For Thee, but Not For Me?

persecution, christianity, beetlebabee, atheism, atheist, olive jones
I've been ignoring my favorite blogot*, and I feel bad about that. So today, I give you a dissection of People of Faith Under Persecution by the Beetle Blogger.

According to Beetle, poor Olive Jones, an inhome teacher for disabled students, offered to pray- once!- for a 14-year-old girl with cancer and the girl's evil, secular parents had her fired.

Of course, the parents tell a slightly different story, which Beetle didn't bother to include in her post.

Paddy and Stephanie Lynch, whose daughter is seriously ill with leukaemia, said Olive Jones' constant 'preaching' left their child deeply distressed.

. . .

Mrs Lynch, 43, who quit her job with the Higher Education Funding Council in April to care full-time for her daughter, said: 'Mrs Jones was employed to teach maths but used every opportunity to discuss religion, despite the fact I made it clear we were a non-religious family and didn't want to talk about these issues in this way.

'On one occasion she asked my daughter to pray with her, my daughter was distressed by this behaviour.

'On another, after the death of my daughter's close friend, Miss Jones told my 14-year-old daughter that when young people die they go to heaven. These conversations upset my daughter deeply**.'

Well, this sounds a little more reasonable, doesn't it? Ms. Jones was told, repeatedly, to stop discussing religion during what should have been math sessions, Ms. Jones chose to ignore these requests, so the parents requested that Ms. Jones not be given access to their daughter any more.

What I find especially enlightening about Beetle's report on this incident is how often she has blogged about parental sovereignty- the right of parents to raise their children as they see fit. Beetle does not want her children exposed to things like sex education or neutral portrayals of homosexuals, and argues vociferously that it is her right as a parent to control what her children are exposed to.

So why is it not the Lynch's right to decide whether or not their daughter is exposed to religion? Beetle gets to raise her children to hate Teh Ghey and love Joseph Smith, but I do not have the right to decide how to raise my children? Parental sovereignty for thee, but not for me?

Let's also imagine if Beetle would defend the teacher if the situation were reversed and the teacher repeatedly told a minor child, over the parents' objections, that there is no god, no heaven and no hell and that when we die we go nowhere at all. I rather think Beetle would have no interest in defending Ms. Jones under those circumstances.

Thank you for attending today's lesson in monumental hypocrisy.




*blog + bigot = blogot. h/t to [redacted] for coming up with that one.

**My guess would be that (a) a 14-year-old undergoing grueling chemotherapy for leukemia probably doesn't want to discuss death, and (b) fundys are well known for telling people that their dead loved ones who did not accept Jesus are roasting in hell. the fact that saying such a thing to a 14-year-old undergoing grueling chemotherapy for leukemia is unbelievably cruel doesn't matter much when you're peddling fear.

Fail, Fail Again, Persecution Edition

gay, oppression, mass resistance, angela, rockwood, beetlebabee, homophobia, hate, splc

If you've been following this blog for a while, you may remember Angela Rockwood aka Beetlebabee, who fights the good fight against gay teens. (Because somebody has to stop them!) Recently, Angie has hooked up with Mass Resistance (a group the Southern Poverty Law Center categorizes as a hate group), which I could write a book about, but other bloggers have done it better than I could, and Mass Resistance's hatefulness isn't the issue here.

The issue here is Angie's hilarious persecution complex. That's right, the same woman who champions any cause that seeks to oppress gays, including minor children, who are the primary targets of Mass Resistance, is quick to call "persecution!" at any opportunity, as evidenced here:

At comment 34, Joel Bailey asks (about a photo of a minor child wearing a T-shirt with "His Name Shall Fall" on it):

Anyone know what the “His Name Shall Fall” T-shirt is a reference to? I assume it’s regarding religion, but not sure…

Joel Bailey may not be sure, but Angie is:

Joel, it probably is a religious reference unfortunately. The same sex marriage movement has an anti religion stance, and they’re especially hostile toward Christians.

Hilariously, "His Name Shall Fall" is not a reference to religion, but rather to a local heavy metal band. From their website:

His Name Shall Fall is a metal/hardcore band from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The band was first put together in the summer of 2006. The band's original lineup was Mario on drums, Phillipe on guitar, Evan on bass and Shawn on guitar. After well establishing their name in the community (originally as Fourth Lie), the band realized things were becoming more serious and decided to change their style as a more heavy metal/hardcore band.

They changed their name to His Name Shall Fall and went through some lineup changes in 2008: Nick was added as the guitarist and Phillipe dropped as being the guitarist and went to vocals. With this lineup, they went on to play The Worcester Palladium twice and play a butt load of shows all over MA. Late 2008, Shawn decided to drop from the band. It was his own decision and we wish him the best of luck. Not long after, the band recorded their first EP. Early 2009, Steve was added to play guitar. The lineup has been the same ever since. Later in 2009 His Name Shall Fall will record their debut full length. The band has now firmly established their name in Massachusetts and continue to play shows all around the state. They have had great success and support from all their fans. Please promote the band by moshing and all out having a good time by going to their shows!

In conclusion, I'd just like to say, Angie, we don't hate religion, we just hate you, and everybody else who sees minor children as fair game for their political machinations and bigotry.

Were You Planning on Slapping People?

hate crimes, homophobia, homosexual, gay, mormon, christian, legislation, beetlebabee, fred, phelps,
One of the oddest arguments against the new hate crime bill goes like this:

If a gay man slaps me, it’s a misdemeanor, maybe a fine. Under this law as proposed, if I slap him back, it’s a felony hate crime.

Understanding the law fail.

First of all, no, defending yourself from a physical attack is not a crime. One is allowed to engage in activities normally defined as crimes (i.e., slapping, punching, kicking, shooting) in the furtherance of self defense. In other words, if someone physically attacks me, I am allowed to physically attack them in order to make them stop. This has nothing to do with hate crimes.

Secondly, the author of this little rant is a Mormon, which means she is already protected under existing hate crime legislation. That's right, kids, hate crime legislation is nothing new. Currently, hate crime legislation protects people based on religion, race and country of origin. What we're debating now is adding sexual orientation and sex to the protections. So, people like our Mormon friend are essentially arguing that they want to have protection under the law that they don't want to share with homosexuals. (I don't see Beetlebabee arguing for dismantling existing hate crime legislation.)

Thirdly, was she planning on slapping people? Slapping people is against the law. If you slap people, you may be arrested. To whinge that you may get more punishment than you bargained for is a little . . . odd. "Not that I would shoot people, but if I do shoot people, I don't want to spend more than 15 years in jail. Adding an extra 9 years to my sentence would be completely unjust." Umm . . . what?

Fourthly, this is a complete misunderstanding of the point of hate crimes legislation. Beetlebabee is a Mormon. She is currently protected under hate crimes legislation. If the hypothetical gay man slapped* her because he finds her personally objectionable (who doesn't?), she's right, no hate crime. If, on the other hand, our hypothetical gay man slapped her for the purposes of terrorizing all Mormons, then yes, that is a hate crime. As the law stands, however, if Beetlebabee slaps the hypothetical gay man in order to terrorize all gay men, there is no hate crime. She would not receive the same punishment as he would in the same circumstance.

Lastly- Fred Phelps.

*yes, i know, slapping is not a hate crime whatever the reason, but i'd prefer not to discuss even hypothetical murders.

Most Ridiculous Analogy of the Week

beetlebabee, analogy, gay, marriage, prop 8, same sex, tradition, war,
I'll probably regret giving this out so soon, but I have to award the Most Ridiculous Analogy of the Week to Beetlebabee for this:

[The fight against same sex marriage is] like washing the dishes or making the dinner. Put on the helmet, tighten your belt, change your expectations and incorporate this war into your lifestyle. It’s not going away anytime soon.

Does anyone here put on a helmet and tighten their belt before washing dishes or making dinner? Why would I need a helmet or a tighter belt? What on earth is going on in Beetle's kitchen that she needs a helmet to make dinner or wash dishes?

Oh, and I like the idea of "incorporating" war into one's lifestyle. Here's the thing: if you actually are involved in a war, you know, like our brave soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, war is your lifestyle. There's no "incorporating" to be done, war is all you're doing.

Yeesh. Comparisons that make no sense and inappropriate war references.