Diane Vera

Catching up with the Talk to Action blog, about the religious right wing, I find the following: Evangelical Latino Politicians/Pastors Lead Fight Against Same-sex Marriage in New York by Bill Berkowitz, Wednesday, May 20, 2009. About Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC), and Ruben Díaz, a New York state senator from the Bronx who is also a Pentecostal minister.

I also came across the following storis about belief in grand conspiracy ideology by "Full Gospel" chaplains in the U.S. military: (1) Conspiracy Theorist Military Chaplains Promote Anti-American Militia Activity by Chris Rodda, Wednesday, May 20, 2009, and (2) Col. Jim Ammerman, Apostle & New World Order Conspiracy Theorist by Ruth, Monday, June 22, 2009. Ruth has also written another recent Talk To Action blog post about grand conspiracy ideology, Conspiracy as Prophecy, Friday, June 12, 2009.

Also on the topic of military chaplains, I found this rather scary post: Obama's [Reported] New Pastor: "First we get the military, then we get the nation" by Chris Rodda, Monday, June 29, 2009, about Lt. Carey Cash, pastor of the chapel at Camp David.

Looks like the religious right wing has succeeded in stalling the same-sex marriage bill in the NY State Senate.

Below are some news stories from June 1. (I've bolded some who/what/when/where details that I should research further later.)

( News stories from June 1 )

And now for some more recent news stories on same-sex marriage, mentioning various religious right wing groups. Some stories from yesterday, June 3:

( News stories from June 3 )

And now for some news stories from today, June 4:

( News stories from June 4 )

Last month, New Governor David Paterson announced he would introduce a bill in the state legislature to legalize same-sex marriage here in New York State. Some relevant news stories:

• New York governor to push same-sex marriage bill by Laurie Segall, CNN, Thu April 16, 2009


• Paterson Unveils Same-Sex Marriage Bill by Jeremy W. Peters AND Sewell Chan, New York Times City Room blog post, April 16, 2009


• NY governor introduces bill to allow same-sex marriage by Michael Virtanen, Associated Press, Gay & Lesbian Times (San Diego, CA), Thursday, 23-Apr-2009

The latter article mentions two of the main opponents of same-sex marriage: (1) State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr., who is also pastor of the (Pentecostal) Christian Community Neighborhood Church in the Bronx, and (2) the new Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

( More about Rubén Díaz and other opponents of same-sex marriage in New York )

( Díaz's forthcoming protest, and a pro-gay counterdemonstration )

( More about same-sex marriage in general )

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. )

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 )

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.

Given my interest in building an activist organization against religion-based bigotry (see the blog of New Yorkers Against Religion-Based Bigotry), I should attend the following event, here in New York City: Self-Criticism in the American Muslim and Jewish Communities with Reza Aslan, Moushumi Khan, Rabbi Stern, and others.

"Leading American Muslims and Jews look in the mirror and critique their own communities. They point out where leadership falls short in its efforts to create dialogue bewteen the two communities and explore factors that contribute to hostility and suspicion between the two groups."

( Details here )

P.S., 5/8/2008: Apparently this event has been cancelled.

( More info here )

Lately I've been reading up on the recent revival of traditional libels against Jews, especially in the Muslim world, and also in the former Soviet Union. This topic is of interest to me for a number of reasons, one of which is the parallels between classic anti-Jewish myths, such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and paranoid tales about "the Illuminati," which are used to scapegoat Satanists, Pagans, and occultists, among others.

( Read more, including links to news stories )

P.S., 4/28/2008: I've posted quite a bit more about this matter on my Wordpress blog: Refutations of some classic libels against Jews, including more accounts of the spread of the blood libel and other classic anti-Jewish myths.