It’s entirely possible I’m not the most objective person when it comes to discussing the combination of religion and social justice…not that I’m going to refrain from discussing them. Those two entities need not be mutually exclusive; indeed, they can be quite effective and impactful when undertaken with love and generosity of spirit. These days, though, they seem hard to come by in the public sphere. Not that there aren’t people of faith doing good things for the right reasons, of course. There are many who endeavor earnestly and seriously to live Christ-like lives and model the teachings of their Lord and Savior.
There are also far too many who wield their Christian faith like a club. They use it to bludgeon those unenlightened enough to not share the narrow hatred and bigotry they claim as representative of the One, True, and ONLY Faith ©. This hateful, bastardized, and virtually unrecognizable interpretation of God’s word is based on the premise that love, tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion are WAY overrated…and not at all what Jesus stood for.
Kim Davis: Gay Couples Tried To ‘Make Me Eat’ SCOTUS Ruling For Dinner
When the U.S. Supreme Court gave the legal go-ahead to marriage equality last year, the decision was met by considerable weeping and gnashing of teeth among the American Taliban, who were convinced the Supremes were ushering in the Apocalypse. A year or so later, not much has outwardly changed. America is still here, despite those who held forth at considerable length and volume about the destruction God was certain to soon rain down upon America.
Of course, the ruling was enjoyable from a comic relief standpoint, if nothing else. There was Kim Davis, standing resolute, a la George Wallace at Little Rock’s Central High School and barring access to black students despite a court order to the contrary. Davis believes her faith to be of greater value and import than the thoughtless dictates that are the laws written by mere mortals- apostates who blasphemed God by allowing gays to marry.
Having stood up for her God-ordained right to discriminate against those she find “icky,” Davis has become a symbol of heroic resistance for the American Taliban, a warrior for the faith on par with Joan of Arc. This is where an epic lack of self-awareness can be entertaining- sometimes one becomes both an exercise in self-parody and an advertisement for the moral superiority and consistency of atheism. No, Virginia; hypocrisy does NOT look good on her….
She does seem to relish her role as a heroine of the Rabid Religious Right, though.
Oklahoma Introduces Measure To Impeach Obama Over Transgender Bathroom Rights
It seems nothing if not laughable: Oklahoma’s godly “smaller government” Republican legislators have decided to draw a line in the sand over their “right” to dictate the potty practices of transgender individuals. Despite the claims of the Sooner State’s branch of the American Taliban, it’s not about protecting the sanctity of public restrooms or the safety of their wives and daughters. It’s about demonizing and marginalizing a small minority class of people who just want to be able to live their lives in the most authentic and genuine way they can.
Right; the party of “smaller government” is now exercising considerable amounts of butthurt because the Obama Administration wants them to treat all children equally. How DARE The Black Guy in the White House © interfere with our God-given right to legally designate those we hate as “less than” and unworthy of being treated with respect and dignity?
You’re going to advocate for impeaching this President over…wait for it…transgender individuals using public restrooms? Really?? Stay classy, y’all…or not, because you’ve become this country’s longest-running joke.
‘Family’ Group Vows ‘Next Level’ Target Protest With Outrageous Anti-Trans Video
It seems Christian “family values” are mostly about hating those not like you and demonizing them as dangerous predators who must be neutralized. Kinda makes you want to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, doesn’t it?
“Family values,” sadly enough, appear to have little to do with families (or values) and everything with enforcing a joyless, authoritarian theology centered around ensuring that everyone conforms to a narrow definition of “normal” and “godly.”
To promote “Don’t Target Our Daughters Day,” the group has produced a bizarre music video that compiles news reports of the Target controversy and, in one scene, depicts a young girl being attacked in a bathroom stall.
Nope, no fear mongering here, y’all….
“No matter how loud it’s shouted, sin is not a civil right,” a singer in the video, which can be viewed above, warbles. “Calling evil good will never make it right.”
Sin may or may not be a civil right; I’m not at all certain a ruling on that burning theological question can be found in the Bible or in case law. Neither am I certain that an invented, fabricated-out-of-thin-air “controversy” has anything at all to do with Christian values or the teachings of Jesus Christ. If someone can show me where it says anything at all about transgender potty rights in Scripture, I’m willing to listen.
Go ahead; I’ll wait. No, really….
If the folks at the American Family Association have anything at all to do with true family values OR the teachings of Jesus Christ, I’m Ted Kaczynski. AFA, the zealots behind this crusade, is a hate group which cloaks their hatred, bigotry, and epic hypocrisy Christianity and “family values.”
Exactly what Jesus would do, eh?
