Religious Intolerance Cuts Both Ways

Hugh Hewitt has an excellent piece, The Stuff They Teach At USC: A Trojan Dean’s View of Fascism:

Earlier today I posted an excerpt from an article in the current issue of Los Angeles Weekly, “The New Blacklist,” which deals in part with some Christians refusal to buy products from companies sponsoring gay-themed entertainment. The University of Southern California has an Annenberg School of Communications, the associate dean of which is Martin Kaplan, a way left talking head. Kaplan’s appearance in the piece is this:

“Martin Kaplan, director of the Norman Lear Center at the Annenberg School of Communication at USC, calls the new Christer offensive a drive toward ‘theocratic oligopoly. The drumbeat of religious fascism has never been as troubling as it is now in this country,’ adding that ‘e-mails to the FCC are more worrisome to me than boycotts’ in terms of their chilling effect .”

Martin Kaplan is duplicitous at best and a hyocrite at worst regaling against “theocratic oligopoly” yet supporting a “secular oligopoly” which has been prevalent in the MSM since the 1960’s. It is OK for the United Farm Workers to boycott grapes and Gallo wine because of labor rules and benefits but fascist for the Christian Right to write letters and boycott companies that are their anathema and intolerant to their religious beliefs.

Somebopdy should send Professor Kaplan to some senistivity training or a course on the First Amendment over there at my alma mater.

Of course, he is a director of the Norman Lear Center at the Annenberg School of Communications. Whatever happened to the People for the American Way, that Lear founded? They used to pounce on religion whenever it was propitious.

This inane and repulsive quote and the post in which was contained was erased during site maintenance today, but I don’t want you to miss it. Or the best context for understanding Kaplan’s smear as the latest manifestation of secular fundamentalism in the U.S., which would be last week’s speech to the OCSE in Cordoba, Spain by Denver Archbishop Chaput, in which he said in part:

“An equally dangerous trend now dominates other OSCE states, where public expressions of religious faith often seem to be ridiculed as fundamentalism. In the name of respecting all religions, a new form of secular intolerance is sometimes imposed. Out of fear of religious fundamentalism, a new kind of secular fundamentalism may be coerced on public institutions and political discourse.

At the same time, various media in the OSCE area now often allow symbols of Christian identity, Christian believers and their faith to be publicly abused. Programs like “How to cook a crucifix” and sacramental confessions recorded without the confessor’s knowledge are deeply contemptuous of Catholic believers. This is unworthy of Europe’s moral dignity and religious heritage. Furthermore, it stands in stark contrast to OSCE commitments to promote religious freedom.

Europe has given the whole world the seeds of democracy. Today’s growing anti-religious and often anti-Christian spirit undermines that witness.”

Kaplan’s attempt to gag and condemn a vast cross-section of Americans because he doesn’t like their point of view and to try and do so by labeling them “fascists” is not only inane, but impossible to reconcile with the left’s assault last campaign season on Sinclair Broadcasting’s sponsors and with yesterday’s announcement by the UFW of a renewed boycott against Gallo. Consumer boycotts seem to be fine in the eyes of the left, except when undertaken by religious believers, in which case they become tools of fascists.

No, it doesn’t make any sense. We offered Kaplan a chance to come on the radio show today to discuss and explain his comments. He declined. The Ward Churchill of the West Coast isn’t in a hurry to debate, just proclaim.

Thanks Hugh and Flap challenges Professor Kaplan to PUT UP (debate his inane views) or SHUT-UP (which is very doubtful).

Fight On!