The Satanists are right: Texas' abortion ban is a direct attack on freedom of religion | Salon.com
By: Amanda Marcotte (Salon)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trolling is largely associated with humor-impaired right-wing bullies, but there are still some on the left who know how to troll with wit and style while serving the forces of good instead of evil.
Take, for instance, the Satanic Temple of Salem, Massachusetts, a perennial thorn in the side of Christian fundamentalists who try to pass off their theocratic impulses as "religious freedom." The Temple, which is a pro-secular organization and does not literally worship Satan, routinely pulls stunts like suing states that display Christian imagery on public grounds to make them also display Satanic imagery. The group also stands for reproductive rights, and as Brett Bachman reports for Salon, is fighting the Texas abortion ban by declaring that abortion is one of their sacred rituals, making the ban a major imposition on their free expression of religion.
The Satanists' trolling worked. The move triggered all the right people, by which I mean misogynist prigs who have way too much interest in other people's sex lives.
Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw's tweet was an immediate contender for the Self-Aware Wolves hall of fame. It's the Satanists — whose mission is "to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits" — and not Crenshaw who are clearly on the right side of history and human rights.
But this move by the Satanic Temple serves a higher purpose than trolling forced-birth advocates like Crenshaw. The Satanists are highlighting an issue that often gets lost in the debate over reproductive rights: The anti-choice movement is just one part of a larger effort by Christian fundamentalists to covertly turn the U.S. into a more theocratic state.
Anti-choice politics are driven by a small and shrinking group of hard-right white evangelicals who wish to foist their religious views on the majority, in violation of the First Amendment-enshrined value of free exercise of religion. The Texas abortion ban is tied to a larger agenda to undermine LGBTQ rights, replace science with religious dogma, and otherwise violate the constitutional prohibition of the establishment of religion.
Conservatives go to great lengths to hide how much being anti-abortion is about forcing all Americans to live by the religious tenets of the white evangelical minority. Indeed, Republicans will often try to pretend "science" is motivating abortion bans, as former New Jersey governor Chris Christie did over the weekend on ABC, when he declared, "One of the reasons you're seeing a decline in abortion is an increase in science and how much more people know about viability." He then went on to baselessly claim that people are "much more appalled by the act of abortion than they were back in 1973."
As with pretty much everything that's said in defense of abortion bans, Christie spouts lies all the way down.
Support for abortion rights has remained steady since 1973 and strong majorities want Roe v. Wade to stay put. In 1973, scientists understood perfectly well how embryonic development worked and that understanding hasn't meaningfully changed since then. Embryos are not "viable" two weeks after a missed period, which is when the Texas abortion ban kicks in. Indeed, the pretense for banning abortions so early — the "fetal heartbeat" — is also a lie. As actual medical scientists and doctors told NPR, there is neither a fetus nor a heart that early in pregnancy, but more "a grouping of cells that are initiating some electrical activity" that GOP legislators misleading call a "heartbeat."
Unfortunately, these kinds of lies about "science" are common among anti-choicers. As scientists Nicole M. Baran, Gretchen Goldman, and Jane Zelikova wrote in Scientific-American in 2019, GOP legislators "actively misrepresent the work of scientists, using rhetoric to deceive the public and stoke emotional outrage," and the ideas animating abortion bans "are appallingly unscientific, and they are dangerous."
We've all been accustomed to the cynical ease with which Republicans lie, but the anti-choice lies about "science" are ridiculous even by the basement-level standards conservatives live by. These are the same folks who reject the very real science of climate change and COVID-19 vaccination, even though their anti-science views are leading to mass death and destruction. (And then they lie and claim to be "pro-life.") And it's all to serve theocratic forces who really got this anti-science ball rolling by trying to force schools to teach Christian creation myths in lieu of evolutionary biology.
It's not science that fuels this assault on abortion rights, it's religion — specifically the religion of white Christian fundamentalists.
A 2020 Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll shows that 67% of white evangelicals want to ban abortion, compared to only 37% of Americans overall. Even the majority of Catholics support legal abortion, despite decades of church opposition to reproductive rights. A similar 2020 poll from Pew Research shows the same results. Strong majorities of Black Protestants, white non-evangelical Protestants, Catholics and the religiously unaffiliated all support Roe v. Wade. The only group where a majority opposes abortion rights is white evangelicals.
The anti-abortion movement cannot be meaningfully separated from this theocratic movement of white evangelicals, or, for that matter, from white supremacy. It's all one big bundle of intertwined ideas, and all the same people pushing it. These are folks resolutely opposed to a multiracial democracy, and instead have a vision of the U.S. as a white supremacist state where their far-right religious views shape the laws that everyone has to live by. And despite the fact that Ten Commandments explicitly forbid bearing false witness, these theocrats lie and lie and lie — about science, about the law, about their intentions — because they know full well that their mission is anti-democratic and violates the constitutional precepts about freedom of religion.
Abortion rights are often marginalized as a "woman's issue" in American political discourse. That's offensive in itself, as women are more than half the population and access to reproductive health care affects the lives of everyone, not just women. But truly, this Texas abortion ban goes beyond even these material questions about health care access. It cuts right to the heart of the struggle defining our era, between a secular, pro-democracy majority and an authoritarian minority who wants to force its racist, theocratic view of America on the rest of us.
The Satanists get it. No amount of right-wing lying about "science" will change the fact that this abortion ban is a direct attack on freedom of religion.
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Done and done.
You had me at Satan.
Pretty sure I've never known any right wing fascist who had a sense of humor.
Gotta love the Satanic Temple. Those people are smart and coordinated.
Abortion is one of their sacred rituals. Too funny
Abortion falls under the umbrella of individual autonomy, which is sacred.
Ah. That's what they meant. Thanks for that.
I still like thinking that abortion is a sacred ritual. That just pisses evangelicals off
... and using "freedom of religion" is a real crotch kick to mentally defective thumpers.
It's also an overplayed excuse.
Not to mention that "satanism" is just another off-shoot of christianity. It even makes more sense than mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Baptists.
Maybe Satanism is but the Satanic Temple are actually secularist in nature. They are primarily agnostic/atheist. They call themselves the Satanic Temple to troll the Christians
Yes, I am aware. The beauty of it is that they are trolling the christians with their own beliefs and teachings.
Exactly. Which is why I think they are very clever
Their Baphomet statue may have done more travelling than any other statue in history.
And the Christians can do nothing about it. Funny how the whole freedom of religion thing works.
Seemingly smarter too.
thumpers can't argue against it without arguing against themselves. that's what I like best.
Indeed.
I have yet to see anyone objectively, logically and rationally defend the Texas law, not to mention why abortions should be prohibited. And I defy anyone to do so. It seems anti-abortionists only have appeals to emotion to fall back on, as well as lies and misinformation. At least the Satanists can make a valid, legal case to challenge this law.
The Devil made them do it. LOL
I've heard that excuse before.
They still won't let me use that as a defense, tho
Try speaking in tongues and saying you're possessed. They might buy that.
Here in Arkansas, they probably would. But in a saner part of the country I think they would lock me in a padded room
I'm not sure there are that many sane parts of the country. Just look at Texas and it's abortion law. As far as insanity goes. That one is way up there. But AK is not far behind itself.
psssttt...it's AR for Arkansas AK is for Alaska
My mistake. Not sure why I was thinking AK.
Thank you for the correction
No problem. I've lived in both states.
Why is it that those who sit in judgment the most against women having a choice are men just like Dan Crenshaw? I also wonder how many of those men have thanked their lucky stars that women in their past, such as girlfriends or extramarital affairs, have chosen to utilize that choice. I'm also of the opinion that those men who shout, "Amen!" or "Praise Jesus!" the loudest, have a closet full of shenanigans that they hope will stay hidden forever.
I think it's guilt.
I had an uncle who was a drunk. He was horrible to my aunt (my mom's oldest sister). Anyway, he got sober, found religion, and then would bore every one to tears about the sins of alcohol and how we all needed Jesus. My Uncle Bob (who was my mom's youngest brother) couldn't stand him and made fun of him all the time.
Anyway, my point is he felt guilty about how he treated my aunt when he was drunk but he blamed it on the alchohol, not on his own character flaws. "The Devil made him do it." He wasn't a better person because he got sober, that's for sure. He was still a miserable SOB.
Your anecdote reminds me of a NV member who claimed that if it wasn’t for being religious he would be out robbing liquor stores (or something like that). Yeah, it’s not the atheists you need to keep an eye on, it’s people like that who are admittedly capable of serious crime should their religious armor happen to fall off.
That's truly sad. One shouldn't need religion to be moral and a non-criminal
I remember that. Such people clearly have issues.
What's sad is there are those who really believe one cannot be moral without religion or God. That's religious brainwashing taken hold.
This won't win me any friends (on the thread), but I must push back on this specific theme that is being laid: When someone shall tell you definitively they have changed paths in life and credit change to a source -rightly or wrongly—if you can see the change it has to be evidentally taken seriously.
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Observe Mr. John Newton, a man who sold slaves turned and walked a different path and never ceased giving credit to another for his new life. Evenso, becoming a spiritual leader of 'men' as church Rector. And, authoring one of the most enduring hymns of the Christian faith: "Amazing Grace."
What we can not understand, explain, or forego - we ought to allow to stand unless it can be stated better.
The same goes for this issue of abortion; that a sitting governor, is mostly absent understanding, lacking sufficient explanation, and is blind to the effects of removing privacy rights and privileges of affected girls or women leaving them vulnerable to forces and systems of this world is not something any governor should be willing to have STAND on his/her watch.
There are many more "good" men and women, non-rabblerousers who can testify (have testimony) of change that sprangs not from delusion mesmerization or delusion.
I am not sure what point you are trying to make.
There are many more "good" men and women, non-rabblerousers, who can testify (have testimony) of change that springs not from mesmerization or delusion.
Sorry, it was late when I came upon the thread, so I 'stumbled' on the last sentence. Just my thoughts.
It's not about changing something. It's about what is intrinsic.
I've found the 3 most self-righteous individuals are reformed drinkers, reformed smokers and those that have found god.
Same here. Although, I will say that when my parents quit smoking they didn't give my brother and I grief for smoking. Of course, we could have turned around and said...well, who did we learn it from? They smoked when we were kids and didn't quit until my brother and I were in our 20's
Not sure I follow that. After all change is possible in people. Happens some where on the planet everyday! Likely somewhere at this very moment.
And Gordy, real talk, change can be a very humbling experience. Now, if this does not move the discussion forward, let me ask some thing else:
Are there no, none, zilch, guilty atheists (secularists/humanists) past and present that we can observe? That is, are we to consider atheists as a class to be naturally "good"?
(If there are guilty atheists known, on balance, it is okay to put one or several of such individuals forward in discussion.)
Emphatically.
This is my philosophy on life: Tell people about something good you find and bid them to try it for themselves. If they do groovy you've got a buddy in deed. If they do not try it - or take 'forever' to get around it - don't pout or frown about it. Let it go. And just maybe one day in a lifetime again opportunity or necessity will present itself.
What am I saying?
When I was a cigarette smoker (18 years), I quit in one week. I feared the hurt that I was about to experience going 'cold turkey' - but after two days I felt nothing of a tug. However, after about six month, I felt safe to let others be around me with their cigarette smoke. It simply did not impede or imposition me. They would remember or ask about my 'habit' and if I wanted one and I would tell them how I quit and let it go. No judgement.
It has been almost thirty years since I smoked 'cigs'as today.
What I have come to realize regarding my faith 'journey' is this: I started my (faith) trek at the "appointed time" for me. Up to that time, I was my own 'rebel' doing what I do. If there had been no 'time' for me to start- I'd imagine I would still be out there. . . doing what I 'do.'
The larger lesson is this: If God can't lose anybody God wants to favor with an eternity of life-then God will find everybody God intends to be on the trek to such a life.
Why should I worry if God can find someone—found me in "due time"! (Smile.)
I'm proud of you for being smoke free for 30 years!
Good for you for 2 years smoke free!
I quit Feb '20 and only miss them if stressed.
Then I vape. Lately I am vaping less and less.
Thirty years in 2023 (God willing). Note: This is the 'opening' for my testimony of faith: I quit smoking, drinking, "partying" all in the same week and landed (to my surprise) in the pews of a church the very next week. Correlation: Cause and Effect.
That is all I am saying because it happened. But, I do not suggest that my way has to be anybody else way.
That was never the point nor did I make such an argument. Here's what I said in my post 5.1.4 above: "What's sad is there are those who really believe one cannot be moral without religion or God. That's religious brainwashing taken hold."
Do you not understand what is said or the inference?
It seems you want to move the discussion in an entirely different direction.
That makes no sense? Are you saying one needs religion/god to be good/moral?
Okay. This won't be a real discussion. Make it a "chew" toy, then. And I think I begin my comments on this thread meaning or implying (I won't check on that) I was responding wholly to a 'stack' of comments on the thread. No matter. What's done is done.
I'm not sure you understand what the discussion is about then. Or why you find it difficult to answer my questions.
I asked you a question first. And it came from a good place in this thread. You didn't dignify it above and you highly probably won't deal with it now. Eh?
Your question had nothing to do with my original statement. And instead of answering my clarifying question, it seems you are playing games now. Sorry, but I'm not interested.
Thanks for 'playing.' Good bye.
Call them out (in Texas no doubt). When you hear a word about "Mr. conservative Do-Hickie or Mrs. conservative Do-Hickie" abortin' a baby or even practicing safe-sex in Texas: Call it out in the public square. Make 'em famous! After all, they support interfering in the lives of young girls and women they do not know - we should rent 'ad' space to call them out for their treatment of the issue too!
Call. Conservative. Women. Out. For. Their. Abortions. And. Safe-Sex. Practices. Everywhere.
(Looking at you CPAC convention! 'Watering hole.')
As for the dealings of the Satanic Temple, I understand and am not at odds with the group's intentions or present course of action.
Pardon me but I must digress. Freedom of religion is in itself an attack on religion.
How so?
Because the more 'freedom' afforded to religion the more targets for persecution fall into it's sights.
I know what you mean. the rwnj definition of freedom is more enhanced compared to the actual definition. more like the animal farm version.
Some only complain of persecution. But can never actually demonstrate it.
The fulcrum of the 'new decades old christianity' is it's acquience to the Pergomon Alter as mentioned in Revelations.