Diane Vera

In most parts ot the U.S.A., the religious right wing seems to be dominated by evangelical Christians. But here in New York City, it seems to be dominated by ultra-conservative Catholics and ultra-Orthodox Jews.

And one of its leaders is now a judge.

( Read more about Noach Dear, former city council member, now a judge. )

Talk To Action has a weekly series by Frank L. Cocozzelli on "The Catholic Right," about the Catholic religious right wing. The most recent post in the series is Jindal, Rising, about Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal. Frank Cocozzelli apparently lives in Brooklyn, judging by his post My Son's School, in which he identifies his parish as St. Finbar's in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York.

( Links to all posts in the series )

P.S.: My list of Frank Cocozzelli's posts includes quite a few posts about Opus Dei, but none about the Legion of Christ. On Talk to Action, I just now posted Catholic religious right wing: Legion of Christ, to inform him about the latter order.

In The End of American Jewry's Golden Era, Daniel Pipes is quoted as saying:

"Militant Islam cannot be compared to any segment of Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism. These religions do not embody groups with totalitarian utopian ideologies that seek world hegemony.

Yes they do.

Admittedly, the Christian and Jewish equivalents of Islamism (the totalitarian ideology) are a much more marginal fringe, among adherents of their religions, than Islamists now are among Muslims. Hence they are currently far less dangerous on a worldwide scale. But they do exist. And, from my point of view, the Christian counterparts of Islamism do pose a real threat - although not nearly as big a threat, on a worldwide scale, as Islamism.

The Christian counterparts of Islamism are Reconstructionism and Dominionism, whose longterm goal is the restoration of "Biblical civil law." For Christian Reconstructionists and other hardcore Dominionists, this would include a death penalty, by stoning, for "idolators," "blasphemers," and homosexuals. Although they are a fringe, Reconstructionists and other Dominionists are disporportionately active in the Christian religious right wing, still a very powerful political movement.

( Links to info about Christian Reconstructionism and Dominion Theology )

There are also ultra-Orthodox movements within Judaism with a similarly theocratic agenda - and which have enlisted the support of some like-minded non-Jews.

Traditionally, Jews don't try to convert non-Jews to Judaism. However, Jews traditionally do believe that all humans, including non-Jews, are obliged to obey the seven "Noahide laws," one of which is the establishment of courts of justice to enforce the other Noahide laws. At least "theoretically," this would include a death penalty for "idolators," "blasphemers," and homosexuals - albeit by beheading, rather than by stoning. There is now a new and growing "Noahide" religious movement of non-Jews who have not fully converted to Judaism, but who follow the teachings of Jewish rabbis (usually Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox rabbis) regarding the Noahide laws, and whose ultimate aim to establish a worldwide theocracy. Noahide groups differ on whether and to what extent the "death penalty" is to be taken literally, but, as far as I can tell so far, it seems that most Noahide groups, or at least the more visible ones, do call for a literal death penalty for purely religious transgressions.

( Links about theocratic Judaism and Noahidism, with my comments )

( Some info about theocratic movements in Israel )

Still, despite the growing strength of the Israeli religious right wing, it seems that GLBT rights are better in Israel than anywhere else in the Middle East.

( Links to more info on GLBT rights in Israel )

One of my heroes is Brad Hicks, who was one of the earliest activists against the "Satanic Ritual Abuse" scare back in the 1980's. (He discusses this briefly in the following posts of his here on LiveJournal: Wicca Lies (part 3): Hierarchy and Wow, I Haven't Been Threatened for My Writing in More than a Decade.) He was president of the Alliance of Magical and Earth Religions (AMER), in which Michael Aquino, founder of the Temple of Set, was also active.

Anyhow, a recent post of his calls attention to something very scary about Hillary Clinton. Her pastor, Doug Coe, runs a secretive, cultish group called "The Family" or "The Fellowship," to which a lot of religious right wing politicians also belong.

( More here about Doug Coe )

On another topic, another excellent post on Brad Hicks's blog: Republicans and the War on Justice.

P.S., 5/19/2008: Regarding Brad Hicks's fight against the SRA scare, I just now came across another relevant post of his: Personal History: Me versus a Religious Bigot Cop.

Something I missed when it happened, but I just came across it recently: As of January 2008, it seems that the Vatican has revived the hullabaloo about Harry Potter. However, I find two very different accounts of this:

• Potter "Driving Kids to Satanism" by Cameron Millar, Daily Star (U.K.), 16th January 2008


• The Vatican Revives the Harry Potter Debate by Emil Steiner, Washington Post, January 15, 2008

( My observations here )

The Washington Post article ends by asking: "... one has to wonder why the Vatican would want to revive this debate. Could the recent revelations of Dumbledore's sexual orientation have something to do with it?"

On the blog A Heathen's Day, I just now learned about a news story in the Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina), SC lawmakers have religion on minds, in bills by Jim Davenport, Associated Press, Tue, May. 13, 2008, in which Democratic Senator Yancey McGill (of South Carolina) says that Wicca is not a religion, and he's not sure about Buddhism.

( More here )

"A Heathen's Day" cited the Wild Hunt blog, which referred to an earlier post, The ACLU, South Carolina, and Religious Minorities, about how South Carolina has generally become one of the "hot zones" for church/state separation and religious freedom issues.

In Florida, there's a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would allow state funding of all manner of religious stuff. Here's an opinion piece against it: Your Tax Money For Madrassas? by Buzz Kelly, The Tampa Tribune, April 10, 2008.

( Read more )