Tag: rights

Vegan Criminals

Posted on by

Amy Levin: You’re in jail.  What will you eat on Thanksgiving day?  Most media coverage of religion in prison over the past year was about Rep. Peter King’s (R- NY) excessive concern with “prislam.” Regardless of how successfully King and his constituents played the public’s fear, the conversation managed to boil down to how dangerous religion is or is not for the “vulnerable” criminalized subject. Indeed, people tend to get nervous around minority rights, especially if said minorities have broken the law.

Continue Reading →

Attacking Tolerance: Who's Bullying Anti-Bullying Educators?

Posted on by

The organization People for the American Way (PFAW) has a new report out on how religious groups are working to end tolerance and anti-bullying education in schools because they believe it normalizes non-traditional gender and sexual behavior.  The arguments to end such education, as summarized by PFAW, are that 1) anti-bullying training indoctrinates children into non-normative behavior that is harmful, 2) it gives LGBT students special rights, 3) it discriminates against those who oppose LGBT rights, and 4) it removes shame from LGBT students. Continue Reading →

Attacking Tolerance: Who’s Bullying Anti-Bullying Educators?

Posted on by

The organization People for the American Way (PFAW) has a new report out on how religious groups are working to end tolerance and anti-bullying education in schools because they believe it normalizes non-traditional gender and sexual behavior.  The arguments to end such education, as summarized by PFAW, are that 1) anti-bullying training indoctrinates children into non-normative behavior that is harmful, 2) it gives LGBT students special rights, 3) it discriminates against those who oppose LGBT rights, and 4) it removes shame from LGBT students. Continue Reading →

Attacking Tolerance: Who’s Bullying Anti-Bullying Educators?

Posted on by

The organization People for the American Way (PFAW) has a new report out on how religious groups are working to end tolerance and anti-bullying education in schools because they believe it normalizes non-traditional gender and sexual behavior.  The arguments to end such education, as summarized by PFAW, are that 1) anti-bullying training indoctrinates children into non-normative behavior that is harmful, 2) it gives LGBT students special rights, 3) it discriminates against those who oppose LGBT rights, and 4) it removes shame from LGBT students. Continue Reading →

As Goes Iowa:The Family Leader, Religious Politics and 2012

Posted on by

by Andy Kopsa

America’s culture wars are at full throttle: defunding Planned Parenthood, chipping away at a woman’s right to an abortion – and if possible taking away that right altogether, preventing or ending gay marriage (because it could lead to Sharia law), enacting Religious Freedom Restoration Acts to “restore religious liberty” that was never lost.  State after state after state serves as a front on which the Christian Right and their willing Republican legislators wage these wars.  Iowa is a perfect microcosm, an example of the powerful Christian Political Action Committees (PACs) leading the effort.  Iowa’s powerful and successful The Family Leader is a model to which all others can be held.

The Iowa Family Policy Center (IFPC), which recently changed its name to The Family Leader*, is the most vocal and political anti-gay organization in Iowa.  As a federally funded chapter of the Family Research Council (FRC), IFPC railed against gay marriage leading up to the 2009 Iowa Supreme Court decision granting marriage equality for same sex couples.  They started the “LUV Iowa” (Let Us Vote) Campaign to bring a Proposition 8-like ballot initiative to the state.  They sent lobbyists to the state capital and held ‘pro-family’ rallies. Continue Reading →