HR 1592, Some Conservative Leaders, and Dishonesty

I've been reading and watching as other bloggers have posted very careful and insightful, vibrant and well-documented coverage of the propoganda campaign run by specific convservative christian organizations to obstruct passage of HR 1592. What can I add to this discussion? - when every false claim has been refuted with concrete substantiating evidence. (Amazing great job, to everyone working on this).

This is an important quote from the link above:

the religious right will continue to have the federally protected right to preach hatred from the pulpit and disseminate the videos of white supremacists.

I like patterns, the way individual parts reveal a larger whole. It occurs to me that act of lying, along with the specific lies and frauds being told some conservative christians, by professional homophobes, is worth examining.

A bit About Lying.

How Lying Evolves

From about age 4 on, children lie for many of the same reasons adults do: to avoid punishment, to gain an advantage, to protect against an unwanted consequence, and even to boost self-esteem. Youngsters, like adults, sometimes lie to demonstrate power, to maintain privacy, or to protect a friend. When a child lies, she is essentially trying to change a situation, to reconstruct things the way she wants them to be.

Summary from Wikipedia

"The capacity to lie is noted early and nearly universally in human development. Evolutionary psychology is concerned with the theory of mind which people employ to simulate another's reaction to their story and determine if a lie will be believable. The most commonly cited milestone, what is known as Machiavellian intelligence, is at the age of about four and a half years, when children begin to be able to lie convincingly. Before this, they seem simply unable to comprehend that anyone doesn't see the same view of events that they do — and seem to assume that there is only one point of view — their own — that must be integrated into any given story.

And Dr. Gail Saltz explains why they do it and how to spot one

They lie to protect themselves, look good, gain financially or socially and avoid punishment. Quite often the person who has been deceived knows that this type of liar has to a certain extent deluded him or herself and is therefore to be somewhat pitied. A much more troubling group is those who lie a lot — and knowingly — for personal gain. These people may have a diagnosis called antisocial personality disorder, also known as being a sociopath, and often get into scrapes with the law.

One more source, and then a recap.

"It's tied in with self-esteem," says University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert Feldman. "We find that as soon as people feel that their self-esteem is threatened, they immediately begin to lie at higher levels."

Lying is something that humans learn very early, and we are not the only living thing on the planet that lies. The ability to lie is believed to arise when children realize that there are other world views besides their own - lies start as a means of altering other people's worldview to match that of the person telling the lie. Reasons for altering other people's worldview, with lies, include self-protection, increase status, personal material gain, and punishment avoidance. Self esteem is a trigger for lying - threats to self-esteem trigger lying.

The Basic Lies Being Told

I'm going to settle for summarizing and categorizing the many different lies being told by some conservative christians in their efforts to stop HR 1592. The actual quotations are so readily available, and have so ably been exposed and refuted elsewhere, there's no point in repeating the ugliness one more time. I will post list of the resources I used, at the very end of this post.

I've collected and grouped the most common lies being used against HR1592 that I found. If anyone has other examples, and a citation, I will happily add them and revised this post accordingly. Just post a comment with your data and I'll follow-up as appropriate.

It is not necessary
- Hate crimes against GLBTQ punished more severely than other crimes
- Hate crimes against GLBTQ exaggerated/GLBTQ do not need(deserve) protection
It hreatens the special status of Heterosexuality
- grants government recognition to non-heterosexual identities
- Silences opposition to non-heterosexual identities
- elevates one group of Americans above others, creating a special class
It violates the Civil Rights of People who oppose homosexuality
- leads directly to an end of free speech
It violates Religious Freedom of people who oppose homosexuality
- makes it illegal to preach from the pulpit “homosexuality is a sin”
- criminalizes Christianity, reading the Bible, etc
- Make Anti-Gay ‘Thoughts’ Illegal

The heart of the matter – the role of religious teaching:
- The Recast ‘counseled or induced’ as ‘preach’ lie

Lies Unpacked

So, why these specific lies? To get to motive, the underlying desire or fear, we have to unpack the lies, see what truth has been exchanged for a lie, what is being left out, etc.

First, there is the group of lies "It is not necessary". For decades, people who condemn homosexuality have been insisting that 'Christians don't bash gays', that the whole phenomena is wildly exagerated, and so on. The reality is that studies have repeatedly shown that people who commit violent crimes against GLBTQ people solely as an act of violence, cite their religious condemnation as the reason for the crime. The FBI, which tracks hate crimes data, has recognized for several years now that hate crimes are under-reported, current reported accounts at best represents a third of all hate crimes, and some data suggests, is but a tenth of all incidents. The truth that is being hidden is simple: teaching condemnation of homosexuality directly correlates to harm inflicted on GLBTQ people. In other words - the bad tree bears bad fruit.

What we have then, in the "it is not necessary" lie, are lies told to avoid punishment. "Nothing wrong is happening, so don't punish us" & "We've done nothing wrong". And it doesn't take much digging to find cases of professional homophobes, and f*gbashers, blaming the victim instead, essentially declaring that GLBTQ deserve whatever society decides to inflict on them. Here is a horrific example, courtesy of Pam's House Blend.

Public Defender Earl Witter resorted to the vernacular yesterday as he advised members of the gay community to "hold your corners", and avoid flaunting their sexual preferences in the face of those who are repulsed by their behavior. Condemning violence in all forms, particularly against homosexuals, the public defender, however, warned members of the gay community that if they continued to shove their tendencies on others who found it repugnant, it might incite violence.
"It may provoke a violent breach of the peace," Mr. Witter told The Gleaner yesterday evening. Earlier in the day, he had addressed the hot-button topic during a Rotary Club luncheon at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville, Manchester. During the luncheon, Mr. Witter said that, as with most things, "tolerance has its limits" and gays and lesbians should be sensitive to the "repulsion that others feel" and should not be so "brazen".
"What takes place behind closed doors between consenting males is ordinarily beyond the reach of the law so they (gays) should confine their activities to their bed chambers and not, by their conduct, provoke disapproving reactions. In other words 'hold yu corner,'" Mr. Witter said.

The lie "it is not necessary" also insinuate or declares, that GLBTQ are not worthy of protecting from violent oppression and persecution. It implies that we are less human, less members of society, because of who we are. And so, as a lie, it serves the purpose of boosting the self-esteem of the liar.

The next category of lies is the "It threatens the special status of Heterosexuality " which agains assumes the derogatory and abusive premise that GLBTQ people are intrinsically inferior to heterosexuals. One could explore for several servers worth of data storage the historical precedents of people asserting that they are intrinsically superior to others, and the harm that resulted. It wouldn't be that hard to link the generation of people who condemn homosexuality today, to the generations that enforced segregation, and back to the generations that died to maintain slavery, and so on. Heterosexuality is rewarded with material benefits, and some people perceive those benefits as a zero-sum game - if GLBTQ people get those benefits, the worth of the benefits that heterosexuals receive is reduced.

This then is a lie about personal gain, self-esteem, and material profit. It is sad to see people who claim to follow Jesus Christ giving themselves over to Schadenfreude instead of love your "neighbor as yourself.

Next up, the lie "It Violates the Civil Rights of People who oppose homosexuality". Unpacking this doesn't lead to very Christian, or American, result. The Hate Crimes law prescribes a punitive measure for an activity that harms other people, it is essentially a hindrance to persecution. So, when opponents of HR 1592 suggest or declare that it theatens their civil rights - what right are they defending?

The right to hurt other people without consequence or accountability. Trouble is, I can't find that in the Constitution or its amendments. If anyone knows where the right to harm other people without consequence is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, please let me know ASAP.

The irony, of course, is that at this very moment, the civil rights of GLBTQ people are severely restricted compared to those of heterosexual americans. In fact, heterosexual felons, including people convicted of multiple murders, have civil rights that GLBTQ do not. In this group of lies, we have a group of people with the fullest set of civil rights who actively restrict the civil rights of others, falsely claiming that their own rights are endangered. I call that selfish, at the very least.

Personally, I think this next one, "It violates Religious Freedom of people who oppose homosexuality", is a tactic that those who oppress GLBTQ will come to regret ever mentioning. After all, any law, regulation, prohibition, Constitutional amendment or other legislative act that penalizes or restricts or excludes GLBTQ people, intrinsically violates the religious freedom of GLBTQ people - by forcing them to live within the prohibitions of someone else's religion over and above their own. Religion belief, specifically, conservative religious belief, is the root and foundation of anti-homosexual prejudice. Other excuses and explanations simply do not hold up under scrutiny. DOMA violates the religious freedom of GLBTQ people, limiting their civil rights in opposition to their own religious beliefs. So to with Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the various bans of same-sex marriage at state levels, and so on.

So, in 'violates Religious freedom of those who oppose homosexuality' we again have a group of people who, falsely, fear having done to them what they are already doing to others. No doubt it is easier to lie, by making themselves the potential victims, than to face the fact that they are directly and deliberately, victimizing other people.

The heart of it all is the idea that ministers might be held accountable if, in their sermons, they go beyond reading Scripture, to overtly ordering, encouraging, suggesting, violence against GLBTQ people. This is what is going on in the fraudulent quote that the Traditional Values Coalition publized. On Good as You and Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, you can find a easy to follow comparison of the false quote with the real one. TVC rewrote the quote to leave out an extremely critical nuance: "counseled or induced him through the sermon to commit that act" - the level of participation that would make the minister not just a source of opinion, but a co-conspirator.

There is a very good reason why those who persecute GLBTQ in the name of religion made that leap. The law in the U.S. holds very strict standards for proving conspiracy, and it would take a very explicit statement by a minister to actually trigger prosecution. But, within the context of mainstream Christian churchs, the laws, the rules, the do's and don'ts that a minister preaches on from the pulpit - are "God's commands", not "God's suggestions". In other words, within the walls of the church, the is the expectation that the words of the minister's mouth are to manifest in the deeds of the congregation.

Let's take a side-trip for a moment to look at a more concrete example.

Noting that the call to prayer is “broadcast” five times a day while “Christians have a hard time getting a manger scene put up one time a year,” Perkins asked, “How is it that in our nation where Muslims account for about 6 million of the 300 million living in this country, and Christians comprise 100 million, that Muslims can control the public policy and we cannot? I suggest to you that it is because Christians have become apathetic to our role in shaping the policy in our nation, and it could have deadly consequences, not only for the unborn, but for the living as well.”
But Perkins’ invitation to rage was no mere commiseration of resentment; it was a call to action. He did, however, qualify his call.
“I am not here to call the church to partisan action,” Perkins explained. “I am not here advocating for a political party. I am here advocating for Christian citizenship.”
Lest any of the assembled miss the point, Perkins offered up the story of Phineas, grandson of Moses’ brother Aaron, from Numbers 25. Phineas was rewarded by God with an “everlasting priesthood” for killing an Israelite and his Midian lover because God had forbidden the mixing of the men of Israel with the women of that tribe.
The story is, essentially, the vindication of the criminalization of “miscegenation” — a sentiment consistent with Perkins’ past courting of such racist groups as the Ku Klux Klan and the Council of Conservative Citizens, America’s largest white supremacist organization, according to journalist Max Blumenthal. (Perkins bought, on behalf of political client Senator Woody Jenkins, a phone-bank list from former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke.)

- - -

“We read that Phineas arose and he took action…,” Perkins said.
“Not only is prayer required…I warn you that if you begin to pray for our nation that, at some point in time, you’re gonna be prayin’ and you’re gonna feel a tap on your shoulder and hear, ‘Son, daughter, I’ve heard your prayer; now I want you to do something about it.’”
Just in case his message should be misconstrued, however, Perkins offered this caveat: “Now, let me be clear, in case the media’s here,” he said, “I’m not advocating you go home and get a pitchfork out of your storage shed and run into your neighbor’s house.” Phineas, the Bible tells us, used a javelin.

So, though Perkins, from the pulpit, backpedals to avoid a prosecutable statement, he advocates 'do something about it' and 'taking action' - offering a specifically violent example.

The Bible is full of examples of people taking action - to heal the sick, or raise the dead, or to right wrongs, or to end injustice. But, instead, Perkins used as his sole example:

7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and into the woman's body.

The point is that Christian clergy, particularly conservative clergy, see their role as a leadership one; giving instructions with the expectation that those instructions will be followed. And, on the subject of homosexuality, conservative Christian clergy are teaching condemnation on a universal scope, not a personal one. They are not saying that the belief 'homosexuality is sin' is a personal issue - one each person is to apply to his or her own life. They are teaching it as a societal and worldly issue, one that society and the world is to apply to everyone in society, everyone in the world.

Personally, I believe that the TVC has, with this fraud, as good as admitted that they know that there is a causal link between what they preach about GLBTQ people, and the persecution, condemnation, violence, and discrimination that GLBTQ endure.

They know they have done wrong. They know they are nurturing an evil tree that bears only evil fruit.

They're just not willing to stop.

Motive for the specific lies

Without mad mind-reading skills, or a little help from the Psychic Friends Hotline, we can't know for sure what really motivated the various parties to tell the lies they did. But, there is certainly evidence for

Avoid punishment for wrongs they knowingly committed

increase status

personal material gain

Protect self-esteem

And in my personal opinion, I think the latter is the most important to them. These are organizations, and men and women, who have made themselves important to millions of other people, made themselves relevant and interesting, garnered the attention and accolades of millions, by abusing and persecuting GLBTQ people. Anything that rebukes the persecution of GLBTQ people, anything that says 'hey, what you are doing is wrong' - threatens to deprive of them of the praise and adoration that gives their lives meaning.

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My thanks to the following blogs for providing so much substantiated evidence about the lying being done by some conservative christians regarding HR 1592. By no means is this a comprehensive list, undoubtably there are many, many other people whose work I just didn't see.
http://www.talk2action.org/
http://queertardo.blogspot.com/2007/05/concerned-woman-name-bam-bam-speaks-up.html http://www.pamshouseblend.com/frontPage.do
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/individuals/matt_barber/
http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2007/04/clearly_cut_by_.html
http://www.q-notes.com/top2007/top02_042107.html
http://nlsngrc.blogspot.com/
http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2007/05/tvc_the_least_t.html
http://holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com/
Professional Homophobes:
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/23860.html