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Minor Details
And those who join them enjoy the attention they get from being put out front to do the bidding of the conservative fundamentalists who will do them in when they have used them. If you're a person of color or LGBT person among liberals, you're just one in the crowd. But if you're among conservatives, you're useful to help them appear to have a big tent without them focusing on your real issues. And boy, will you be their poster boys and girls. The 2002 Republican Convention paraded people of color, and even one of those gay men, across its stage. Oh, how we should be thankful that we're getting such attention from those people who really, really don't hate us! But that doesn't mean that the show was any more than another group of straight and straight-acting whites being entertained by those minority people. After all, those minorities sure are entertaining, aren't they? And they've got great food too! Recent statements by Republican leaders remind us that it's show time again. Republican Senatorial leader Rick Santorum's remarks equating same-sex relationships with polygamy, bigamy, incest, or adultery - remarks which the "President" says come from an "inclusive man" -- tells the real story. Then there's the "Oh I didn't mean it again" of Republican senatorial leader Trent Lott. At best they reveal a consistent insensitivity. Santorum, however, won't take them back. His remarks reveal a real conservative agenda. Meanwhile, minorities who identify with conservatives are just happy to get a not too negative attention. "They really do love us. We just have to act straighter. We just have to be nicer. We just have to give them time. We just have to keep returning to our abusers like abused spouses." This is no strategy more visible than the cozying-up of Israeli leaders to the likes of right-wing tele-evangelists like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Christian fundamentalists have become the engine of the pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian lobby in the U.S. And the Jews who embrace this and thereby increase Christian fundamentalist power and influence do not recognize the ultimate Christian fundamentalist goal of eliminating Judaism except for those who accept the Christian Messiah. Supporting Israel is a pre-requisite for the final battle which fundamentalist Christianity is supposed to win. Read the Left Behind series of novels to experience their worldview. Conservative Christians are used to using Jews and Judaism. History shows that. They continue to do so. They argue in our courts that their sectarian Christian ideas should be the law of the land. But they know better than saying that outright, so they speak of a "Judeo-Christian" tradition. What they mean, of course, is anything in Judaism that agrees with them. All else is false religion. In early May, Israeli Tourism Minister Benny Elon arrived in the U.S. to lobby Congress and Christian fundamentalists against the U.S.-backed 'roadmap' for ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported that Elon wants the establishment of a Palestinian state, but not in the Occupied Territories. He believes that Palestinians should establish their country in Jordan. Elon said in a statement: "Our stay in Judea and Samaria is not temporary." (Judea and Samaria are ancient Jewish names for the occupied West Bank.)
How useful other groups are for the right-wing Christian agenda. Embracing Roman Catholic votes and money in order to restrict women's reproductive rights, hasn't changed fundamentalist beliefs that Roman Catholicism is little more than a large cult and that those who follow Roman Catholic teaching without embracing fundamentalist Protestant beliefs are going to hell. Protestant fundamentalism has historically fueled anti-Catholic hatred, prejudice, and violence as much as it does anti-LGBT violence. But those Catholics are useful sometimes too. They can be worked with on our agenda. When they don't join in completely, they're just frankly not Christian believers. In a 1996 column, right-wing Protestant columnist Cal Thomas declared Pope John Paul II incapable, due to growing senility, of defending Christian doctrines. He's now embracing doctrines at the core of Communism, Thomas declared. That's because the Pope deviated from the full Protestant fundamentalist Creationist agenda by saying that theistic evolution could have been the way God created species. The Pope may have been useful when he was on board, but he's dispensable if he deviates from the right-wing's program. Likewise, let the Mormon Church join in on their anti-gay crusades and help fund anti-gay initiatives. But they're also on the fundamentalist Protestant list of the "cults." And then there are LGBT people who are convinced that their future is in conservative policies without seeing the connections between conservative economics, politics, social constructions, and prejudice. They believe that this is their future and play down what they interpret to be mere relapses in "compassionate conservatism." They're the ones Barney Frank calls self-hating. And they love joining a group that blames others for their problems. They don't see the connection with conservatives doing that to LGBT people too. There's been no deviation in the basic program of the Christian right and those in bed with them. They're occasionally "shocking" anti-gay public statements tell us what continues to fester at the core. They should shock no one. Their strategy of winning more political clout may closet such views some of the time. But their agenda is clear. The conservative hook is ultimately still deadly and unchanged. 
Robert N. Minor, Ph.D. is author of Scared Straight: Why It's So Hard
to Accept Gay People and Why It's So Hard to Be Human (HumanityWorks!,
2001), and Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas. He
may be reached through www.fairnessproject.org
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Political and religious conservatives know how to hook people they'll eventually betray. They're adept at appearing to partner with others to keep their agenda moving forward even if they know they're actually moving toward eliminating those who today believe their words and join them. Being convinced they're absolutely right justifies whatever they have to do.
Pat Robertson