CNN Asks, "Roy Moore, Jerusalem and LGBT Rights: Why Is Religion So Divisive?" My Response in Twitter Thread

Why is "religion" so divisive, Burke asks? And then he launches into a description of precisely who, in American culture, is using religion to attack targeted groups.

Surprise: the folks he's talking about turn out to be white evangelicals, a term he uses only one time. 1) https://t.co/FBhYUnkcNV

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) December 10, 2017

 

For CNN today, Daniel Burke asks, "Roy Moore, Jerusalem and LGBT rights: Why is religion so divisive?" Here's my response to the question he asks, in a Twitter thread:

It does no good to talk about this disembodied "religious" divisiveness, when we know exactly who is using religion to divide and attack — with the full complicity of the top leaders of the Catholic church in the U.S. 2)

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) December 10, 2017

 

Catholic Supreme Court justices will cast the votes that will in all likelihood inform LGBT citizens that we can be denied goods and services, because asking to buy a wedding cake is, in the construction of right-wing Christians, an "attack" on them. 3)

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) December 10, 2017

 

For which they are entitled to attack back . . . 4)

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) December 10, 2017

 

Conservative Christians want the right to practice their faith without state interference, Burke tells us.

News flash: asking to buy a cake from a cake vendor is not an attack on ANYONE's religious practice. 5)

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) December 10, 2017

 

We need to split the baby like Solomon and give a win to "both sides," his article maintains.

If we did not give right-wing Christians the right to claim religious warrants when they pushed discrimination against people of color with Piggie Park 6)

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) December 10, 2017

 

then why are we arguing that it's permissible for right-wing Christians to do this with Masterpiece cake? Are cakes more obviously religious than barbecue sandwiches? More obviously works of art? 7)

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) December 10, 2017

 

Or are we just facing the same old odious "faith-based" arguments gussied up in new clothes now, and do we find them more appealing now because it's "only" LGBTQ folks who are being targeted? 8)

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) December 10, 2017

 

No one is attacking any of these folks' right to believe what they wish and practice their religion as they wish. The request is only that they be held to the same non-discrimination rules as anyone else, when they're in business or providing services. 9)

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) December 10, 2017