Bible Banning Bullshit
Here’s a look at the infamous GOP mailer that I wrote about the other day (via Andrew Sullivan) :
Like I’ve said previously, I pity the more moderate Republicans right now. Their party is being run by witch-burning lunatics. If you’re a conservative and you despise this sort of thing, the best thing that could possibly happen for your party is for Bush and his rogues gallery to be defeated. If you have any hope of regaining control of your party, you need to lose before you can win.
And to clear up a caustic statement I made in my earlier post, I have no problem with anyone who holds “traditional values”. As far as I’m concerned, you can go to church every day and give every penny you make to those money changers on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. As a liberal, however, I’m deeply offended by those who are inclined to bear false witness against me and claim that I want to ban the Bible.
What’s even more disappointing about this sort of thing is that it works. The reason it works is because one of the realities of far-right Christianity is a persecution complex. Watch TBN for a while and you can see what I’m talking about. Televangelists will preach about liberal attempts to subvert “Christian” values, their news is dominated by stories of Christians being murdered for their beliefs, and the talk about Jesus’ tolerance, love, and forgiveness is marred by the hateful attitude toward homosexuals. The reason this Bible banning bullshit works is because the intended audience already believes people like me want to hurt them.
To take this back to politics, these lies are from the Republican party. Their involvement in the divisive politics of victimization that I described above are enough for me to never give them my vote. As far as Democrats are concerned, their choices are to either write off this portion of the electorate when stumping for votes or to adjust their message in an attempt to pander to these voters. Considering how deep-seated the hatred of liberals is, I stand by my earlier statement : “Fuck those voters.” At least, as far as the election is concerned. There’s nothing John Kerry could do or say that will convince them that he isn’t a dangerous hippy who wants to replace their Bibles with the Koran.
Despite the fact that I’m an atheist, I’ve got friends and family members who I love very much who are part of this world. Because of the extremity of our respective beliefs, we both know that the subject of religion is probably best left untouched. Nevertheless, it’s hard to avoid thinking about the fact that their religious leaders are filling their heads full of crap about how much I want to destroy them. So, forgive me if I’m a little pissed off here.
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What’s so funny/sad about this, is that the people that beleive this bullshit are the ones who would love to go through public libraries and ban books that aren’t exactly like the bible.
Comment by prochoicelib — September 22, 2004 @ 4:50 pm
“Forgive.” That’s one of those funny Bible words that doesn’t mean anything any more, like “selah” and “cubit.”
Comment by Kip W — September 23, 2004 @ 5:32 am
Yeah, Kip. A few more words that don’t have meaning any more:
– love
– holiness
– righteousness
– truth
– justice
Those have been minimized or completely eliminated by the liberal humanism that pervades our society.
Comment by Brenner — September 23, 2004 @ 6:24 am
Looks to me like those words have been perverted out of existence by the self-styled Holy Joes that want to turn the US into a theocracy. Those Christians who aren’t perfect, but just forgiven, over and over and over. Let’s see, “Love” — that has to mean only love between a man and a woman in the bonds of holy matrimony! “Holiness” — that means putting the biggest rock in the state house and being sure everybody knows who did it. “Righteousness” — apparently means being rightier than thou, and loudly, with no relevance placed upon things like morality or charity. “Truth” — whatever Rove says three times. “Justice” — that would be ignoring terrorists and going after small-time drug users, right Mr. Ashcroft?
I’m just guessing, here: you represent “Wisdom” and “Moderation,” right? That’s why you’re on a lefty site trolling with blue-sky nonsense that nobody here is ever likely to buy into. It just feels so good, and best of all you can do it again right away, instead of having to wait a half hour.
Comment by Kip W — September 23, 2004 @ 9:43 am
Those have been minimized or completely eliminated by the liberal humanism that pervades our society.
Buwahahahaha! “Pervades our society”? Persecution complex much? Let’s see, (these stats might be off, can’t be bothered to Google them), something like 90% of Americans describe themselves as religious, a somewhat lower number go to church, belief in the existence of God is almost total, and it’s “liberal humanism” that’s pervasive? Again:
Buwahahahaha!
BTW, you should Google “Trinity Broadcasting Network” in the News section to see the persecution complex in full play re: TBN and the series of stories the Los Angeles Times (my hometown rag) has been running about it.
Comment by Jim — September 23, 2004 @ 10:43 pm
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Comment by John Kerry — September 25, 2004 @ 8:08 pm
Excellent post; I don’t think I can add much, except my agreement. I am a Christian myself, but I actually support the separation of church and state. Rest assured, there are those of us who are not easily swayed by bibliotry.
Comment by Ben — October 13, 2004 @ 1:48 pm
seperation of church and state means that the government can not and will not establish a “set” religion that everyone must follow; that’s the beauty of America! It does not mean that we are not free to pray in schools, or let our religious convictions dictate our lives, that’s who we are as christians. Christ wants to be a part of government, he yearns for the people of this great nation to follow him and believe in him, but he will not demand it! Those of us who are christians don’t need a government to decide our future for us, thank God for leaving THAT choice up to us. Maybe we need a new law ” Seperation of Sex and State” that way all those people who feel like we should be required to ACCEPT THEIR homosexual way of life, would be forever shut up! There are a lot more Christians in this world than there are gays, so I’m afraid they may be a little out numbered.
Comment by carls — October 26, 2004 @ 2:43 pm
Carls could not be more right. We need to have compassion on gays for their mental illness. But, we must not give them special rights and make laws requiring that normal people embrace their lifestyle. They need help spritual and mental help, not an endorsement by the federal government.
Comment by Republicans Rock — October 31, 2004 @ 2:16 am
Methinks the ladies do protest too much.
Comment by kamachanda — October 31, 2004 @ 6:40 am