Spawning North American Fundamentalism

[R. S. Martin]

I may be wrong. Possibly these organizations do not actually spawn fundamentalism in North America and worldwide, but I think it would be a serious mistake to underestimate their power and influence. We're talking about people whose minimum donations seem to appear in $100,000 dollar bills. They seem to have no problem handing out five or six of those if that's what it takes. Or more.

 

They control the American Supreme Court and oppose:

• the separation of church and state
•  contraception
• LGBT rights

They defend:

• prayer in government/public places (think public school)
• religious symbols in public spaces (think Nativity Scenes and Ten Commandments)
• public funding for religious schools

Here's a quote from "How One Religious Organization Bankrolls America's Social Conservative Movement":

 

ince 2010, the Knights of Columbus have given at least $100,000 in support of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies — the nation’s leading force for a more conservative judiciary — to promote “awareness of freedom and the principals that preserve it.” A conservative debating society, the Federalist Society is often the incubator for Supreme Court cases advancing conservative policy views. Justices Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas are all members and one of its top executives played a major role in George W. Bush’s judicial selection process.

 

Over the same period, the Knights of Columbus also sent more than $625,000 to another conservative legal group, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. While the group’s official mission is “to protect the free expression of all faiths,” it acknowledges that it works “at the crossroads of church and state.” In addition to its work against the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate and against LGBT rights, Becket has worked to erode the separation of church and state required by the First Amendment. This has included defending prayer at government functions, religious symbols in public spaces, and public funding for religious schools. END OF QUOTE

 

See article at http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2014/12/22/3604140/knights-of-columbus-bankroll-social-conservative-movement/

 

 

I used to think it was powerful evangelical groups like the one where William Lane Craig teaches and preaches but there's too many of them. And they disagree too deeply. For example, WLC embraces God-directed evolution--he resurrected the Kalam Cosmological Argument to support it. Answers in Genesis opposes all arguments for evolution of any kind and builds very sophisticated moving models to convince viewers that humans and dinosaurs co-inhabited the earth. What they have in common is the items listed above, funded by these powerful right wing organizations of the Catholic Church.   

 

 

Take a look at this and let me know what you think. I think it's serious and that these quiet do-gooders need a really close look. But how?

[older]

I used to chat with a colleague about life and her response to most everything was, "It all comes down to money." And she's right. I recently joined the ACLU and sent them as large a check as I could afford. I'm cynical enough to think that anything that happens in the political arena is the result of money. Once in a movie, I heard the line, "this is a nation of the money, by the money and for the money." The only way to fight this fight is with dollars.

[Ravenstar]

I've been saying this for years.

[R. S. Martin]

Basically, I came to the same conclusion that the answer is money. But money alone won't do it. It must be strategically applied--to the right parties in the right method in the right amounts. There may be more to it.

[Guest Furball]

 Once in a movie, I heard the line, "this is a nation of the money, by the money and for the money." The only way to fight this fight is with dollars.

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