Reply #147: It's hard to believe that you could have ever been even a bit on the wrong side . . .

[defendandprotect]

of this issue --- !!! Great post.

Especially this one which really drives me nuts . . .

Then we have the fear of right wing backlash, or fundy resistance, and clever arguments as to how to trick them or get around them. This is particularly reactionary because it grants so much power to the right wing. The key thing to understand about the political right wing and the religious right is that the leaders are lying to the followers, deceiving and manipulating them. If we see the right as a bloc, that we must accept the reality that there are millions of followers of the religious right who all think the same and are no different than the leaders, and whom we must take seriously at face value, we have precluded any chance of talking about the lies and the deception, and we have granted legitimacy to the religious right political movement. We should be aggressively confronting the lies, not compromising with the leaders who are doing the lying. We do that by standing up and speaking out against injustice, not by pandering and compromising and reaching out to the leadership of the right wing.

There's only one more category I would add and that is that somehow some DU'ers think
that opinion is made at DU. Most times it is not and we are simply discussing the
opinions of those outside DU. The Warren discussions are examples of that where
constantly I've seen the "uprising" blamed on the GLBT community. In fact, the
Warren situation effects all of us --- those who care about justice for minorities,
women, homosexuals, those who want equality of gay marriage, and it should most
certainly include those supporting the very primary issue Separation of Church & State
and NO prayer at public events -- especially this one!

Therefore there is still much to discuss re the Inauguaration and "prayer" and
Warren and the larger world outside of DU where it was clear most people were upset --
not simply the gay community -- but I note that it also seems to be being delivered
that way by MSM, as well. No-- this is about EVERYONE if you actually understand
what is going on.