February 27, 2009
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Blog
Tags: Religious Right Watch

What’s in a Name?

The folks at Free Market Foundation think their organization needs a new name. The Focus on the Family affiliate in Texas spends a lot of time trying to use government for promoting conservative  Christianity and suing school districts that resist. So in an e-mail blast asking supporters for help with a new name, they acknowledge that the “Free Market Foundation” brand doesn’t quite match what they do:

We think Free Market sounds more like an economic “think tank” than a pro-family policy organization.

They’ve been around since 1972 and just figured that out?

Moreover, the word “foundation” leads people to think we dole out money to other worthy causes.

And lastly, it is challenging to build grassroots momentum by promoting two names – Free Market Foundation and our legal division, Liberty Legal Institute.

We believe we would be more efficient, reduce confusion and have greater impact by adopting ONE name.

We agree. And being generous folks here at Texas Freedom Network, we’re happy to help. So how about:

Focus on the Family-Texas (Truth in advertising, at least.)
Texans for the Right Religion
Lawsuits-R-Us: Suing Schools for Jesus since 1972
SOS: Sue Our Schools Coalition
Texans for Merging Church and State
Fund More Fundamentalists (They wouldn’t have to change their initials!)

Whatever name they choose, we’re prepared to make a deal. TFN will keep supporting the right of students to practice their own religious faith if Free Market Foundation will stop trying to force all the other students to join them.

Feel free to offer other name suggestions here. We’re sure Free Market will appreciate the help.

26 thoughts on “What’s in a Name?”

  1. I suggest BARF (Bronze Age Religious Fundamentalists).

    What do I win? A blind date with Donna Garner? Uh, I’ll pass.

  4. TFN says,
    –The Focus on the Family affiliate in Texas spends a lot of time trying to use government for promoting conservative Christianity and suing school districts that resist. —

    What hypocrisy — you Darwinists are the ones who are always suing and threatening to sue the schools.

    “Texas Freedom Network” is not much more descriptive than “Free Market Foundation.” If they have had the same name since 1972, there is some name recognition there and hence IMO the name should not be changed.

    Here is a new name for the FMF: “Americans United Against Separation of Church and State.” LOL

    Seriously, though, the FMF is needed to help counterbalance the excessive influence of dogmatic Darwinists.

  6. Seriously, though, the FMF is needed to help counterbalance the excessive influence of dogmatic Darwinists.

    They’re not doing a good job at all – they haven’t even touched the heliocentrists, gravityists, relativityists, atomic theorists, germ theorists, and plate tectonicists! Get cracking, FMF! Scientific thought isn’t going to be set back hundreds of years all by itself!

  8. Here are a couple:

    – “The Academic Free-For-All Institute” (for “academic freedom” from kindergarten on up)

    – “Texans Fighting the First Amendment” (no separation, etc.)

  13. While I am all for a good laugh, I question the wisdom of publishing the joke-y suggestions. TFN and like minded organizations and individuals have a hard enough time getting folks on the “other side” to believe we are serious, polite, and kind human beings whose purpose is high-minded.

    Do we want someone from Focus on the Family to copy these names, publish them on their website, and use them against us? I think not.

  15. Sharon, I understand your point, but I have to disagree. Humor is an excellent tool in this type of battle. Read the Onion, or watch a George Carlin clip. Watch the Daily Show.

    Also, to be honest, I don’t feel the need to be polite toward the FMF.

    Their mission statement:

    “To protect freedoms and strengthen families throughout Texas by impacting our legislature, media, grassroots, and courts with the truth. To do this we are guided by the principles, which limit government and promote Judeo-Christian values.”

    Many of their “values” are repugnant (in my opinion), and those “values” impact me, my family, and my friends on a daily basis. I think the FMF deserves to be ridiculed.

  16. Well Sharon Hamilton. You may have a good point to some degree. Certainly, the blasphemous ones (depending on how you interpret that) are over the top and disrespectful. Personally, I would not want to put Jesus’ name even a respectful way as part of the new organizational name out of concern that he might not wish to have his name associated with organizations such as the Free Market Foundation. I think that would be a real concern for me. However, you have to also consider a couple of other things:

    1) There is no such thing as winning the entrenched opposition to the Texas Freedom Network. We are talking here about a group of ultra-right-wing, extremist fanatics who are so wed to their man-made, extra-Biblical belief system that nothing could ever move them off it. It’s just like Jesus said of these same kinds of religious people in the New Testament. He said that they were so entrenched that even the resurrection of a man from the dead would not be enough to move them. Both ancient and modern day scribes and pharisees.

    2) I think the TFN is more interested in influencing people in the Texas population (both believers and unbelievers in Jesus) who have not gone off the deep end like the scribes and pharisees of the New Testament. After seeing the list of proposed organizational names above, a politically neutral and uninformed believer in a church might very well look dimly on TFN. However, if this person is more perceptive than some people, she might take it a step further and say, “But wait. What are organizations like the Texas Freemarket Foundation doing to make people (even other Christians) get so upset at them and their activities. Maybe I need to look deeper into this.” Christian fundamentalists tend to believe that evolution is a nonscientific falsehood that drives people away from Jesus. For some, it may. However, the Christian fundamentalists need to consider the great numbers of highly intelligent and perceptive people who THEY drive away from Jesus forever each day simply because of their “total buy in” to obviously man-made nonsense such as the Earth is only 5000 years old and no death (not even animal death) existed anywhere on the planet prior to 5000 years ago. That double-edged sword is like the Bible. It cuts both ways and one of those ways cuts Christian fundamenalist flesh.

  18. It’s off-topic, but I resent the Judaism-bashing going on in the above postings. It may not have been your intention to bash Judaism (“scribes and pharisees”) but I bet that is how your message is being read by Jewish readers.

    I thought the goal here is to promote science. There is PLENTY to discuss about science without getting into religion. That’s what the CREATIONISTS want. Let’s please stay on-topic and stick to SCIENCE.

  19. Uh? Did you happen to see the subtitle on the TFN Insider heading above?

    All right. If it makes you happy, we have no copies of any ancient writings that might offer some possible insights into the death of a person who lived about 33 A.D. and claimed to be the Son of God. However, rumor has it that some really mean-spirited religious dudes of some sort might have somehow framed this guy in a way that led to his death. Some nondescript religious dudes like that might have existed in ancient times, but it is not even remotely possible that like-minded people could live in our own time and be leading people down an equally tragic path. And, of course, there is not the slightest bit of possibility that such people, although openly vocal against real science for solely religious reasons, could ever pose any real threat of injustice to science. There is no chance that they could attempt to frame and railroad “real science” like they did that guy they supposedly disagreed with in ancient times. So yeah, religion has nothing to do with science in our time, so let us just talk about science and nothing about religion. Here, I will start: Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. How’s that? It just kind of makes you feel warm all over.

  20. How about: Society to Establish a Christian Theocracy? This pretty much defines their true aims.

  21. They could become a sister organization for FFRF (Freedom from Religion Foundation) by renaming themselves the:

    Freedom From Reality Foundation, Also FFRF.

  23. HOBGOBLINS

    Hypocrites, Obsessives, and Bigots for God-Ordained Bastardization of Legislation Involving Nature and Schools

    or, to keep the same initials,

    FMF

    Freedom from Morality Foundation

  24. Whatever they decide on, I would hope they define who they really are and what they really do. Truth in naming would turn more people away from their cause.Focus on the Family (which does NOT do what it’s name suggests), and Liberty Legal Institute (which diminishes liberty for all while prmototing theocracy) are completely deceptive.
    I would suggest Fundamentalists For A Theocractic Country.

  25. FFRF- Freedom From Reason Foundation (with apologies to Freedom From Religion Foundation)

    WMD- Women Minding Daddy (with apologies to Weapons of Mass Destruction)

  26. That’s very funny, Charles. But you said it yourself: “…some really mean-spirited religious dudes of some sort might have somehow framed this guy in a way that led to his death.” The key word here being ‘some.’ It wasn’t all Jews; it was basically only a handful: those who were collaborators with Rome, though Christians have historically loved to blame THE JEWS.

    And, if you accept Christian doctrine, the “guy” to which you refer was meant to die. So, if he was meant to die, what difference does it make who was responsible? In fact, they were only fulfilling his destiny.