The religious right is losing ground quickly in their fight against marriage equality and this is forcing them to resort to dishonest tactics. Take, for example, the couple from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho who claim they are being forced to perform same-sex weddings in their wedding chapel, despite it being against their religious beliefs.
Donald and Evelyn Knapp are ordained ministers who run the Hitching Post, a wedding chapel that operates under the International Church of the Four Square, an evangelical Pentecostal sect. The Knapps claim they were told they must start performing same-sex weddings, or face fines and possible jail time for violating a city ordinance.
The Knapps have quickly claimed religious discrimination and many religious groups are claiming that their worst fears have come true and that churches are being forced to perform same-sex weddings. But here’s the hitch (pardon the pun): the chapel is not a non-profit ministry, but a for-profit company, which means it’s required by law to follow state and federal laws.
If you think the gays are ruining your life here in the mortal world, don’t worry, says a Republican congressman; they’re not going to bother you in heaven. Iowa Rep. Steve King was asked by the Jefferson Herald about the recent growing acceptance of homosexuals by the Catholic Church. King is a practicing Catholic.
“I’ll just say that what was a sin 2,000 years ago is a sin today, and people that were condemned to hell 2,000 years ago, I don’t expect to meet them should I make it to heaven. So let’s stick with that principle,” said the congressman. “Let me say it isn’t to me to pass that judgment, and those who choose a lifestyle that I’ll say is not one that’s anointed and favored by my faith — or their faith, for that matter — that’s between them and God.”
Nothing makes fundamentalist Christians see red more than gays, except maybe atheists. Dragging out an old conservative meme, a Fox News host is insisting that atheists are waging a war on Christianity.
Ainsley Earhardt, the host of Fox & Friends First, complained to her viewers about a lawsuit brought against public schools that are displaying Christian plaques in their buildings by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Earhardt says that atheists “need to understand the culture” in the south. A guest on her show, Pastor Justin Coffman, agreed.“We want to see the cause of Christ in more public arenas in the American culture. We don’t want to take things away from. We want to see Christ in our schools,” he said.
Coffman claimed the lawsuit is atheists bullying Christians, to which Earhardt replied, “Yeah, Justin, you touched on it: the war on Christianity.”
It seems a week never goes by without Pat Roberston saying something preposterous, but this week it’s not what he said, it’s who he’s listening to. Roberston and the 700 Club hosted Anny Donewald, a former sex worker and a rape survivor who became pregnant and decided to terminate the pregnancy, but felt torn about her decision.
Donewald told Robertson, “I was an atheist at the time so I prayed. The running joke was that I was the praying atheist. And I said, God, I don’t know if you’re real or if you can hear me, but I don’t think you want me to do this. But I’m not going to be the one to stop it. You stop it."
She then went on to claim she made five different appointments and all of them were mysteriously canceled, which was proof enough to her that “God is real." But Donewald claims she wasn't sure of the nature of the god. Was it Buddha, Muhammad or Jesus? So just to make sure she was headed on the right path, God left a calling card for Donewald, putting a Bible verse in her head to steer her toward Christianity.
This, of course, is plenty of evidence for Robertson that heavenly intervention was at work, one that apparently didn’t question the sincerity of Donewald’s divine abortion cancellations.