Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJanuary 5th, 2009
Speaking of crying “persecution!”, the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, a.k.a. Christian Reconstructionist Gary Cass, has released a press statement outlining what they call the top ten examples of “Christian bashing” for 2008. Here are Cass’s and his porn-stache’s top ten:
10: Jack Black Musical Video
9: Bill Maher Gratuitously Attacks Pope
8: ESPN Anchor Dana Jacobson’s “F— Jesus” Remark
7: Minnesota University Professor Desecrates Communion
6: “Religulous” the movie
5: Chaplains Fired for Praying in Jesus’ Name
4: Colorado Law Criminalizes the Bible
3: Barack Obama Defames Christianity
2: Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin Is Attacked
Okay, it’s mostly jokes, legitimate political commentary, distortions of legal moves and comments — that is what he calls “Christian bashing.” But you see, under Cass’s Reconstructionist America, none of this would be allowed. And what comes in at number one?
#1: Radical Homosexuals Assault Prop 8 Marriage Supporters in California
During and after the November campaign stories flooded in of pro-Prop 8 signs being taken, people verbally and physically assaulted, church property and private automobiles vandalized, and person’s jobs and pastor’s lives threatened simply for exercising their right to campaign and vote in support of traditional marriage.
While all acts of violence and vandalism are deplorable, Cass is taking the time-honored tactic of taking small, isolated incidents and treating them as if they are a part of a nationwide orgy of violence. Official statistics, however, paint a very different picture. According to the FBI, hate crimes against gays and lesbians continued to increase in 2007, contradicting the overall trend of fewer hate crimes since 2006. Crimes based on sexual orientation very nearly tied those based on religion for second place:
| Hate Crime Offenses, 2006 | Hate Crime Offenses, 2007 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race | 4,737 | 52% | 4,724 | 52% |
| Religion | 1,597 | 18% | 1,477 | 16% |
| Sexual Orientation | 1,415 | 16% | 1,460 | 16% |
| Ethnicity | 1,233 | 14% | 1,256 | 14% |
| Disability | 94 | 1% | 82 | <1% |
| TOTAL | 9,080 | 100%* | 9,006 | 100%* |
| Totals don’t add up due to additional multi-category hate crime offenses. Percentages don’t add to 100% due to rounding errors. |
||||
But as we noted earlier, hate crimes based on sexual orientation continue to be the most violent by far. Attacks based on sexual orientation are much more likely to be physically violent than in any other category:
| Total Hate Crime Offenses, 2007 | Violent Crimes, percentage of total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race | 4,724 | 1,471 | 31% |
| Religion | 1,477 | 126 | 9% |
| Sexual Orientation | 1,460 | 695 | 48% |
| Ethnicity | 1,256 | 497 | 40% |
| Disability | 82 | 21 | 26% |
| TOTAL | 9,006 | 2,810 | 31% |
| Violent crimes include: Murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, aggravated assault and simple assault. |
|||
As so-called “Christians” continue to shed their crocodile tears over minor albeit deplorable incidents, real people are dying. But so far, so-called “Christian” leaders have still remained silent. It has been nearly a year since Lawrence King’s brutal shooting, and nobody from Focus On the Family, as just one example, has yet to offer a single comment on his death. Even though they know they ought to.
If Christian leaders want to be taken seriously, they should lead by example, and decry the real bashing taking place in America, not the phoney hysteria Cass is trying to whip up. He claims that “Every day in America serious Christians face increasing hostility at work, school, and in the culture because they stand for their faith and values.” And gays aren’t? When’s the last time you heard of a Christian in America being gang raped because of a sticker on her car?
Latest Posts
Featured Reports
In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.
When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.
In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.
On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word "Change" Changes
Part 5: A Candid Explanation For "Change"
At last, the truth can now be told.
Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!
And don‘t miss our companion report, How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In Fifteen Easy Steps.
Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.
Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.
Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.
“Google” is a trademark of Google Inc.
© Box Turtle Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
AJD
January 5th, 2009
“Every day in America serious Christians face increasing hostility at work, school, and in the culture because they stand for their faith and values.â€
Translation: “Serious” Christians relentlessly preach to people who don’t want to live according to their draconian notions of “morality.” The people being preached to express annoyance or resentment and assert to live as they please as long as they don’t hurt anyone. “Serious” Christians then claim they’re being persecuted.
a. mcewen
January 5th, 2009
Did you check out that part they said about Obama:
INSTANCE #3: Barack Obama Defames Christianity
According to research into President Elect Obama’s own statements about faith, and an examination of Obama’s position on moral issues, CADC has determined that by any biblical and historic Christian standard, Barack Obama is not a Christian, although he claims he is a “devout Christian.”
An organization bashed a Christian while complaining about “Christian bashing”
My head is spinning.
Zeke
January 5th, 2009
Let’s be real here. Those numbers in the “religious” column of hate crimes were overwhelmingly committed against people of faiths OTHER THAN Christianity; most especially Muslims.
Zeke
January 5th, 2009
And might I add that those attacks on religious people (usually NOT Christians) were more likely than not committed by people who identify as Christian.
Scott
January 5th, 2009
I recently got into a heated argument on YouTube with a fundie. He was EXTREMELY upset by the “rampaging homosexuals” who attacked Prop. 8 supporters. When I pointed out that gay people don’t target others for murder because of their religion he counter that they did and cited two examples. One, a woman who had be raped and murdered by a gay man, and second, a young man who was strangled by an attempted rapist. When I pointed out these victims were not targeted because of their Christianity, he began what I can only describe as frothing at the mouth, claiming hundreds of “gay friends” who had pointed out these murders for him. He also claimed some coroner had stated that murders committed by “gays” tended to be more violent than other types of killings. He really seemed to turn all the reputable facts around to show how persecuted all the millions of “good Christians” are by us filthy (his word” homo-sex-uals!
a. mcewen
January 5th, 2009
Apparently your friend was engaging in a bit of exaggeration.
Could that “coroner” have been Paul Cameron?
Dawn
January 5th, 2009
Thanks you for this post and thank you for bringing up the reconstructionists that are still out there raising a stink.
lurker
January 5th, 2009
I never heard about those vehicle vandalisms and death threats . . .
Emproph
January 6th, 2009
Martha Stout ph.d., author of The Sociopath Next Door, offers that the best clue to the sociopath without conscience is the repeated pity play.
Something we’ve been seeing a lot of lately.
Just sayin…
Tina-cious.com
January 6th, 2009
Gimme a break. I’d take those (however exaggerated and overinflated) over the real bashing we get.
He’s such a douche.
Scott
January 6th, 2009
I heard this guy interviewed on a local Christian radio program here in the Twin Cities. After listening for most of the hour about I found that his examples of “persecution” are no more profound than the ones above.
From listening to him and others on my local fundie Christian radio station, I’ve come to the conclusion that fundie Christians consider persecution to be as simple as telling them they are nuts for believing something, as well as the rest of us just not accepting their view on politics, sex and culture, because “god told them that they are right”.
The best approach to this nuttiness is to keep up on what goes on at your legislature, expose and get rid of crazy legislators, here we got the wonderfully delusional Michele Bachmann out of our state senate and into the Congress where she became a state and national embarassment rather than still working to create dangerous legislation at the state level.
Scott
homer
January 6th, 2009
What a cry baby. He does have a very nice pornstache, but needs a different hair cut. Does this count as Christian bashing?
AJD
January 6th, 2009
I think these people are well-aware of the violence gay people experience in this country. They just don’t care, and I think they want there to be violence against us so that we’ll be driven back into the closet.
Their “persecution” rhetoric is the classic logic of a bully, and it’s among the clearest evidence of how dangerous they are. This is the same sort of thing that fascists used to do: Persecute others while falsely claiming that they’re persecuting you.
I’ve long been of the opinion that the religious right is a very serious threat to this country, and to gay people in particular, and its leaders and members shouldn’t be simply dismissed as crazies who will fade away on their own. If they ever reach a position of significant power at the national level, things could become very dangerous.
I know that sounds like hyperbole, but it’s not a long ride from the superficial niceness of people like Rick Warren and the outright evil of the reconstructionists. How many Germans could have foreseen the Holocaust before the Nazis took power?
CLS
January 6th, 2009
One fact missed here is that while the number of hate crimes committed against religious people is almost the same as the number against people for sexual orientation (and that doesn’t generally mean against straights) the percentages are grossly different.
Religious people make up about 80% of the population or 240 million or so. Most assaults on sexual orientation are against gay people who are around 15 to 20 million. Compared to religious people it would appear that a gay person is more than 10 times as likely to be the victim of a hate crime than a religious person.
Duncan
January 6th, 2009
This comment has been deleted for being utterly irrelevant. I presume there are appropriate web sites for discussing personality aspects of Star Trek characters. This certainly isn’t one of them. — Jim B.
Leave A Comment