2006-10-16
David Parker had clearly made the big time as he joined a who's who of the religious right, including Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), James Dobson (Focus on the Family), convicted Watergate burglar Chuck Colson, Gary Bauer, Mitt Romney and a host of others, at the so-called "Liberty Sunday" event.
I wonder, as he soaked in his standing ovation, whether he thought about his town--our town--that he and the Wirthlins sued collectively, or his kid's teacher, or our school administration, who they also sued individually. I wonder if he thought about all the time, money and peace of mind this lawsuit has cost all of them and us, or how much better off our children would be if the defendants (our school staff) could have spent those resources on teaching.
I wonder whether he thought about the lies that got him there: about how he was arrested for his views (he was actually arrested for trespassing), about how his kid was beaten up for his views (it was actually a minor playground scuffle between friends over lunchroom seating), and so on.
I wonder if he thought about the bigger lie that underpinned the whole event as well as the lawsuit: the truly bizarre claim that "The expansion of non-discrimination laws to include homosexuality inevitably constricts our right to express and act on our religious beliefs."
I wonder whether he's really thought about what it would mean for the public schools to be held responsible for protecting every parent's religious worldview from the real world. I wonder whether he's thought about why, of all the religious views he holds that must be in conflict with public school curricula, he is so focused on homosexuality.
I wonder whether he realizes whether he and the rest of the audience are simply taken for chumps by money-hungry televangelists and the money-and-vote-hungry Republican party as a constituency that is self-selected for credulity and for obeying, and sending money to, their religious leaders.
I wonder.