“Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill … Gather the people, consecrate the assembly….” –Joel 2
The trumpet blowing Friday in Zion, was heard all over Babylon. Seattle conservative airwaves, increasingly the holy hills upon which evangelicals sound their alarms were Rev-ed up by paid ads and tag teams of organizers of the anti-equal marriage rights demonstration, Mayday for Marriage in Olympia, this coming Tuesday, Mar 8.
Rev. Dr. Joseph B. Fuiten, (pronounced feetin' --which, I'm assured by his press person--has nothing to do with shrimpin') is President of Washington Evangelicals for Responsible Government, (WERG) who deny any relationship with Rev. Fred Phelps' God Hates Fags Ministries.
He and Rev. Ken Hutcherson, whose mini-sermons are regular product on Entercom's KTTH (see blatherWatch: "we're a force to be reckoned with") made the rounds Friday of Mike Siegel, (KTTH, m-f, 6-9a) Kirby Wilbur (KVI, m-f, 6-9a) and John Carlson (KVI m-f, 3-6p) Thor Tolo, (KGNW m-f, 3-6p)
Tuesday is when the State Supreme Court will hear arguments on lower court rulings from King and Thurston counties that found Washington's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to be unconstitutional. DOMA only allows marriage between a man and a woman and denies recognition of same-sex unions performed elsewhere. WERG pushed DOMA through the Legislature in 1998; and they're in on the current suit to overturn the lower courts' decisions.
Mayday is the WWII cry for help! Is it a mayday for marriage or equality? Fuiton says it's a payday for procreation. Marriage, he says, is a religion based "institution of procreation" and they're out to save it from destruction. (He and Hutcherson have procreated smartly, each spawning four children. Procreation is a handy method --one you can do at home--for making new Christians).
Organizing, communicating and the logistics of moving believers is what evangelicals are really good at. It helps, of course, that they know where their peeps are every Sunday morning. They know what radio stations their people listen to and have perfected target direct mail, email and the potluck supper. Their rallies are replete with coordinated shuttle buses, and car pools.
The lefties, (who mostly stay home or hang out in sushi bars) take the Metro to their events.
WERGies stuffed Safeco Field with 20,000 people for their first Mayday for Marriage rally in May. They claim on their website 250,000 attended their October rally in the National Mall in Washington DC (more reliable estimates give them about 147,000).
Nitpicking the numbers is irrelevant; the rallies did effectively what they were supposed to do--marshal Christians in the Bush/Cheney fold through fear of fags.
Evangelicals think they can put pressure on the Supreme Court, a body whose deliberations are supposed to be above the political fray. A few years ago I would have laughed at the prospect. Today?--I'm not laughing.
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