crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

There is this constant talking point, or rather whine, by many who are involved with conservative Christian groups (i.e. the religious right) that they are under attack by so-called “Godless forces of radicalism” or that they are unfairly called bigots because they simply want to defend “Christian values.”

The American Family Association is one of these groups. According to its own webpage, the AFA:

works to promote decency and morals in American culture,
1. to restrain evil by exposing the works of darkness and to promote virtue by upholding that in culture which is right, true and good;
2. to convince men of sin and drive them to Christ's grace and forgiveness; and to
3. to guide and encourage Christians to live-out the new holy identity that is theirs as citizens of Christ's kingdom.

These are seemingly nice qualities for an organization to have, except when one actually listens to the words Bryan Fischer, an employee of AFA:

• Homosexuals comprise less than three percent of the population, yet are responsible for one-third of all child sex abuse cases. There is an overwhelming correlation between homosexual preference and pedophilia. This is further evidence that homosexuality is in fact sexual deviancy. For this reason alone, no homosexual should be elevated to the United States Supreme Court. 

• If we connect the dots here, the inescapable conclusion is that gay sex is a form of domestic terrorism. 

• Bottom line: every Muslim who enters the United States carries within his bosom the seeds of sedition. It is dangerously foolish for the United States to invite folks inside our borders whose god orders them, through his holy prophet, to murder American infidels. 

• “Hitler discovered that he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough to carry out his orders, but that homosexual solders basically had no limits and the savagery and brutality they were willing to inflict on whomever Hitler sent them after. So he surrounded himself, virtually all of the Stormtroopers, the Brownshirts, were male homosexuals. 

• . . .the illegitimacy rate among Hispanic women is over 50%. I’m not sure pro-family values are as strong in the Hispanic community . . .

Fischer is AFA's Director of Issues Analysis and his statements have caused much consternation amongst many people. But his latest statement, criticizing the awarding of the National Medal of Honor to Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, took the proverbial cake.

Giunta recently received the National Medal of Honor for saving members of his squad during the War in Afghanistan on October 25, 2007.

However, Fischer said:

We have feminized the Medal of Honor.

. . .When we think of heroism in battle, we used the think of our boys storming the beaches of Normandy under withering fire, climbing the cliffs of Pointe do Hoc while enemy soldiers fired straight down on them, and tossing grenades into pill boxes to take out gun emplacements.

That kind of heroism has apparently become passe when it comes to awarding the Medal of Honor. We now award it only for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them.

So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things so our families can sleep safely at night?

Fischer's comments about Giunta has received a lot of deserved negative attention from many voices, except for one – that of the American Family Association.

As far as it is known, the AFA has said nothing about Fischer's comments regarding Giunta nor any of his other outrageous statements. Nor has any other religious right group, even though Fischer has been sought as a speaker to various religious right functions such as the Values Voters Summit this year, which was also attended by Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

By the way, none of these individuals, some who are possible 2012 presidential candidates, have said a word about Fischer's comments.

But it would appear to me that the most important voice in this matter should be the AFA because it is the organization which gives Fischer a platform.

The folks at the AFA seem to be playing dumb in hopes that if they don't acknowledge the controversy, then it will go away.

This behavior has certainly worked for them in the past when the organization was caught selling a video featuring a man who falsely claimed to have been “delivered from homosexuality.” (The AFA is still selling the video by the way.)

But for the American Family Association to remain silent about Fischer's comments contradicts everything the organization claims to stand for – truth, virtue, decency, and morality.

Hatred and bigotry lodged in God's name is still hatred and bigotry.

Many, myself included, have on several occasions accused religious right groups of working in the name of a bad facsimile of God which is perverted by their own egos, prejudices, and selfish desires of conquest.

If  the AFA continues to be silent about Fischer then they will prove our point better than we have ever hoped to imagine.