{"id":7261,"date":"2006-04-29T09:21:25","date_gmt":"2006-04-29T13:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=7261"},"modified":"2006-04-29T09:21:25","modified_gmt":"2006-04-29T13:21:25","slug":"sorry-no-common-ground-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/sorry-no-common-ground-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry, no common ground here"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Post by Morbo<\/a><\/p>\n

Rabbi [tag]Eric Yoffie[\/tag], president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the most [tag]liberal[\/tag] branch of Judaism in America, journeyed to Lynchburg, Va., recently to speak at the Rev. [tag]Jerry Falwell[\/tag]’s Liberty University.<\/p>\n

I admire Yoffie’s gumption, and I salute much of what he said. For example, he told the students that government-sponsored school prayer is not a quick fix for all that ails society.<\/p>\n

But I must take issue with the underlying idea, which Yoffie seems to embrace, that we can reason with the religious right. As reported by Religion News Service and the Associated Press, Yoffie told the crowd<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“We need less anger and more thoughtful reflection, less shouting and more listening. Even when we disagree, let’s do so without demonizing each other. I can discuss these issues and believe what I believe without calling you a homophobic bigot, and you can do the same without calling me an uncaring baby killer. Let’s promote respect for each other’s religious tradition, and let’s work for civility in public debate.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, it sounds nice in theory, but there’s one big drawback: Our side is willing to do these things, but Falwell’s is not. Falwell’s side believes its interpretation of ancient holy books gives it the right to run our lives from the moment of conception until “natural death” — with Falwell and his ilk determining when that will be. We have a duty and obligation to resist this form of spiritual fascism.<\/p>\n

I simply do not share any common ground with some of these folks. Consider that the Rev. Rick [tag]Scarborough[\/tag]’s latest book is called Liberalism Kills Kids<\/i><\/a>. Kind of puts a damper on a friendly sit down over a cup of coffee, no?<\/p>\n

The fact is, as James Carville once noted<\/a>, we’re right and they’re wrong. The differences between the two sides are stark:
\n
\nOur side believes in religious and philosophical freedom — you can believe or disbelieve what you want about god, and it’s no one else’s business. Falwell’s side believes there is one way to approach god and if you don’t go about it that way, your rights can be taken away.<\/p>\n

Our side respects the rule of law and the constitutional separation of powers. Falwell’s side sees federal judges as “activists” and “black-robed tyrants” and seeks to find ways to take away courts’ ability to strike down obviously unconstitutional laws put into place by nutcase lawmakers who don’t give a fig about our Bill of Rights.<\/p>\n

Our side values the [tag]separation of church and state[\/tag], seeing it as the platform upon which religious liberty rests. Falwell’s side says separation is a “myth” and a force that strips Christians of their rights.<\/p>\n

Our side believes in science and wants modern biology taught in public schools. Falwell’s side wants to replace that with Bible stories.<\/p>\n

Our side values the moral decision-making of women and promotes reproductive freedom. Falwell’s side wants a police state where women who seek abortions and the doctors who provide them are charged with murder and thrown in prison.<\/p>\n

Our side says an adult’s sex life is his or her own business and promotes equal rights for all, straight, gay and bisexual. Falwell’s side trades in crude homophobia and seeks to take away the rights of gay Americans.<\/p>\n

Our side opposes censorship. Falwell’s side embraces it.<\/p>\n

I could go on, but you get the idea. For anyone who needs a refresher course in how the religious right is determined to run our lives, I recommend a book I just finished: Terri: The Truth<\/a> by Michael [tag]Schiavo[\/tag]. Read it and then tell me we can dialogue with the religious right.<\/p>\n

Nope. The only common ground the religious right is interested in is the ground we are willing to give them. I say, don’t give them any. I don’t want to dialogue with Falwell, Pat Robertson, James [tag]Dobson[\/tag], D. James Kennedy, Rick Scarborough and so on. I want to engage them politically and defeat them — utterly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Post by Morbo Rabbi [tag]Eric Yoffie[\/tag], president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the most [tag]liberal[\/tag] branch of Judaism in America, journeyed to Lynchburg, Va., recently to speak at the Rev. [tag]Jerry Falwell[\/tag]’s Liberty University. I admire Yoffie’s gumption, and I salute much of what he said. For example, he told the students that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}