Jesus, What Did You Say to Piss them off This Time?
I have written before that I think Christians (in the interest of full disclosure, I am one) can be our own worst enemy. Nothing makes me cringe more than a self-assured, self righteous bastard who thinks he knows all the answers.
I take that back...
Self-righteous atheist bastards actually make me cringe more. It's mostly because pure unadulterated hatred and hypocrisy coming from anyone makes me feel all empty inside. The worshipers of "random chance naturally selected chaos" are perhaps the most smug human beings on God's green Earth.
Take Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris, there's is also good`ol Chris Hitchens, Mother Teresa hater extraordinarie, all sharp as a tack, all self assured and apparently scarred for life by some sort of parentally mandated religious training. While all these guys are surely Atheist All-Stars I think it's Chris Hedges, the author of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America who takes the cake. Watching him on CSPAN last night I could literally feel the pain of that whack on the back of the hand Sister Rosa dished out. Perhaps Chris should have been reading scripture instead of drawing devil horns on a picture of the Pope.
All kidding aside, these fine men and millions more like them around the world came to a conclusion that God does not exist. That is their right - and they can set out to prove it in any way they see fit. No one has the monopoly on the truth - no one is all-knowing. And to speak of hypocrites without including the Church is unfair.
Mr. Hedges, I am relatively certain, would be the first to condemn those of us who see the coming world war pitting Islamic Jihad terrorists against, well, everyone else as being paranoid and delusional. What does it say of him to have actually written a book called American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America? Rarely does one come across paranoia like that!
I challenge Hedges or anyone else for that matter to spend an hour on Sunday in my church and see the revolutionary preparations we are making to take over America. Why all that talk about love and forgiveness is enough to frighten the poor man to death. Ahh, but you need to read between the lines, mister. That's right, we are oh so clever, we would never come right out and say it like the Muslims do. We, born of the Jews, are all sneaky and clandestine. Its all in the way you interpret the parables...
They say that the Christian Right is destroying our democracy. They generally have scant evidence but like to site Stem Cell Research. In this "sound bite" world it is easy to lie by omission to leave a skewed impression on the public. The biggest lie is the fact that contrary to what they'd have you believe embryonic stem cells have yet to produce a single viable treatment. They lie by ignoring the tremendous strides adult stem cell therapies have made. They lie by intimating that the President has outlawed stem cell research when he did no such thing.
They now have a second example to site as proof that "the Christians are coming, the Christians are coming!" The Supreme Court recently upheld the federal law banning so-called Partial Birth abortions. It is a particularly gruesome procedure that even most level headed pro-choicers find appalling. It has been passed by several state houses and struck down by lower courts and now it was passed by the federal government and signed into law by the President. The fact of the matter is that a vast majority of Americans think the law is right. That's sort of like democracy isn't it.
Why have a constitution if we just need to listen to the people for all our answers?
Polls are OK when they support your position and they damn sure ought to be taken into account. After all a majority of the American people who voted in 2000 voted for Albert Gore but he did not become the President because the law said he didn't win enough electoral votes. That was a travesty in some people's eyes - the majority must prevail!
So, that being the case, when a majority of the people in this country want to declare that marriage is a union of one man and one woman should that not that be the case then? Or is it just another example of the Christian Right going after gays and lesbians, stripping them of their rights and rendering them second class citizens? Me, I personally don't care one way or the other, to each his own, live and let live and all that jazz, if that's what they want to do, good for them. But is this a democracy where the majority rules or not? No, it is not. This is the very reason America was constituted as a representative democratic republic. We are supposed to elect wise men and women to make decisions on matters such as this. And if I heard it once I've heard it a thousand times - we get the government we deserve.
If Hedges, Hitchens and Harris fear for this country and the march toward Christian fascism that they see around every corner then they also ought to look in the mirror to see why the Christians in America feel so threatened. The march of socialism and secular humanism is proceeding unhindered through our culture and our schools. Why do you think parochial and home schooling is on the rise and is producing some of the best student achievement.
This whole throw the baby out with the bath water mentality as if God believing people have contributed nothing good to this world is the thing we recoil against. My church is full of great and wonderful, peaceful people every Sunday. I don't know what churches these guys go to.
CW
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