Religious Rights Attack on Sex
05|17|01 -- Los Angeles - The latest porn busts in Los Angeles and in other
parts of the country are being blamed on a renewed effort by a conservative
administration to step up the war against pornography -- something the Clinton
administration avoided for eight years. The general consensus is that Attorney
General John Ashcroft, being a devout religious zealot himself, will see that
the Department of Justice increases federal obscenity prosecutions. Because
of this perceived threat from Washington, local authorities will step up their
prosecutions in this new prosecutorial atmosphere.
George W. Bush, our court-appointed president, cannot be soley blamed, as
there is absolutely nothing new about the hostility towards the adult entertainment
industry as a whole. The real enemy has been around for literally hundreds
of years and has continually attacked all "unGodly" things such as adultry,
abortion, homosexuality, alcohol, gambling and above all, any sexual activity
other than procreative sex between a man and woman who are married to each
other. They were successful in establishing Prohibition in this country --
failed miserably and went away.
The real enemy of all adult businesses is a relatively small group of fundamentalist
Christians who have successfully elevated their brand of evangelical religion
into the limelight. These are not mainstream Christian religious groups. The
Southern Baptists are not a mainstream religion. Evangelicals do not represent
mainstream religion. Many from these groups are on-the-lunatic-fringe zealots
who believe in their literal translation of the Bible and preach that virtually
anyone, who dares to disagree with their beliefs or their narrow-minded definition
of "morality" are not only wrong, but destined to go to Hell.
Virtually powerless and disorganized 20 years ago, these fundamentalists formulated
a new game plan. To avoid church-state separation problems, the churches began
financing and establishing "political action organizations" with catchy names
like the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family and the American Family
Association. "Preachers" immediately began to build large membership rolls
by extolling the evils of pornography and other societal ills from their collective
pulpits. They began their own television shows, like the Christian Coalition's
700 Club. Knowing full well that most adult Americans were very protective
of their private sex lives and sexual preferences, they began using, and still
use, catchy phrases like "it's all for the children." They screamed "child
pornography," and their flock just naturally assumed kiddie-porn was readily
available at the corner newsstand and certainly in those horrible adult bookstores.
These zealots preached that homosexuals were preying on young children, and
their "believers" escalated their new hatred of gay men to the point of murder.
These newly established "political action" groups, nothing more than a front
for fundamentalist churches, began backing their own slate of political candidates
throughout the entire political spectrum. They successfully elected school
board members, city councilmen and county commissioners. The grassroots effort
expanded to the state and national scene quickly, and now we even see fundamentalists
in charge of our House of Representatives and the presidency.
These groups are very well funded, too. If a small town wants to rid itself
of an adult business and hasn't the funding to successfully prosecute, one
of the afore mentioned fundamentalist groups will, at no charge to local officials,
send a competent attorney or team of attorneys to assist in the prosecution.
It has happened many, many times in the past.
It only takes one fundamentalist in authority, or a similarly inclined citizen,
to file a complaint, to wreak havoc upon an adult business. For the most part,
the cop on the beat could care less about hassling an otherwise legally operating
adult business operation. I've seen one little "bluehair" Baptist lady cause
the closure of a legally licensed adult bookstore in Texas. I know of one
current court case involving a swingers club that has been targeted for "hassle-by-cops"
due to the efforts of a single fundamentalist police official who disapproves
of that type of behavior. I could go on for hours, and cite literally hundreds
of similar cases, as this same type of religious harassment is going on continually
in towns and cities across America.
The fundamentalists are very proficient in knowing how to use law enforcement
to enhance their religiously inspired war against "unGodly" adult businesses
everywhere.
So, even though we see nothing but badges and black jackets physically enforcing
the raids, seizures and general harrassment against all forms of adult businesses,
the real enemy is fundamentalist churches. The fundamentalists declared "war
on porn" many years ago, and most people in the adult industry ignored them.
Now, the hard work and unyielding dedication of the Christian fundamentalist
minority to enforce its morality upon all other American citizens is working.
They are using the law to enforce their religious beliefs, and they have no
organized opposition.
Don't blame "little-Bush" or Ashcroft -- they are simply the messengers of
the opposition. It's time to go after the root problem -- an out-of-control
minority element of well-organized and funded religious zealots. The only
effective way to fight the opposition is to organize our efforts under a single
banner. The time for an effective opposition of rational thinkers is now,
before we lose years of hard-fought achievement.
--- Alan Miles
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