1. Sex, Drugs, and Campaigning: Can We Turn Up the Volume on Birth Control?
In the wake of his protracted squirm when asked about
While it's no surprise that McCain, with his medieval record on women's health issues, would not address the issue, the "abortion reduction" wing of the Democratic Party could seize this opportunity to prove its mettle on contraception. Hillary Clinton did on Friday: "We know that prevention is the key to reducing unwanted pregnancies. But instead of putting prevention and sound science first, the Bush administration is once again putting ideology first and trying to block access to family planning services."
It's a good thing that Clinton used the "I" word -- too often "abortion reduction" proponents de-emphasize ideological battles in a quest to make peace in the culture wars. Their strategy is to emphasize making abortion go away, rather than making it illegal. But as the proposed HHS rule demonstrates, culture war ideologues won't stop at trying to ban abortion -- they'll seek to restrict birth control too, which obviously would undermine efforts to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies.
2. What Will Obama Say?
In 2006, Obama discussed abortion in a speech to the evangelical group Sojourners -- a speech that turned many young evangelical heads in his direction. Jim Wallis, Sojourners' president and a friend of Obama's, is a strenuous advocate for "abortion reduction" -- but he backs away from advocating for contraception.
In his speech, considered by many to be a path-breaking discussion of faith in politics, Obama talked about how he would remain committed to Roe but use language other than the "standard Democratic boilerplate language to summarize my pro-choice position." To explain his evolution on the issue, Obama recounted how after he won his 2004 Senate primary, he received a note from a Christian voter who objected to how his Web site "suggested that I would fight 'right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman's right to choose.'"
Although his Web site did not, apparently, say that all people who oppose abortion are right-wing ideologues but rather that Obama would fight right-wing ideologues, this voter wrote to Obama that "if you truly believe that those who oppose abortion are all ideologues driven by perverse desires to inflict suffering on women, then you, in my judgment, are not fair-minded."
Obama changed his Web site, and "that night, before I went to bed I said a prayer. … A hope that we can live with one another in a way that reconciles the beliefs of each with the good of all."
That's a nice sentiment, but as the case of the proposed HHS rule demonstrates, sometimes right-wing ideologues need to be called right-wing ideologues. Especially when they are standing in the way of what should be the centerpiece of any "abortion reduction" plan.
3. Dobson Might Back McCain: Flip-Flop or Narcissism?
James Dobson now says that he might just endorse John McCain after all. I almost hesitate to write about this because I have yet to talk to a single evangelical person who would vote based on what James Dobson says. This is supposed to be a really big deal for McCain, but only because the media thinks that evangelical voters get as excited about a Focus on the Family press release as they do.
As usual, though, Dobson is motivated by a desire to turn the spotlight on himself. He probably feels spurned because he's not the one hosting a "Compassion Forum" featuring both presidential candidates next month. That honor has gone to Rick Warren who is hosting the event at his Saddleback Church where Obama and McCain will have the opportunity to be seen with a very popular evangelical who is not James Dobson.
4. But Wait -- Don't Bow Down To Warren Just Yet.
There's a bit of a tendency to glorify evangelical leaders like Warren, because they've said they want to de-emphasize the culture wars and focus on combating poverty, HIV/AIDS, and global warming. But his distance from the front lines in the culture wars doesn't mean he is neutral in them or that his ideology should be given a pass -- particularly when the presidential candidates have agreed to make him the arbiter of their compassion.
In a 2005 interview with Larry King, Warren simultaneously advanced the religious-right agenda of painting homosexuality as against God's will and suggested that homosexuality itself proves evolution wrong:
I mean here's an interesting thing I have to ask. How can you believe in Darwin's theory of evolution and homosexuality at the same time? Now think about this. If Darwin was right, which is survival of the fittest, then homosexuality would be a recessive gene because it doesn't reproduce and you would think that over thousands of years that homosexuality would work itself out of the gene pool.
Some of the major tenets of his book The Purpose Driven Life -- which has sold over 25 million copies -- underscore how Warren's view of the Bible trumps everything else. They include "the Bible is God's perfect guidebook for living," "nothing in creation 'just happened.' God made it all," and "God promises victory over evil to those who choose him."
This may be standard fare for evangelicals, but it's a really bad mix with presidential politics.
5. New Video Shows Hagee's Strange Preoccupation With Judaism, Promotion of Anti-Semitic Tropes
Jews on First, a Web site monitoring the religious right, has released a new video compilation of Christian Zionist John Hagee's bizarre sermons about Judaism and Jews. Narrated by the actor Ed Asner and released last week just before Hagee's Christians United for Israel Washington Summit, the video delves deeper than any other has to date into Hagee's very disturbing theology, which reveals, according to the video, "ignorance, even disrespect" for Jews.
In one sermon, Hagee spun a tale with no basis in Jewish teaching of how Jesus used his spittle to make a blind man see because Jews believed the spittle of first-born sons contained healing power. In another, Hagee peddled anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that America's economic system is controlled by Europeans and "the Rothschilds," which is an name often used by hate groups to refer to anti-Semitic "Jewish banker" conspiracies. He insisted that the seal on a dollar bill, when turned upside down, shows a menorah, in homage to a Jewish investment banker who raised money for George Washington.
There's plenty more in this well-produced video that should finally convince -- one would hope -- the 20 percent of American Jews who still think it's a good idea to get in bed with Hagee. The video shows he can't even cite chapter and verse accurately, much less comprehend American history, Jewish history, or even his own religion. Paging Joe Lieberman: You should find a new date to the prom.
Contact me at tapthefundamentalist@gmail.com.
