The header above is the subject line in the latest fundraising e-mail from the Free Market Foundation, the Texas affiliate of the Christian-right pressure group Focus on the Family. We suppose “Martians Invade!” sounded too silly to them.
It’s sad that in a country founded on the principle of religious freedom, pressure groups still foster such hatred for people who choose not to practice any religion. In any case, Free Market’s e-mail lists a variety of dangers posed by the atheist horde supposedly descending upon the Lone Star State. Much of the list is standard stuff, such as taking God out of the Pledge of Allegiance, blocking prayer in schools and abortion.
But taxes?
Another big issue is taxes. We’re all tired of our property taxes being raised each year without being allowed to vote on this issue. We are working hard to support legislation to cap raising appraisal taxes more than 5% unless approved by local citizens. These tax increases must stop!
Goodness. What in the world are those evil atheists up to? Not only do they want to destroy all that is holy, but now they want to tax everybody to death.
In all seriousness, this is simply another example of the religious right using faith as a political weapon. TFN has no official position on property taxes. That issue is simply beyond the scope of our mission. But we’ve seen Free Market’s tactic replicated by countless religious-right groups: use fear and hatred to raise money or stir up religious activists in support of or opposition to some partisan agenda, even if it has nothing to do with faith. And never mind who you have to smear to do it.
