The C Street Widening Project

Heath Shuler is a Stupak:

The Oppressed Minority

As holy activities in the High Country wind down for the day, we thought we'd quiz you. Who said this? We'll tell you at the end of the post.

"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history."

Hint: He also said this:

The noose has tightened around the necks of Christians to keep them from speaking out on certain moral issues. And it all was embodied in something called the Hate crimes bill that President Obama said was a major victory for America. I’m not sure if America was the beneficiary. [...] We have voted into office a group of people who are opposed to many of the fundamental Christian beliefs of our nation.

Yes, in this country we are somehow supposed to believe that Christians are "oppressed". An oppressed minority in need of protection, even. The fact that that protection already exists seems not to matter, from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

Under Title VII:

• Employers may not treat employees or applicants more or less favorably because of their religious beliefs or practices - except to the extent a religious accommodation is warranted. For example, an employer may not refuse to hire individuals of a certain religion, may not impose stricter promotion requirements for persons of a certain religion, and may not impose more or different work requirements on an employee because of that employee's religious beliefs or practices.
• Employees cannot be forced to participate -- or not participate -- in a religious activity as a condition of employment.
• Employers must reasonably accommodate employees' sincerely held religious practices unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer. A reasonable religious accommodation is any adjustment to the work environment that will allow the employee to practice his religion. An employer might accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices by allowing: flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or swaps, job reassignments and lateral transfers, modification of grooming requirements and other workplace practices, policies and/or procedures.
• An employer is not required to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs and practices if doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employers' legitimate business interests. An employer can show undue hardship if accommodating an employee's religious practices requires more than ordinary administrative costs, diminishes efficiency in other jobs, infringes on other employees' job rights or benefits, impairs workplace safety, causes co-workers to carry the accommodated employee's share of potentially hazardous or burdensome work, or if the proposed accommodation conflicts with another law or regulation.
• Employers must permit employees to engage in religious expression, unless the religious expression would impose an undue hardship on the employer. Generally, an employer may not place more restrictions on religious expression than on other forms of expression that have a comparable effect on workplace efficiency.
• Employers must take steps to prevent religious harassment of their employees. An employer can reduce the chance that employees will engage unlawful religious harassment by implementing an anti-harassment policy and having an effective procedure for reporting, investigating and correcting harassing conduct.

It is also unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on religion or for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation under Title VII.

Looks like those evil, "special rights", librul laws protect Christians, too.

The viewpoints and stories of the truly oppressed are NEVER heard. The for-profit media world in which we live considers their viewpoints to be irrelevant, or worse--unprofitable. So, look around the dial in the High Country, and witness the oppression of the poor Christians in action:

There are at least nine radio stations used by the oppressed Christian minority to lament their plight. What a pity. Depending on where you live in the High Country, the oppressed Christians can be heard on up to nineteen radio stations.

Oh, the oppression! It hurts so bad!

The person quoted above? Pat Robertson.

Love LPFM

You can bet that mainstream corporate radio is hating this:



How will they fight it? More bogus "studies"?

Forced Sterilization: Private Sector Style

Ah, the private sector. Always right. And oh, so good for our society:



These women are just lazy.

Wednesday Night Sermon

A Baptist Church near Asheville, N.C., is hosting a "Halloween book burning" to purge the area of "Satan's" works, which include all non-King James versions of the Bible, popular books by many religious authors and even country music.

The website for the Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, N.C., says there are "scriptural bases" for the book burning.

...

The event also seeks to destroy "Satan's music" which includes every genre from country,rap and rock to "soft and easy"...

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Full story from rawstory.com.

Authoritarian Mindset

Why does it seem that Americans are so divided these days? Is it OK to ask this question? We think so.

There's a new book out there which examines the role that authoritarianism plays in contributing to the political divisiveness in our country today--as well as something known as the "authoritarian mindset". Very interesting stuff.

Glenn Greenwald had a good interview with one of the authors of the book--Jonathan Weiler of UNC-Chapel Hill. The book is backed up with empirical data, which makes it all the more fascinating.

Listen to the interview here. Glenn's full post here.

The book -- Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics -- examines newly available empirical evidence to contend that America's political culture is more stratified than ever before. It makes the case that higher levels of authoritarian behavior -- such as all-consuming tribalistic loyalties and rage over group blasphemy (i.e., criticism of the group and its leaders from within or without) -- is the primary culprit, particularly (though not exclusively) among right-wing movements.

...
Weiler and Hetherington's analysis builds on and, in many important respects, departs from the excellent books on the same topic by John Dean (which I wrote about here) and Canadian Psychology Professor Bob Altemeyer (which I wrote about many times, including here). What makes this book genuinely impressive is that it remains grounded at all times in hard empirical evidence while simultaneously advancing provocative arguments about America's political conflicts...

Scary