California NOW

Religious Tyranny

By Linda Long, Action VP of California NOW

When did America become tolerant of religious tyranny? Religious tyranny is religious tyranny even if the majority of citizens practice that religion.  It is why we have civil rights separate from religious rights.  It is why my individual rights trump your religious rights in this country. The recent arguments from the Republicans have nothing to do with religious freedom and everything to do with corporate religious dominance.

When I was in grade school I distinctly remember learning that the Pilgrims came to the new world to escape from religious tyranny.  Later in school we learned that as more and more people arrived here with their different religions and cultures, there was a shift to individual freedom and individual human rights.  It was a natural shift, to a code of civil and human rights made in order to accommodate all the different cultures, religions and individuals, many of whom made the perilous journey to escape tyranny of all kinds.

I am a woman, a lesbian and an atheist. I am also a mother, a retired business owner, volunteer and advocate.  But first of all, I am an individual, a free citizen of a society where I am guaranteed to have the same opportunities and freedoms of any other citizen.

But I don’t.   Santorum and Romney and the rest of the Republican field believe that this country should be ruled by religious tyranny. Their agenda is to deny me the right to decide my own reproduction, whether it be using birth control or abortion; even if that denial would kill me.  They want to deny me the right to marry, to defend my country, to adopt children or to have equal access to employment; all based on my individual sexual orientation, even if that denial takes away my fundamental right to equality.  They believe they have a right to impose their religious values on my life in countless ways, beginning with inserting “under God” in the Declaration. They believe that religious corporations have and should have more power and rights than the individuals they serve.

It is a religious tyranny that would impose religious laws on members of a society who do not practice their religion.  I believe very deeply that I was born free, equal in dignity and rights and entitled to the equal protection of the law.  Every time I stand and sing the national anthem, I remember all those who fought and are fighting protecting those rights for me and for people across the world. I think it is time that Americans stop pretending that the Republican Party of today defends individual rights. They are a party of dominance and oppression in the name of religion.

Domination over individuals by any religion cannot be tolerated.  There can only be one test and that is that if you have to dominate me to achieve what you want, then what you want comes at too high a cost for any American.

Monday's Action Checklist

The federal minimum wage for tipped restaurant workers has been $2.13 for the past 20 years.  That’s right! Two dollars and thirteen cents can’t even buy a gallon of gas or milk; yet, it is the hourly federal minimum wage for hundreds of thousands of restaurant workers - most of whom are women!  Tipped workers need a raise. Let's join MomsRising and ROC-United to urge Congress to support the WAGES Act which would raise the federal tipped minimum wage.  Take Action NOW:  Send a quick “Don’t Shortchange Women” email urging your member of Congress to co-sponsor the WAGES Act.

With a motto like "Don't be evil," Google has become a trusted brand.  Until now.  We just learned that Google was a major sponsor of this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). This conference gives a platform to white nationalist and anti-gay bigots.This year's CPAC features a man named Peter Brimelow, who publishes a website called VDARE. Brimelow will speak on a panel which claims that "the pursuit of diversity is weakening the American Identity." CPAC is also giving a platform to Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (FRC), which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. FRC has repeatedly equated homosexuality with pedophilia, and Perkins has said that gay people lead a "death-style," not a lifestyle.  At the same time that CPAC gives a platform to these figures, it banned GOProud, an organization of gay Republicans. Take Action NOW:  Sign this petition asking Google to immediately repudiate Brimelow and Perkins' bigotry, and donate $20,000 - the sum it donated to CPAC - to causes that advance tolerance and equality.

The Hayden Law was passed in California in 1998 and provides the nation's most comprehensive laws to protect shelter animals. Governor Jerry Brown is considering a repeal of a number of provisions of this law citing budget concerns. Some of the provisions that are subject to repeal would mean permanently reducing the required holding period for animals to 72 hours prior to euthanasia and eliminating the requirement to provide veterinary treatment for shelter animals.  Take Action NOW:  Sign this petition asking Governor Brown not to turn back the clock on animal rights to balance the budget.

Monday's Action Checklist

Anti-contraception groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are leading the charge against the health-care law’s requirement that women receive access to prescription birth control with no co-pay. In the past few weeks, bishops have mobilized thousands of people to demand a policy that allows certain religious employers to opt out of the requirement to cover birth control at no cost.  We need to be sure that our voices are also heard.  Take Action NOW:  Send your emergency message to the White House no later than this Friday, November 18.

In the United States, children as young as twelve can legally work in the fields.  They can pick your berries and even drive a tractor. According to a US Department of Labor (DOL) report, tractor-related accidents are the leading cause of death for young farm workers.  Let’s be clear, we’re not talking about the children of growers, but children employed as farm workers.  Much to the dismay of many in agriculture, the DOL has proposed new rules that would begin improving safety for children in the fields--including a ban on children younger than 16 driving tractors.  Take Action NOW:  Sign this petition supporting proposed rules to better regulate the employment of children in the fields of this country.

For more than a decade John and Ken, of the John and Ken Show, on KFI AM 640, have been given a prime drive-time talk show where they insult and attack anyone who does not agree with them and their anti-Latino, Asian American, African American, Jewish, and LGBT beliefs.  Their talk show has created an atmosphere of hate and intolerance and unfortunately legitimizes intolerance and discrimination against members of these groups by the fact that they continue to air on one of the most listened to stations in the state.  John and Ken habitually use unsubstantiated claims, divisive language, flawed argumentation and dehumanizing metaphors to shock and anger their audience.  It's an embarrassment that they have a show in Los Angeles.  Take Action NOW:  Let Clear Channel know that it's time for them and their hate speech to go.

Microsoft Corporation apparently paid $25,000 to be a corporate sponsor of the Koch Brother's Tea Party Conference in Washington DC.  Considering the fact that Microsoft has a corporate policy claiming that climate change requires "a comprehensive and global response" and "dramatic innovations to transition the world to a sustainable low-carbon economy", its hard to imagine why they'd sponsor a group who doesn't believe in climate change.  It is irresponsible for a corporation as mainstream as Microsoft to be backing the radical climate denial lies associations with the Koch Brothers and their conference.   Take Action NOW:  Tell Microsoft to stop sponsoring the Koch Brothers' extreme agenda.

Across the country, bans on plastic bags are gaining momentum because they make sense—in today's world.  There is no need for a flimsy, fossil-fuel based, single-use bag. The waste is enormous and emphasis must be placed on investment in products that are made from sustainable materials that last.  The recent insertion of pro-plastic bag text into California's state curriculum by the American Chemistry Council (a lobbying arm of the chemical industry that makes plastic bags) is absolutely inexcusable. Industry lobbyists have no business editing state curricula, especially when the information encourages poor environmental practice and is disputed by factual evidence.  Take Action NOW:  Tell California state officials to remove this harmful and misleading information from California's curricula.

Even though there are laws preventing felons, people with serious mental illness and drug abusers from purchasing guns, because of serious gaps in the background check system, they end up buying them anyway at gun shows across the country.  A new campaign, "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" has been created to fix gun checks by closing loopholes that allow gun dealers to skip background checks altogether.  Tomorrow, the U.S. Senate will debate the Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011.  Mayors Against Illegal Guns are going to be there to hand deliver hundreds of thousands of signatures during testimony to show congress that this piece of legislation has broad grassroots support. They've currently got over 350,000 signers but are aiming for 400,000 by tonight.  Take Action NOW:  Click here to add your name now.

Monday's Action Checklist

Our Attorney General, Kamala Harris, needs to hear from you NOW. Last month she walked out of the "50-state settlement" talks and refused to give the Big Banks a "get out of jail free" card for their crimes against homeowners.  According to the New York Times, she's facing enormous pressure to rejoin the talks.  We need to show Kamala Harris that we'll have her back if she stays on offense against the Big Banks and makes them pay for committing fraud against millions of California homeowners. Take Action NOW:  Co-sign the Courage Campaign's letter of support to Kamala Harris.

Mothers across this country were outraged when they learned that formaldehyde-releasing chemicals is still in Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo here in the United States, even after it had been removed from versions of the shampoo in Denmark, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the U.K.  MomsRising, along with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and other groups representing 4 million people, sent a letter to Johnson & Johnson on October 31st asking, “Why the double standard?"  And guess what? On November 1st, the company released a statement saying it is no longer introducing new products with formaldehyde-releasing preservatives and it is phasing out these types of preservatives in baby products worldwide.  Take Action NOW:  Click here to thank Johnson & Johnson and to let to let them know that consumers are watching to ensure that the company actually takes the steps it promised to protect the health of kids in the United States!

This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation to ensure that the federal government recognizes all state-sanctioned marriages, including gay and lesbian couples.  The Committee will also consider amendments to the legislation -- changes that could strengthen the bill, as well as some that threaten to weaken it.  Take Action NOW:  Become a citizen co-sponsor of the legislation to respect all marriages.

When you order a book from Amazon, do you know why it's so cheap and arrives so fast? Because employees at an Amazon.com warehouse are literally working in a sweatshop. New details have emerged that working conditions are so horrendous – with temperatures inside a Breinigsville, PA, warehouse often soaring above 100 degrees – that Amazon keeps an ambulance parked outside. Amazon would rather pay to take sick, overheated workers out on stretchers than turn up the air-conditioning.  Conditions got so bad that 15 warehouse workers collapsed.  After leaving workers in Pennsylvania to suffer extreme temperatures, now it's Amazon's turn to feel the heat.  Take Action NOW:  Send Amazon a message telling them that customers won't stand for the company's abuse of warehouse workers.

Monday's Action Checklist

Choice at Risk in Kansas - Abortion is legal in the United States, but you wouldn’t know it if you lived in Wichita, Kansas.   Dr. George Tiller’s murder abruptly ended reproductive health services in Wichita. It was a devastating blow to women across the state who depended on him for life-saving health services.  Since his death, just three facilities remain open to provide legal abortions for the entire state of Kansas, all in the northeast corner of the state.  As they try to save the remaining clinics, the women of Kansas need to know that as a nation, we stand squarely behind them in their fight, and trust them to control their own reproductive lives.  Take Action Today - Sign the petition saying you trust the women of Kansas to make their own medical choices.

Clean Air Act Being Gutted - Under the guise of cutting government spending, some lawmakers in Washington are taking a hatchet to the Clean Air Act.  Attacking the Clean Air Act is both fiscally irresponsible and terribly short-sighted.  This legislation has a 40-year track record of cutting dangerous pollution and, in 2010 alone, helped prevent an estimated 160,000 premature deaths and 1.7 million asthma attacks. On August 2, the total value of the net benefits provided to Americans by the Clean Air Act since its inception reached $50 trillion.  Yet despite these benefits, H.R. 2584 has been introduced which is an all-out attack on our air, water, lands, and wildlife, and includes nearly 40 anti-health, anti-environment amendments—including an amendment that would prevent the EPA from reducing global warming emissions under the Clean Air Act.   Take Action Today - Tell your representative to vote against this dangerous bill.

Gay Men Prevented from Donating Blood - In 1983, when HIV/AIDS was not well understood, the FDA began banning all men who have had sex with another man since 1977 from donating blood. Now, nearly thirty years later, blood banks have the ability to screen blood carefully and ensure its safety.  However, the FDA has consistently refused to update its anti-gay donation policy – even as recently as last year, despite nationwide blood shortages.  The American Association of Blood Banks, the American Red Cross, and other blood centers have stated that the ban is "medically and scientifically unwarranted." They have pushed repeatedly for a review of the anti-gay ban.  Take Action Today - Sign the petition telling the FDA to stop discriminating against gay men and end the blood shortage affecting all Americans.

Campbell's Soup Not So M'm M'm Good - Campbell's Soup Company uses toxic Bisphenol A (BPA) in their canned goods, despite the fact that it's been proven to be harmful. In April, over 20,000 parents joined forces to ask three major canned food manufacturers, Campbell's, Del Monte, and General Mills, what they are doing about Bisphenol A (BPA) in their canned goods.  Two companies replied, offering rough timelines for replacing BPA, or sharing details about which products are BPA-free.  Yet Campbell's Soup Company has never responded.  This is a company that markets directly to kids with products like Dora the Explorer "Kidshape Soups." Parents have serious questions about a toxic chemical linked to breast cancer, infertility, early onset puberty, ADHD, and obesity.  Take Action Today - ask Campbell's when they plan to phase out BPA in their cans and what safe alternative they will be replacing it with?
 
Hyatt Making Life for Their Workers Harder - Imagine what it would feel like to work on your hands and knees for hours every day – while knowing that your employer could save you from the agonizing pain just by providing simple tools that most people already have in their homes.  Mega-hotel chain Hyatt is publicly opposing a law that would require hotel companies to give their housekeepers tools like mops that are proven to reduce workplace injuries. Take Action Today - Ask Hyatt to stop standing in the way of a bill that will make work safer for their housekeepers.