Christian bashing is in these days, but pollster Ivan Moore took it to new levels this week with his column in The Anchorage Daily News. Moore ties in French President Nicholas Sarkozy's decision to ban the wearing of the burqa in his country to Christians in Anchorage opposing Prop 64, which creates special rights for people who like to have sex with members of their own gender.
Moore writes, "I've noticed that certain conservative commentators here in Anchorage support Sarkozy, presumably because he's fighting the good fight against those evil fundamentalist Muslims. "
Moore goes onto write: "If a woman freely wants to wear a burqa, then fine. It's when a government or a mullah forces her to wear one that it's wrong."
Moore gets no argument from me on whether government should tell people what to wear. If Muslims want to wear T-shirts saying death to Israel and long live Hamas, then so be it. It's called freedom.
Like most Americans, I am all for the promotion of freedom and personal liberty. It's liberals like Moore who fight every day to take away our freedoms in an attempt to centralize power to government. The rare cases where liberal policies expand freedom usually involve the killing of babies, dealing with career criminals, or foreign-born terrorists.
That's what so many don't get about the Anchorage gay ordinance. Like so many other leftist proposals, it takes away freedom. It especially takes away religious freedom. Surprisingly, Moore admits this in his column.
He writes: "How come it's OK to restrict religious freedom by banning burqas in France but not OK to restrict religious freedom by banning discrimination against homosexuals here in Anchorage?"
Every once and a while a liberal will slip up and admit what we suspected all along. Just like Obama accidently let out to Joe the Plumber that if elected he would spread the wealth, Moore admits the Anchorage gay ordinance restricts religious freedom. He admits it and then condones it.
I know many of my friends on the left believe the so-called religious right presents a clear and present danger to our nation. It seems they view the likes of Jerry Prevo, Pat Robertson and Rick Warren as more of a threat than Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or al-Qaida itself. This is why so many on the left loathed George Bush. He was open about his Christian faith.
What Moore writes next illustrates my point.
"Both sets of fundamentalists (Christians and Muslims) would happily give offenders (burqa wearers and homosexuals) a good stoning, and both rail against society's attempts to moderate their views. (You don't have to look further than the Loussac Library most Tuesday evenings to know this.)"
You read that correctly, Ivan Moore believes Christians opposing Prop 64 would like to stone gay people. I knew many on the left believe Christians hate gay people, I didn't know some think Christians want to stone gay people.
Of course Moore's argument is ridiculous. It is possible to make a moral judgment about a behavior without hating those who practice that behavior. Do you think men who cheat on their wives are acting immorally? Do you also hate them and want them stoned? Other than Mark Sanford's wife, most would answer the question no.
That's really the crux of the Anchorage gay ordinance. Are we free to make moral judgments about behavior and act accordingly when it comes to operating our business or apartment complex?
Ivan Moore continues his homage to the idea of removing our religious freedom by writing: "Demanding the religious freedom to discriminate in every way against homosexuals because the Bible says it's God's will is not OK. Not in an educated, understanding and tolerant society."
Fortunately for us, Ivan Moore doesn't get to dictate to us what values we employ to make us an "educated, understanding and tolerant society. "
Neither does Matt Claman or any other of the Socialist Six sitting on the Anchorage Assembly.
In Anchorage, we are still free to exercise our own value system. Be warned, though: Liberals like Ivan Moore, Matt Claman, Patrick Flynn, Sheila Selkregg, Elvi Grey-Jackson, Harriet Drummond and Mike Gutierrez are working every day to change that.
Dan Fagan hosts a talk show on AM-750, KFQD. You can reach him at faganreport@me.com.
DAN FAGAN
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