The Christian Right is Attacking the Very Thing that Allows Them the Freedom to Their Own Bigotry

The Christian Right is attacking the very thing that allows them the freedom to their own bigotry.

This has been on my mind a lot since I watched the Netflix documentary called, The Family. That documentary series dives deep into the most influential religious group you’ve never heard of. This group created and continues to run the annual National Prayer Breakfast, which has been attended by every president since Eisenhower. The group has also infiltrated the U.S. Congress and sends elected U.S. representatives to nations all over the world to cozy up to governments abroad, as well. All this in an attempt to spread their version of “traditional family values” and to place leaders who will work to create laws to strip rights from anyone who doesn’t fit their mold of biblically-based morals and values. That documentary really opened my eyes and, frankly, creeped me out and terrified me. But it also connects a lot of dots and explains so much that otherwise would be very confusing. I wrote in more detail about this documentary here if you would like more information.

The Christian Right seems to ignore or overlook the fact that it is the Separation of Church and State–the very thing that they are working so diligently to circumvent–that gives them the freedom to hold their values so dear. They think that when others don’t share their beliefs and values that it somehow is an attack on them. Nobody is pointing at conservative Christians and telling them what they can or can not believe. That is simply not happening. Here is what is really happening: conservative Christians are trying to take the Establishment Clause out of the Constitution and force their values upon everyone. When people attack that, the conservative Christian’s mind thinks  that their rights to believe as they choose are being attacked. NOT HAPPENING. Conservative Christian, the Constitution protects your right to your beliefs just as much as everyone else–no more so, just the same. You do not get that, conservative Christian, you just don’t. You insist on having your cake and eating everyone else’s cake. And, by the way, what could be less Christ-like than that?

This week, a story about a Baptist minister (who was also a police detective) in Tennessee went viral. A video surfaced of Pastor Grayson Fritts preaching to his congregation earlier this summer and it was widely shared on social media. In this sermon, Fritts was railing like a madman about homosexuality. This public servant and “man of God” pounded the pulpit for nearly an hour spitting venom against Pride Month. He argued vehemently that the Bible demands that gays be executed and that it’s the responsibility of our government to see that this is done. Below are just a few selected quotes from his ranting message.

• At various points Fritts referred to the LGBTQ community as “sodomites,” “freaks,” and “animals,” as he insisted that the government needs to do its “duty” and round them all up and charge them with a “capital crime.”
• “They are worthy of death,” he screamed.
• “I’m sick of sodomy getting crammed down our throats.”
• “It’s infecting our culture.”
• “God has instilled the power of civil government to send the police in 2019 out to the LGBT freaks and arrest them and have a trial for them, and if they are convicted, then they are to be put to death…the Bible says that sentence should be carried out speedily.”
• Fritts said that gays are “easy to spot” these days so it should be simple to find them and arrest them. “[They are out there in public being] flamboyant and walking around like a bunch of Twinkies.”
• Of the Pride Parades, Fritts said, “Man, hey, call the riot team, we’ve got a bunch of them we’re going to get convicted because they have all their pride junk on, and they’re professing what they are, that they’re a filthy animal.”

Such words from the pulpit of a church in 2019…

Can you imagine for one second such vitriol coming from the mouth of Jesus Christ?

Just as disturbing as the things Fritts was saying was the reaction of his flock. They could be heard throughout, grunting their approval of the message. Such is the state of the Far-Right Wing Church in 2019, apparently.

This is a really terrifying issue that needs to be addressed as we approach the election of 2020.

Democratic candidates need to pound the message that America is a land of freedom for all. That goes for race, religion, social status, and sexual orientation, all of it. Conservative Christians have the right to believe as they choose. That’s not changing and no one is advocating for stripping that right from them. But every other belief system has that same right. That’s never been good enough for conservative Christians.

And that’s a HUGE problem.

Get it?