Wednesday, April 6th, 2016
Stephan: The chasm being created by the Great Schism Trend becomes ever deeper. Mississippi, another Red value state, its voters, legislature, and governor have chosen hate over tolerance and love. It will be interesting to see what effect this has on the state; whether businesses leave, or don't come in the first place; whether there is an emigration of tolerant people and LGBT people; and, the impact of this new hate law on the state's colleges and universities.
It is worth noting that Mississippi is essentially a second world culture that could not maintain its hateful Theocratic Rightist policies if the state were not subsidized by the Blue value states -- Mississippi gets $3 in benefits from the Federal government for every $1 it pays in via taxes.
And finally, let me say very explicitly there is nothing anti-Christian in my statements concerning this and the following two stories. In my view, the Christianity of my youth has largely disappeared in the U.S. replaced by a weird, hateful, racist, anti-intellectual premillennial dispensationalism that labels itself Christianity but which, in fact, has virtually nothing to do with Jesus' very simple and straightforward message of love, equality, and inclusion. I am not interested in your label, I am interested in your intentions and the things you support.
Mississippi Republican Governor Phil Bryant
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has signed a controversial “religious freedom” bill into law.
The legislation, HB 1523, promises that the state government will not punish people who refuse to provide services to people because of a religious opposition to same-sex marriage, extramarital sex or transgender people.
Supporters say it protects the rights of people who are opposed to homosexuality but who now live in a country where same-sex marriage is a legal right.
Opponents say the law amounts to a state sanction for open discrimination.
In a statement on Twitter, Bryant said he signed the bill into law “to protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions … from discriminatory action by state government.”
He said the new law “merely reinforces” […]
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Wednesday, April 6th, 2016
Eleanor J. Bader, 2015 Winner of a Project Censored Award for "Outstanding Investigative Journalism" and a 2006 Independent Press Association Award Winner - truthout
Stephan: The hate and conflicted sexuality that is an important part of Theocratic Rightism has become a major factor in religious affiliated universities. Here is a report that lays out the major issues in this trend.
Six months after the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, Dr. Randall O’Brien, president of Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee, told the local CBS affiliate that “in a changing world, we want to reaffirm who we are, who we intend to be, and establish our identity as a religious school, a Christian school.”
O’Brien was gleefully explaining that the 165-year-old college, established as Mossy Creek Missionary Baptist Seminary in 1851, had just been granted a US Department of Education (DOE) exemption from Title IX regulations, in effect allowing the university to continue to collect federal dollars for scholarships and sports programs despite banning unmarried, pregnant students; women who have had abortions; single mothers; and LGBTQ people from attending classes or working on campus.
Since 2013, 56 religiously affiliated colleges and universities have been granted Title IX exemptions.
This was not Carson-Newman’s first foray into regulating the behavior of students, faculty or staff, or in imposing a set of religious restrictions on those connected to it. Far from it. Prior to obtaining the Title IX exemption last December, the campus code […]
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