The Memo

An article by a militant fundamentalist "Christian" group misleadingly called "Freedom Of Religion SA", entitled "Christian Leaders Unite to Protect Religious Freedom in SA" states: 

 

"the growing number of cases being opened up against Christians, and lost by them, for trying to live out their beliefs, clearly indicating that religious freedom is already being lost in South Africa." 

 

This statement is not only false, but it is misleading as well. Let me explain why.

Down Memory Lane

The following is an article I wrote back in 2010, and which was published by the National Secular Society (UK). 

I was reminded of it again this past week in an email, and thought as it didn't appear on my blog "Sour Grapes: The Fruit of Ignorance" the first time, now would be a good time to look back at how we got to this place in South African history, with conservatives vying to be the first to rip and tear human rights protection clauses out of the Constitution. 

Of course, since I have been writing and distributing my articles and warnings since 2008, there is a certain amount of "I told you so" in re-posting this article. Nevertheless, here it is, for your reading pleasure:

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

WARNING - contains honest opinion of the author about ChristianISM (i.e. Christian terrorism), righteous indignation, and some good, down to earth home truths. 

The willfully ignorant may be offended.

It Makes Sense, Doesn't It?

If you look at all the weird and wonderful new Bills being tabled in South Africa these days - there is little doubt in my mind that the Constitution and the freedoms contained within it - are clearly under assault. 

And those of us whose civil rights and equality are protected by those very clauses in the Constitution which are under assault, somehow seem unaware that we fill the sights and scopes on the weapons being directed against us by those who would chip away at our equality.

So Who Is Erroll Naidoo?

Over a number of days recently, I was engaged in an email debate with Errol Naidoo of the so-called "Family Policy Institute", based in Cape Town. 

 

The reason for the debate? 

 

Mr. Naidoo is leading an attack on Cape Town Tourism over its support for the Mother City Queer Project, and the use of a catch-phrase advertising Cape Town as "the Gay Capital of South Africa". He also issued another call to fellow Christian fundamentalists and homophobes to target entities which he frequently accuses of "promoting the homosexual agenda".

In the course of this debate, Mr Naidoo played the card which has become expected of him - that is, he pretends to be nothing more than a "concerned citizen", a "pastor" and "faithful Christian" who is nobly "standing" for "Christian biblical values" while "doing the Lord's work". In addition, he said he "doesn't hate gay people" (despite the proof that he actually said the complete opposite only last year), in fact he says he has a "good relationship" with one gay man who has been his barber for 30 years, and whom he invites to family celebrations.

 

Yeah, right.

At the same time, he has been using his own religious views to fight against the equality and civil rights of our community since the early 1990's, and is probably the most outspoken and visceral opponent of our human and civil rights in South Africa. Well, aside from that other guy on Facebook last year who claimed to be calling for the return of the death penalty because he was a Christian and believed gay people should die for their "sin". Wow, seri-haas. 

 

Not exactly good PR material, that one.

'The homosexuals are coming! The homosexuals are coming!'

Yesterday I received an incredibly long-winded and frantic response from Errol Naidoo - a man who sits at the head of a one-man show called "the Family Policy Institute" based in Cape Town, with offices apparently right across the road from Parliament. This is to keep his eyes on them, of course - both of them, just in case those sneaky homosexual activists and their liberal allies try to sneak (or is that "rail-road") some pro-gay legislation into Parly.

 

Chuff...chuff...woo...wooo.

 

Er, sorry.  

 

Coming back to the email from Mr. Naidoo, it seems the email campaign to demonstrate our objection to his attack on Cape Town Tourism for supporting the city as a gay and gay-friendly tourist destination must have struck a nerve somewhere. For one thing, in the space of just two A4 pages, he used the word "homosexual" no less than 22 times! 

 

My, my - his feathers must really have been ruffled.

Right Man Speak With Forked Tongue

The way some pastors and religious figures speak so enthusiastically and even gleefully of others they disapprove of going to hell, one could probably picture them picking up a phone (a red one, of course) and calling the hot-line to make reservations for 70 billion or so people, give or take one or two last minute changes. In the far corner, right near the flaming inferno and the tar-pits. Smoking or non-smoking?

Blind Eyes, Deaf Ears

Sometimes I get despondent because it feels like my efforts are wasted, my warnings go unheard, my words fall on deaf ears like seeds falling on hard, dry earth.

Hook, Line And Stinker

In a new press release in which the Family Research Council (of Focus on the Family and James Dobson infamy) dragged an eight year old "study" out of mothballs and served it up with today's sauce, they once again misrepresented scientific data to undermine human rights and promote their own fascist agenda.

"WASHINGTON, D.C. - Family Research Council released a new analytic report today showing that women who did not grow up with their biological mother and father are much more likely to engage in homosexual conduct as adults than are women who grew up in an intact family."

"Oh, goody," Some people will be thinking. "A new study to show how nasty, immoral, un-patriotic, and hostile to "the family" gay people are. And how much of a threat they pose to "our" children!"

As somebody pointed out to me, all to rightly: "Before long, phony religious right experts will be citing this study as fact. It's best to refute the lies before they have a chance to spread." And among the things recklessly promoted in this libelous and poorly researched "study" is the claim that "Women who never attend religious worship are more than three times as likely to have homosexual relationships than are women who attend worship weekly." 

 

This is exactly the sort of thing that bigot preachers will seize upon and preach from their pulpits as "gospel truth" and "fact".

Ulterior Motives

Why do South Africa's law enforcement agencies not seem to be curbing or preventing violent crime incidents plaguing us of late?

Two likely reasons come to mind:

1) Because they are really unable to curb or prevent violent crime and don't want to admit it, or

2) Because they want the country to be or at least appear to be becoming ungovernable.

Of course, one would have to really wonder why the second reason might apply... except if, for example, they might later need to "justify" a reactionary crackdown on societal or democratic freedoms.

Surely I am exaggerating? I don't know, am I?

Asking myself this question, I am confronted with several interesting facts.

At the top of the list of these interesting facts, is the detail that something like this is beginning to happen right now with the pending reintroduction of media censorship.

Not Otherwise Specified

I was asked a question by a friend the other day. "How does one rid oneself of the shame surrounding sexuality as indoctrinated by church and society, and especially being different and having a secret that one cannot share?"

I think we are all influenced by the very Victorian, conservative religious stereotype while growing up - the whole concept that "sex is dirty and wrong and sinful" - despite it being 100 percent natural, normal and even healthy. 

 

The historical Victorians have often been described as being 'too afraid to see themselves naked for fear it will lead to sinful thoughts'. And while this is an amusing, even flippant thought, ironically, it is this same Victorian stereotype which still haunts former British Colonies with its presence in leftover so-called "morality" laws. Even today, many independent former British colonies are using legal systems which were built upon the preceding colonial laws - laws which regulated the sort of clothing people (especially women) could wear in public for example, or laws which criminalized homosexuality in any form - a stunning intrusion of the imperialist mindset of the former British Empire into the private lives and bedrooms of those still living under these laws in 2010! 
 

There are signs however, that these repressive and backwards leftover colonial-era laws are slowly dying a lingering death. 

 

Die already, for fuck sake!

'Family Policy Institute' - Deciding For You What You Can Or Can't Have Access To

Like me, you might not like porn - I really have other interests, and I wouldn't waste my internet bandwidth on it - but certainly don't place myself in the position where I think I should tell people what they should be allowed to do or watch in private and on their own time - as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, of course. 

 

Now, aside from murder, rape, pedophilia and grand theft, I can't think of any reason why adult porn could be harmful to anyone. 

 

In fact, I'd say that even smoking is more harmful. 

 

However, I do know that opening the door to censorship legislation opens a whole other can of worms that may prevent you from seeing, saying or even doing other things which you take for granted now - and that you may actually WANT to. 

 

And that to me is far more harmful than anything people like Erroll Naidoo spend most of every day bitching about.

How To Hoodwink Friends And Influence People

A man called Erroll Naidoo has for years been pushing an anti-human rights agenda in South Africa, with the help of his friends in foreign radical Christian terrorist groups based in the USA (and here in South Africa), who help fund and support his "Family Policy Institute". (Here he is shown meeting with Tony Perkins, leader of the Family Research Council - a recognized hate group in the US and mentor to his FPI). 

 

He is on record in the media as saying he hates gay people and has been closely associated with the ACDP, a fundamentalist "Christian" party, along with similar organizations such as the Cape Town based "Christian Action Network". All these groups and affiliates have been engaged in a bitter battle to oppose and remove all gay rights from the SA Constitution even before the Constitution was finalized - and right up to this very day.

16 Days Of Double Standards

While I may commend the now traditional South African institution of the "16 days of activism against women & child abuse" campaign, I still see plenty of duplicity and ambiguity in it.

16 days of activism? I don't know about you folks, but I'm an activist every single day.

False Profits

Yesterday I received a newsletter sent out the previous day by Errol Naidoo of the Family Policy Institute (FPI), a US religious-right-inspired right wing group based in Cape Town, which is trying very hard to impose religious law on the state. 

 

In it, he was careful to mention the dangers of having liberal laws which are "clearly" responsible for "moral corruption" in the country - and which also threaten his religion and of course, "the family" - as if gay people and women are not a part of it. He also made the suggestion that this is the perfect time to take advantage of Zuma's invitation to religious conservatives to "work with government", whatever that means. 

 

I think you know.

Freeze - FPI!

Once again, as a human rights activist for the pink community I run the risk of offending people who identify as Christian as well as gay, trans or pro-equality through targeting the matter of religious persecution of gender and sexual diversity and bigotry.

Please rest assured that this is not my intention. My intention is to highlight the actions and words of a minority of fundamentalists who use religion as a weapon against people for their own selfish ends. This is the offense - and not just against loving tolerant Christians, but against everyone who loves democracy, freedom and equality. We trust that Christians who support freedom of thought and the ideals of democracy and equality will take this into account wherever we engage bigotry espoused by those who claim to speak against the pink community for them as well.

High Altitude Atitudes

High Altitude Attitudes

Diversity seems to scare some people. The thought of being equal to people they look down upon and think of as dirty or "too different" can scare them out of their half-wits. In another sense, this being brought down to the level of the rest of us ordinary sinful mortals makes some people doubt their own religion and forces them to face the fact that perhaps what they believe in is not as sound as they thought - and that the only way to 'save face' is to deny all truth and facts and turn extreme fundamentalist and to look for scapegoats to blame their worldly woes on. This is what seems to be happening in SA and around the world today.

What's For Dinner?

I was interested to note how some people have opposing takes on fairness and "right and wrong" in this world. I refer specifically to the debacle around "Sax Appeal". It seems that some people like things to go all their way - in essence what is good for the goose, is not good for the gander.

What am I talking about?