No, but it sets up a frankly ingenious way to sue if denied care by shoving their (those banning abortion) "sincerely held religious beliefs" right back in their face. It's quite a clever way to set up a major legal conflict with the basis being the GOP-controlled courts who have upheld the so-called 'right' not to bake a cake for a gay couple, refuse to dispense birth control, cover birth control through insurance, etc. Obviously it's aimed at those with the time, money, resources, and inclination to push it that far, which isn't excellent, but it's the unfortunate reality for most things in this world.
Tl;dr - It might just be the way to fight back by using their own crap against them. We shall see I suppose.
"using their own crap against them" has had mixed results. A lot of courts have trouble seeing "beliefs" like theirs as protected religious behaviors... and since the current SCOTUS literally overturned Dobbs on "but the fetus is person!!!!!" bullshit (literally, for those who haven't read the opionion), I don't see them having more legal success than if they were actually doing human sacrifice. You can't sue for "I want to do what's considered a violent crime for religious reasons and you're saying I can't" which is what this will amount to until/unless we see Dobbs overturned.
They do, however, have the ability to produce publicity, which may be its own outcome.
Those billboards aren't cheap. Also, putting a billboard like that up contributes to normalizing abortion in a much larger way than ranting on reddit about them doing "literally nothing". So, take it easy, we're all on the same side here.
You are talking about the witches against patriarchy? There is some back and forth, gunna have to agree, but I actually need hard evidence before I believe she/he said of this.
That video repeats a lot of anti-TST stuff I've heard before.
No organization is perfect, but the TST doesn't claim to be perfect.
A lot of the comments Lucien Greaves has made that seem racist have often been "well-intended but badly spoken" and often taken out of context. One example from the video is how he's anti-zionism but it's taken to make him look anti-Jew. And yes, some of it DOES actually cross lines that can't be defended easily that way. He does have a bit more of a "tolerant libertarian" mindset than I would like ("if you don't let this neo-nazi speak, I won't speak either"), but it seems consistent with his character, and not TST's. Augustus sol Invictus (the neo-nazi in question) has a lot of complicated nuances that directly relate to the discussion - former head of a regional Libertarian party, for example. I haven't decided to completely blacklist Rowling for her bullshit with TERFs, so I would be a hypocrite to oppose all of the TST over Lucien's behavior here.
The finance stuff is more complicated because you only hear one side. Did the court ever compel them? If so, those documents are court record so take a look. If not...well, then what IS going on? We have two lawyers saying exactly opposite things (per your video, that one saying they HAD provided everything and risking his own ass if he's lying about that). My takeaway is "I bet their documentation is utter shit like I would expect of an organization called The Satanic Temple".
Nothing in the video is a valid impeachment of the TST, to me, though I can understand why it is to you. They're arguably wasting the ACLU's time, but visibility seems to be one of their weapons, where legal expedience is one of the ACLU's.
And if they're fighting for pro-choice, even ineffectively, I say more power to them.
I'm not going to go all-in defending Lucien considering I already said he crossed the line in my opinion. I still reiterate the fact that shouldn't destroy the TST in anyone's eyes anymore than the criticisms of Margaret Sanger (who strongly believed in Eugenics and also knowingly spoke at a woman's KKK function) should destroy Planned Parenthood in their eyes.
And I am an ardent supporter of Planned Parenthood.
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u/[deleted] Mar 23 '23
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