Stupidest headline I’ve seen so far today — “How Hobby Lobby Split the Left and Set Back Gay Rights” at The Atlantic. I’m not seeing the Hobby Lobby decision split “the Left” at all. Have you?
It’s true that several gay-rights groups have withdrawn support from ENDA — the Employment Non-Discrimination Act — but their reasons are understandable. They say the bill has been so carved-out and watered down as to be useless. And they’re probably right. I’m not seeing any objections from other lefties.
What makes this article (by Molly Ball) especially pathetic is that her strongest examples of splitting on “The Left” are Third Way and Jim Wallis. Third Way is an organization of center-right trolls. And Jim Wallis is a troll, period.
Wallis fools a lot of people because he presumes to speak for the religious Left, and he’s written some books, such as God’s Politics, that spoke against the influence of extremist right-wing religion in U.S. politics. But over the years it has become plain he is no progressive himself; he just plays one on the Tee Vee.
Actual progressive religious people such as Frederick Clarkson have been calling out Wallis’s bullshit for years. Here’s just one article about Wallis out of a whole lot of others at the website Talk to Action.
In fact, here’s an interview of Wallis from Christianity Today where he plainly says he is no liberal and not part of the religious Left. He’s opposed to marriage rights and has been weaselly on reproductive rights, refusing to take a stand on the abortion issue but engaging in much winking and nodding toward the Right.
So no, just because Third Way and Jim Wallis and a few center-right Democrats are chewing their nails over the Hobby Lobby decision doesn’t mean “The Left” is split over it. It is not.
Anyone who wonders what actual progressive religion looks like are welcome to read my book, btw.
“How Hobby Lobby Split the Left and Set Back Gay Rightsâ€
Well sure everyone knows at least of half progressives don’t think women should have access to “lady parts” healthcare stuff, who does she think we are tea-tards? Miss Molly should have titled her article “How Israel’s Land Grab in GAZA Split the Left and Set Back human Rightsâ€, I realize she was probably working on this masterpiece before the latest invasion but I have found that microsoft word has this handy edit-replace feature, it works well, better than the spell check!
Spot on as usual, Maha!
Yes, from what I’ve seen and heard, it seems to be generally understood that women and LGBT people are natural allies in this fight. Molly Ball talks about striking a “balance between women’s rights and religious freedom,” but that’s nonsense. The only right that’s at issue here is the putative right of some to impose their religious freedom on others. It doesn’t really matter if you’re a woman, or a gay man, or even just a straight man who isn’t into this bronze age patriarchal bullshit, we all want the same thing here.
As long as we are discussing religious progressives, let us not forget that the Hobby Lobby decision was corporatist in addition to sexist. It established the bizarro concept of corporate religion; a brand-new legal absurdity, as blasphemous as it is exploitative.
I’ve never read anything my Molly Ball, but I’ve seen her a lot on TV, so I’m kind of surprised.
Btw – President Obama just signed an Executive Order that will prevent discrimination in companies which accept Federal money.
So, if their owners still want to discriminate against the gays, they can – but they’ll have to wean themselves off the government teat to do it.
I’m female,gay, old and poor. I’m starting to expect the Gestapo to appear at my door any minute to take me to the nearest Death Camp.
Could it be that the Israeli bombardment of Gaza is just another false flag operation by Obama to divert attention from: fast and furious, IRS targeting of patriots, Benghazi, the great Guatemalan toddler invasion, Obama’s general tyranny against god fearing gun owners everywhere? While watching msnbc today I became convinced, this is for sure a false flag. Why are the pro-tyranny socialist script writers at msnbc towing the pro-Israel, pro-patriot line? You know, Israel has a right to defend itself against fireworks (I mean rockets), Israel is only bombing hospitals and private homes because terrorists are storing weapons and future anti-Semites there? If Hamas gets it’s hands on all that gas money….. shhhhhh. We know these facts to be true but why is msnbc reporting them, are they in on Obama’s game? False Flag, Tyranny, Tyranny!
Buddhacrone …. Of those four characteristics that you identify yourself with, how would you prioritize them in the order of offense that would qualify you for the death camp. I assume that being old is the least egregious offense of the four according to the Conservative Right. So I’ll take the liberty of placing that at number four. Correct me if I’m wrong.
1.
2.
3.
4. old
uncledad …I thought that the downing of the airplane in the Ukraine was Obama’s attempt to divert attention away from Issa’s Benghazi investigations… Look look! Squirrel
Buddhacrone–
Sometimes it’s hard to avoid being disheartened. I am pretty much just old. But, I had a few moments back in the Dubya days, when I got pretty spooked. Nowadays, It seems like there is a huge supply of right wing true believers and they never take a day off. It can wear a person down for sure.
It’s not much consolation, but, this too shall pass, and maybe we’ll still be around to see it.