Religious Fundamentalism

The Antigay Agenda : Orthodox Vision and the Christian Right by Didi Herman

The Antigay Agenda: Orthodox Vision and the Christian Right by Didi Herman is a smart, thorough, concise book describing why and how conservative Protestant evangelicals employ antigay rhetoric in politics, journalism, and worship. Herman--a legal scholar at Keele University in Great Britain--has a convincing mastery of sociology, theology, rhetoric, and politics, in addition to her field of specialty. Herman deploys all these talents in an introduction that puts such phenomena as "ex-gay ministries" in the context of the conservative Protestant worldview. Most valuable may be her explanation one of the most fundamental and least understood tenets of the Christian right, called premillennial dispensationalism, which describes the conditions of Christ's return and the apocalypse, ending with the destruction of sinners and this world. To Herman, the forward thrust of premillennial dispensationalism suggests that the Christian right is not merely a backlash against liberal society. Therefore, she notes, ardent conservatives believe that fighting gay-rights initiatives is a battle of cosmic significance. Herman sees conservative Christianity as a form of progressiveness in its own right, with a mission to prepare the world for Christ's return--no small job, considering the mess they say we're in right now. --Michael Joseph Gross

Culture Watch

CultureWatch is a monthly annotated bibliography which monitors the religious right's political agenda and strategy. The site features news briefs, issue alerts and links to related sites and covers topics including reproductive rights and free speech.

Institute for First Amendment Studies

The Institute for First Amendment Studies, a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational and research organization, was founded in 1984 by former fundamentalist minister Skipp Porteous and attorney Barbara Simon, to expose and counter the political activities of the Religious Right.

Today the Institute is a national clearinghouse for information on theocratic movements in America. With monitors in almost every state, and a small staff of researchers, writers, and computer specialists, the Institute gathers data and prepares newsletters and reports about groups and individuals who pose a threat to First Amendment freedoms.

The Institute's library collects and catalogues hundreds of Religious Right publications. Other research efforts include attending Religious Right conferences and interviewing leaders of the Religious Right. In addition, the Institute's databank contains information on the activities of more than 150,000 Religious Right activists and organizations.

The Institute serves as a resource for a wide variety of media, including CBS, CNN, NBC, MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Time, Playboy, School Board News, TV Guide, Reform Judaism, Extra!, and Mother Jones.

Interfaith Alliance

Across the country, The Interfaith Alliance organizes people of faith to promote shared religious values: compassion, civility, and mutual respect for diversity and human dignity. The pursuit of our agenda makes us a target for criticism from the political-religious movement known as the Religious Right, whose words and actions undercut the promise offered by faith-based civic participation.

People For The American Way

People For the American Way Foundation believes that religious freedom is guaranteed to all Americans. America must sustain a public life which can accomodate as many different faiths as there are people, but this can only exist when religion and government are kept separate. The First Amendment says, 'Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'

We defend the fundamental constitutional principle of the separation of church and state in dozens of venues and at all levels of government, often when the Religious Right has attempted to set the definition of religious liberty in the United States and to move government into roles properly occupied by clergy and houses of worship

The Sex Lies of the Religious Right -- how conservatives distort the facts of life

This article originally appeared in the January 1996, Playboy Forum.  Marty Klein is a marriage counselor and sex therapist in Palo Alto, CA who has written several books about sex.

Excerpt:

They lie. When Jimmy Swaggart ranted at the cameras in his televangelical tent that sex education classes promoted incest, it was a lie. When Jerry Falwell told followers of his Good Time Gospel show that "homosexuals know they are going to die and they are going to take as many people with them as they can," it was a lie...

Teaching Fear:  The Religious Right's Campaign Against Sexuality Education

This article is from People For the American Way.

Excerpt:

...Religious Right political groups have been remarkably successful at promoting a pernicious myth: that comprehensive sexuality education programs do not discuss abstinence, but simply disseminate information on how to have sex...

Infamous Anti-Gay Organizations

 The Subtly of Self-loathing