{"id":20,"date":"2011-02-25T22:29:01","date_gmt":"2011-02-25T22:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/slacktivist\/?p=20"},"modified":"2011-02-25T22:29:01","modified_gmt":"2011-02-25T22:29:01","slug":"expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/","title":{"rendered":"Expelling the Quakers from Plymouth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here\u2019s the exact quote from Southern Baptist Hierarchy spokesman Richard Land on Thursday on NPR\u2019s All Things Considered<\/a>, discussing the Obama administration\u2019s announcement that it will no longer fight to defend the Defense of Marriage Act.<\/p>\n

Every time the people have had an opportunity to vote on it, they have voted to defend marriage as between a man and a woman. And so they [same-sex marriage proponents] have had victories among the elites in the court system, but they have not had any victory with the people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Implicit in this is a notion of democracy that we\u2019ve encountered again and again among American evangelical Christians attempting to engage in politics. It is the idea that democracy means everything<\/em> is subject to the will of the majority \u2014 including the rights of minorities, which therefore aren\u2019t rights at all, merely privileges permitted or withheld by the sentiment of the majority. It is, bluntly, the idea that democracy is just a fancy word for mob rule.<\/p>\n

\"Dyer2\"<\/a> We see this in things like the absurd annual ritual of the so-called \u201cwar on Christmas\u201d and in a thousand similar obsessive resentments of imagined offenses. We see it in the ugliness of the anti-mosque movement. We see this in the fear that equality under the law for GLBT people will somehow constitute an infringement of the religious liberty of those who regard homosexuality as a sin (this despite the hard-to-miss fact that Fred Phelps remains free to say whatever vile things he wishes<\/a>, whenever and wherever he wishes). We see it in the aggressive sectarian impulse to piss on trees and mark territory by erecting officially sanctioned sectarian holiday displays or Ten Commandments plaques or official prayers and other ostentations of sectarian allegiance.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s driving all of this is the conception that this is how democracy works \u2014 that if the Christian majority does not impose its hegemonic sway over others, then those others may arise to impose their sectarian sway over Christians. They don\u2019t believe in religious freedom per se. I don\u2019t mean that they\u2019re opposed to it, but that they don\u2019t even understand<\/em> the idea. They don\u2019t seem to realize even that it is an option.<\/p>\n

When you think of democracy as whatever the majority wants \u2014 unlimited by any guarantee or protection of the rights of minorities \u2014 then you are in a fight to impose your will over that of others.<\/p>\n

This misunderstanding, this missing of the point, has a long pedigree among Christians on this continent. The early pilgrims, schoolchildren are taught, came to the New World in order to be able to worship freely, in the manner they chose. That much is true, but for a great many of those settlers seeking religious freedom, that freedom was still conceived as a zero-sum prize that could be rewarded to one and only one group in any given society. If they were being denied the freedom to exercise their Puritan Protestantism in their former lands, they would come here and establish a colony in which everyone else would be forced to worship the way they did. Then, they thought, they would be \u201cfree.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more than a century, that idea was what many colonials in many parts of what is now the United States meant by \u201creligious freedom.\u201d The competing notion \u2014 the idea that won the argument and became enshrined in the Constitution and the laws of this nation \u2014 was that religious freedom is not a prize reserved exclusively for the winners, but a right that cannot be denied to anyone regardless of whether they chose to worship like the majority. Under this idea, it doesn\u2019t matter if you are a minority of one \u2014 you still enjoy the same freedom, the same rights, protections and guarantees, as everyone else.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s astonishing to hear the spokesman for America\u2019s largest Baptist<\/em> association speak in a way that demonstrates he utterly fails to understand this. But at least it helps us to understand the fear that motivates him and his subjects in the no-longer-Baptist Southern Baptist Hierarchy.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t understand religious freedom \u2014 don\u2019t understand that the rights of minorities are guaranteed as vigorously and undeniably as the rights of majorities \u2014 then you live in perpetual fear of losing your own religious freedom. And the only way to defend it is by going on the offensive \u2014 attacking everyone who doesn\u2019t worship the way you do, whether they be gays or secular humanists or Muslims, Mormons<\/a>, pagans, Jews, Quakers, mainline Protestants or actual Baptist<\/em> Baptists.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s the exact quote from Southern Baptist Hierarchy spokesman Richard Land on Thursday on NPR\u2019s All Things Considered, discussing the Obama administration\u2019s announcement that it will no longer fight to defend the Defense of Marriage Act. Every time the people have had an opportunity to vote on it, they have voted to defend marriage as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nExpelling the Quakers from Plymouth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here's the exact quote from Southern Baptist Hierarchy spokesman Richard Land on Thursday on NPR's All Things Considered, discussing the Obama\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Expelling the Quakers from Plymouth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here's the exact quote from Southern Baptist Hierarchy spokesman Richard Land on Thursday on NPR's All Things Considered, discussing the Obama\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-25T22:29:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/slacktivist.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c582a53ef014e86514d58970d-320wi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/\",\"name\":\"Expelling the Quakers from Plymouth\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-25T22:29:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-02-25T22:29:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\"},\"description\":\"Here's the exact quote from Southern Baptist Hierarchy spokesman Richard Land on Thursday on NPR's All Things Considered, discussing the Obama\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Expelling the Quakers from Plymouth\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Expelling the Quakers from Plymouth","description":"Here's the exact quote from Southern Baptist Hierarchy spokesman Richard Land on Thursday on NPR's All Things Considered, discussing the Obama","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Expelling the Quakers from Plymouth","og_description":"Here's the exact quote from Southern Baptist Hierarchy spokesman Richard Land on Thursday on NPR's All Things Considered, discussing the Obama","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/","og_site_name":"slacktivist","article_published_time":"2011-02-25T22:29:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/slacktivist.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c582a53ef014e86514d58970d-320wi"}],"author":"Fred Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Clark","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/","name":"Expelling the Quakers from Plymouth","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-25T22:29:01+00:00","dateModified":"2011-02-25T22:29:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e"},"description":"Here's the exact quote from Southern Baptist Hierarchy spokesman Richard Land on Thursday on NPR's All Things Considered, discussing the Obama","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/02\/25\/expelling-the-quakers-from-plymouth\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Expelling the Quakers from Plymouth"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/","name":"slacktivist","description":""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e","name":"Fred Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Fred Clark"},"description":"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}