Miscellanea Agnostica

In a bid to promote himself as a dutiful general in the armies of the Religious Right, Alabama’s now-governor Robert Bentley declared that — while he is decidedly color-blind, he is most assuredly not belief-blind. The Birmingham News reports on his blanket disavowal of non-Christians (WebCite cached article):

Gov.-elect Robert Bentley in a speech at a Baptist church this afternoon said he plans to be the governor of all Alabamians and be color-blind, but he also said people who aren’t ”saved” Christians aren’t his brothers and sisters. …

“There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit,” Bentley said. ”But if you have been adopted in God’s family like I have, and like you have if you’re a Christian and if you’re saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister.”

Bentley added, ”Now I will have to say that, if we don’t have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.”

Rather incredibly, Bentley later claimed not to have wanted to insult or offend anyone and does not think he did so:

Asked later if he meant to be insulting to people of other faiths, Bentley replied, ”We’re not trying to insult anybody.”

This is complete bullshit. Of course he intended to “insult” non-Christians! Of course he knew his comments would be offensive to them! Absolutely he knew exactly what he was doing … which was to ingratiate himself to the teeming masses of militant, angry, atheist-hating, Bible-thumping, God-praising, Christianists who make up the majority of Alabama. There’s no other explanation for this, and anything else he or his spokesman may say, can only be a lie. This makes Gov. Bentley (who was sworn in to office yesterday the 17th) the latest member of my “lying liars for Jesus” club.

Hat tip: Lordrag at iReligion Forum on Delphi Forums.

Photo credit: Press-Register / Kate Mercer.

Tags: AL, alabama, christian, christian right, Christianity, christians, dexter avenue king memorial baptist church, jesus, jesus christ, liar for jesus, liars for jesus, lying liar for jesus, lying liars for jesus, montgomery, montgomery AL, religious right, right, robert bentley, savior

Angry that she was accused of having somehow contributed to the recent Tucson shooting, former Alaska governor and Republican (and Religious Right) starlet Sarah “Reload” Palin has gone on the attack. Rather than merely disavow any participation in the incident, she childishly and impetuously made a rather startling claim. As reported by Mediate, she released a video accusing her critics of having forged a “blood libel” against her and the rest of the vehement Right (WebCite cached article):

Every word Palin says in this video will most likely be analyzed for days. Palin treats this address with the seriousness of an actual leader and appears to do her best to unite all Americans together, no matter their political beliefs, in a recognition of “America’s Enduring Strength.” The one group left out of the celebration is Palin’s persistent nemesis, the mainstream media, as she says:

But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.

What is perhaps more reprehensible than what any of her critics have said, is that she fired the “blood libel” bomb at them. You see, this term has a very singular meaning. It refers clearly and specifically to an anti-Semitic legend-motif in which Jews ritually murder Christian children as part of their profane rites. “Blood libel” stories historically were used as cudgels against Jews at various times. In other words, she’s setting herself and the rest of the Right as victims of a propaganda tool that Christians used to justify their hatred of Jews.

Real nice, there, Sarah. How marvelous of you, in the midst of your persecution complex, to appropriate the term “blood libel” to serve your own purposes.

Her gross misuse of this term hasn’t gone unnoticed, e.g. by Howard Kurtz of the Daily Beast [cached], The Caucus at the New York Times [cached], CNN’s Political Ticker [cached], & The Note by ABC News [cached], and I expect it will haunt her for the next several days. Then, she will likely make quips about “the lamestream media” criticizing her for having used this phrase and claim righteous indignation that they now dare now vilifying poor little her, for her response to having already been vilified by them. In other words, even in the face of her own immaturity, she will continue to refuse to accept that she may have done anything wrong.

(No rigid ideologue ever admits fault — for anything — at any time. Each childish tantrum is fully justified; any criticism of any childish tantrum is never accepted as having any validity; and merely results in yet another childish tantrum. Immaturity is the engine of all ideology.)

As an aside, the question of Loughner’s motivations likely will never be satisfactorily answered, although the media and pundits on every side will likely continue acting as though they know what it is, definitively, and will pontificate on it forever. But I don’t see anyone asking the most salient question, which is, why such a disruptive and disturbed individual as Jared Lee Loughner — who had several run-ins with law enforcement over the last few years, and was thrown out of classes and a school — was never assessed for mental illness and put into treatment. Everyone around him (including his family) simply veered around him, avoiding him, pawning him off on the next person, and hoped never to run into him again. Once they were free of him, they were all happy. And that was it. Well, this collective decision resulted in several deaths, a lot more wounded people, and Loughner will never see the light of day again. How did this benefit anyone, including Loughner himself? He’d have been much better served if someone, along the way, had gotten him some psychiatric treatment.

Update: True to form, ideological Rightists are reflexively declaring Palin faultless. Many are pointing to Alan Dershowitz’s declaration that there is nothing wrong with her having used the phrase “blood libel” against her critics. Big Government offers his remarks [cached]. The problem here is, even if others have misused the phrase “blood libel” in the past, this does not constitute logical permission for Palin to misuse it, now. Not only that, Dershowitz has no authority — even in spite of him being a famous Jewish lawyer — to grant Palin a dispensation on this score. In fact, no one has such authority; her misuse of “blood libel” is semantically and contextually incorrect, and no one in the universe can change that. Unfortunately the Right can’t help itself … they’re pathologically incapable of admitting Palin was wrong.

Photo credit: PBS NewsHour.

Tags: 2011 tucson shooting, 2011 tuscon shooting, america's enduring strength, anti-semite, anti-semitic, anti-semitism, antisemit, antisemitic, antisemitism, blood libel, childish, christian right, gabby giffords, gabrielle giffords, immature, immaturity, jared lee loughner, jared loughner, juvenile, loughner, religious right, sarah palin, sarah reload palin, tucscon AZ, tucson, tucson shooting, tuscon shooting

Bill Donohue, the Christofascist who heads the Catholic League, reached a new high in low, during an appearance on Fox News, wherein he made his position on Christmas — and on what everyone should believe, generally — crystal clear. News Hounds reports that what he said, is that non-Christians need to convert to Catholicism and worship Christmas along with him (WebCite cached article). He began with some remarks about reports that Christmas trees make some non-Christians uncomfortable:

Bill’s verbal pugilism escalated with “tell them to get over it.” He then did a litany of those who are “excluded,” including “mothers who feel excluded from father’s day” (WTF!) and said “too bad.”

What the fuck, indeed! I had no idea that any mothers felt “excluded” from Father’s Day. Where did the Billster pull that from?

Bill claimed that his Jewish friends (imaginary?) say this is ridiculous and that “everybody celebrates Christmas.”

Aha. The old “some of my best friends are Jewish” thing. Sorry Bill, but that you happen to know a few Jews who celebrate Christmas, tells us absofuckinglutely nothing about Jews as a group, or even about non-Christians generally. My guess, Bill, is that any Jewish friends you may have, are telling you what you want to hear because they know what a ferocious Christofascist you are. (That’s assuming you really have any Jewish “friends,” Bill … I find that claim to be non-credible.)

He then brayed that if people are made uncomfortable by Christmas displays — are ya ready for it — they should “convert to Catholicism.”

Yes, folks, that’s the Billster’s solution to the problem of religious inclusiveness … everyone should just convert en masse to his own religion, Roman Catholicism, and — voilà! — problem gone.

That, Gentle Reader, is the very definition of a religious militant, and now you see why I’ve been saying that the Billster is a Christofascist.

The really sad part about this is that a lot of religious folks are going to read what the Billster said, and agree with him, that everyone converting to the same religion would solve the problem of religious division. What all of Bill’s believer/defenders fail to understand is the truly hideous nature of this idea. Its horror would become clearer, if put in the mouths of others. They wouldn’t be too keen, for example, on al-Qaeda terrorists saying to them, “If you want us to stop trying to blow you up by the dozen, all you have to do is convert to our Wahhabi Islamism.” Its criminality becomes even more obvious if one puts it in the mouth of a robber: “All you need do is give me all your money, and I won’t be forced to attack you.”

At any rate, I have to wonder, though, how many of the Billster’s allies among the rest of the Religious Right — which is overwhelmingly evangelical Protestant and therefore opposed to Catholicism — are going to take his demand that everyone convert to Catholicism. My guess is that they secretly cringed when they heard that … but in the interest of militant-Christian solidarity against non-Christians, they likely would never openly admit it.

I hope any doubts as to the religiofascist goals of people like Bill Donohue have been dispelled. Now you understand why they make such an issue out of Christmas every year … for them, it’s a wedge issue they can use to push their demand that everyone in the world believe what they do.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: bill donohue, billster, catholic, catholic league, catholicism, catholics, christian, christian right, Christianity, christians, christmas, christmas tree, christmas trees, christofascism, christofascist, christofascists, conversion, convert, fox news, militant, militant religion, religiofascism, religiofascist, religiofascists, religionism, religionist, religionists, religious militant, religious right, roman catholic, roman catholicism, the billster, war on christmas, war on christmas 2010

In a twist on the usual “other people won’t celebrate my religion the way I demand they do!” Religious Right whine, one fundamentalist activist has gone on a hunger strike. Over Christmas. That’s right … he thinks this will convince people to convert to his fundamentalist religionism and otherwise do what he wants them to.

No, I don’t get it either, but hey, you can’t just expect a militant religionist to make any sense, can you? The New Haven (CT) Register reports on this juvenile, sanctimonious publicity stunt (WebCite cached article):

Many Christians complain at this time of year when store clerks and others wish them “Happy holidays!” instead of “Merry Christmas!” — but Ned Coll may be the only one willing to go on a bread-and-water fast for the cause.

Coll, an activist who first gained notoriety for his efforts to open the state’s beaches to the public, has for 20 years been on a more religious quest, calling people to follow Jesus.

“Now the purpose of the fast … is basically to get people to focus on Christmas as the focal point of human history, the birth of Christ, and to say ‘Merry Christmas’ and to focus on it in every possible way during Christmastime,” Coll said during a visit to the Register Wednesday.

Pretty much most of what Coll has to say echoes what other paranoid Christofascists usually say about Christmas:

“I think ‘happy holidays’ is a creation of Madison Avenue,” Coll, 70, says of the non-religious greeting, which is scorned by conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly and others. “I think that’s the whole push, to get people to buy stuff for New Year’s, buying stuff for Hanukkah, buying stuff for Christmas.”

In the past, “The standard thing for people to say was ‘merry Christmas and happy new year,’ and that’s been completely eliminated as much as possible by Madison Avenue.”

Aha. So, Mr Coll, the early 1940s song “Happy Holiday” was not written by Irving Berlin in the 1940s, but rather in the age of “political correctness” by “Madison Avenue” … whoever that is. Got it. I don’t agree — and the facts say something very different — but by all means, Mr Coll, do not let them get in the way of your hyperpious, crybaby antics.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: activism, activist, christian, christian right, Christianity, christians, christmas, happy holiday, happy holidays, merry christmas, ned coll, new haven, new haven CT, religious right, war on christmas, war on christmas 2010

One of the more militant of the many Christofascists in Congress, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, spewed another lie about Christmas. Politico reports it as part of his juvenile bellyaching about how horrible it was that Congress dared hold a lame-duck session before the holiday, which apparently he finds personally inconvenient (WebCite cached article):

“You can’t jam a major arms control treaty right before Christmas,” [DeMint] told POLITICO. “What’s going on here is just wrong. This is the most sacred holiday for Christians.”

DeMint is not correct when he says Christmas is “the most sacred holiday for Christians.” Everyone with even half a brain knows that the true most sacred Christian holiday is Easter.

That’s right, Senator. Easter — not Christmas — is the most sacred day, for Christians. Don’t just take my word for it, either … have a look, for example, at this Christianity Today page on holidays, which says (cached):

Celebrate Christianity’s most sacred holiday with us! Our Easter section features ChristianityToday.com’s best articles and resources on the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I get that DeMint is upset that he’s being forced to attend a Senate session, when he’d rather be home in South Carolina, cooking up new ways to force his Christianity on the rest of the country. But too bad for him. He needs to man up and do the job he signed up for, back when he campaigned for the Senate. And he needs to stop lying in order to support his childish wishes.

That DeMint lied about the sanctity of Easter places him in my “lying liars for Jesus” club. I’ve also added this particular lie to my page on myths about Christmas that are commonly told in the US.

Hat tip: Religion Dispatches.

Photo credit: wumpus.

Tags: christian, christian right, Christianity, christians, christmas, congress, easter, holiday, holidays, jim demint, lame duck, liar for jesus, liars for jesus, lie, lies, lying, lying liar for jesus, lying liars for jesus, religionism, religionist, religionists, religious right, SC, senate, south carolina

The American Family Association — fresh off its recently-earned designation by the SPLC as a “hate group” — continues fighting their phantasmal “war on Christmas.” Like the rest of the Religious Right, the AFA continues to adhere to the delusion that Christmas is somehow being outlawed in the US, as some sort of sinister precursor to Christianity being abolished.

That such an effort is not happening, is not something they care to hear … so they keep on deluding themselves.

Having forced a national sporting-goods chain to capitulate to their demands, a national bank is in AFA’s sights. Their problem with this bank? Christmas trees. According to Consumerist, the AFA demands that this bank place a Christmas tree in the lobby of each of its branches nationwide (WebCite cached article):

According to an AFA press release, internal [bank name redacted] documents state that “We don’t want to lose somebody’s business because of seasonal decorations,” and that they want to “ensure that everyone who visits our branches is made to feel completely welcome and comfortable.”

As per my policy, I edited out the name of the financial institution in question, so as not to aid the AFA’s sanctimonious campaign.

I expect this national bank is already in the process of shipping Christmas trees to its branches, even as I type this. Corporations are pretty much now the slaves of the Religious Right, so I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be dutifully obedient.

I’m not quite sure why this is such an issue, though. There is nothing scriptural about the Christmas tree. They are not mentioned in the Bible … not even hinted at. So it’s odd that a group like the AFA — which prides itself on reading the Bible literally and interpreting scripture strictly — would get so worked up about something that’s not even Biblical in the first place. (OK, so Martin Luther might have started the current fashion of Christmas-tree decorating with the intention that it symbolized the Tree of Life, which is mentioned in Genesis … but let’s be honest, that’s really stretching things.) My guess is that the AFA knows Christmas trees aren’t scriptural or critical to Christian worship; they’re just using them as leverage to force a giant corporation to obey their whims. In other words, it’s really about a “power trip” and not about religion at all.

Photo credit: scottfidd.

Tags: afa, bank, banks, christian, christian right, Christianity, christians, christmas decorations, christmas tree, decorations, religious right, war on christmas, war on christmas 2010

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil-rights organization that began its life by litigating desegregation cases, has doggedly tracked “hate groups” around the country for a couple of decades. It’s best-known for having tracked white-supremacist groups, but recently, the SPLC applied its definition of “hate group” to some Religious Right organizations and churches. Here is their list, which includes specific reasons why they’ve designated each as “hate groups” (WebCite cached article). The full list of 18 is as follows:

1. Abiding Truth Ministries

2. American Family Association

3. Americans for Truth About Homosexuality

4. American Vision

5. Chalcedon Foundation

6. Christian Anti-Defamation Commission

7. Concerned Women for America

8. Coral Ridge Ministries

9. Dove World Outreach Center

10. Faithful Word Baptist Church

11. Family Research Council

12. Family Research Institute

13. Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment

14. Illinois Family Institute

15. Liberty Counsel

16. MassResistance

17. National Organization for Marriage

18. Traditional Values Coalition

Some of these are localized groups, but some others have a national presence and are politically influential — especially with the 2010 elections which will put the House of Representatives into the hands of a number of Congresspersons who’re basically automatons doing the work of these outfits. I’ve also blogged on the antics of some of these outfits; ordinarily I’d provide links to all of them, but they’re too numerous for me to do that (I blogged a half a dozen times or more on the Qur’an-burners at the Dove World Outreach Center alone).

The SPLC has basically thrown them into the same bin with a whole raft of other types of “hate groups” which most people would recognize as such: the Aryan Nations, Neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, etc.

The Religious Right is, of course, outraged about this; see e.g. this Christian Post story (cached article). (As though that’s news … I mean, aren’t they always outraged over something? Their stock in trade is “outrage.” If they ever stopped being outraged, they’d cease to exist.)

Well, boo-fucking-hoo hoo, people. If the shoe fits — or in this case, if the definition of “hate group” applies — then wear it. In other words, if you don’t want to be condemned, then stop condemning other people. See how easy that is?

Hat tip: Little Green Footballs.

Photo credit: Image Editor.

Tags: abiding truth ministries, afa, american family association, aryan nation, aryan nations, chalcedon foundation, christian identity, christian right, concerned women for america, coral ridge ministries, cwa, dove world outreach center, dwoc, family research council, family research institute, frc, fri, fwbc, gay, gays, hate, hate group, hate groups, homophobe, homophobes, homophobia, homosexual, homosexuality, homosexuals, ifi, illinois family institute, kkk, ku klux klan, liberty counsel, massresistance, neo-nazi, neo-nazis, neonazi, neonazis, religious right, right, southern poverty law center, splc, traditional values coalition, tvc

The great Religious Right “war on Christmas” lurches on this year. This time it’s Senator Jim Inhofe from the Christofascist state of Oklahoma who’s screeching about Christmas. The Tulsa World reports on a conniption he’s throwing over an annual parade in that city (WebCite cached article):

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe announced Tuesday that he will not participate in Tulsa’s Parade of Lights until organizers put “”Christ” back in the event’s title.

“Last year, the forces of political correctness removed the word ‘Christmas’ and replaced it with ‘Holiday’ instead,” the Oklahoma Republican said.

Here’s the thing, Jim. It’s Tulsa’s parade. The Tulsa government can call it whatever they want to call it. If they want to call it the Thingamabob Parade, or the Fitzgiggle Parade, or something even more senseless than that … well … they can! And there’s nothing you can do about it. There is no law preventing it. And while you might attempt to pass one, Senator, I doubt it would succeed.

Second, Senator, as it turns out, Christmas is a holiday. (If you need help understanding how this is the case, Senator, please have a look at these dictionary definitions of “holiday” and of “Christmas.”) Referring to Christmas-time as a holiday, therefore, is never semantically incorrect. Don’t like it, Senator? Too bad. While you may get to vote on a lot of things in the U.S. Senate, you do not get a vote concerning English semantics.

The mature thing for you to do, Senator, is to grow up and accept that you are no longer the mayor of Tulsa, and that this decision is out of your hands. I know it’s difficult to act mature — especially when you’re such a militant religionist — but please, give it a try. Just once. OK?

Update: Here is a very nice Newsy video report on the Tulsa holiday-parade issue:

Photo credit: Nmajdan | Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: christian, christian right, Christianity, christians, christmas, christmas parade, christofascism, christofascist, christofascists, holiday, holiday parade, jim inhofe, oklahoma, religionism, religionist, religionists, religious right, tulsa, tulsa OK, war on christmas, war on christmas 2010