Emboldened

marriage, traditional, gay, kern, christian,

I knew two things about Prop 8* passing in California: (1) antigay bigotry was going to get a huge boost, and (2) the Religious Right would be emboldened by their victory, and that would mean nothing good for the rest of us, gay or straight or whatever.

And lo, behold I am become a prophet . . . which is really going to crimp the whole atheism thing.

An Oklahoma state legislator plans to introduce an act that would make some divorces illegal.

Scheduled for introduction in the 2010 legislative session by state Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, House Bill 2279 would restrict the "use of incompatibility as a ground for divorce" in Oklahoma.

The bill would not allow for divorce on the basis of incompatibility if:

There are living minor children of the marriage
The parties have been married 10 years or longer
Either party files a written objection to the granting of a divorce

They are feeling their oats, now aren't they? I'm not really sure why this bastion of marriage protection would limit herself this way. The 10 years or longer rule is particularly weird. And that last bit will result in bitter spouses maintaining a marriage they have no particular interest in purely to prevent other spouse from remarrying, which I'm pretty sure is not protecting marriage in any substantive way.

Hey, we allowed them to tell us who could marry, and now they've moved on to who can divorce. You do indeed reap what you sow.


*Prop 8 banned gay marriage in California. It was passed in 2008.

What Does "Loving" Mean to You?

christianity, atheism, atheist, god, torture,
I have to ask that question after reading That Atheist Bitch's latest post. TAB has lupus, a painful, disabling, potentially life-threatening disease and what do her Christian "friends" do for her? They tell her that it's her fault. If she would just worship their "loving" god, her lupus would disappear.

A few online "friends" recently decided to get together and hold a sort of email/pm intervention about my illnesses. It's been going on since just before Christmas. The general gist of it is this - they sent me messages blaming me for being sick and accused me of doing nothing about it because I haven't asked Jesus to heal me. They said that God made me sick to force my hand because obviously, being in pain would make me turn to Him. It was followed up by accusations that I'm "avoiding God to stay sick" because I like not having to work.

Let's unpack all that arrogant, cruel, disgusting bullshit, shall we?

According to these Christians, it is moral and good and loving for god to torture someone for not believing. So, if you aren't paying enough attention to me, I would be justified in beating you, setting you on fire, dropping acid on you, waterboarding you, etc.- for years at a time. That would be the good thing for me to do.

What about children? There are children who develop or are born with equally horrifying illnesses, and I don't think we can accuse a fetus of being insufficiently worshipful of god. The Christian explanation is that those children are tortured in order to bring others to god. So, if you aren't paying attention to me, I would be justified in beating your child, setting your child on fire, dropping acid on your child, waterboarding your child, etc.- for years at a time. That would be the good thing for me to do.

What about the faithful? There are those whose faith in god is unquestionable, why do they get cancer, MS, lupus, etc.? The Christian explanation is that their continued faith in god in the face of their terrible suffering brings others to a belief in god. So, you're paying sufficient attention to me, but that guy over there is not, so I would be justified in beating you, setting you on fire, dropping acid on you, waterboarding you, etc.- for years at a time. That would be the good thing for me to do.

That's just insane. There's no other way around it. If that god does exist, he's a psychopath and every last one of his followers has some serious Stockholm Syndrome going on.

Top Ten Something

cadc, cass, christian, christianity,

Gary L. Cass of the Christian Anti Defamation Commission never fails to amuse, this time with his Top Ten Anti-Christian Acts of 2009, none of which manage to be specifically anti Christian.

10. Pro-life Pastor Reverend Walter Hoye of Oakland, CA was jailed for exercising peaceful, pro-life speech. Actually, he was jailed for violating the 8 foot buffer zone required of pro life protestors at clinics in Oakland, a requirement he was well aware of. Apparently, if Christians aren't allowed to break the law, it's persecution!


9. Rev. Fred Winters was murdered while preaching in his pulpit in Maryville, Illinois. A horrific act of violence that no one knows the motive for. According to family, Rev. Winters' murderer was mentally ill, in which case there likely isn't any motive your or I could understand.


8. HBO’s program "Curb Your Enthusiasm" aired an episode where the main actor urinates on painting of Jesus. When confronted HBO would not apologize. That's just part and parcel of Curb Your Enthusiasm if you've ever seen the show. Which I'm guessing neither Cass nor his readers have.


7. The overt homosexual participation in Obama's presidential inaugural events by “Bishop” Vickie Eugene Robinson, the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington D. C., and a homosexual marching band. Homosexuals are not inherently anti Christian. In fact, plenty of homosexuals are actually Christian. (Head 'splosion in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .) As for the use of the adjective "overt", would you have preferred the chorus to sing from a closet somewhere in the White House?


6. Police called to East Jessamine Middle School in Lexington, Kentucky to stop 8th graders from praying during their lunch break for a student whose mother was tragically killed. The police were never called. Students were initially told not to pray during lunch, but were then told they could if they wanted to, as long as the prayer was student led and initiated, not led or initiated by a teacher or other school official.

5. Pro-life activist Jim Pullion was murdered in front of his granddaughter's high school for showing the truth about abortion. I can't find any information on the killer, so I have no way of knowing why Mr. Pullion was murdered. It's sad, but I'm not sure why it's higher on the list than the other murder, or below what's coming up next.


4. An activist judge ordered a home school mom in New Hampshire to stop home schooling her daughter because the little girl “reflected too strongly” her mother’s Christian faith. I did a post on this. The girl's name is Amanda Voydatch. That's not why she was ordered to stop home schooling. She was ordered to stop home schooling because the entire situation was becoming abusive and derogatory towards the father. Why is this more important than 2 murders?


3. The Federal Department of Homeland Security issued a report entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate" that labeled conservative Christians extremists and potential terrorists. They also released a report on leftwing extremism several months earlier. so what?


2. President Obama's appointment of radical anti-Christians like homosexual activist Kevin Jennings as the "safe school czar;" pro-abortion advocate Kathleen Seblius made Secretary of Human and Health Services, and Chai Feldblum, pro-homosexual and anti-religious liberty judge nominated for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. homosexuals as far as the eye can see! or, at least three of them. why is this more important than two murders?


1. The Federal Hate Crimes Bill that attacks religious liberty and freedom of speech. For the first time in our history ministers are vulnerable to investigation and prosecution for telling the truth about homosexuality. Isn't conflating fundamentalist Christianity with hatred my line? I hate it when they do that!

The Price of Mercy

mercy, terrorism, al queda, This child paid a price, but not for mercy.
mercy, terrorism, al queda,

If I had to do it all over again, I would study philosophy in college.I studied business because it was practical, but I loved philosophy. Which explains why you sometimes have to endure my ramblings on ethics and morality.

Anyway . . .

I'm sure you all know about Pants on Fire Guy (hereinafter "PoFG"), the would be terrorist who managed to set himself on fire on a flight into the US while damaging noone and nothing else. There was a great deal of hullabaloo about PoFG which I had two reactions to: (1) big deal, he set himself on fire, and (b) I'm sure I wouldn't feel that way were I on the plane.

PoFG doesn't really interest me per se. Violence is all the same, only its victims change. What I find distressing are the reactions of my fellow Americans to PoFG. He should not be tried in a court of law. We should shove him in a hole and leave him there. We should waterboard him. We should remove his eyes and arms and legs.

I'd ask when America lost its mercy, but we never had it, did we? We certainly weren't merciful to the natives. Witch trials were basically the sport of the day. We weren't merciful to those held as slaves. We dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese. We aren't even terribly merciful to our own citizens. Social Security and Medicare were fought just as hard as health care reform is today, and don't even get me started on "welfare queens".

You ever see those stupid bumper stickers that say "Freedom isn't Free"? (The price of freedom is responsibility, not dead soldiers, but that's another post.) Well, neither is mercy. Mercy is the act of extending a hand to the person who most wants to cut it off. Mercy is offering kindness to those we hate, generosity to those we feel least deserve it. Mercy is admitting that some higher ideals are more important than assuaging our rage or disgust in the short term. The price of mercy is high, and we are, it seems, unwilling to pay it.

Unfortunately, the price of rejecting mercy is equally high, if not higher. We are faced with suspicion and hatred in many places in the world, suspicion and hatred that is quite well deserved. Tell all the mothers of Iraq's dead children how much they should love us. Tell all the widows of Afghanistan just how wonderful we are. How easy do we make it for al Queda and the Taliban to recruit? Iraq is significantly less stable and more fundamentalist now than it was before. The Taliban holds far more of Afghanistan now than it did before.

I don't think what PoFG did was right. I think he deserves to be punished for endangering the lives of a plane full of people. I just think we need to discover mercy before it is too late. If we continue to pornify war, celebrate bombs and cheer for torture, we will pay a price that will be terribly high indeed.

Whatsoever You Do Unto the Least of My Brothers . . .*

gay, christian, homophobia, uganda, lively, Schmierer, Brundidge
When a muslim cleric says something the slightest bit derogatory about the United States, we accuse them of fomenting terrorism. When three Christian preachers inspire the legal killing of homosexuals in Uganda, we give them a pass. Aren't we just grand?

For three days, according to participants and audio recordings, thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers and national politicians, listened raptly to the Americans, who were presented as experts on homosexuality. The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”

. . .

One month after the conference, a previously unknown Ugandan politician, who boasts of having evangelical friends in the American government, introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which threatens to hang homosexuals, and, as a result, has put Uganda on a collision course with Western nations.

. . .

The three Americans who spoke at the conference — Scott Lively, a missionary who has written several books against homosexuality, including “7 Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child”; Caleb Lee Brundidge, a self-described former gay man who leads “healing seminars”; and Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International, whose mission is “mobilizing the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality” — are now trying to distance themselves from the bill.

“I feel duped,” Mr. Schmierer said, arguing that he had been invited to speak on “parenting skills” for families with gay children. He acknowledged telling audiences how homosexuals could be converted into heterosexuals, but he said he had no idea some Ugandans were contemplating the death penalty for homosexuality.

So, you spread that message that Teh Ghey is something evil that should not be tolerated, but you're surprised that the Ugandans are no longer going to be tolerating Teh Evul Ghey? Really?

“That’s horrible, absolutely horrible,” he said. “Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.”

And I'd really like it if they stop being gay people. But they're nice. And shouldn't be gay.

Mr. Lively and Mr. Brundidge have made similar remarks in interviews or statements issued by their organizations. But the Ugandan organizers of the conference admit helping draft the bill, and Mr. Lively has acknowledged meeting with Ugandan lawmakers to discuss it. He even wrote on his blog in March that someone had likened their campaign to “a nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda.” Later, when confronted with criticism, Mr. Lively said he was very disappointed that the legislation was so harsh.

Nuclear bombs aren't "harsh"? Srsly? Mr. Lively, you aren't the slightest bit upset that gays in Uganda will be killed, because you hate gays. You're upset that you're getting flack for this.

I think every dead gay Ugandan should be shipped to one of these men's addresses. Let them bury their victims.



*Matt 25:31-46

Puppy Gets Presents

I get my dog a huge, rawhide bone for Christmas every year, and his present gets opened first every year. (This keeps him out of the way for the rest of the day. And yes, of course I wrap my dog's present. Don't you?)

What strange thing are you doing now? You're always doing strange things I don't quite understand.

Is that . . . It's . . . ZOMG!

Mine!

The New Year

All I have to say is, if 2010 is any worse than 2009, I will wake up one day this year to discover that I am on fire.