Fight/Fuck/Live/Act for Freedom
Apr. 28th, 2006 10:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonEvery so often, articles like this one remind me that because my own little corner of the world is pretty damn tolerant most of the time, I can be lulled into momentarily ignoring the fact that we are in a brutal cultural struggle, every single day. There are reactionary fundamentalists, gleeful bigots and viciously small-minded people of all stripes out there in the world around us, and they will fight, hard and dirty, relentlessly, for the right to keep themselves, their children, and ideally, the entire world, frightened, self-victimized and willfully ignorant. They will fight for the right to hate, and for the right to spread their ideology, with whatever force is necessary and possible. For them, this is not just a war, it is a holy war. Well, so be it. It is time for us all to fight, and live, and love, for what is holy. What is holy to you? What do you believe so deeply that you will not hesitate to act, to live your life, for it?
If we do nothing, or do but a little, only when it's convenient and easy, the world becomes exactly as those who do effectively turn their beliefs into action every day would wish it to be. History is very clear on this point. What will you do to keep your freedoms, and to protect those of others? What will you do, today, to keep the world from turning into the brutal theocratic prison fervently envisioned and manifested, bit by bit, by the well-organized, self-justified people who deeply believe to the utmost that they are right, and you are wrong?
For, my friends and comrades, silence does equal death -- and worse than death, a living hell on earth for all here who do not conform to the ideals and beliefs of the evangelical theocrats. How will you speak out, and act out, and create a better world, one choice at a time?
Can we win this war? Only if we choose to, and only if we act on that choice, every day.
Fight for freedom. Fuck for freedom. Live for freedom. Love for freedom. And most of all, every single day, act for freedom.
Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies
Many codes intended to protect gays from harassment are illegal, conservatives argue.
By Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer
April 10, 2006
ATLANTA — Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant.
Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation.
Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. So she's demanding that Georgia Tech revoke its tolerance policy.
With her lawsuit, the 22-year-old student joins a growing campaign to force public schools, state colleges and private workplaces to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment. The religious right aims to overturn a broad range of common tolerance programs: diversity training that promotes acceptance of gays and lesbians, speech codes that ban harsh words against homosexuality, anti-discrimination policies that require college clubs to open their membership to all.
The Rev. Rick Scarborough, a leading evangelical, frames the movement as the civil rights struggle of the 21st century. "Christians," he said, "are going to have to take a stand for the right to be Christian."
In that spirit, the Christian Legal Society, an association of judges and lawyers, has formed a national group to challenge tolerance policies in federal court. Several nonprofit law firms — backed by major ministries such as Focus on the Family and Campus Crusade for Christ — already take on such cases for free.
The legal argument is straightforward: Policies intended to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination end up discriminating against conservative Christians. Evangelicals have been suspended for wearing anti-gay T-shirts to high school, fired for denouncing Gay Pride Month at work, reprimanded for refusing to attend diversity training. When they protest tolerance codes, they're labeled intolerant.
A recent survey by the Anti-Defamation League found that 64% of American adults — including 80% of evangelical Christians — agreed with the statement "Religion is under attack in this country."
(Full story)
If we do nothing, or do but a little, only when it's convenient and easy, the world becomes exactly as those who do effectively turn their beliefs into action every day would wish it to be. History is very clear on this point. What will you do to keep your freedoms, and to protect those of others? What will you do, today, to keep the world from turning into the brutal theocratic prison fervently envisioned and manifested, bit by bit, by the well-organized, self-justified people who deeply believe to the utmost that they are right, and you are wrong?
For, my friends and comrades, silence does equal death -- and worse than death, a living hell on earth for all here who do not conform to the ideals and beliefs of the evangelical theocrats. How will you speak out, and act out, and create a better world, one choice at a time?
Can we win this war? Only if we choose to, and only if we act on that choice, every day.
Fight for freedom. Fuck for freedom. Live for freedom. Love for freedom. And most of all, every single day, act for freedom.
Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies
Many codes intended to protect gays from harassment are illegal, conservatives argue.
By Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer
April 10, 2006
ATLANTA — Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant.
Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation.
Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. So she's demanding that Georgia Tech revoke its tolerance policy.
With her lawsuit, the 22-year-old student joins a growing campaign to force public schools, state colleges and private workplaces to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment. The religious right aims to overturn a broad range of common tolerance programs: diversity training that promotes acceptance of gays and lesbians, speech codes that ban harsh words against homosexuality, anti-discrimination policies that require college clubs to open their membership to all.
The Rev. Rick Scarborough, a leading evangelical, frames the movement as the civil rights struggle of the 21st century. "Christians," he said, "are going to have to take a stand for the right to be Christian."
In that spirit, the Christian Legal Society, an association of judges and lawyers, has formed a national group to challenge tolerance policies in federal court. Several nonprofit law firms — backed by major ministries such as Focus on the Family and Campus Crusade for Christ — already take on such cases for free.
The legal argument is straightforward: Policies intended to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination end up discriminating against conservative Christians. Evangelicals have been suspended for wearing anti-gay T-shirts to high school, fired for denouncing Gay Pride Month at work, reprimanded for refusing to attend diversity training. When they protest tolerance codes, they're labeled intolerant.
A recent survey by the Anti-Defamation League found that 64% of American adults — including 80% of evangelical Christians — agreed with the statement "Religion is under attack in this country."
(Full story)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-02 12:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 03:13 pm (UTC)Under attack, my ass... until they can point to examples of people being hung, burned and tortured, then maybe we can talk about persecution. Do we (i.e., America) make Christians use different bathrooms than non-Christians? Do we make Christians ride on a different part of the bus? Have we ever prevented a Christian from going to church on their day of worship?
no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 04:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-29 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 05:03 pm (UTC)It makes me think of a recent Daily Show episode where they chronicle the struggles of a racist, and show how belittled and harassed racists have become, as if racists are now the minority and should be treated like one. Quite amusing, but apparently too close to the truth. Feh.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 05:20 pm (UTC)"Dang, first we can't persecute, harass and belittle the minorities, then we can't deny work to women, and now we can't even discriminate against gays? Mark my words, things keep on this way, soon there won't be anyone we can hate."
You got it, buddy. We'll make you more Christ-like if we have to do it kicking and screaming.
*snicker*
Date: 2006-04-29 01:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 04:26 pm (UTC)The argument has become distorted. It isn't the right to "be" Christian that is under attack, but the practice of hateful language and practices that violate the rights of other students to get an education in an environment free of blatant assaults to their character and worth. How sad for them that being Christian isn't believing in Christ as a savior, or living according to his teachings, but is so narrowly defined as being able to make inflammatory, denigrating statements about others wherever they want to.
They don't have to like it. They don't have to agree with it. They don't even have to stop talking about it. They simply must reserve personal attacks to non-institutional settings, just like any other group. There's a time and a place for everything, people.
And comparing their struggle to that of blacks in the civil rights movement is appalling, and completely unsurprising given the illusion of victimhood they're trying to convey.
Ugh, disgusted.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 05:44 pm (UTC)Well, it started off badly for them from the beginning and just kept getting worse as time went on until they became what they are now. I mean, c'mon, if they were REALLY following the teachings of "Jesus" they'd all be JEWS right now...
blargh
Date: 2006-04-28 09:59 pm (UTC)Just remember that the tolerance you have is a gift - to everyone who knows you and to your son who will grow to become a tolerant man. That's beautiful.
And far better than being a CCforC ;) or anyone else for that matter LOL
no subject
Date: 2006-04-29 06:57 pm (UTC)I'm bi myself, and I'd rather not have people be censored, no matter how nasty their speech is. For me, giving those people enough rope actually protects me, for "by their fruits ye shall know them," and if they are not pruned, they shall bear the fruits of their bigotry in words, and I will know that they are assholes.
Banning speech does not produce freedom. It produces resentment and hatred of the very minorities the speech codes are designed to protect. It also gives the shitheads a legimitate cause, by which they can force the rest of their noxious agenda down America's collective throat.
That being said, the rest of the article is quite well-written. We do need to fight intolerance and hatred within and without.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-01 02:36 pm (UTC)I just would like to see these people show me one place where Jesus Christ said "Hate xxxx 'cause they don't agree with you."
no subject
Date: 2006-05-02 12:38 am (UTC)I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not. The same land o' "evolution is only a theory" stickers in HS science books, etc. etc. Oh, the stories I could tell...
All I can say is, 7 months to the mid-term elections, 2.5 years to the next presidential elections, and 2 semesters until I've got my BFA. Then, we're outta here, heading North.
This is OUR asylum, who the hell are these loonies trying to take it over???