{"id":7870,"date":"2012-05-30T12:28:08","date_gmt":"2012-05-30T16:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=7870"},"modified":"2015-06-30T18:58:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T22:58:00","slug":"freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom for all three religions: fundraising theater"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Catholic fundraising group that portrays itself as a defender of religious liberty, seems to be hoping to corner the market on fundraising from anti-Muslim conservative Catholics.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s bad. But it has had the felicitous side-effect of pushing the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty \u2014 another conservative Catholic fundraising group that portrays itself as a defender of religious liberty \u2014 to carve out a niche among slightly less anti-Muslim conservative Catholic donors.<\/p>\n

What happened was Tom Lynch, an exec with the Thomas More Law Center, sent out a tweet accusing the Becket Fund of being insufficiently bigoted:<\/p>\n

Believe Islam a religion, then support the Becket Fund. Believe it will destroy US, then supt thomasmore.org.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Becket Fund seized on this as a chance to put its talents for high dudgeon to good use<\/a>, demanding a public apology. Bill Mumma, the group\u2019s president, put out a statement saying:<\/p>\n

Religious freedom is secure for none of us \u2014 Muslim, Catholic, Jew \u2014 unless it is secure for us all. That\u2019s a universal truth, and the Thomas More Law Center should know that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A more accurate, better expression of that idea might have been just to say that religious liberty is not secure for anyone unless it is secure for everyone. Mumma\u2019s statement as it is unhappily seems to suggest that \u201cus all\u201d consists only<\/em> of \u201cMuslim, Catholic, Jew\u201d \u2014 leaving most of us out of the equation.<\/p>\n

In fact, that\u2019s probably what Mumma meant<\/em> to suggest \u2014 since the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has made it very clear that they think religious liberty must not<\/em> be secure for, say, Protestant or non-religious women who use birth control. And that churches and chaplains whose faith celebrates same-sex marriages ought to be denied<\/em> the religious liberty to recognize them.<\/p>\n

This whole business has a whiff of theater to it. Both groups depend on the same pool of conservative Catholic donors \u2014 the same direct mail database of mostly the same people who must be kept frightened enough or angry enough to keep the money flowing. This Twitter-sparked conflict between the two seems like something from the contrived world of professional wrestling \u2014 a face-heel turn for Thomas More coupled with a heel-face turn for the Becket Fund.<\/p>\n

Adding to the strangeness: \u201cManhattan Declaration<\/a>\u201d co-author Robert George sits on the board of the Becket Fund and also on the board of the Bradley Foundation, a conservative money machine that \u201cfunds some of the worst anti-Islam extremists.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Nick Sementelli has reported at Bold Faith Type<\/a>, the Bradley Foundation:<\/p>\n

\u2026 has contributed $4.25 million to the David Horowitz Freedom Center, $815,000 to Frank Gaffney\u2019s Center for Security Policy and $305,000 to Daniel Pipes\u2019s Middle East Forum, all three of which promote inflammatory false claims about Muslims.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sementelli has the details<\/a> of those \u201cinflammatory false claims\u201d \u2014 which are an odd mix of racism, religious bigotry and wildly delirious conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the sort of thing Robert George supports as a Bradley Foundation board member. But as a Becket Fund board member, he takes a principled stand against such anti-Muslim bigotry.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fundraising theater for the direct-mail audience.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Catholic fundraising group that portrays itself as a defender of religious liberty, seems to be hoping to corner the market on fundraising from anti-Muslim conservative Catholics. That\u2019s bad. But it has had the felicitous side-effect of pushing the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty \u2014 another conservative Catholic fundraising […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13,102,99,28],"class_list":["post-7870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-church-state","tag-manhattandeclaration","tag-persecuted-hegemons","tag-religious-right"],"yoast_head":"\nFreedom for all three religions: fundraising theater<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Catholic fundraising group that portrays itself as a defender of religious liberty, seems to be hoping to\" \/>\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\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Freedom for all three religions: fundraising theater\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Catholic fundraising group that portrays itself as a defender of religious liberty, seems to be hoping to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-30T16:28:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-30T22:58:00+00:00\" \/>\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=\"3 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\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/\",\"name\":\"Freedom for all three religions: fundraising theater\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-30T16:28:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-30T22:58:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"The Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Catholic fundraising group that portrays itself as a defender of religious liberty, seems to be hoping to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Freedom for all three religions: fundraising theater\"}]},{\"@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\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\",\"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\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?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\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Freedom for all three religions: fundraising theater","description":"The Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Catholic fundraising group that portrays itself as a defender of religious liberty, seems to be hoping to","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\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Freedom for all three religions: fundraising theater","og_description":"The Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Catholic fundraising group that portrays itself as a defender of religious liberty, seems to be hoping to","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/","og_site_name":"slacktivist","article_published_time":"2012-05-30T16:28:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-06-30T22:58:00+00:00","author":"Fred Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Clark","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/","name":"Freedom for all three religions: fundraising theater","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-30T16:28:08+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-30T22:58:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47"},"description":"The Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Catholic fundraising group that portrays itself as a defender of religious liberty, seems to be hoping to","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/30\/freedom-for-all-three-religions-fundraising-theater\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Freedom for all three religions: fundraising theater"}]},{"@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\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47","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\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?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\/fredclark1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7870","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\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}