This is a really excellent opinion piece - well worth the time you'll spend reading it.
Religion and child abuse, fundamentalism and politics, Justice Sunday III and Pastor LathamBy Mel Seesholtz, Ph.D.http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_423.shtmlRichard Dawkins is Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University and an internationally renowned biologist. His recent BBC series -- "The God Delusion," "The Root of All Evil," "The Virus of Faith" -- made the point about organized religion and child abuse.
Dr. Dawkins has repeatedly warned that U.S. evangelicals represent "Christian fascism" and "an American Taliban" that seeks to emulate and enforce "The God of the Old Testament
has got to be the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous, and proud of it, petty, vindictive, unjust, unforgiving, racist." Fear of this curmudgeonly "God" is embedded into children's psyche: beware the bogeyman who watches everything you do and just looks for ways to punish you in the most horrific ways.
...(lots of snipping here)...
Perhaps the message and point of Justice Sunday III was best summarized by Kim Glovas reporting for Philadelphia's all news radio station, KYW-1060: "Falwell says the president wants to confirm Alito because he believes in faith and family foremost." In Jerry's own words: "to put on the court men like Scalia and Thomas, who will stand for a strict constructionist application of the constitution and stand for faith and family."
Funny. I always thought Supreme Court justices were supposed to put the Constitution and its guarantees of equality, liberty and justice for all Americans, freedom of religion as well as freedom from religion "foremost." And unless I missed it, the Constitution has absolutely nothing to say about "families" or who can get married to create them.