January 19, 2012

Religious extremists in Tennessee propose a bill amending the state’s current anti-bullying laws to specify that the anti-bully policy should “not be construed or interpreted to infringe upon the First Amendment rights of students and shall not prohibit their expression of religious, philosophical, or political views” as long as there’s no physical threat or threat to another student’s property. David Fowler, formerly a Republican state Senator and currently a self described Christian activist, who wants the legislature to take up the bill, sent out a newsletter for his group the Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT) that said he wants “to make sure [the law] protects the religious liberty and free speech rights of students who want to express their views on homosexuality.”

On its radio show, FACT said of the then recent suicide of gay student Jacob Rodgers, that “The larger lesson here is that these tragedies are often the rotten fruit of the all-about-me individualistic culture that comes when we deny the existence of God and his image in us,” thereby blaming Rodgers for his own death. It is a common trope of the antigay religious right that homosexuality is a rejection of God's image of man and woman.

Copyright © January 19, 2012 by Bruce Garrett
All Rights Reserved.

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