Ratcheting Up The Hate (and Fear)
Maybe it’s just Da Vinci anticipation, but it seems like the religious extremists are fired up more than usual. While I usually ignore the ongoing Christian Right hate-fest (haven’t we all heard it before?), the frequency and venom seems note-worthy.
Pat Robertson’s CBN News has a muddled and poorly written screed against Paganism. Everything from Jedis to Harry Potter gets thrown into the mix. But why won’t anyone think of the children!?!
“Linda Harvey of Mission America tracks these very trends in the schools. She said, “We are in a crisis situation – kids are turning to Wicca, they’re turning to witchcraft, they’re turning to all kinds of pagan gods and goddesses of the past.” And pagan sexuality is rising among kids tied to those pagan beliefs, she said.”
Meanwhile, LifeSite (an anti-abortion portal) is on to the sneaky agenda of pagan “homofascists”.
“Joseph A. D’Agostino, PRI’s Vice President for Communications, writes in the Breifing that “Today’s homosexual ‘rights’ activists are determined to impose upon Western society a neo-paganism that is anti-life, anti-family, and anti-religious, and they actively seek to punish those who disagree.”…PRI, a world leader in exposing the lies and manipulations of the population control movement, sees a clear connection between the ruthless depopulationists and the gay activism movement”
Rev. Nate Atwood of Kempsville Presbyterian Church reminds us what Paganism is.
“I just want to sort of call a timeout and say: Is the doctrine heresy? Yes. Is neo-paganism bad stuff? Yes. But let’s see this as an opportunity,”
Yahoo News reminds us of the Family Research Council’s position on religious liberty.
“While it is true that the United States of America was founded on the sacred principle of religious freedom for all, that liberty was never intended to exalt other religions to the level that Christianity holds in our country’s heritage…Our founders expected that Christianity — and no other religion — would receive support from the government as long as that support did not violate peoples’ consciences and their right to worship. They would have found utterly incredible the idea that all religions, including paganism, be treated with equal deference.”
Why all the hate? Free Press columnist Harvey Wasserman explains.
“Questions about Christ’s love life will dominate debate over the release of the DAVINCI CODE this weekend. The answers do matter. But what really counts is the story’s pagan/feminist core, and its role in the Culture War…What’s at stake is not the fine points of documentation and detail. Rather it’s the contention that male-dominated Christian/Catholic fundamentalism is a repressive dictatorship that has thrown human life and sexuality dangerously out of balance…the book’s spiritual core—and popular appeal—rests on its invocation and adoration of feminist spirituality and pagan naturalism.”
I expect the rhetoric will grow even hotter once the movie opens. I just hope that the attempts by the Religious Right to dehumanize Pagans, uppity women, and homosexuals everywhere won’t lead to increased levels of discrimination, violence, and bloodshed in the coming months.
One response so far
With luck, people will take a look at this movie and want to explore the history for themselves. Perhaps the movie is grounded in fiction – but if it inspires people to take a more critical look at the history of the Church and its religious politics over the past centuries, then at least people (Christian and non-Christian alike) will be more aware. Perhaps it is the potential for this self-directed awareness that the religious right fears so much? The concept of allowing Jesus to be the shepherd comes to mind, and I think the Church would consider Pagans and Heathens as either lost sheep or wolves…but it’s funny that these concepts are used so overtly to prevent people from self-directed awareness, and that so many people still allow their self-direction to be dangled over their heads by others.