When former State Board of Education member — and perennial TFN nemesis– Cynthia Noland Dunbar left the board last December after declining to run for a second term, some wondered if she was withdrawing from the culture wars, which she repeatedly stoked during her tenure on the board. She has been notably (and thankfully) absent from the Texas political scene this spring, so we were curious about what she was up to these days.
Turns out, she didn’t retire — she just took her act on the road.
Dunbar is now Assistant Professor of Law at the late Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University School of Law. (Side note: Sarah Posner wrote an interesting piece this week questioning whether Liberty Law School’s approach to teaching the law within a strict “Christian worldview” actually prepares students for a legal career. Interesting quote from one student: “If you walked into court and argued what Liberty wants you to, you’d be laughed out of the room.” Sounds like just the place for Dunbar.)
In addition to her duties shaping the next generation of school district-suing Alliance Defense Fund and Liberty Institute attorneys, Dunbar now maintains a blog at the Christian Law Journal. And she brings the same hyperbolic, divisive rhetorical style to her blog that has made her book — One Nation Under God: How the Left Is Trying to Erase What Made Us Great — the 1,210,143rd most popular book at Amazon. (But look for it to start climbing the charts now that she can assign it as mandatory reading for her classes at Liberty Law.)
Dunbar is also broadening the scope of her political advocacy. She’s now apparently an expert on a wide range of topics, including:
“Not only are we constantly combating attacks against the sanctity of life and family, we are simultaneously watching the destabilization of our Nation’s economy through rampant socialism. Evidence of economic destabilization through excessive government regulation is seen everywhere. We saw it in the form of Nationalized Healthcare and now we watch as the bureaucratic regulations of the National Labor Relations Board are being used to hinder job production and meaningful economic recovery.”
The electoral college system:
“In light of the present Administration’s ‘don’t bother me with what the Constitution says’ attitude, it seems we have lost our bearings as to what even is Constitutional. It is not surprising then to discover a push by a California organization known as National Popular Vote to stealthily do away with the Electoral College without ever amending the Constitution… This dissolving of the practical effect of the Electoral College does nothing more than trample on the principles of Federalism upon which our great nation was founded.”
But she doesn’t neglect her old tropes about the Christian founders:
“If we are to throw off this despotic and tyrannical oppression of our religious liberties, occasioned from the lack of fluency in Biblical worldview, then it only makes sense that these ‘new Guards’ we choose must speak Biblical worldview. This is not pretext for a religious litmus test. It is, however, a clear assertion that in the absence of elected officials capable of accurately interpreting in accordance with the Judeo-Christian framework for civil jurisdiction which is responsible for our liberties, then our liberties will remain at risk.”
Some things never change. But thank God some things do — at least she’s peddling these ideas on an obscure corner of the Internet where they belong, instead of forcing them into students’ textbooks.
If you want to see for yourself what the good professor is preaching these days, click here for an archive of Dunbar’s recent blog posts.
I’ve been thinking about the dominance of evangelical Christianity in the drug/alcohol dependency field, (12 step) and wishing there was a Buddhist and agnostic outreach in this direction.
I think it would also be good at this time for everyone in favor of religious freedom to support a 12 step type program for tea-partiers and other people who have been caught up in this religious right fanaticism fad and want to get away from the hard core koolaid drinkers. Like it is with alcohol/drug dependency, you have to burn your bridges to the old life and cultivate new friends who understand where you’re coming from.
Maybe we should start an outreach program.
She was one of the reasons I was actually hoping there would be a rapture…
In light of the present Administration’s ‘don’t bother me with what the Constitution says’ attitude…
Take this without context and see if you can guess when in 21st century America it was written. Betcha can’t do it!!
Dumbar, like many in her cohort, are the true RINOs — the Republicans In Name Only that the radical religious right that has taken over the GOP have derided for a few years now.
Once upon a time (and it’s not a fairy tale) there were Republicans that actually had an understanding of history and science. While many on the left might not agree with their solutions to problems, at least there was some level of respect and acceptance of differences. Those days are over and may never return. Ignorance and anti-intellectual bigotry — as shown in Dumbar’s (intentional misspelling) and David Barton’s statements — have taken over that Party. Honest disagreements are no longer possible at the level of their rhetoric.
+1 to you, coragyps. You beat me to it.
Yeah, she’s a real package ain’t she?
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Matthew 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Matthew 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are fruitcakes.
Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their candied fruits. Do men gather raisins of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Matthew 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth candied fruit.
Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth candied fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Matthew 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruitcakes ye shall know them.
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not candied fruit in thy name? and in thy name have cast in dried dates ? and in thy name done many wonderful fruitcakes?
Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I don’t like fruitcake: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Charles, if you’d drop your fruitcake into a bowl of brandy overnight, it’d taste better. I recommend trying it on Christmas Eve.
After the little ones have awakened, you can have a nice breakfast of fruitcake and coffee.
Thanks, as always.
@der Brat: Senator Everett Dirksen was a Republican.
In 1964, as Southern Democratic Senators staged a filibuster that ran 54 days to block passage of the Civil Rights bill of 1964 (see Civil Rights Act of 1964, Senators Dirksen, Thomas Kuchel (R-CA), Hubert Humphrey (D-MN), and Mike Mansfield (D-MT) introduced a substitute bill and slightly weaker bill that they hoped would attract enough Republican swing votes to end the filibuster. The compromise bill was weaker than the House version regarding government power to regulate the conduct of private business, but it was not so weak as to cause the House to reconsider the legislation. After 57 days of filibuster, the substitute bill passed in the Senate and then the House-Senate conference committee agreed to adopt the Senate version of the bill.
At the vote for cloture on the filibuster against the Civil Rights Act, Dirksen said
“Victor Hugo wrote in his diary substantially this sentiment, ‘Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come.’ The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing of government, in education, and in employment. It must not be stayed or denied.”
On March 22, 1966, Dirksen introduced a constitutional amendment that would permit public school administrators to provide for organized prayer by students. This amendment was seen by many to violate the principle of separation of church and state, and was defeated in the Senate with only 49 affirmative votes, falling short of the 67 votes required for a constitutional amendment.
Of course after this, Nixon developed the “Southern strategy, and most of those Southern Democrats became Republican out of disgruntlement over civil rights.
It’s always nice to know what Cindy is up to. So, she’s at Liberty U now, eh? I’m sure Harvard and Yale are kicking themselves for letting this paragon of academic integrity slip through their fingers.
‘der Brat’ is right. I’m a (I’d guess) slightly older ‘brat’ — starting my Medicare in two weeks — and remember “Eisenhower Republicans.’ The trouble is not with Republicans though, but with my fellow Democrats who have refused to stand firm on their own positions and simply refuse to attempt to dialogue with Republicans unless they have at least a toe touching reality. Instead, too many of them are taking the Republican flight from reality as, I guess, indicative of a national trend and try and get ever closer to where the Repubs are so they can at least talk the same language. Once again they are trying ‘triangulation’ – or perhaps they never realized how far they had already ‘triangulated.’
Where are the Democratic candidates who will simply say some of the following (I stress social issues because of the nature of TFN):
Abortion is not just a ‘necessary emergency procedure’ in cases of ‘rapeincestandthehealthofthemother’ but can be a wise and moral choice for a mother who knows she cannot afford to support a child — or refuses to make her other children suffer by diluting scarce resources — or who simply knows she (or he when a father includes his advice) does not have the necessary skills for child-raising and refuses to make a child suffer because of her or his lack;
That there is no moral difference between heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality — or, for that matter, asexuality. That this is a personal — possibly gene-influenced — choice and that no choice is superior to the others. That morality in sex involves attitudes, not choice of partner (and can be summed up by the statement — the difference between sex and ‘masturbation using a woman’s body as a handkerchief substitute’ is the realization is that sex is something you do with someone, not to someone;
That ‘abstinence-only’ sex education is not merely ineffective, dishonest, and leads to more pregnancies (as hormones overwhelm intentions and ignorance makes responsible sex impossible), but it is inherently immoral — on the grounds that as long as your only position is ‘don’t DO it’ you abandon any credibility if you try and teach someone how to ‘do it’ morally, ethically, and responsibly;
That the ‘fundamentalization’ of our military academies is an affront to non-Christians, to secularists, and to mainstream Christians, but is also dangerous, particularly when the ‘Christianizers’ are also paranoid radicals and bigots;
That a liar with a clerical collar or religious position is no less a liar and should be called out publicly (hello David Barton);
and on other matters
That the ‘poor’ (not the ‘working poor’ but the poor ‘poor’) and no less worthy of respect, help, and protection from being preyed upon than the middle class;
that Taxes are not some evil punishment from government but are the necessary <band desireable price of living in a safe, educated, and prosperous society (and hence that the Bush cuts should be repealed for everyone3, not just for the rich) which pay back to every citizen far more than they cost;
and that ‘race-neutral’ policies are not ‘markers of the end of racism in our society’ but that — even 50 years after Brown — they can ‘lock in’ the cultural inequality that a hundred years of post-Civil War racist society created.
That’s the Democratic Party I’m proud to have grown up with. Anybody seen it lately?
(I know, I wandered off topic. Apologies, but after a month of back-related blog silence, the ideas rushed out before I could turn off the spigot.)
Good point Prup In any given campaign, at least nationally, there are multiple GOP extremists, low hanging fruit that are just begging to be capitalized upon by a “we are the party of moderation” message. Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann will all be bringing the message of intolerance to the table this time around. Newt is an opportunist who will say anything but Santorum and Bachmann are true believers in the filthy perverted social conservative agenda. Their message will resonate with only the base of the republican party which is at most 15 % of the total American voting poll. Their message is about as well received with most voters as Bernie Sanders and his socialist beliefs. The vast majority of voters, including the 40% that are independents, are not receptive to extremist rhetoric.
Why don’t the Dems take advantage, really exploit the intolerant extremism of the religious conservatives? Well you know the party, at least on a national level, has a track record several decades long of not being able to get out of their own way.
We had poor turnout.
We need good turnout in the next election to make a turnaround.
That would be a good slogan: “Turnout and turn around.”