Comments on: Conservatives attack Navy policy, get it reversed

By: Richard Rush

Richard Rush — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:38:04 +0000

It’s time you [gay-friendly churches] get in this fight and realize that you are fighting as much for your own freedom as you are for ours.

Getting “in this fight” requires motivation, and then money to finance a fight. The fundamentalist churches, motivated by mouth-foaming levels of fear and loathing, generate massive donations to finance their side of the fight, while the gay-friendly churches only seem motivated to the extent of changing internal church policies to more closely mirror secular social attitude changes toward gays.

While the fundamentalist churches have been leading the way on the anti-gay side, the gay-friendly churches have been merely followers on the other side.

Perhaps the gay-friendly churches would be more motivated to defend their own religious freedom if the issue didn’t involve gays. A dirty little secret in the mainline denominations is that they each seem to have a fundamentalist faction within them. I know the Episcopalians do, and the Presbyterians (USA) have an organized group named The Presbyterian Lay Committee. While the majority of members/leadership try to keep the fundies hidden away in the attic, they don’t want to lose them.

By: james

james — Thu, 12 May 2011 05:06:35 +0000

Tim, do you have a link to the full memo from Adm. Tidd? I’d like to read it so I can get a sense of how badly the FRC twisted it.

By: james

james — Thu, 12 May 2011 05:00:25 +0000

UCC minister here. Re: Bold paragraphs. We know. We know this ia an attack on us. We know the lack of marriage equality is a government-imposed limit on our “free exercise thereof” first amendment rights. We make that point in the debate. Sometimes it is persuasive. The Iowa Supreme Court made this point in its ruling on marriage equality.

What none of us have done is file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of laws limited marriage to opposite-gender couples on these grounds, that they limit the free exercise of religious groups that support marriage equality. Hmmmmmm. Interesting civil rights question.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Thu, 12 May 2011 04:27:00 +0000

Tim, You should send this to the Huff Post for submission.

By: Kate

Kate — Thu, 12 May 2011 04:21:29 +0000

Since when does the Navy listen to hate group trash-talkers? Why wasn’t there a memo to Tony Perkins and Congressman Akin et al, saying “We are not in the habit of consulting with, or accepting direction in the development of Navy policy from, civilians with a clear political motivation that has nothing to do with military readiness or the internal operations of the Navy…when we want your opinion, we’ll bitch slap it out of you.”

Where’s Admiral Mullen in all of this?

By: TampaZeke

TampaZeke — Thu, 12 May 2011 03:19:01 +0000

You left out the MOST gay supportive mainline church of them all from your list: The United Church of Christ, which is the ONLY Christian church listed that has a nation-wide policy of support for civil and spiritual marriage equality.

Most, but not all, Congregational Churches are UCC; but most UCC’s are not Congregational Churches (though they are all “congregational” in polity).