Sheep

A satellite broadcast beamed into evangelical churches nationwide Sunday night that featured Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist (TN) and conservative Christian leaders has been denounced for using the pulpit for political gain.

The event was held to drum up support from evangelical Christians for a GOP attempt to muzzle Democrats from attacking President George W. Bush’s picks for the federal court. [...]

Sunday’s telecast was organized by the Family Research Council and featured, along with Frist, a number of groups at the forefront of the battle to get a Federal Marriage Amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

“It is telling that Senator Frist regularly appears at Family Research Council functions, but refuses to meet with gay families regarding his extreme Senate agenda,” said Eric Stern, National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director.

One of the speakers, Catholic League President Bill Donahue, took the stage during the telecast, and preceded to laughingly mock gay families. Specifically, Donahue claimed that support of marriage equality “is a notion that belongs in an asylum.”

The comment drew wide laughter and applause from the audience at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky where the broadcast originated. (source)

Sheep. That’s what people are. Sheep.

I know that sounds very cynical. I suppose it is. But what I really want to tell the religious evangelicals, is that they are being played. They should know that. President Bush played them in the last election by promising that he would push for a constitutional amendment banning marriage for same-sex couples. He lied. Now that he is in for four more years, it’s not a concern to him.

The religious conservatives can continue to mock and make fun of our relationships by spitting out such rhetoric that supporting marriage equality “is a notion that belongs in an asylum,” if it makes them feel better. We have been through worse, for sure.

But there is something that is in far greater peril than the absence of equality for our community. The big prize is the Judiciary. A war is just starting. Not the kind with bombs and dead bodies. This war is much nastier because it hides under the guise of freedom and democracy. People such as Senator Frist would like us to believe that by killing the filibuster, that he is preserving democracy because the judges being considered for various courts “deserve an up or down vote”. That’s very convenient and easy to say when you are a majority and can vote to confirm a judge by a simple majority. The only thing that prevents this is the filibuster. It exists exactly to prevent what is about to take place. It exists to prevent the majority party from steam rolling nominations and legislation over the minority party. Do you think Senator Frist would be so ready to change the rules of the Senate and kill the filibuster if these judges were less conservative and more middle of the road?

He’s doing this because this is where the next war is being waged. We all hear about it on our radios on our way home from work, but do we really understand or care what is at stake? These judges, many of whom are in their forties, will be put in these positions for life. We will be dealing with their rulings, for better or worse, for the next forty years. This is one of the biggest objectives of this administration.

They don’t like the way the Judiciary is coming down on social issues. They use gay marriage as a lightning rod. Many of you reading this will also probably believe that you don’t want gay marriage to happen in the United States. I understand that. But, if you really think that the Administration is going after the Judiciary to stop gay marriage, you are being very naive. Killing gay marriage would be nice, and killing pro-choice options would by huge.

But the biggest objective is neutering the Judiciary, because if you put issues of equality and fairness up against a fair-minded court that is deciding these issues based on the Constitution, equality is slowly winning the battle. They want a Judiciary that will vote their way - the RIGHT way.

It’s pretty scary stuff. Think about it. This country is not even the same country it was ten years ago. If you can’t see that, you may just be a sheep.