From: Task Force Media <media@thetaskforce.org>
Date: Jan 17, 2006 3:36 PM
Subject: Religious right's moral failures a result of repressive religion
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NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE
National Religious Leadership Roundtable
Press Release
MEDIA CONTACT:
Richard Lindsay
Media Liaison
646.358.1474
rlindsay@thetaskforce.org
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January 17, 2006
Articles of Faith:
Religious right's moral failures a result of repressive religion
By Rev. Steven Baines
As someone who was raised and ordained as a Southern Baptist I
was saddened, but not shocked, at news of the recent arrest of
Rev. Lonnie Latham, a minister from Tulsa, Okla., and executive
committee member of the virulently anti-gay Southern Baptist
Convention. Rev. Latham was reportedly arrested for
propositioning a male undercover police officer in front of a
motel known as a high-traffic area for gay hustlers.
Unfortunately, Rev. Latham's story is one repeated by those in
the darkest corners of the closet who are trapped by the
damaging teachings of misguided religious leaders.
The fall of this religious-right figure is part of an inevitable
cycle of scandal, as the self-appointed guardians of
"traditional values," their moral ships sinking from under them,
find themselves in the lifeboat with the rest of us sinners. The
moral hypocrisy of many right-wing religious leaders comes from
their
fundamental misunderstanding of religion as the practice
of a complicated and esoteric set of rules designed to restrict
human freedom, rather than a way of living which frees
individuals to lives of greater compassion and personal growth.The incidences of national conservative religious leaders caught
in scandal are many, and run the gamut
from the tragic hypocrisy
of the closet to personal ethical lapses to outright crimes.Here are a few recent high-profile examples:
Ralph Reed -- Reed, the former executive director of the
Christian Coalition, is embroiled in the Jack Abramoff lobbying
scandal and stands accused of using funds Christian
conservatives had donated to fight the spread of gambling, to
actually promote gambling on Native-American reservations.
Monsignor Eugene Clark -- Clark used his pulpit at St. Patrick's
Cathedral in New York City and program on the Eternal Word
Television Network to blame gay priests for the Catholic sex
abuse scandal and once denounced the United States as "the most
immoral country in the Western Hemisphere." He resigned in
August 2005 after an affair with his married secretary.
William Bennett -- Bennett is the standard-bearer of the
right-wing "traditional values" crusade and chief propagator of
one of the most damaging lies being spread about the gay
community: the "statistic" invented by a discredited
psychologist that the average age of death of gay men is 43. In
2003, it was revealed that Bennett had a gambling addiction
which he kept hidden from his family, despite losing a reported
$8 million.
John Paulk -- Paulk is the former chair of Exodus International
who appeared on the cover of Newsweek in 1998 as an "ex-gay,"
and founder of Focus on the Family's ex-gay program Love Won
Out. He was discovered and photographed in September 2000 buying
drinks for patrons in a gay bar in Washington, D.C. Although
Paulk left Focus on the Family in 2003 to pursue "other ministry
opportunities," Love Won Out continues to hold events across the
country.
It is not my intention to cast stones of condemnation at these
individuals. We all have times when we need grace and
forgiveness for our ethical failings or inconsistencies, whether
from religious communities or from the community at large. There
is, however, a profound need to understand that,
when religion
is used to bring repression and darkness rather than liberation
and light, it is toxic to both leaders and followers. It is
inevitable that those who pile so much guilt on the rest of the
world will sooner or later be crushed by it themselves.The self-loathing that drives some public figures who have made
careers of espousing "moral values" into lives of deception as
they sneak into dive bars, cheap motels or gambling casinos for
a night's escape from a life of repression is the same fear and
shame that causes them to lash out at lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) people. The life-altering message that I and
so many other LGBT people of faith have found is that freedom
comes not from lies and denial, but by recognizing our mutual
connection to all our neighbors with honesty and humility in the
face of the Creator.
Based in Washington, D.C., Rev. Steven Baines is an elder in the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and a member of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force National Religious
Leadership Roundtable. He serves as chaplain of Gay, Lesbian and
Affirming Disciples.
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First convened in 1998, the National Religious Leadership
Roundtable of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is an
interfaith collaboration of more than forty denominations and
faith-related organizations. The Roundtable seeks to reframe the
public religious dialogue on issues involving the lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community by amplifying the
voices of LGBT-affirming people of faith, countering religious
voices of bigotry and intolerance, and working to advance full
equality for all.
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Cross-posted in GLBT
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2374421&mesg_id=2374421For more examples of Republican and religious-right hypocrisy:
Bobo's World
Dispatches from the American Heartland.
http://heartlandvalues.blogspot.com/The never-ending chronicle of church-related crime
http://heartlandvalues.blogspot.com/2000/06/never-ending-chronicle-of-church.htmlRepublican Hypocrisy Revealed
http://www.armchairsubversive.com/The Republican Wife-Cheating Hall of Fame
http://www.americaheldhostile.com/cheating.htmlRed Morals
http://tesibria.typepad.com/redmorals/Master List of Scandals and Misdeeds
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_oet&address=358x357 Large and incomplete list of Republicans who have been indicted, or are under investigation
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/gopscorecard.htm
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