Think Progress: Kansas bill claims LGBTQ community is a religion to justify every kind of discrimination against it

But what makes HB 2320 truly unique is how it frames the rationale for such a massive reversal: It asserts that LGBTQ identities constitute a religion, and if the state of Kansas were to support any law that recognizes that religion, it would be in violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.[...]

In other words, being gay is a matter of faith. And while It may not be an institutionalized religion, it is — these lawmakers assert — the equivalent of secular humanism, which was recognized as a religion by the Supreme Court in a unanimous 1961 decision overturning a Maryland state requirement that candidates for public office profess a belief in God. The government can’t pass laws that require a person “to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion,” the Court explained, nor can it privilege religions that include a belief in God over nonbelievers or over religions that do not include such a belief.[...]

Though all seven of the lawmakers who sponsored HB 2320 are white, they contend at length that LGBTQ equality is particularly offensive to people of color. Much of the bill is inexplicably dedicated to drawing a distinction between race and LGBTQ identities despite the fact that it’s entirely superfluous to the bill’s stated purpose. In this way, it echoes a long history of equality opponents trying to “drive a wedge” between LGBTQ people against people of color.[...]

Leaving no doubt as to whether these lawmakers intended to equate bestiality with homosexuality, the bill explains, “All forms of parody marriages equally erode community standards of decency.” As marriage between a man and a woman does not contribute to the same erosion, the state has a compelling interest in providing for this sort of matrimony exclusively. Furthermore, as some taxpayers believe that such “parody marriages” are immoral, taxpayer money that supports benefits for those marriages violates the consciences of these taxpayers simply by mandating that they pay taxes.

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Think Progress: Cardinal blames ‘homosexual culture’ for Catholic Church’s child sex abuse problem

“It was clear after the studies following the 2002 sexual abuse crisis that most of the acts of abuse were in fact homosexual acts committed with adolescent young men,” Cardinal Raymond Burke said in an interview Thursday. “There was a studied attempt to either overlook or to deny this.”

Burke went on to emphasize that he believes there is “a very grave problem of a homosexual culture” both among the clergy and within the Church’s hierarchy that “needs to be purified at the root.” He added, “It is of course a tendency that is disordered.”

Downplaying the possibility there is any systemic problem within the Church, he claimed that Pope Francis bore direct responsibility for the scandal, calling on the pontiff to “take action” to enforce the Church’s disciplinary procedures.

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Think Progress: No, American politics didn’t create ‘Cafeteria Catholics.’ Catholicism did

That’s the question being batted about on Wednesday, when The Atlantic published a lengthy reported piece entitled “Why Only Cafeteria Catholics Can Survive in American Politics.” In it, religion writer Emma Green gives voice to an argument often repeated by centrist Catholics in election years: that America’s rigid two-party system, divided along deeply entrenched ideological lines, makes it impossible for rank-and-file Catholics to register with a party that matches all aspects of official Church theology. She argues this forces American Catholics to “pick and choose” their theology—making them dreaded “cafeteria Catholics”—resulting in a “diluted identity” for American Catholicism. [...]

But there remains a major problem with Green’s analysis: claiming a Catholic identity and harboring views contrary to Church hierarchy isn’t an American invention. It’s the norm in Catholicism, because being Catholic doesn’t necessarily mean agreeing with bishops, or voting the way they want you to. And it never has. [...]

No one disputes that American Catholics, once a beleaguered religious minority beset by rampant anti-Catholicism reminiscent of today’s Islamophobia, flocked to the Democratic Party to support Catholic candidates such as Al Smith in the 1920s and John F. Kennedy in the 1960s. They’re certainly not the first minority group to do so; America’s brand of democracy encourages minority groups to form alliances and cling to one party out of self-preservation. The same could be said of today’s American Muslims, for instance, who switched from voting for Republican George W. Bush to Democrat John Kerry in one election cycle, and remain firmly Democratic—even though many express conservative sensibilities on several issues. [...]

Granted, if this sort of dissenting spirit was unique among modern American Catholics, one could plausibly argue that the United States has created an environment that bifurcates Catholics in unusual ways. But it’s not: In 2014, a global survey conducted by Univision found that most of the planet’s Catholics disagree with the church on birth control, abortion rights, divorce, and priestly celibacy. This corroborates with several other polls showing the leftward tilt of many Catholic-majority nations: a 2013 Pew poll found that 65 percent of those in Brazil —which is still one of the world’s most Catholic countries—believe homosexuality should be accepted by society, which is probably why Brazil legalized same-sex marriage that same year. In Argentina, which Pope Francis calls home and where 70 percent of the population claims a Catholic identity, marriage equality is widely supported.

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Think Progress: Iowa’s Governor Signed A Proclamation Encouraging Iowans To Read The Bible Every Day

“I, Terry E. Branstad, Governor of the State of Iowa, do hereby encourage all Iowans to join this historical 99 County Bible Reading Marathon,” the official proclamation reads, “and furthermore, encourage individuals and families in Iowa to read through the bible on a daily basis each year until the Lord comes.”

The proclamation begins under a banner noting that it is “In the name and by the authority of the state of Iowa.” It also says that “the Bible is recognized as the one true revelation from God,” that “all Scripture is essential to prepare us to be the people God wants us to be,” and that the Bible, as “God’s revealed will for mankind,” holds the answers for civic leaders with regard to issues like social injustice and the drug crisis. [...]

Though intuitively Branstad’s proclamation may seem a clear violation of the separation of church and state, Jefferson’s “wall” between the two was recently dealt a severe blow by a 2014 Supreme Court decision.

In Town of Greece v. Galloway, a bare majority of justices concluded that it was constitutional for a small upstate New York town to open government meetings with a religious invocation, nearly all of which were Christian or had Christian themes. Following the decision, other towns have followed suit in opening official government meetings with prayers. The Supreme Court decision, however, holds that the practice is only constitutional as long as legislatures maintain “a policy of nondiscrimination,” and thus don’t privilege one religion over another.

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Think Progress: The 4th Largest Economy In The World Just Generated 90 Percent Of The Power It Needs From Renewables

Germany is the fourth-largest economy on the planet. Germany’s $3.7 trillion GDP beats the economic output of any other country in Europe or, for that matter, any U.S. state. Sunday’s spike in renewable output shows that wind and solar can keep pace with the demands of an economic powerhouse. What’s more, the growth of clean energy has tracked the growth of Germany’s economy. [...]

Individuals are driving Germany’s energy revolution. Sunday’s performance highlights the success of the Energiewende, or “energy transition,” Germany’s push to expand clean energy, increase energy efficiency, and democratize power generation. Smart policies have opened the renewable energy market to utilities, businesses and homeowners. As of 2012, individuals owned more than a third of Germany’s renewable energy capacity.

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