The letter, as submitted via their websites -
Dear Senator Kyl,
I am writing to you today in regard to the events of Thursday, July 12, where, on the floor of the Senate, a group of religious extremists tried to shout down the prayer offered by a spiritual leader from another faith.
In a country such as ours that has as one of its founding principles that people will befree to worship peacefully and without fear of persecution, this sort of sectarian intolerance is embarrassing and unacceptable.
I urge you to condemn the behavior of the extremists and to disavow any ties to their umbrella group, Operation Save America.
A message must be sent; one that states that tolerance of other faiths does not diminish one's own faith, but that suppression of one faith inevitably leads to the suppression of all.
Thank you,
[cpmaz]
Note: This same note is also being sent to Sen. McCain.
Personally, the letter seems restrained and reasonable to me; however, I expect some blowback from one or more wingers over it.
Oh well.
Note: I did change the names where appropriate when I submitted the letter via McCain's website. :)
Now, have a great weekend!
3 comments:
Excellent letter, and I certainly hope you get a positive response.
Can you give me some examples of how 'extremists' tried to shut down the prayer offered up by the non-Christian pastor? I'm a politically involved evangelical Christian who attends a large church and I don't know one person who has complained about it. I would be one of those 'extremists' you refer too. The myth of the 'religious right' is just a myth. Ever since Congressman Lyndon Johnson was able to get a law passed forbidding political involvement by churches, there has been no political discourse from the pulpits of Christian churches. In 38 years as a born-again Christian, I have never heard a pastor in the dozen or so churches in 5 different states utter anything political. You may be thinking of organizations not connected to churches. I would love to see some evidence that any Christians forcibly attempted to deny anyone else their time in front of congress. If some Christians complained after the fact.....so what? Don't you believe in free speech? All I see anymore is institutional bigotry practiced against Christians. You should write the senators a letter complaining about that
Truthteller - Read the prior post on the topic...
http://cpmazrandommusings.blogspot.com/2007/07/republican-idea-of-religious-freedom.html
There are links to an article on the topic (including the arrests on the Senate floor!) and a couple of blog posts on the events, including one from USA Today.
Ummmm, the 'religious right' is no myth; but it's not monolithic either. Most religious people, even conservative ones, would never behave as disrespectfully as these extremists did.
The problem here is not the beliefs they espouse; even if one disagrees with them, they are protected by the 1st Amendment.
No, the problem here is the behavior, and that is *not* similarly protected.
Personal note: WOW! It took almost a week for me to receive some RW blowback over this!
I must be slipping. :)
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