Hyperbole on Parade

As I predicted, the Christianists are attacking marriage equality by raising the specter of a country without freedom of religion.

Money quote: ""If you don't care about this campaign, don't want to get involved, you can go to jail and start a wonderful prison ministry," Garlow adds. "But if you want religious freedom, we're going to have to win this thing.""

What's Keeping Me Awake Nights, 2

As I previously posted, I think the greatest weapon in the Christianists' arsenal is the appeal to religious freedom. My sense is that people recoil a bit internally at any infringement of religious freedom, and at first glance many stories, like this one, can come across as an unfair impingement on the right of someone to adhere to the tenets of their faith.

But in a public position, you have to follow the law or accept the consequences.

What if the situation were different in some aspects, but at the core the issues were exactly the same? Say a civil servant in some county in Alabama is in charge of the licenses that must be issued to any gathering of 20 or more with live or amplified music. But this citizen knows those parties almost always include dancing, something she feels the Bible very clearly prohibits. So she never approves one. So there could be no public dances, no dancing in bars, and certainly no dancing in the streets. She thinks it a sin, and can choose not to condone it -- but she can't withhold performing her civic duties, without being willing to accept the consequences that might come with that.