The Right to Be Intolerant

Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies

If it's one thing I can give the fundamentalists credit for, it's legal creativity. Increasingly, thanks to the efforts of The Gay Agenda, workplaces, colleges and schools have codes that prohibit "hate speech" and policies such as diversity training which promote inclusivity of racial, sexual minorities and women. The nerve! I mean, obviously they're discriminating against Christians! Now I do think that the conservatives should have the right to publicly disagree, up to a point. In fact, it looks like that woman's free speech rights may have been unfairly curtailed to some extent- " Malhotra said she had been reprimanded by college deans several times in the last few years for expressing conservative religious and political views."

I think diversity training can be a good thing, but it should be done carefully. It's one thing to say "Let's try to understand and be nice to gay people" it's another thing to insist homosexuality is morally ok. If your feel homosexual behavior goes against your religion, fine. But calling gays "perverts" and proclaiming that they will burn in hell is hate speech, and it may be justified for a university to prohibit it out of concern for the safety and inclusion of students.

"By equating homosexuality with race, Baylor said, tolerance policies put conservative evangelicals in the same category as racists. He predicts the government will one day revoke the tax-exempt status of churches that preach homosexuality is sinful or that refuse to hire gays and lesbians." (or marry them for that matter) I find that absurd. But I suppose it could be quite a plausible fear for these folks. But there are religions like World Church of the Creator, that hold white supremacist positions- are they denied tax exempt status? or only if they are engaged in certain political activities.

Now personally, I'm in a different position, seeing as I go to a Christian-affiliated college. We do have pro-diversity policies that include sexual orientation, but because we are private no one can sue us for it. But I'm concerned this kind of thing could happen at the University of Minnesota- there is a group, the Maranatha Fellowship which is very active and well-funded and I can totally see them pulling something like this.

More commentary on this at Plastic.com 

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Why this Blog?

In American society today, liberals are assumed to be secular, even anti-religion.  And thanks to certain extreme groups, religious people are assumed to be conservative. A new generation of progressive activists has arisen who see their religious and political values as related, who seek to wrest the monopoly on religion away from the Right. But most faith-based social justice groups are mostly Christian and Jewish in nature, understandably so given the nation's demographics. But where does that leave a Pagan Leftist?
Though Pagan community (or communities rather) tends to be overwhelmingly of a liberal bent, I do find that many Pagans are rather politically ignorant and apathetic. There is at times even a backlash against Pagans who link Paganism with environmentalism & feminism. Conservative Pagans have begun to speak out. Well, hooray for them. Fine be a conservative pagan if you want. But Pagan Bush-supporters?  Any follower of an alternative religion who is complacent in the face of eroding civil liberties is point blank, a fool or a traitor- not just to their religious community, but to the United States as a whole.  Wake up, folks- it's time to make a stand.