The conservative Roman Catholic-Mormon antigay group, the National Organization for [Antigay] Marriage, reacted to the defeat of its anti-marriage initiatives in four states on Thursday by vowing to incite antigay Muslim opposition to U.S. companies in the Middle East.
NOM’s exploitation of Islam in pursuit of anti-Americanism is more than a little hypocritical, given the NOM leadership’s contempt for the religion.
NOM’s chairman, Robert George, is a Princeton University professor who co-wrote the Manhattan Declaration which calls upon right-wing Christians to violate laws that are contrary to their own desires — desires that they proclaim to be God’s will. George also sits on the board of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a top U.S. funder of anti-Islamic extremism. George’s war against Islam is contrary to his own Roman Catholic Church’s teachings in favor of interreligious dialogue and respect.
NOM leadership not only defies Catholic teaching on Islam, it also defies church support for immigrants. NOM allies include the anti-immigrant think tank, the Center for Immigration Studies.
NOM’s plan to exploit Muslims became apparent when The American Independent received an invitation to join a NOM post-election conference call. The newspaper recorded the Nov. 8 call.
During the call, NOM president Brian Brown vowed to incite Middle Eastern Muslim opposition to American companies, such as Starbucks Coffee, that support LGBT equality.
“Their international outreach is where we can have the most effect,” Brown said. “So for example, in Qatar, in the Middle East, we’ve begun working to make sure that there’s some price to be paid for this. These are not countries that look kindly on same-sex marriage. And this is where Starbucks wants to expand, as well as India. So we have done some of this; we’ve got to do a lot more.”
Brown also said that NOM would continue to pursue a failed strategy of appealing to economic conservatives who object to social conservatives’ demand for big-government regulation of family life and religious belief.
Until now, NOM has received nearly all of its funding from a few wealthy donors, believed to be the Roman Catholic and Mormon churches. Brown and NOM national political director Frank Schubert promised key supporters that they would work to develop a grassroots network.
Perhaps NOM will develop ties to the immigrant groups that NOM’s major donors have fought so hard against. NOM’s amazing acts of moral self-contortion continue.
