Now I know the title has probably pissed a number of folks off. So let me preface this blog by proudly announcing that I have absolutely nothing against Christians or Christianity as a whole. I am proud to say that I have very near and dear friends that are what I believe to be true and sincere Christians and I have always felt truly blessed to have them as my friends. The same goes for some of my FaceBook and MySpace friends. I know how profoundly deep their religious views are and I have the utmost respect for them and their beliefs. I might also add that many of these people also practice what they preach (pardon the cliche), and it shows. There are ones who have blessed others through adoption, by their family ties and one member who works tirelessly with the Shriners on behalf of children and those in our society who are far less fortunate. This blog is not about you. In fact, to those of you who live by your faith and extend that through the charitable measures in your life (much as Jesus taught), may God continue to bless your lives as you continue to outreach and bless those around.
And now for something completely different. I have chosen my blog to write about the radical right-wing Christian fundamentalists. Some of you might cringe at this but I see very little difference between the right-wing fundamentalist Christians than I do right-wing fundamentalist Islamics. I once had an individual argue this point with me by advising me that you have never seen or heard of Christian fundamentalist suicide bombers. Well, you got me there. Unlike the Islamic fundamentalists, the Christian terrorists choose to plant bombs and blow up “abortion clinics, harass, beat and occasionally kill gays and murder doctors in cold blood all in the name of God and Justice. Sorry, kids, these are facts.
You’ll never hear the Bible thumpers calling it a Gihad, but they continue to swear that our men and women dying in Iran, Afghanistan and other parts of the world are doing so for GOD and country.
You see, they will blame those of us who have a more liberal view of society and refuse to fall into a dogmatic cult for the ills of the world. Why, we’ve taken God out of schools! Damn, and to think that all of this time I was under the misconception that this is why we had churches and private schools.
The Bible-pounding right has no use for those whose ideology differs from theirs and are far to convinced in their “faith” to let little things like facts get in their way. Case in point, my wife and I were at a couple’s home playing board games one evening. One of the questions was regarding women having one less rib than men. The woman quickly responded to this question proudly stating that it was correct since it stated so in the Bible. WRONG! Hell, I learned this back in grade school that both sexes have the same number of ribs. Even after an explanation of the facts, going so far as to google anatomy pictures, she still refused to believe otherwise. I laugh not at the fact that she did not know the correct answer, but at her ignorance in her refusal to accept what is a biological fact.
Another argument by this group pertains to the Constitution of the United States of America. Although we are inundated by their rhetoric on what seems to be a daily basis how God is the basis for our country. There are no religious references. This was done intentionally by the founding fathers in a attempt to avoid the religious persecution that was faced in Europe. Yet they seemingly fail to understand the gist of that reference. Let’s read it together, “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” It states further,”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It’s worth pointing out that “all men are created equal” is lost amongst the fundamentalists since I am sure we have all seen the images of two adorable little girls wearing t-shirts emblazoned with “God hates fags” across the front. We are all too aware that the KKK’s roots are deeply seeded in Christianity. Their levels of intolerance towards any beliefs different from their own narrow view is legendary and well documented. Oh, by the way, did I bother to mention that their actions are also a form of terrorism? Hmmmmm?
I have known people who will look me in the eye, write in their blogs and social pages extolling their virtues in the name of Jesus Christ. Yet, these same people know or at least understand so little of his teachings. Let me use the death penalty as an example. Christ taught nothing but peace, yet watch the news during an execution and see how many “Christians” stand around with signs that leave no question to their bloodlust towards the impending demise of another individual. Don’t get me wrong for I have no wish or desire to see these people spared. To the contrary, I would be happy to see them die in a manner as heinous as that which was used in their crime. I, however, do not profess to be a Christian. The funny thing is, I still believe in treating all who I come in contact with the way that I too wish to be treated. Respect, dignity, tolerance and the understanding that we all have differences. I’m sorry, kids, but I refuse to believe you can live like an asshole six days a week, blame it on Satan on Saturday and confess your love for Christ on Sunday and all is good. Can you spell H-I-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y?
Not long ago, my wife decided to unfriend the couple that I had mentioned earlier for just these reasons. This sparked numerous text messages, anger and vitriol from these good “Christian” folk and concluded with an e-mail from the wife calling us a number of very un-Christian-like names. In the text of her e-mail, she quoted me when I explained to her our dislike of hipocrites which she vehemently disagreed. Do you want to know the funny part? After spewing her vitriolic disdain for us and calling us a number of names, she closed by letting us know that she will continue to pray for us and expressed her hopes that we will someday allow Jesus into our hearts as she has hers. Now that’s what I call funny!
May God Bless you all, whether you are children of God, Islam, Buddha, Hindu, Jain or Christian.
Namaste and pass the biscuits!
WMK
