Posts Tagged ‘religious fanaticism’

Perhaps it is just me, but I have to wonder if the military is rushing to discharge as many outed gay and lesbian personnel as they can before this ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ temporizing bullshit is disposed of for good. Because come ON, even largely Catholic Mexico has declared that same sex marriages WILL be acknowledged legal! Deciding what happens behind other folks’ bedroom doors is SO 20th century! (Unless you really do want the Middle Ages back?)

Consider the case of a 19 year veteran pilot, LTC Fehrenbach. I mean, gee, what do we need more right now with two wars ongoing and Korea being restive? A fighter pilot of great experience or to assure a bunch of religious homophobes?

I gotta get a spittoon in here…

When my eldest son was active duty, once in the grip of several stresses, he got himself an appointment at the mental health clinic. Imagine his surprise when, instead of being counseled in terms of Freud or Jung, or offered something to help him sleep better; he was told “Why, Son, all you need in your life is JEEEESUS.” An evangelical military doc came closer than he knows to meeting his dear and fluffy Lord that day.

Now, imagine being told that when suffering PTSD.

And read and act upon THIS, please!

Also, it wouldn’t hurt to consider clicking on the little flashing religious symbols to go throw some cash at Mikey Weinstein.

And in the category of other shit that should be knocked off? The statement by an Iraqi general who is unhappy to have lost eight troops and thereby thinks we should hang around:

“If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020.”

Are you shitting me, Man? You want us to stay ten more years? We’ve been there seven years and you still aren’t ready. Yeah, knock that shit off—there was nothing but bitching about Iraq not being our business. And now, when YOUR men bleed, we should stay and do it for you, stuck between factions forever? Fuck that. Saddam Hussein kept the country from falling into sectarian violence by being the Top Asshole…and now you simply want US to assume that job.

We never should have been in Iraq at ALL. We can’t fix it by staying longer. Enough. Stamp “Clusterfuck” on that and be done. A country that believes shooting its own doctors is the solution doesn’t deserve any blood but their own being shed to fix it.

Dear Taliban Asshats,

You are not wonders of Islam. You are assholes. When you murder people coming to help your own people in the misery that is Afghanistan—doctors and surgeons coming to heal the horrors of war, you are simply assholes. You are so big on talking about “martyrs” of your own faith—those who blow themselves to bits to murder other people.

You are, as they say on the internet, doing it wrong. That word does not mean what you think it does.

The people you murdered THEY are martyrs. And killing them because you demonize them by calling them spies and missionaries just doesn’t cut it. You are assholes who are not only responsible for murdering these innocents, but for everyone of your own citizens who will die because they were not alive to work their medical wonders.

Mohammad weeps. And not for you.

Imagine me doing the face-palm movement, ok? Yes, I am one of those fence sitting sorts who can’t completely eschew religion, but neither can I quite get my teeth properly set to CHEW most religious proclaimations. This week brings some spectacularly Nutcake of Doom moments thereby:

You women? Stay OFF the sofa, you vixens! Because some male cleric has caught onto your evil ways: relaxing on sofas makes your legs fall seductively apart!

Stepping outside your life station? Prepare to die, in India, for dating or marrying outside your caste. It is the 21st century, and people want to murder you for falling in love with someone whose skin is a degree lighter or darker? Sounds like good old racist clap trap to me….and dressing it up in religion just makes any purported deities look bad. (And see, it is not merely Islamic men murdering women for unchaste behavior—other religions can go off the rails of humane good sense, too.)

And while it is not this week’s news, I simply must add my voice to those decrying the latest bit of misogynist behavior from the Catholic Church. It seems that trying to ordain a woman as a priest is as serious a sin as raping a child. Wow. Really? Gee, hang on to that ole’ boys network there, Benedict. Welcome to the 11th century…..again.

And let’s examine the current immigration conflagration in a pseudo-scholarly way, shall we? David Barton says that God draws national borders, not people; so opening borders is kicking sand in His divine face. I just have to say, whether or not Barton is the Biblical scholar he calls himself or not, did he ever read a history book?

I could go on, I suppose, but hey, I AM allergic to nuts. If I keep reading the religious crazy nuts stuff, I may have an anaphylactic reaction.

Some parents ….well, they shouldn’t BE parents. I simply cannot believe anyone spends that much time staring at their girl children’s genitals. I need a strong drink, after THIS.

And then, religious fervor vs sports hits a new high….errrm, (or is that low?) when a man is beaten to death by his family for preferring World Cup to religious programming.

And in the silly section? It is the fault of a Pretty Woman that Spain lost a soccer game??
Please….talk about excuses made of fail!

I’m going to zone out now. That is more “reality” than I can handle on a Saturday.

Stolen from a friend’s email sig line.

“Religion is an insult to human dignity.
With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things,
but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.”
Steven Weinberg

Today, I finally got to see the Spanish film, “Agora” about Hypatia of Alexandria. The 4th century philosopher and teacher of mathematics is often called a pagan martyr, because she was murdered by a Christian mob and her body was dragged through the streets of the city. I knew Hypatia’s story already. Yet, so forewarned and forearmed…still the movie made me weep. It was beautiful and terrible. It was a history the Christian world would like to forget; for while they happily recall their own martyrdoms, they don’t like to admit they themselves martyred others.

I flinched when offal was thrown at a statue of Athena in the agora.

I began to struggle to keep from sobbing when pagans decided to take swords and avenge the insults to the Roman, Greek, and Egyptian gods being offered by Christian mobs.

I began to sob when the Christian emperor in Rome said the pagan “insurgents” who began the murderous brawl would keep their lives, but he directed that they clear out of the temple sector housing the famous library and gave the Christian mobs free rein there. The burned the scrolls and destroyed the place, making it a barn for livestock.

I cried again when they stoned Jews, and when the Jews attacked some of them back—history clearly tells how that went; Alexandria witnessed the first Christian pograms against Jews.

And of course, at last, Hypatia was (in this version) preached down about from the bishop’s pulpit as violating the “word of God” from the mouth of the very misogynistic St. Paul—for teaching and not keeping silent, and for going freely about the city. And she was murdered, with a story-line bit of mercy that I am sure life did not afford to her.

I will likely sob every time I think of this; largely for the reason that so few Americans will be able to see this film. So far as I know, no major theater chain is showing it. Americans could use seeing that it is not only the Islamic world that can go murderously mad on religion. Every time some American intones “Just use the Bomb…make Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan a glass parking lot.” they prove that all people can be maddened in such fashion. When the DVD is available, yes, I will buy it. But I may never have the heart to watch it again. The movie brought to mind my Voltaire quoting bumper sticker:

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

And another from an American Nobel prize winner:

“Religion is an insult to human dignity.
With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things,
but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.”
Steven Weinberg

In Afghanistan, the seriously religious Islamic men, husbands and fathers, often will not allow their wives to be examined by a male doctor. NO other males can see the woman in any state of undress. Women doctors are exceedingly rare in a country that does not believe in educating female children. Women die in childbirth or of complications following birth at terrible rates. Afghanistan has the world’s highest maternal death rate. And yet Muslim husbands feel it is proper to keep to religious tradition and refuse the attendance of male doctors. And women die.

Americans find this scandalous. And yet, in America, the maternal mortality rate is rising. And I have to wonder if religious sentiments play a role. After all, if a Catholic hospital has the choice of aborting a fetus or seeing both mother and unborn child die, the notice has been given that the only proper course is two deaths, not one. I would love to see a Catholic hospital be sued for NOT saving a woman’s life because the twin deaths of mother and fetus were preferable to an abortion to save the mother.

And I wonder how anyone finds the second brand of religious thinking in any way superior to the first example? Both kinds of thought kill women. And people wonder why I am no longer a member of a patriarchal monotheist religion. I must be biased. I like women better than I like invisible male sky-gods.

I notice in my statistics, that a good number of folks find their way here when looking for information on whether or not a fallen service member’s funeral will be marred by the picketing antics of the Westboro Baptist Church. Such searchers are necessarily disappointed here…I cannot provide that information for them.

I do think the attention seeking group needs to be addressed. They picket more than military funerals; they also have appeared at the funerals of fire fighters and others in public service. They are homophobic and anti-Semitic; they count “God’s hatred” as one of his divine attributes. They display racist material, they hate all religions aside from their own. Imagine the grief of a soldier’s or Marine’s family burying a son or daughter and reading signs saying “Thank God for IEDs”? More than forty states have enacted laws to try controlling this group’s ability to disrupt funerals.

The picketing family members often use such terrible language, they are insulting and dismissive of those who attempt to appeal to their better sides (they don’t have a better side, near as I can tell). If the provoked party in any way responds, the legal-heavy Church sues and not only that, sues whatever town or municipality the “offense” occurred within for “lack of protection.” This is part of their support, legal awards for attacks they provoke. THUS ON NO ACCOUNT CAN ANY VIOLENCE IN WORD OR DEED BE SANCTIONED, AS THE LEGAL RESPONSE TO SUCH REACTIONS HELPS FILL THEIR COFFERS TO CONTINUE THEIR DISRUPTIVE AND HATE FILLED PROTESTS.

The Church is a cult, and a family cult at that, composed mostly of founder Fred Phelps’ children and grandchildren. They are classed as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Most of the adults in the original family are lawyers; and while Fred Phelps has been disbarred for lying, his children still practice. The WBC sends pickets to funerals all over the nation, and sometimes abroad as well. This costs money. This Church is not really supported by thousands of believers and their donations. It lives off the pay of the Phelps family members.

Their methodology is a bit what a terrible dystopian marriage of Osama bin Laden and Mahatma Gandhi might produce: lots of hate speech, but no prosecutable violence. Imagine, non-violent terrorism, if you can? Boycott hatred. Refuse the violence, laugh them out of court and off the streets!

Address their hatred without feeding their need for lawsuit revenues! Stage counter protests…preferably with beauty and humor. With music and dance, and don’t give them the satisfaction of violence. Deny them legal awards from lawsuits. Deny them pay from being hired. Thus far, hate fills their plates because they use the understandable anger and indignation of those they injure to succeed financially. The old saying to all bad things is “Follow the money.” They make their money in lawsuits and pay for practicing law. Deny them that income.

Why not encourage a boycott? Do not hire a Phelps lawyer. In fact, don’t hire a Phelps family member to do anything. They think it is perfectly ok to believe in a deity who would destroy a country simply because of hate? Why feed such divisive and harmful people by hiring them? Why finance their continued harassment of bereaved families? Spread the word, dry up their cash flow.

I know a fair number of Christians whose noses get a bit out of joint because I rail on about the noisy, bigoted Fundamental asshats who think freedom of religion (you know, as promised in the Bill of Rights?) only means THEIR religion. Well, folks, police your own flock then and rap the asshats on the knuckles—I’m sure there are some testy old nuns out there (what with being investigated as possible heretics and all) who could give you the ‘how to’ lessons.

The week has just been example after example of “good Christians” trying to hold shut the floodgates of free thought and free practice of religion other than the love of Jesus. My thanks to the Wild Hunt blog for keeping me apprised of the situations ongoing. I have already blogged a time or two about this, and it isn’t ending any time soon.

I wear, constantly, on my left wrist, a heavy silver bracelet that is my visual link to Kybele–the Great Mother. I am clear across the country from an American site dedicated to her, but I hereby declare I intend to tithe to that house from my Etsy profits (such as they are). The Maetreum of Cybele is located in New York State. They have their necessary 501c rating, and yet the county refuses them tax exemption as a religious group. It is pure discrimination, as the reason for refusal has now come out as “because we can’t open the gates for other such groups!” Right, far be it from an American county to actually allow freedom of all religions. Since the county is now getting set to lose in court, they are trying to seize the property for non-payment of the much contested taxes. Please, if you can, go to the link and give them a donation to help pay legal bills so they can hold onto their property and get their tax exempt status.

And down in Louisiana, in Jefferson Parish (the same parish where black folks trying to get out of flood waters during Katrina were SHOT at by white sheriff’s personnel ) the sheriff wants to make sure none of those evil witchy sorts from partying on a dedicated pagan campsite. Because, you know, they can’t be having any of that kind of thing in their perfect little white Christian enclave. The sheriff can be as “vehemently opposed” as he likes; he is still violating a Constitutional freedom. If you live in Louisiana, please write to all your state and federal officials and inform them you would prefer if your law enforcement personnel did NOT act like KKK yahoos. They used to harass the Jews in places like Louisiana…where I lived (thankfully briefly) as a child. Now they have a new, smaller, and perceived as powerless target: pagans.

But even the college campus scene is rife with morons; and I am not speaking of Bible colleges here. Purdue, for pity’s sake! Seems that someone there doesn’t think non-believers should have a display case advocating the right to be free OF religion. Wow, Jesus, love him or leave campus, what? Yeah, that’s tolerant.

Yet, just tell a Christian they don’t have to Gawd-given right to RUN the National Day of Prayer as they want and they scream like stuck pigs—-oh, the martyrdom, the martyrdom!! Franklin Graham is still screaming about how being dis-included means Satan is taking over America. Apparently, his God is a bit of a wussy who needs total and complete brain-washed acquiescence to EVERYthing at every instant of the day.

Frankly, I think if the Fundy screamers are any example of “imitating” Christ, Thomas a’ Kempis is spinning in his grave. These new Fundy “martyrs” seem a bit washed out if you ask me. Martyrdom used to mean going to the lions in the Coliseum, now it is enough that someone, ANYone have a different religious opinion. I’m going to go martyr me a Fundy by contributing money for the legal battles of the Magna Mater! Bite me, Franklin Graham. (But, oh, watch out, wuss-boy; I bite back.) And my Goddesses are armed! (Say “hi” to Athena!) And furthermore, below that–an anti-Westboro protest!

Westboro Baptist Church? You can bite me, too….and good for the high schoolers challenging their nasty anti-semitic and anti-gay hate message!
That is what I call “policing your own!” Go Hunter! Go love and tolerance, not hate and small mindedness.

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