Monday, April 23, 2007
True Colors: Discovery and the Far Right
Lately, we've been treated to a lot of self-righteous chest beating out of the Discovery Institute about the supposed links between Darwinism, the Nazis, and eugenics.
But the truth is that Discovery, while condemning repression in the past, has joined with anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-immigrant extremist groups in the present whose intolerance and xenophobia are reminiscent of the Nazis before they came to power. In the latest example, Discovery, along with James Dobson's Focus on the Family, is sponsoring the World Congress of Families next month in Warsaw.
According to The Baltimore Sun, members of the European Parliamentary Working Group on Separation of Religion and Politics say that several people scheduled to speak at the three-day conference have taken positions that clash with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.
One scheduled conference speaker for example, Steven W. Mosher, of the Population Research Institute, is notorious for asserting that Muslims and other immigrants are contributing to the "demographic destruction" of Europe. A claim that echoes soberingly with Nazi propaganda against Jews and Gypsies during the Holocaust. The victims may have changed, but the message remains the same.
The opening address is to be given by Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who has called homosexuals "perverts" and who has been accused by Human Rights Watch of sanctioning "official homophobia."
Yet another speaker, Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, has publicly accused Jews of controlling the abortion-rights movement and calling sniper attacks on doctors who perform abortions “a superb tactic,” according to Catholics for Free Choice.
Fr. Peter Skarga, of Poland, will represent the Association for Christian Culture, whose chairman gave a speech in October 2004 during which he vehemently opposed the European Constitution's Charter of Fundamental Rights claiming that “the equality of sexes in all areas shall lead to the obliteration of traditional and natural social roles of men and women.”
Austin Ruse, another conference speaker who is president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute has said when he was at the United Nations for a speech by Hilliary Clinton, a priest from the Holy See "offered me guaranteed absolution if I just took her out—and not on a date.”
Intelligent design, far from being scientific as its proponents claim, is really part of a far-right movement whose ultimate aim is the overthrow of a free, democratic, open society. Like Big Brother they're adept at manipulating democratic ideals, such as freedom of speech, while they work tirelessly behind the scenes to undermine the institutions that support our Constitutional rights. They must be opposed.
But the truth is that Discovery, while condemning repression in the past, has joined with anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-immigrant extremist groups in the present whose intolerance and xenophobia are reminiscent of the Nazis before they came to power. In the latest example, Discovery, along with James Dobson's Focus on the Family, is sponsoring the World Congress of Families next month in Warsaw.
According to The Baltimore Sun, members of the European Parliamentary Working Group on Separation of Religion and Politics say that several people scheduled to speak at the three-day conference have taken positions that clash with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.
One scheduled conference speaker for example, Steven W. Mosher, of the Population Research Institute, is notorious for asserting that Muslims and other immigrants are contributing to the "demographic destruction" of Europe. A claim that echoes soberingly with Nazi propaganda against Jews and Gypsies during the Holocaust. The victims may have changed, but the message remains the same.
The opening address is to be given by Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who has called homosexuals "perverts" and who has been accused by Human Rights Watch of sanctioning "official homophobia."
Yet another speaker, Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, has publicly accused Jews of controlling the abortion-rights movement and calling sniper attacks on doctors who perform abortions “a superb tactic,” according to Catholics for Free Choice.
Fr. Peter Skarga, of Poland, will represent the Association for Christian Culture, whose chairman gave a speech in October 2004 during which he vehemently opposed the European Constitution's Charter of Fundamental Rights claiming that “the equality of sexes in all areas shall lead to the obliteration of traditional and natural social roles of men and women.”
Austin Ruse, another conference speaker who is president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute has said when he was at the United Nations for a speech by Hilliary Clinton, a priest from the Holy See "offered me guaranteed absolution if I just took her out—and not on a date.”
Intelligent design, far from being scientific as its proponents claim, is really part of a far-right movement whose ultimate aim is the overthrow of a free, democratic, open society. Like Big Brother they're adept at manipulating democratic ideals, such as freedom of speech, while they work tirelessly behind the scenes to undermine the institutions that support our Constitutional rights. They must be opposed.
