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Culture War Notes From All Over

Bad news for crunchy cons: you can be as organic as you like, but if you diverge one scintilla from the cultural left’s orthodoxy on sex, you are anathema. Or so says Grist magazine: Just because a company is organic doesn’t mean it’s progressive. Exhibit A: Eden Foods. Like Hobby Lobby, Eden Foods sued the […]

Bad news for crunchy cons: you can be as organic as you like, but if you diverge one scintilla from the cultural left’s orthodoxy on sex, you are anathema. Or so says Grist magazine:

Just because a company is organic doesn’t mean it’s progressive. Exhibit A: Eden Foods.

Like Hobby Lobby, Eden Foods sued the Obama administration to try to get out of providing contraceptive coverage for its employees. Eden Foods is a Michigan-based business that bills itself as “the oldest natural and organic food company in North America.” It is solely owned by Michael Potter, a Catholic who refers to birth control pills as “lifestyle drugs” and likes to whine about “unconstitutional government overreach.” (More crazy quotes from him below.)

Eden Foods is an organic, sustainable, localist poster-child company. It was named the Best Food Company in the World for its environmental and social responsibility. And yet, that’s not enough to get them off of Grist‘s sh*t list. Oh, Grist cares a lot about unconstitutional government overreach, but not if those “whining” about it are Christians.

Speaking of Christians, liberal pastors in Illinois kept it classy this week, distributing rubbers, just like Jesus would surely do if he were here:

A group of clergy handed out condoms to customers in front of an Illinois Hobby Lobby store on Wednesday, staging a creative, faith-based protest against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to grant the craft store giant religious exemptions from the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate.

The action, which was reportedly initiated by a local United Church of Christ (UCC) minister in Aurora, Illinois, included representatives from the UCC, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), and Planned Parenthood. Hobby Lobby’s health care plan covers male condoms and various other forms of contraception — and its case to the Supreme Court had to do with other kinds of measures to prevent pregnancy — but the religious leaders said the protest was ultimately about exposing the multiplicity of religious beliefs around contraception.

“I’m just hoping that (people who see the demonstration) realize that this opinion (of Hobby Lobby’s owners) is not the opinion of religious people as a broad spectrum, but that religious people have many different opinions,” Rev. Emmy Lou Belcher, a UUA minister who was at the protest, told the Daily Herald.

Well, the Unitarians seem to be doing okay, but with each passing year there are a lot fewer UCC members to hold different opinions. Choosing condoms over Christ is not a growth strategy I’d put much faith in.

Meanwhile, the level-headed, not at all paranoid thinkers at Salon continue to show why the Salondotcom parody Twitter account is hard to discern from the real thing:

A Saturday ago at the annual conference of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal accused President Obama and other Democrats of waging a war against religious liberty and all but openly threatened a violent revolution, AP reported:

“I can sense right now a rebellion brewing amongst these United States,” Jindal said, “where people are ready for a hostile takeover of Washington, D.C., to preserve the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.”

Of course, Jindal’s speech didn’t come out of nowhere. Jindal is notorious as a weather vane, not a leader. So this is a clear sign of the need to take threats of right-wing violence seriously — and to look to its justifications as formulated on the Christian right.

As the latest wave of theocratic violence continues to play out in Iraq, it must feel exotic for most Americans, for whom theocratic violence is something that happens elsewhere. Yet, the idea of such violence coming to America — something Jindal is apparently eager for — is hardly far-fetched.

Taliban Christians are on the march! More:

Is everything that Clarkson points to just talk? Perhaps. Or perhaps not. … No one envisioned the Bundy Ranch standoff before it occurred. No one envisioned the Oklahoma City bombing in advance, either. But there have been people warning us that these sorts of things can happen.

Finally, reader Peter K. sends this steaming, savory hot pocket of Dreherbait from the planet Zork Vancouver, BC:

The Vancouver (British Columbia) Board of Education has approved a sweeping new policy for accommodating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, queer, questioning and “all sexual and gender identities,” including the creation of three pronouns, replacing masculine and feminine with xe, xem and xyr (pronounced ze, zem and zur).

Two spirit is an Aboriginal term which means having both feminine and masculine spirits. It’s not limited to gender expression or sexuality, but encompasses them both while incorporating a spiritual element. It’s a standalone identity, not an Aboriginal term for gay lesbian.

The Vancouver Board of Education’s policy also includes making restroom and sports activities accessible to all transgender students, regardless of their biological sex.

“Absolutely,” Mike Lombardi, vice chairman of the board told CNSNews.com when asked about the new policy as reported by the Vancouver Sun. “We’ve been very, very progressive.”

So noted.

Goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

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