May 3, 2008
Radical Religious Right: Noisome and Noisy As Ever, But Mostly Smoke and Mirrors
This post is the result of my running across two seemingly unrelated stories today — one about the resounding defeat of a right-wing bid to overturn Wells Fargo’s anti-discrimination protections via a shareholder vote, and the other, “California Supreme Court to Hear Case of Lambda Legal Lesbian Client Denied Infertility Treatment by Christian Fundamentalist Doctors.”
Obviously, both are typical examples of the way radical right-wingers use their “deeply held religious beliefs” as an excuse to punish gay and lesbian people for daring to suggest that we’re anywhere as good as they are, by having (or demanding) — gasp! — the very same rights!
But there’s much more to it than that. There are four points to the core dump that follows:
1. While a woman’s right to choose has nothing whatsoever to do with LGBT equality on a practical level… actually, it does. The stakes (freedom over your own life, and protection against somebody else making life decisions for you) are the same. The tactics of the freedom-deniers (bullying, intimidation, and legislative action, by any means) are the same.
2. The anti-choice brigades and the anti-gay brigades are composed of the same people, with the same ties to the same convoluted network of radical right-wing religionists; they just operate under different front organizations as their hate-filled agenda requires. But it’s always the same agenda.
3. As large, widespread, and well-funded as the Radical Right may be, it’s not as big or scary when reduced to the sum of its parts. I’ll explain that at the end of this piece — just hang in there, because you’ll want to read it: The news is good. Very good.
4. The radical religionists are losing the culture wars — but they’re not through with us yet, and none of us can allow complacency. Just because they’re not trying to strip you of your rights today, don’t assume you’ll be safe from their attacks tomorrow. Never forget the words of Martin Niemoller.
That said…
There’s nothing wrong with the idea of investing your money in companies whose practices you agree with, and withholding your investments from companies with which you disagree. In fact, I encourage it. I practice it myself.
What’s wrong is attempting to force other people to do as you do.
But that’s what the Radical Religious Right is all about: forcing you to do as they do (or at least profess to do), instead of living their lives as they see fit, and leaving you alone to live your life as you see fit.
Their reasons are legion. Some of radical righties are trying to increase their scorecard of “souls saved” so they get a better spot in Heaven. Some claim “the Bible says” they’ve been charged with the mission to “witness” (read: annoy non-believers to pieces) for Jesus. Some of them are undoubtedly closet ‘mos who think they can repress their own true nature by repressing everybody else’s true nature.
Whatever. The reasons (and if you’re interested in the reasons, you couldn’t find a better explanation than Chris Hedges’ American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America) don’t really matter right now. In the end, it’s all — and only — about conversion through coercion. (Tip of the hat to Wayne Besen for inspiring that phrase.) They try to do it in many different ways, none of which is ever successful in the long run (and seldom in the short run, either), for the simple reason that the world (yes, even the puritan United States) has left them, and their Inquisition-era mindset, far behind.
The radical religionists are a dying breed, and they know it — which is why they’re getting more aggressive in their futile efforts to drag us all back into a Levitical lifestyle (which might not be such a bad thing, if they had to face stoning in the streets for patronizing Red Lobster, sticking a ham sandwich in their kid’s lunch bag, and wearing cotton-polyester blends — the last being, of course, a crime in any era).
If they’d just live their lives as they think their wrathful, jealous God wants them to, and leave the rest of us alone, we wouldn’t care how they expressed their fear-based worship (as long as no animals were sacrificed or otherwise harmed).
But that’s not good enough for them. In trying to force the secular, reality-based world to conform to their suffocating, restrictive ways, they are doing harm — a lot of harm — and in their twisted quest to create a “culture of life,” they are in fact propagating a culture of death.
I said just that on the occasion of the passing of Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, who, among other atrocities, outright lied about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing the spread of HIV. It’s an atrocity because that kind of radical, right-wing activism kills people. Literally.
The same is true of attempts to prevent the use of contraceptives, eliminate reproductive rights (can you say “back alley abortions”?), halt stem cell research (funny how righties like Arlen Specter and Nancy Reagan suddenly go all pro-stem cell when they’re the ones directly impacted by cancer, or Alzheimer’s disease), and even gay-straight student alliances and diversity programs. (You teach a gay kid to hate himself for who he is, and you may very well create a suicide victim; you teach a gay kid he’s as good and worthy as you are, and you’re helping to build a healthy, happy, productive citizen. You teach a straight — or questioning — kid that being gay is bad, and you’ve just increased the chances that your new little hater is going to go kick some gay ass in the playground — at best — or, at worst, murder the next Matthew Shepard, the next Sakia Gunn, the next Gwen Araujo.)
And, yes, that goes for same-sex marriage as well: If my relationship with my partner is not recognized outside our home state, and I get sick or injured away from home, it’s entirely possible that the one person I want making my medical decisions will not be allowed to. (Not that the anti-gay brigades would care if I died — I’m certain they would prefer I did.)
I always tell the righties that the solution is simple: If you’re against abortion, don’t have one. If you’re against gay marriage, don’t marry one of us.
But, of course, they refuse (no doubt deliberately, as reason would stand in the way of their singleminded goal to inflict their beliefs on your life and mine) to make the connection between their life-diminishing, often life-ending crusade.
Which brings us to this story from 365gay.com, and a right-wing outfit we’d never heard of before now, “Pro Vita Advisors” — “pro vita” being Latin for “pro-life,” which is, predictably, the antithesis of the anti-life, anti-freedom, anti-American agenda these radicals actually promote:
Shareholders Reject Bid To Strip Gay Protections At Wells Fargo(San Francisco, California) A motion by a Wells Fargo shareholder to remove protections for LGBT workers from the company’s non-discrimination policy was defeated this week at its annual meeting. …
The motion called for the company to “to formulate an equal employment policy …that does not make reference to any matters related to sexual interests, activities or orientation.”
It said that homosexuality has been “condemned by the major traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam for a thousand years or more”.
The motion was crafted by Pro Vita Advisors, a group that helps promote conservative values.
The motion said that “While the legal institution of marriage between a man and a woman should be protected, the sexual interests of, inclinations and activities of all employees should be a private matter, not a corporate concern.”
The proposal was easily defeated. …
Conservative groups have attacked Wells Fargo for the past three years over its “pro-gay policies”.
In 2005 Focus on the Family withdrew its funds from Wells Fargo. …
Similar shareholder challenges to non-discrimination policies that include gays have been fought and lost at Ford Motor Company.
If you want a good laugh, read the anti-gay resolution proposed to Wells Fargo shareholders (which is the same in tone as most Pro-Vita proposals), “”to formulate an equal employment policy … that does not make reference to any matters related to sexual interests, activities or orientation.” Here are the biggest knee-slappers:
Whereas, our company seeks to hire the most qualified person and has never had a policy discriminating against any person, or groups of persons, for any reason.Whereas, it would be inappropriate and possibly illegal to ask a job applicant or employee about their sexual interests, inclinations and activities.
Whereas, it is similarly inappropriate and legally problematic for employees to discuss personal sexual matters while on the job.
Whereas, unlike the issues of race, age, gender and certain physical disabilities, it would be impossible to discern a person’s sexual orientation from their appearance.
Whereas, unless an employee chooses to talk about their sexual interests or activities while working, the issue of sexual orientation is, essentially, moot.
Whereas, domestic partner benefit policies pay employee benefits based on the employee engaging in unmarried, homosexual relations. These relations have been condemned by the major traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam for a thousand years or more.
Whereas, the Armed Forces of the United States is one of the largest and most diverse organizations in the world. They protect the security of us all while adhering to a “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” regarding sexual interests.
Whereas, marriage between heterosexuals has been protected and encouraged by a wide range of societies, cultures and faiths for ages.
Statement: While the legal institution of marriage between a man and a woman should be protected, the sexual interests of, inclinations and activities of all employees should be a private matter, not a corporate concern.
Pro Vita Advisors helped write and present this resolution. Contact: Thomas Strobhar, Pro Vita Advisors, 937-226-1337.
Asks Jason at Good As You:
And what exactly does the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have to do with Banking? I notice they don’t bring up Buddhism, Wicca, or Atheism. …[W]hat does the Armed Forces have to do with Banking? And how cute they, they re-wrote DADT, it’s just about keeping soldiers from talking about sexual interests. As if that were possible. …
“Statement: While the legal institution of marriage between a man and a woman should be protected, the sexual interests of, inclinations and activities of all employees should be a private matter, not a corporate concern.”
Oh, here they’re trying to divorce marriage and sex. As if marriage doesn’t have anything to do with sex, it’s just those nasty, pervy, homos that are trying to get recognition of their sexual interests. Yes, babies are just found under cabbage leaves. If, in fact, the sexual interests of, inclinations and activities of all employees should be a private matter, not a corporate concern, there’s no need to have any spousal benefits at all, as that has as much to do with “sexual interests” as DP.
Seriously, though, how stupid is this “Pro Vita Advisors” outfit, anyway, thinking they can suck Wells Fargo (a citadel of diversity which should be a model for every corporation in the world), headquartered in San Francisco (duh! I said San Francisco!) since 1852 back into the Dark Ages?
“How stupid” is up for debate; one thing’s for sure: “Pro Vita Advisors” is a nasty, tenacious little bunch. Over the past few years, they’ve attempted to strongarm AT&T, NCR (as Good As You correctly summarizes Pro Vita’s goal: “Pro Vita Advisors: Denying health care is our moral obligation”), and, of course, Ford Motor Company (a longtime target of the gay-hating American Family Association, whose top dog, Donald Wildmon, just plain lied when he announced in March that the AFA’s two-year boycott of Ford had come to a successful end; perhaps the AFA is still stinging after coming to grips with the fact that its nine-year Disney boycott was a resounding failure).
So, who are these life-denying whackjobs? Most visible, and vocal, is Pro Vita president Thomas C. Strobhar — who, unsurprisingly, is also the chairman, founder, and/or other executive of the following organizations:
Strobhar Financial: “Financial investing for people who put their morals first.”
National Association of Christian Financial Consultants, “a group of investment professionals committed to investment and financial planning disciplines centered upon biblical principles.”
Pro-Life Action League:
Chicago-based Joseph Scheidler founded the Pro-Life Action League in 1980 after being ousted from other pro-life groups for his resistance to compromise. A master of public relations and a former journalism professor, Scheidler knew how to draw mainstream media attention. In 1985, he published a provocative tract, Closed: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion, in which he suggested that civil disobedience, harassment, and militant direct action were justified interventions where abortion was concerned. Scheidler argued that because the act of abortion was murder, it must be prevented at all costs.Perhaps more important, Scheidler influenced other confrontational pro-lifers like the founder of Operation Rescue, Randall Terry, and his successor, Flip Benham. …
Pam Chamberlain and Jean Hardisty
Reproducing Patriarchy: Reproductive Rights Under Siege
The Public Eye Magazine
[I]n Delaware, Joseph Scheidler and three other large men illegally entered a clinic, trapping the clinic administrator inside. The men put the phones on hold — effectively cutting her off from the outside world — and told her they were there to “case the place.” This was shortly after several clinics had been bombed. In another incident, Scheidler went to Pensacola and met with John Burt and Joan Andrews. Together, they discussed and planned an event to take place at the Ladies Center. The next day, while Scheidler was outside doing “P.R.” (he did not want to get arrested), Burt, Andrews and two others burst into the clinic, shoved the administrator to the floor and slammed an escort up against a wall. Then they went upstairs to wreck equipment. Still more evidence of force and violence came as the jury heard from a doctor who had been stalked, her house surrounded, and her life threatened. She was also physically assaulted by Monica Miller and Matt Trewhella. The jury also heard evidence of scores of blockades, which deprived people of access to the clinics, and where people were assaulted for daring to try to enter. One woman, who was going to see her doctor for postoperative surgery (surgery that in no way was related to abortion and that had been done to try and save her reproductive organs), was hit over the head with a picketer’s sign.
Sara Love, Esq.
Antiabortionists convicted in Chicago
Freedom Writer, May/June 1998
Life Decisions International:
LDI calls itself “a fully independent organization” (swearing it is “not allied with any political party”) that appears devoted solely to destroying Planned Parenthood (as witnessed by the organization’s Web URL alone: “fightpp.org”).
Dating to the 1980s — when it began with anti-abortion protests at women’s health care clinics — the campaign against Planned Parenthood is now waged on many other fronts as well: legislative attacks on government funding, organized boycotts of sponsors, challenges to corporate supporters and vocal opposition to sex-education programs. While dozens of groups spread and magnify opposition to the 84-year-old Planned Parenthood, two national organizations — Life Decisions International, and STOPP International — provide full-time leadership.With an annual budget of approximately $110,000, Douglas R. Scott, Life Decisions’ president, and his staff of three, research and publish “The Boycott List” of companies — usually about 50 or 60 in number — that donate to Planned Parenthood. Approximately 10,000 copies of the $15.75 list are distributed twice a year, including to 33 anti-abortion organizations that endorse it, ranging from Human Life International to Concerned Women for America, Christian Coalition, Family Research Council, American Family Association and Traditional Values Coalition. …
According to a March press release, current boycott targets include Adobe Systems, Bank of America, Johnson and Johnson, Kenneth Cole, Levi Strauss, Nationwide Insurance, Prudential, Unilever, Wachovia, Whole Foods and Walt Disney. Walt Disney is listed because its theme park gave a donation to Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando to prevent teen pregnancy, according to a Life Decisions newsletter.
Life Decisions — which Scott describes as being based in northern Virginia — also introduces resolutions at annual meetings of corporate shareholders designed to end corporate donations to Planned Parenthood. Thomas Strohbar, Life Decisions board chair and the head of Pro Vita Advisors, an anti-choice investment firm in Dayton, Ohio, spearheads this effort, which he claims is going well. …
Privately Scott says it’s more about rallying anti-abortion forces than the money. “Planned Parenthood has nearly $300 million dollars in savings in reserve, so they’re not lacking in money; they just don’t like a public black eye,” said Scott.
Some companies, instead of bowing to Life Decisions, buck the pressure. The March-April issue of Life Decisions’ bimonthly newsletter, “The Caleb Report,” contains the text of a phone message attributed to a Richmond, Va., businessman who apparently didn’t appreciate being warned that his company’s name will go on the boycott list. “I will not be threatened by scumbags like you. I will not stop supporting Planned Parenthood,” the message said.
Karen Pearl, interim president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America in New York, confirms that some companies are resisting the Life Decisions pressure. “One corporation heard about another corporation turning us down and was so outraged that they, in turn, donated what we had asked the other corporation for,” Pearl said.
Nationally, Pearl says, Planned Parenthood retains a high level of public support. …
Cynthia L. Cooper
Family Planners Stand Up To Right-Wing Boycott
Women’s eNews, July 18, 2005
On its Web site (www.fightpp.org), LDI attempts — undoubtedly for the benefit of those of us who have dug beneath the surface to trace the organization’s violent anti-abortion roots — to pre-empt the question, “What Is LDI’s Policy On Violence?”
LDI leaders wholeheartedly embrace a policy that condemns the use of violence as a means of achieving their goals:
While LDI steadfastly upholds the free exercise of constitutional rights, its leaders unequivocally condemn acts of violence committed in the name of the Pro-Life Movement. Violence is morally reprehensible and contradicts the fundamental premise that every human life is precious and deserving of respect. In line with this policy, LDI will accept only those words and deeds that are life-affirming and God-honoring in dealing with the abortion holocaust and related evils. No amount of justification will change the truth; violence is wrong–in and out the womb. This policy is a deeply held conviction and will not be ignored, weakened or altered for any reason whatsoever.Any person who disagrees with this policy is invited to withhold financial support from LDI.
Predictably, however, LDI often wanders far afield from its stated goal, and plays the Christian-martyr card, apparently just for (eh-heh!) the hell of it. Chastising and attempting to smear celebrities seems to be a favorite pastime of LDI’s. For example:
Charlie Sheen denounced for obscene songActor Charlie Sheen gave a rendition of a traditional Christmas song that changed the lyrics to an affront to Christians, says head of Life Decisions International.
“CBS Television has crossed the line in a big way,” said Douglas R. Scott, Jr., president of Life Decisions International (LDI). “In an affront to all of Christendom, the network allowed actor Charlie Sheen to change the lyrics of ‘Joy to the World’ into a song that could be called ‘Joy to Fornication.’”
On December 11, 2006, the CBS program “Two and a Half Men” opened with Sheen lighting candles and singing a song to the tune of “Joy to the World”:
Joy to the world
I’m getting laid
I’m getting laid tonight. …“‘Joy to the World’ is a song about the birth of Jesus Christ. Yet CBS has allowed a song about the most precious, sacred and significant moment in history to be turned into a song about having sex outside of marriage,” Scott said. “Is there any line that anti-Christian people in the media will not cross? This is something one would expect from more well-known ungodly networks such as MTV.” …
Sheen is the son of actor Martin Sheen, a Catholic, whose name appears on LDI’s list of celebrities that support legal abortion. Charlie Sheen has a troubled history: he was once associated with the celebrated Heidi Fleiss, who ran a prostitution ring in Hollywood. He once accidentally shot an erstwhile girlfriend and later was rumored to have a cocaine addiction. However, Sheen announced in 1996 that he had become a born-again Christian.
Friendly Atheist recounts another example, from January, 2007:
Life Decisions International, a pro-life group that apparently enjoys sticking its head into events that have nothing to do with abortion whatsoever, is angry with Conan O’Brien. What has he done?The show airing Wednesday night featured Conan introducing “new characters” to the show (characters who never actually appear after the one episode).
One of the characters was a “homophobic country western singer.” He was introduced by Conan, who said, “Our last new character’s heart is in the right place, even if he’s a complete idiot.”
The man came on stage with a guitar and sang the following lyrics:
Oh I love you Jesus
But only as a friend.
You touched my heart but I hope
That’s where the touchin’ ends. …Here’s Douglas R. Scott, Jr., president of Life Decisions International, commenting on this sketch:
The idea that anyone would think about the Son of God in this way is simply appalling… The inferences that permeate the song are utterly disgusting… We wonder if O’Brien’s description of the character as a “complete idiot” is based on the man’s “homophobic” beliefs or if it is because of the inference that Jesus could be sexually interested in seeing the man naked… I don’t know if the man is a complete idiot, but I do suspect that the writer of the segment is a complete bigot.It’s obvious to anyone who saw the sketch that the singer was referred to as an idiot because he was purposely saying something offensive. It’s called a joke. …
Mind you, Conan himself is Roman Catholic. …
Citizen Action Now:
From the Citizen Action Now Web site (http://citizenactionnow.com/) — which, amazingly, admits its tactics are “designed to create havoc at corporations who openly support homosexual groups or policies”:
Today we are at grave risk. We have seen the introduction of homosexual marriages, homosexual civil unions, homosexual adoptions, homosexual domestic partner benefits and the persecution of those who oppose these new “rights.” Large organizations funded with millions of dollars have sprung up to promote the so called Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgenedered [sic] (GLBT) agenda. Tomorrow, there is the real possibility of criminalization of those who dare speak against these perverse changes.Citizen Action Now was created to challenge GLBT groups on all fronts, but will concentrate on areas currently being ignored by other pro-family groups, such as, corporations. The brainchild of the Alan Keyes organization, Declaration Alliance, Citizen Action Now will fight for an America free from the manipulation of homosexual groups. These groups have long realized that by changing the way America does business, they will eventually change America. Once they have instituted “domestic partner” benefits at most major American corporations, once they have included mandatory sensitivity training concerning the most bizarre sexual practices, once they have established “gay” sex clubs in the schools—
“Gay sex clubs”?
—the sooner they will be able to achieve their ultimate goal of complete acceptance of homosexual lifestyles. While we sympathize with individuals consumed with homosexual desires, we can not let our sympathy distract us from defending traditional standards of moral purity against an onslaught of “homosexual rights” shrilly demanded by groups brought together by their shared sexual interests. These “rights,” which include the right to marry, adopt and publicly act out strange sexual mental maladies threaten an America built on values cherished by Muslims, Christians and Jews.Citizen Action Now is headed by Thomas Strobhar who honed his skills in the pro-life movement successfully fighting corporations which gave money to Planned Parenthood. Thomas had a singular effect on such corporate giants as American Express, AT&T, Berkshire Hathaway, General Mills, Target Stores and many others. All told, over 115 companies have stopped contributing to Planned Parenthood, in part, because of Thomas’ efforts. …
Citizen Action Now, drawing on Thomas Strobhar’s business and financial background, is committed to minimizing cost and maximizing output. Already, on a minimal budget—
Remember that phrase, “on a minimal budget.” It’ll have more meaning later.
—Citizen Action Now, has lead petition drives confronting the pro-homosexual management of Allstate Insurance and Walgreens pharmacy. In just a short period of time shareholder resolutions confronting the homosexual agenda at American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup, IBM, Merrill Lynch and others have been filed. All were done at little expense, but designed to create havoc at corporations who openly support homosexual groups or policies. …Citizen Action Now is committed to helping individuals and groups challenge the homosexual agenda in America through actions that work. We have been bequeathed cultural and religious values centuries old and now are at risk of seeing these values trashed and those who defend them silenced. That is why this organization was formed. We can wait no longer. We must act now. Any delay will require ten times the work just to return things to the status quo.
In other words, the usual hysterical rhetoric.
So, just how deep do Pro Vita’s right-wing roots go? Citizen Action Now alone is connected to:
• The AGN Financial Network (an “affiliate” of rabidly anti-gay Ken Hutcherson’s Antioch Bible Church, which shares its anti-gay “outreach” in Latvia with “Latvian megachurch preacher Alexey Ledyaev, who was at the Seattle homobigot’s side at the 2006 conference of the Watchmen on the Walls, along with Scott Lively, former director of the California tentacle of the American Family Association and the anti-gay Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA)” and pastor of Abiding Truth Ministries “[a.k.a. Defend the Family] … author of The Pink Swastika: Homosexuals and the Nazi Party, and Holocaust revisionist”), on whose advisory board Strobhar sits, along with Wildmon, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Richard Land; Herb Lusk, anti-gay, anti-equality, Bush-loving pastor of Greater Exodus Baptist Church, who’s sucked up “more than $1 million in grants under the president’s faith-based initiative” and whom Bush appointed to the Presidential HIV/AIDS Advisory Council, and Rabbi Daniel Lapin, and whose supporters include Nixon’s “evil genius” and “hatchet man,” ex-con Chuck Colson (who was pardoned by Jeb Bush) and perennially purse-lipped Gary L. Bauer of the Family Research Council…
• Muslim-baiting, Clinton-hating, litigation-happy Ron Brown conspiracy theorist Larry Klayman (who in 1998 sued his own mother) formerly of the rabidly right-wing Judicial Watch (financed in part by Richard Mellon Scaife, and helped along by radical-righty mass-email mogul Richard Viguerie), which Klayman left (and then sued the organization he himself had founded). Klayman is (or was) a member of the secretive Council for National Policy, the organization (founded by Left Behind co-author and Moral Majority co-founder Tim LaHaye, who is married to Beverly Haye, founder of the “anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-feminism and anti-sex education” Concerned Women for America, of which Robert Knight’s Culture and Family Institute is a spin-off, and on whose board sits Matt Barber, of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, founded by Folsom Street Fair-obsessed ex-Family Research Council head Pete LaBarbera) that marries the Radical Religious Right to the Republican Party…
…and that’s just for starters.
“So,” asks Chris at Cynical-C Blog, “is the pro-life movement about saving unborn babies or about controlling people’s sex lives?”
The answer is: the latter, with a caveat. It’s always been about controlling people, period. They just make it sound like our lives revolve around sex. (”I love how they try to dumb it down to ‘homosexual relations,’” says Jason at Good As You, “attempting to suggest it’s just about sex.”)
And then there’s “Pharmacists For Life International,” founded by Pro Vita advisor Bogomir M. Kuhar, an Ohio pharmacist:
The founder of the group is Bogomir (M.) Kuhar, a pro-lifer so radical that he’s anti-birth control. Kuhar has calculated that many millions of lives are “terminated” each year by people who use contraceptives. …Kuhar appears to have been involved in pro-life Catholic movement since at least the late eighties. …
Pharmacists for Life
Riffle, April 4, 2005
But Bogomir Kuhar is nothing compared to Pharmacists for Life president Karen Brauer, who can only be described as a real piece of work. And not in a good way.
Brauer and Pharmacists for Life are at the forefront of a growing movement aimed at giving pharmacists the right to refuse to fill prescriptions if filling them would be inconsistent with their moral or ethical beliefs. Thus far, the fight has primarily revolved around birth control prescriptions.On February 10, the Associated Press reported:
Last year, Mississippi lawmakers passed a bill that allows all types of health care workers and facilities to refuse performing virtually any service they object to on moral or religious grounds. Anti-abortion organizations and a group called Pharmacists for Life are urging pharmacists to refuse to distribute emergency contraceptives.…A February 7, 2005, National Law Journal article illustrates that while the bulk of attention has been given to pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control pills, the potential exists for pharmacists to refuse to dispense a wide range of essential, prescribed medicine if advocates of the so-called “conscience clause” for pharmacists are successful; the article noted that in 2004, “a Dallas pharmacist refused to fill a mother’s prescription for her son’s Ritalin.”
Though “conscience clause” advocates prefer to focus on birth control pills — and the media reports that cover the controversy do likewise — their position that pharmacists need not fill prescriptions they disagree with has far-reaching implications. By the same rationale, a pharmacist who believes, as the Rev. Jerry Falwell once claimed, that AIDS is “God’s punishment for homosexuals” could refuse to fill a prescription for an AIDS patient. Pharmacists could refuse to fill prescriptions for heart medicine for the elderly, antidepressants for a suicidal patient — anything. …
Pharmacists for Life president Karen Brauer was fired by a Kmart pharmacy in Ohio for refusing to fill birth control prescriptions. As Brauer acknowledged during an April 16, 2001, appearance on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, Brauer didn’t merely refuse to fill a patient’s prescription, she lied to the patient, as well…
Presumably, the mere act of lying to a patient would have been reason enough for Brauer to be fired; at the least, it seems to be a direct violation of the American Pharmacists Association’s “Principles of Practice for Pharmaceutical Care,” which state: “Interaction between the pharmacist and the patient must occur to assure that a relationship based upon caring, trust, open communication, cooperation, and mutual decision making is established and maintained.” …
Pharmacists for Life’s web page contains numerous controversial statements that have thus far escaped the notice of the media outlets that have given the group attention. PFL’s “Frequently asked questions” section states “Pharmacists are under no obligation, even if written in the positive law, to violate the Divine Law.” This suggestion that pharmacists are not bound by the laws of the United States so long as they think God disagrees with those laws is but the tip of the iceberg. Other examples, taken from the group’s recent comments on the Terri Schiavo case…
Who are Karen Brauer and “Pharmacists for Life”?
Media Matters, March 30, 2005
Like Life Decisions International, Pharmacists for Life International reaches far beyond its stated goal (which is bad enough); PFLI is getting mixed up in every issue it deems “godless”:
While most of Pharmacists for Life and Brauer’s public comments relate to pharmacists refusing to dispense birth control medication, their efforts — and their effects — are not limited to issues of reproductive rights; Brauer said during her O’Reilly Factor appearance that she refused to fill prescriptions for diet pills “due to the abuse potential in the area in which I was working.”And a caption on a photo accompanying a February 2 Santa Fe New Mexican article suggests that Pharmacists for Life’s agenda may go well beyond pharmacies. The caption reads:
GRAPHIC: 1. Sen. Bill Sharer, left, R-Farmington, meets Tuesday with supporters of his bill defining marriage in New Mexico as only between a man and a woman. Meeting with Sharer are representatives of the Pharmacists for Life and Life League of New Mexico, Abran Gabaldon, former Sen. Tom Benavides of Albuquerque and Manuel Rodriguez.
The good news is that pharmacists who refuse to follow the law — secular law, that is, and not whatever “divine law” they’ve dreamed up out of their own bigoted little imaginations — have created an effective backlash, leading several states to take action:
In Illinois, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) … issued an executive rule clarifying his view of state law: Any pharmacy that sells contraceptives must promptly fill a woman’s prescription for them.Four states, including California and New Jersey, are considering laws that would require pharmacists to fill prescriptions despite any religious or moral objections, unless they could find an alternative that doesn’t inconvenience the patient.
Culture war hits local pharmacy
Christian Science Monitor, April 8, 2005
Unfortunately, some radical rightists in elected office have often opted to side with pharmacists endangering the lives of their customers:
Thirteen states are considering giving pharmacists the kind of conscience-clause outs that doctors have, allowing them to refuse to fill some prescriptions that go against their personal beliefs. (Four already have such laws on the books.)In a related issue, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens (R) exercised a rare veto this week, for a bill that would have required all hospitals — including Catholic ones — to inform rape victims about the availability of emergency contraceptives. Among other concerns, he questioned the constitutionality of forcing religious institutions to engage in speech counter to their principles.
(Bill Owens? Oh, yeah, now there’s a real above-board, “family values” Christian. Not.)
Nevertheless:
Public opinion tends to come down in favor of the patient. In a November New York Times poll, just 16 percent of respondents said they believed a pharmacist should be able to refuse to dispense birth-control pills for religious reasons. Among white evangelical Christians, that number grew to just 24 percent.
But many of these “Christian” pharmacists don’t want to stop at merely refusing to fill a prescription:
“We intervene and stop prescriptions and make doctors change prescriptions,” says Karen Brauer, a pharmacist in Lawrenceburg, Ind.
By now, as DrugMonkey says at Your Pharmacist May Hate You, you might have thought…
…that this Pharmacists for Life outfit must be some big, powerful organization with a giant headquarters somewhere on K street, ready to deploy an army of lobbyists over to the halls of government power to get things done. Or you would think that they’d at least have an office. Think again. According to the group’s 2003 IRS filing (most recent available) they raised and spent less than $30,000 and had no paid employees. … Even though that’s not a lot of money as far as these advocacy groups go, I would think they would have at least been able to afford a copy of Microsoft Frontpage and/or someone who knows how to use the web-page building program to make a page that isn’t…um…hideously fucking ugly, but evidently not, as you can see here…
Adds Riffle:
The Pharmacists for Life group, though they claim to represent “over 1600+ pharmacists, and many hundreds of lay supporters, in the USA, Canada and worldwide,” seems to be run out Powell, Ohio, probably in the Kuhars’ home.The contact phone (740.881.5520) and post office box for PIL is the same as the vitamin-selling business that the Kuhar’s have at kuhar.com (known as Life Enterprises, though sometimes identified as Pro-Life Enterprises). Presumably the Marcia Kuhar listed there is Bogomir’s wife.
She’s also used the same PO Box and phone number as her contacts listed on the Central Ohio Association of Occupational Health Nurses, Inc., also known as COAOHN.
With this single phone number being used as Marcia’s contact number, PFL’s contact number, and the businesses’ contact number, PFL is probably running out of their house, which also houses their business. … [T]hey’re tiny and represent a very small number of religiously hyper=zealous pharmacists who do not want women to receive birth control.
Which leads me to the “good news” I promised you near the beginning of this post: There’s every reason to believe that the shakiness of Pharmacists for Life’s underpinning is not an anomaly — no matter how well-connected its adherents may be.
The regular bathroom-reading material in our house includes my better half’s subscription to Mother Jones. In a stroke of serendipity, while I was contemplating a way to tie everything I’d written above into the idea that maybe, just maybe, the Radical Religious Right wasn’t so big and powerful as it claimed, I noticed the current issue of MJ happened to be turned open to the feature, “The Myth of the Moral Majority” — which challenges the accepted notion that the American Radical Religious Right is, or ever was, as massive or as powerful as it makes itself out to be.
That article (which isn’t online yet) confirms exactly what I had been wondering, but for which I had no confirmation by way of hard facts.
What if, asks MJ, the numbers — “that nearly 80 percent of Americans are Christian, and 40 percent attend church weekly” — “and everything we’ve assumed they tell us about the power of the religious right — are wildly wrong?”
When newspaper reporter and author of The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church Christine Wicker…
…started looking into the numbers on church attendance, she found that researchers could vouch for only 18 percent of Americans being regular churchgoers — less than half the accepted figure. That led her to wonder about the already widely reported claim that 25 percent of Americans are evangelicals; could the real number also be less than half that? ……Wicker discovered that the numbers the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) releases for public consumption tell a much different story than the ones it uses internally. The organization claims 16 million members, but as one reverend cracks, “the FBI couldn’t find half of [them] if they had to.” A 2006 SBC report states that only 11 million of its members live in the same area as their home church anymore; that number includes those who have been double- or even triple-counted elsewhere. …
With more digging, Wicker came across a 2007 SBC report that found only 5.4 million adults attended services regularly enough to be considered church members. …
Factoring all this in, Wicker calculated that there are fewer than 4 million devoted Southern Baptists. Her math seems to be backed up by collection-plate totals: If the church truly has 16 million members, then they contributed a miserly $3.50 each to a nationwide fundraising campaign last year.
And it’s not just the Southern Baptists who appear to be playing number games. The National Association of Evangelicals, an umbrella group that does not include the SBC, claimed 30 million members on its website. When Wicker contacted the association for comment, the figure changed to 4.5 million. No one there could — or would — explain the sudden 85 percent drop in believers. …
The emperor’s-new-clothes flimsiness of these widely accepted exaggerated numbers says much about the cold calculation of far-right religious leaders. … “The idea that evangelicals are taking over America is one of the greatest publicity scams in history,” Wicker concludes, “a perfect coup accomplished by savvy politicos and religous leaders, who understand media weaknesses and exploit them brilliantly.” …
Whether they viewed it as a new political reality, megatrend, or a bogeyman, the media embraced the idea of a reenergized, monolithic Christianity and faithfully chronicled something that didn’t exist. …
Could it be that the seeming, teeming legions of evangelicals hell bent on destroying our chances of equality really aren’t all that and a chalice-o’-wafers?
The further we pull back the curtain, the more clearly the shape behind it comes into focus. The Great and Powerful Oz is a fraud.
Not that we should ever underestimate the enemy; they’ve proven themselves quite brilliant frauds. But the more they are exposed, the weaker they become.
And that, my friends, for those of us who want to be left to live our lives in peace — and freedom — is very good news indeed.
Further reading::
NOW v. Scheidler Timeline: The Complete Story (1984-2002)
NOW
NOW v. Scheidler in the Courts
NOW
Giving Until It Hurts: Pampered chefs revolt against population control.
Thomas Strobhar masquerades as a mere “president of an investment firm” for this thinly-veiled victory dance over pushing around Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2003
Why does Alan Keyes hate his lesbian daughter?
John Aravosis publishes the text of a message from Larry Klayman touting his association with Alan Keyes to eliminating the “radical homosexual” threat.
AMERICAblog, December 19, 2004
The NAACP and the Virgin Mary
Strobhar’s blatant racism is on full display as he uses the Virgin Mary as an excuse to ridicule NAACP president Kwesei Mfume.
January 22, 2005
Charles C. Boycott and America’s Christian Right
Mel Seesholtz, Counterbias.com, June 6, 2005
Religious Right Discovers Investment Activism; Bible Thumpers Boycott “Cultural Polluters”
Cynthia L. Cooper, CorpWatch, August 3, 2005
Antigay Conservatives Threaten Major Corporations
GFN, December 7, 2005
Bigot Pastor: Pump-and-Dump Microsoft
“I think it would be a wonderful idea for Bigot Reverend Hutcherson to try this. I really hope he goes ahead with this plan… …because pump-and-dump is illegal.”
A Stitch in Haste, January 25, 2006
Concerned Women for America: A Case Study
Steven Gardiner, Coalition for Human Dignity, August 28, 2006
Abortion foes’ new rallying point: Conservatives take on contraception
Judith Graham, Chicago Tribune, September 24, 2006
Conservative pastor urges buying Microsoft stock to fight its gay rights efforts (Ken Hutcherson)
Andrea James, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 8, 2008
The Success of AFA’s Ford Boycott Is a Disney-esque Fairy Tale
PajamasMedia, February 1, 2008
Permalink | Trackback | Category: AFA, Americans For Truth, Business/Economy, Christianity, Concerned Women, FRC, FRI/Paul Cameron, Health & Wellness, Homophobia, Marriage Equality, Peter LaBarbera, Radical Religious Right, Religion & Spirituality, Republicans
