No Justice Sunday
Well, "Justice Sunday: Stop the Filibuster Against People of Faith" has come and gone (with me laughing so hard at the notion that it hurt). I used to have respect for Bill Frist. What the hell happened?
Answer: the religious right.
I find it extremely amusing (and fitting) that Zhubin, the atheist, and Ben, the evangelical Christian (email posted on Jeff's blog), have in the past week presented me with almost identical arguments about the religious right and their blatant disregard for, well, religion.
The religious right has been fooling otherwise decent people of faith for years by convincing them that liberals (read: Democrats) are attacking their faith. Liberal Christians (e.g. Ben, among others) recognize that the greatest affront to faith is precisely the invocation of it in a manner that seeks to control and manipulate. "No Justice Sunday" (as I like to call it) is the most recent example. The Terri Schiavo fiasco (which was a mere family dispute, and should have been left that way) is another. And on and on.
I must admit, the religious right has it down to an art: pick a hot-button issue that is explicitly condemned by the church (abortion, homosexual sex, euthanasia, etc.) Scare the living shit out of the religious by claiming that liberals (read: people ho believe there are more important issues) are attempting to subvert their faith. Convince them of your claims by using a ludicrous example (e.g. filibustering wacko judges who think things like the Civil Rights Act but also happen to oppose Roe v. Wade and gay marriage). Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
I personally believe that moderate Americans are very slowly beginning to recognize what the right is doing, and I think the post-election cockiness of the religious right will ultimately be their undoing. Because of No Justice Sunday, I don't believe Frist will ever get elected, for example. This is uplifting to me: 4 more years (actually, 3 years, 8 months, and 26 days, if I were counting) of one religious right-winger in the White House is bad enough. Admittedly, he hasn't managed to actually pass much to impose the will of the religious right too badly. I've even been pleased that he has more-or-less dropped the Federal Marriage Amendment issue, though this proves the point I made above.
And as usual, I'm rambling. I'll stop now. I need to do work anyway. Go on with your daily lives. Oh, incidentally, for one of the most reasonable and moving analyses of the Christian attitude toward homosexuals, read Ben's Hustler article from 2003, "Why Christians should support gay rights".
Song lyric of the day:
"Your insecurity pollutes your path to purity
But I don't know if you feel this way all the time
Hear me: I don't think you're right"
- Caroline's Spine, Nothing to Prove
Answer: the religious right.
I find it extremely amusing (and fitting) that Zhubin, the atheist, and Ben, the evangelical Christian (email posted on Jeff's blog), have in the past week presented me with almost identical arguments about the religious right and their blatant disregard for, well, religion.
The religious right has been fooling otherwise decent people of faith for years by convincing them that liberals (read: Democrats) are attacking their faith. Liberal Christians (e.g. Ben, among others) recognize that the greatest affront to faith is precisely the invocation of it in a manner that seeks to control and manipulate. "No Justice Sunday" (as I like to call it) is the most recent example. The Terri Schiavo fiasco (which was a mere family dispute, and should have been left that way) is another. And on and on.
I must admit, the religious right has it down to an art: pick a hot-button issue that is explicitly condemned by the church (abortion, homosexual sex, euthanasia, etc.) Scare the living shit out of the religious by claiming that liberals (read: people ho believe there are more important issues) are attempting to subvert their faith. Convince them of your claims by using a ludicrous example (e.g. filibustering wacko judges who think things like the Civil Rights Act but also happen to oppose Roe v. Wade and gay marriage). Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
I personally believe that moderate Americans are very slowly beginning to recognize what the right is doing, and I think the post-election cockiness of the religious right will ultimately be their undoing. Because of No Justice Sunday, I don't believe Frist will ever get elected, for example. This is uplifting to me: 4 more years (actually, 3 years, 8 months, and 26 days, if I were counting) of one religious right-winger in the White House is bad enough. Admittedly, he hasn't managed to actually pass much to impose the will of the religious right too badly. I've even been pleased that he has more-or-less dropped the Federal Marriage Amendment issue, though this proves the point I made above.
And as usual, I'm rambling. I'll stop now. I need to do work anyway. Go on with your daily lives. Oh, incidentally, for one of the most reasonable and moving analyses of the Christian attitude toward homosexuals, read Ben's Hustler article from 2003, "Why Christians should support gay rights".
Song lyric of the day:
"Your insecurity pollutes your path to purity
But I don't know if you feel this way all the time
Hear me: I don't think you're right"
- Caroline's Spine, Nothing to Prove
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