiting members of fundamentalist, Pentecostal and charismatic churches. Political strategist Paul Weyrich, who coined the term "Moral Majority" stated the movement's goals:


We are talking about Christianizing America. We are talking about simply spreading the gospel in a political context.

These political operatives worked hand-in-hand with religious leaders such as Jerry Falwell and Tim LaHaye who wanted to use the Republican Party to promote their religious beliefs. But in 1989 the Moral Majority disbanded.
Surely the movement had peaked, and I could focus on better things. Right?

Coming next - The Christian Coalition takes working control of the Republican party.

The Woman in A Mink Coat | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 hidden)

"Rule the World For God" (none / 0)
That, right there in a nutshell, is the ultimate goal of the Dominionists. That little memo was their marching orders, and they are still following them today.
Our goal should be to yank the deliberately deceptive sheepskin off these people, and reveal them for the Dominionists that they are. With the Internet and all the other resources at out disposal today, there is no reason why any candidate for office cannot be thoroughly vetted and unveiled as another Dominionist foot soldier.

We can make it impossible for them to continue to use this stealth tactic to gain more power if we apply ourselves. It might be like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped, but in doing so, we can prevent more damage.

by Lorie Johnson on Wed Nov 23, 2005 at 09:38:56 AM EST

This is all very scary (none / 0)
and the more I hear about it the scarier it seems. However, it also seems to me that the mainstream culture is further and further from this. It seems to me that so much of the dominionist movement is insidious because it does operate in "stealth" mode. That said, it also seems as if they suffer setbacks when they finally come out and operate in the open. It seems to me that mainstream America doesn't really take the threat seriously and are consequently pretty apathetic. I wonder how long that would last once the dominionists actually did start passing social control legislation. Their business and environmental legislation is certainly what is desired by the corporate branch of the party, so that's not likely to create the same general hue and cry.

by montpellier on Wed Nov 23, 2005 at 09:51:30 AM EST

They have to be stealthy (none / 0)
Dominionists have to be stealthy and deceptive until they gain power because if they came into the game already flying the Jolly Roger, they'd be immediately torpedoed. The bottom line, and one which we must address is this:
Most people do not mind religious faith- unless it is imposed upon them legally. That is what the Dominionists seek to do: impose a 'biblically based' legal system upon this country. They've already made inroads with state constitutions- making it illegal for same-sex couples to enjoy the advantages of civil marriage, and the law that Texas just passed is so restrictive (and punitive) that it actually anulls heterosexual civil marriages, too.

Dominionists are very punitive and legalistic in their form of rule. Providing for the needs of the poor, helping people get a leg up, caring for children, providing public education and other social programs are on the bottom of their list of governence- if they're there at all. Punishing 'evildoers', removing women from the public sphere, creating Christian citizens, and persecuting certain minorities are much higher on their lists. Reading their agenda is like reading a fundementalist's wet dream. It's very ugly and punitive.

We're the frogs in that cauldron. It's time to hop out of it.

by Lorie Johnson on Wed Nov 23, 2005 at 10:20:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]

I wonder (none / 0)
I wonder how these people could have no idea that they are being used by greedy business types who have so little care for what they believe in. The only thing I can think of is hate. They all hate the some of the same things so they work hand in hand.

by Grumpymann on Wed Nov 23, 2005 at 12:21:58 PM EST

I used to wonder, too. (none / 0)
And then it occurred to me that they weren't the poor victims. In fact, I suspect they are using each other and, for some at least , in a cynical way. The corporate/neocon wing would have had trouble taking over so completely without the support of the religious Right. On the other hand, I suspect that the dominionists would have had far less success in pushing their agenda without an administration anxious to keep them happy and inflame their prejudices in order to get their votes.
There also seems to be some overlap between the groups, at least in terms of leadership. The influential groups, and leaders such a Robertson, Dobson et al., are big business, money-making machines. Power seems to be the goal with the hate perhaps more instrumental.

Although I sense we all share some pessimism about containing this real threat to democracy, it is the symbiotic nature of the relationship that may be a source of hope. If the political Right implodes - as seems to be happening - and moderates and progressives are able to achieve a balance of power, the faith-based wing will lose considerable clout. It also appears that the religious Right has been emboldened to over-reach (Schiavo, Supreme Court nominations, ID battles) and this could alienate moderates who might have been tempted to be sympathetic to, or at least tolerant of, their goals.

Perhaps a combination of political action to change the balance in congress and education of the public to reveal the dangers of the dominionists would be most effective.

by Psyche on Thu Nov 24, 2005 at 01:38:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]



author info
While we were sleeping -- during the years 1991 to 1994 -- the Christian Coalition took working control of the Republican Party. Fred Clarkson, co-founder of Talk To Action, wasn't sleeping. After slipping into two Christian Coalition strategy sessions, he wrote in 1993:

The wildest dreams of the Far Right in America may actually be within their reach - control of the Republican Party.
[ This is a continuation of last week's article, The Woman in A Mink Coat]

The Early Warning System As with a tsunami, the early warning systems were there if people had just read them. Back in 1991, Clarkson reported on his experience at a Christian Coalition Road to Victory gathering – a pep rally combined with nuts and bolts political organizing seminars held before national elections. “Believe!” Clarkson warned us in 1992:
[Christian Coalition] is certain to make 1992 much more interesting, and disturbing, than the conventional wisdom is ready to believe. Believe.
How long has it taken for people to believe? Clarkson’s articles, written between 1991-1994, can be found on the TheocracyWatch website. When Clarkson told us to “believe,” he was writing about the elections of 1992. Could he possibly have anticipated the coup of 1994? Even today, do journalists understand what happened in 1994? The Republican Party won majorities in both Houses of Congress for the first time in forty years. I regularly read about Newt Gingrich’s contract with America as the main force behind that event, or disaffection with the Democrats. Rarely do I read about the pivotal role of the Christian Coalition. Today the Christian Coalition, described as a “sinking ship,” suffers from severe financial and morale problems. But the candidates it got elected to Congress are still running the show. At its zenith, the Coalition, founded by Pat Robertson in 1989, actually made the cover of Time magazine Time credited the Christian Coalition with roughly half of all the Republican victories in 1994. Ralph Reed, the Coalition’s former executive director, is featured as “The Right Hand of God.” :


From the Mouths of Babes

San Antonio, Texas: The GOP Becomes A Religious Cult

"The Grand Old Party is more religious cult than political organization" wrote the President of the Alamo City Republican Women's Club in her letter of resignation.
The rich Republicans of San Antonio's Bexar County consider themselves very conservative. And they are. But the politics of this new crowd gave them a bad scare. Not long after the Christian rightists staged their coup, the president of the Alamo City Republican Women's club just gave up and quit. "The so-called Christian activists have finally gained control," she explained in her resignation letter, "and the Grand Old Party is more religious cult than political organization." (From Joe Conason's article in Playboy, 1993.

To read the complete article, click here .)

Houston, Texas: Falling through a time warp

One long-time Republican couple told Joan Lowy, a reporter from the Scripps-Howard News Service, "We honest to goodness felt like we had fallen through a time warp into a Nazi brown-shirt meeting,"


In cities and towns across the country, the precinct-by-precinct battle for control of the GOP between mainstream Republicans and conservative Christian activists is going full-tilt.
Moderates who were awakened by the Republican National Convention in August to the gains within the party by the Religious Right have begun to organize and fight back. But they have a long way to go.

Working at the grassroots, fundamentalist activists have either gained control or made sizable inroads into state party organization in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Oregon, Washington and Virginia.

A loosely affiliated network of Religious Right organizations led by televangelist Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition has also mobilized millions of evangelical voters across the country. While they failed to re-elect President Bush, those voters helped to elect hundreds of religious activists and Republicans sympathetic to their conservative social agenda to school boards, city councils, state legislatures and Congress.

More than a dozen county meetings to elect party officers in Washington state erupted into shouting matches in recent weeks as mainstream Republicans and religious activists battled for control. Last summer, the GOP state convention under the control of religious activists passed a party platform denouncing witchcraft and yoga, among other subjects.

(To read Joan Lowy's full article, click here.)

These articles and more, written between 1991-1994, can be found on the TheocracyWatch website.

Where were you between 1991 and 1994? Were you among the somnambulant masses or one of the few whose eyes were wide open? Please use the comment section below to take credit and claim your rightful place in this troubling history.

Coming next - Methodology: nuts and bolts of taking over the party

While We Were Sleeping | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR POSTING... (none / 0)
for it describes accurately and succintly how the organisational fervour of the theocrats has translated into the hijacking of the Republican party, and the conservative elements of the Democratic Party.
In Canada, Stephen Harper is the man who engineered the hijacking and dissolution of the Progressive Conservative party. He had the complicity of the PC leader and former PM Brian Mulroney, a neocon and theocrat. They had the opposition of two former PC prime ministers as well.

Now, the former Reform and Alliance MP is the leader of the sole Conservative Party of Canada. It is no longer conservative, but neo-conservative, and it is no longer pluralistic, it is theocratic.

The election programme has begun. The US political operatives in Canada are using the moderate voices to conceal their true agenda. They speak words of tolerance and diversity while simultaneously planning using the Notwithstanding Clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to overturn both legislation and Supreme Court decision on the definition of marriage in Canada.

The "Notwithstanding Clause" was added by the neocons twenty years ago in order for the Charter to pass the House of Commons. It in fact, allows the country to practice legal discrimination on an issue of concern to the theocrats.

Although I doubt it will work, the liberal and progressive citizens are in full gear. The moderate voices include the statement that same sex couples could retain their marriage licences after they remove the right for everyone else. There is a political truth there. Ayn Rand would hail it as the virtue of selfishness.

Again, thank you for posting this. It should inform all that both the players and the strategy are the same on the Brazos as it is on the St. Lawrence.

by LIBERAL CROZIER on Sun Dec 04, 2005 at 11:08:51 AM EST