Faith and Freedom Conference
Sarah Posner has a fascinating article on today’s Religion Dispatch on the Faith and Freedom Conference. Posner quickly points out that many reporters at the conference where conferring about where all of the “religion” and “faith” were amidst this political conference. She explains the nature of the conference by breaking down the two key words in the conference’s name:
First, the Faith and Freedom name plays right into the idea, a cornerstone of religious right activism, that “faith” and “freedom” are inextricably linked; that America is a Christian nation whose founders escaped religious persecution (true) but that their descendants’ freedom of religion has been curtailed by secularists who invented separation of church and state and seek to restrain evangelism (which is equated with “religious freedom”) by allowing gay marriage or other legislation conservative evangelicals disagree with (not true). Being able to practice your “faith” (i.e., demand that government legislate morality based on your faith) is freedom, in this view, which is a driving force of the religious right.
After exploring the overarching intent of the conference, Posner touches upon the Manhattan Declaration (signed by Tim Goeglin of the Bush White House) which placed emphasis on “religious freedom.” Interestingly, those who signed the document proclaiming religious freedom are the same group of people (with a few exceptions) that now oppose the construction of a religious worship site and cultural center in New York City.
Posner explains that the Faith and Freedom Conference was filled with “The your-rights-infringe-on-my-religious-freedom argument is the main one you’d hear from an opponent of gay marriage, say.”
What about the your-religion-infringes-on-my-civil-rights?
Queer Faith News 