'Don't Fergit: We Still Hate Them Fags!'

Theocracy at Work: The near-death hillbilly bigots that have hijacked the country. And their idiot messiah.

Bush Calls for Gay-Marriage Amendment

from MSNBC

NASHVILLE, Tennessee - Reviving a major plank of his re-election campaign, President Bush called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage Tuesday.

The president’s address to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention — the fourth year in a row he has spoken to the conservative evangelical gathering — was crafted to rally the social religious conservatives who make up a crucial part of Bush’s governing coalition. He restated his commitment to issues dear to conservatives’ hearts, notably his opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion, and research on human embryonic stem cells — a stance he calls the "culture of life."

"We will continue to build a culture of life in America, and America will be better off for it," Bush said by satellite hookup from the White House.

Bush’s remarks were similar to those he made last year, when he said he would work to uphold marriage as he sought to solidify his religious conservative base ahead of the November election. He thanked the 11,077 "messengers" who made the trek to Nashville this year for defending "the values that carry a moral society, for...defending the family and the sacred institution of marriage."

The Southern Baptist Convention strongly condemns homosexuality, and the president’s remarks were greeted with sustained applause.

Bush’s speech was also in keeping with the tone of urgency suffusing the conference, where the Rev. Bobby Welch, president of the convention, has challenged church leaders to renew their commitment to social engagement and evangelism.

The conservatives’ primary issues have been gay and lesbian rights and what they see as moral decay in the public schools, a topic that has again created controversy at the convention’s annual gathering. The convention’s resolutions committee was considering two non-binding resolutions urging parents to investigate whether their local school promoted homosexuality and to pull their children out of classes if it did, but the panel killed a similar resolution last year.

"In modern education in America, we have dethroned God, and we have deified man," said the Rev. Jerry Vines of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla. "You cannot satisfy the human soul with mere education."

Although a sizable minority of evangelical Christians — estimated at 20 percent to 40 percent — say they are politically moderate or Democratic, the SBC has been led by socially conservative leaders since they engineered a takeover of the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination in 1979.

At one point during a floor debate Tuesday, Welch had to remind messengers to remain civil.