Replies to post #59106 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[OrangeFluffyCat]

Mullah Makeover: California Theocrat Seeks Kinder, Gentler Image

August 11th

Wealthy Religious Right activist Howard F. Ahmanson Jr. has a problem: For years he poured money into the coffers of a theocratic organization so extreme that it advocated imposing "biblical law" on America and even executing gays, adulterers, fornicators, blasphemers, "witches," "incorrigible" teenagers and those who worship "false" gods.

Ahmanson was so enthusiastic about the Chalcedon Foundation, a prominent "Christian Reconstructionist" think tank founded by the late Rousas J. Rushdoony, that he sat on its board of directors. Over the years, Ahmanson gave the California-based group more than $700,000.

In 1985, Ahmanson told the Orange County Register that his goal was a "total integration of biblical law into our lives." He is known for his strident attacks on legal abortion and gay people and his advocacy of creationism in public schools. He has poured millions into right-wing groups to remake America as a fundamentalist Christian nation.

But now Ahmanson wants people to see his kinder, gentler side - and he's turning to the Register for help. The newspaper has been running a five-part series that portrays Ahmanson in a mostly positive light and delves into his troubled childhood.

Born into fabulous wealth in 1950 - his father owned a savings and loan and left him $2.5 billion - Ahmanson nevertheless had to struggle with "social awkwardness, odd mannerism and the awareness of being somehow different," reports the newspaper. He was later diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome.

The paper reports how Ahmanson spent his days mostly alone in a mansion surrounded by servants and how embarrassed he was to be sent to school via limousine. When his parents divorced when he was 10, Ahmanson was crushed.

Other stories discussed Ahmanson's courtship of his wife Roberta, former religion editor at the Register, and allowed him to wax philosophically on questions such as "What is your favorite movie?," "What will heaven be or look like?" and "What is your idea of a perfect day?"

Ahmanson apparently realized he had an image problem when politicians starting sending back his contributions. He formed a political action committee in the 1990s that funded social conservatives and free-market candidates. The PAC was so successful that for a brief period Ahmanson's Republican allies took control of the California legislature.

But many Ahmanson-backed candidates failed to win re-election, and as word of Ahmanson's views spread, people began to distance themselves from him. In 2002, he sent a $3,000 check to Linda Lingle, a Republican running for governor of Hawaii. Lingle's campaign sent it back after a local group called Hawaii Citizens for Separation of Church and State pointed out that Ahmanson money funded a group that wants to execute gays.

Even with the PR blitz, Ahmanson can't seem to bring himself to disavow the more extreme elements of the Reconstructionist philosophy. "I think what upsets people is that Rushdoony seemed to think - and I'm not sure about this - that a godly society would stone people for the same thing that people in ancient Israel were stoned," Ahmanson said. "I no longer consider that essential."

But Ahmanson couldn't bring himself to ruling out stoning entirely. "It would still be a little hard to say that if one stumbled on a country that was doing that, that it is inherently immoral, to stone people for these things," he said. "But I don't think it's at all a necessity."

A little advice to Ahmanson's handlers: It take more than a handful of puff pieces in a newspaper to whitewash 25 years of activism on behalf of some of the most extreme Religious Right groups in the nation.

Noted Ahmanson critic Fred Clarkson, "To the degree that there is a threat to constitutional democracy in the long run and the erosion of religious freedom in the short run, Ahmanson owns a lot of responsibility for that."


The 5 part puff article is here
http://www.ocregister.com/news/2004/ahmanson/

[OrangeFluffyCat]

Faith-Based Bully?: Towey Bashes Anti-Bias Laws
August 10

The Bush administration's point man for pushing the "faith-based" agenda has promised to fight local government ordinances that stand in the way of federal funding for religiously based social service providers.

During a visit last week to Maine, Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, groused about anti-discrimination ordinances that bar federal grants to religious groups that discriminate against minorities, such as gays. In a meeting with some leaders of Catholic Charities of Maine, Towey specifically referred to a Portland measure that restricted some federal Housing and Urban Development funds from flowing to the group. (The Portland ordinance requires all city contractors to provide employee benefits to gay couples or unmarried partners.)

In a twisting of the facts, Towey somehow turned a city ordinance intended to promote equal treatment in employment for all citizens into a discrimination threat against religious groups.

"Sometimes you see local governments that bully faith-based organizations and basically tell them that they have to compromise their religious beliefs and tenets if they want to partner with government," Towey told the Catholic Charity leaders.

Towey then assured the group that the Bush administration is bent on doing something about those pesky local anti-discrimination laws. He touted the president's executive orders that allow federal funds to be awarded to faith-based groups even if they refuse to follow state and federal civil rights laws. He added that the White House is studying "what to do when local ordinances discriminate against faith-based organizations like they do here in Portland."

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, questioned the Towey tirade.

"It is not bullying to tell a group that it has to obey the same laws as everyone else," Lynn told the Associated Press. "Mr. Towey, although he talks about a level playing field, in fact wants to require secular groups to abide by civil rights laws but not religious groups. Frankly, they all should abide by basic principles of fairness and equality that we find in the Constitution, if they get federal funds."

The Bush administration has failed to win congressional approval of its "faith-based" initiative in part because it would allow federal dollars to go to religious social services that discriminate in hiring. President George W. Bush has used executive orders to force several federal agencies to award public dollars to faith-based groups without the usual constitutional and civil rights safeguards.

Earlier in August, the president reiterated his support for the faith-based initiative during a speech before the Knights of Columbus convention in Dallas. Bush praised the Catholic men's group, calling them "soldiers in the armies of compassion" and assured them that they "have a friend in this administration."

Bush also announced the release of $43 million in funding through the "Compassion Capital" program and said that he believed "one of the most effective ways our government can help those in need is to help the charities and community groups that are doing God's work every day. That's what I believe government ought to do. I believe government needs to stand on the side of faith-based groups, not against faith-based groups, when they come to saving lives."

Touting addiction vouchers that will fund religion-based treatment programs, Bush said, "Government is not good at changing hearts. The Almighty God is good at changing hearts, which happens to be the cornerstone of effective faith-based programs.'

[Rick Faurot]

LMAO! Moon owns the Republicrooks and he is one of the top ten weirdest pseudo religious FREAKS on the planet! Of course, this means he is right at home with the rest of the pseudo religious freaks in the Republicrook tent.