Yer Heathen Laws

Today he shall be lifted up and tomorrow he shall not be found, because he is returned into his dust, and his thought is come to nothing.

-1 Macabees 2:63 -

It's no surprise that the nattering nabobs of nullification and true haters of the secular Constitution  are resisting the Supreme Court's latest ruling forbidding the Confederacy to ban some marriages on Christian grounds. I'm talking about Texas, but the Lone Star State is hardly alone.  It's a "lawless ruling" says Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and if clerks are fined for refusing to issue marriage licences, he will defend them in court.  Like many a snake of fable, he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

"God don't want me to obey yer heathen laws!"  I can't wait for that defense to show up in Federal Court, and just try to wrap your mind around that convoluted logic,  Not that it would be the first time we've heard it and who could be surprised if we don't start to hear that toothless old Rebel Yell again.
Mississippi, Attorney General Jim Hood says gay marriage won't be legal in the state until the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals gives the go-ahead. A court of Appeals? And here we thought the Supreme Court had the final say.

Bobby Jindal tells his constituents:

"I think it is wrong for the federal government to force Christian individuals, businesses, pastors, churches to participate in wedding ceremonies that violate our sincerely held religious beliefs, We have to stand up and fight for religious liberty. That's where this fight is going,"

That "fight" is going precisely nowhere of course since the government isn't forcing any church or Pastor or Priest or anyone else to do anything, and a county clerk is free to resign if he doesn't like his job, just as any Muslim, Jew or Hindu can decide not to work for McDonalds if he won't serve pork or beef.   Anyway I suspect "Fightin' Bobby" would look real good in his Rebel grey uniform fightin' for the Ol' South. I think the irony could be measured on the Richter Scale.

Those of us of a certain vintage will remember when these God forsaken blowhards made the same arguments about interracial marriage and racial integration as well, and George Wallace based a presidential candidacy on undoing integration, " 'cause God don't want the races to mix."  Then as now, their miserable religious rage and sexual obsession  has come to nothing, leaving them to thrash around like a catfish on a sandbank . That pleases me no end and when they complain that it's a violation of  our "Freedom"  for the state not to be controlled by some state-sanctioned religious doctrine, I'm more than amused to watch these stinking turds of history slowly swirling down the porcelain bowl of justice. 

When Religious Freedom Means Religious Intolerance

To read this hate screed, click on image to enlarge.

By (O)CT(O)PUS

The above advertisement appeared in two consecutive issues of our local newspaper.  Two years ago, a controversy disturbed the peace of this sleepy beachside community.  The mayor refused to let a member of the Ethical Humanist Society address the Town Council. Why? EHS members are scorned as atheists.  As George Orwell once said, some citizens are more equal than others, and City Hall is filled with animals.

In response to the above advertisement, I wrote an opinion letter that will be published in our local newspaper next week, as follows:

Our national debate on the role of religion in our public life has taken a troubling turn. Clerics and politicians alike have upped the ante on rhetoric by mischaracterizing opponents with inflammatory language intended to dehumanize, disenfranchise, and silence stakeholders holding opposing viewpoints.

Recently, a paid advertisement called “Religious Freedom?” appeared in the pages of this newspaper. Ostensibly a plug for a book, the advertisement blames the worst atrocities in modern times on the evils of atheism and secularism: “From 1917 to 2007 approximately 148 million people were killed by atheist run countries.” The author employs a cherry-picking fallacy that weaves selected historical events, although true, into a subjective and self-serving narrative that is decidedly untrue.

Ninety years of modern history is a false equivalence compared to a millennium of Crusades, Inquisitions, apostates burned at the stake, forced conversions under penalty of torture, ecclesiastical corruption, simony and the selling of indulgences, the Reformation culminating in the Thirty Years War – all are examples of unrelenting violence in the name of religion that ravaged Europe for a thousand years.

Appeals to prejudice are another fallacy that equates atheism and secularism with Nazism and evil. Was Adolph Hitler an atheist, as implied by the author? In fact, Hitler attended a monastery school, and his vaunted 'Wehrmacht' bore this inscription: “God is with us.”

The worst atrocities always begin with words – incendiary words that deprive people of their citizenship, their human rights, and ultimately their lives. Frankly, I am concerned when a religious leader employs the same techniques of propaganda -- used by demagogues and despots -- to advance a sectarian agenda.

Free speech is not free without the right of reply, nor is it a platform from which others must only listen. In demonizing people, the goal is to shut down democratic discourse and bully those who stand in opposition.

Constrained by a 300-word limit, there is a lot more I could have said.  I could have mentioned the anti-establishment clause in our Constitution, the one that keeps the peace between denominations and ensures religious freedom for all.

I could have mentioned this statement spoken by Pope Francis two years ago, the one that said:  All good people, including atheists, are redeemed in Christ and go to Heaven.  Apparently, the message has not yet reached these humble shores.

Needless to say, I expect flack.  Angry villagers brandishing pitchforks will write letters and demand my neck in a noose.  My next letter will be short and sweet:

Atheists are voters. Baptists are voters. Buddhists are voters. Catholics are voters. Episcopalians are voters. Ethical Humanists are voters. Evangelicals are voters. Jews are voters. Lutherans are voters. Mennonites are voters. Methodists are voters. Mormons are voters. Muslims are voters. Presbyterians are voters. Seventh Day Adventists are voters. Unitarians are voters. Have I left out anyone?

Who among you shall love your neighbors less by depriving them of their right to vote? Who among you shall revoke your neighbors’ citizenship and violate their human rights? Who among you shall vilify and persecute a neighbor on the basis of race, religion, gender, national origin, partisan affiliation, or sexual orientation? Who among you shall cast the first stone?