VirusHead

More favorite bits from the Blog Against Theocracy blogswarm. In case you want to see it, my post is here.

16) Vagabond Scholar: One of my favorite posts. Don’t miss the comedy videos. “What I find wonderful about Freedom of Religion, the First Amendment and the separation of church and state is the multiplicity of viewpoints it allows. Socially, America has its cultural pressures, but legally, it can be viewed as both pro-religion and pro-atheist (or at least, neutral). One person might see providence in the fall of a sparrow, but another may see a dead bird (and a cat may see lunch). I know devoutly religious people who are among the most original, independent thinkers I’ve ever met, and I know atheists who are among the most moral. As a religion teacher I heard once put it, ‘There are many paths up the mountain.’ Many of those paths involve some sort of spirituality, some involve religion, and some involve atheism or agnosticism. I believe in a path that appreciates comedy. I believe in reverent irreverence.”

17) Clyde the f-ed up cousin of Jimmy Dean: “It’s all about control. Those who are genuinely spiritual don’t need to control others. The streaming spiritual center within them creates a satisfaction that needs nothing more. For those who blocked-ly are stuck in the superficial, that search for satisfaction creates a sense of bewilderment and disorganization, frustration. By attempting to organize –to control– their world and all who live in it, they are also attempting to reach a level of satisfaction that will in their view only happen when everything is perfectly lined up and placed in exactly the right spot. It’s not unlike a key making all the tumblers within a lock reach the opening alignment. By controlling and aligning others they are trying to reach their own spiritual core. But you can’t control others except through massive attempts to generate fear, through physical and psychological intimidation, through manipulation by legislating, through imposing rules governing “proper” behavior. Or by trickery: Lies, Deceit. The sense that people are free to choose for themselves how they wish to live is NOT part of this script. And the more superficial types there are, the greater the chance that their control efforts will succeed.”

18) The Shikon Jewel: “Despite all of this, I still believe there is something out there. I cannot classify it; nor do I want to try. But it is there perhaps interacting, but certainly watching us. Whatever it is, it does not come with instructions, rules, or accepted behaviors attached. Why should there be anymore rules than there already are, anyway? Just for some God to control how I act? To me, that makes as much sense as what I was told when I was younger, ‘Because I’m the mother and I said so.’ And what happens when I grow up? What happens when that no longer holds any merit?”

19) The Springy Goddess: “It amazes me and saddens me to see the truly nonsensical debates on issues that were supposedly put to rest centuries ago. To see disdain for scientific method in a country that claims Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison and adopted Albert Einstein as its own. To hear the ravings of public figures who think blind obedience is a virtue and who view the world through a simplistic us-versus-them lens. To watch helplessly as theocrats dismantle the work of Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Jefferson, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, John Dewey, Margaret Sanger. And I worry about you. But I know, and history shows time and time again, that you have the will to take back your birthright. May you safely emerge from this nightmare with even greater strength and resolve.”

20) The Stormy Days of March: “Just because one particular religion is more popular, does not mean it should be upgraded to legal status. This is not only stupid, it’s shortsighted. In order for a society to adapt and grow over time, it has to be free from populist constraints. What is popular now, may not be popular 20 years from now. Which could translate into all sorts of frivolous changes, like which type of meat is bad. Is it bacon today? Or is it beef? Oh but religion isn’t populist? Really? It’s not? So how come people are flocking to all sorts of new “evangelical” churches in the states, and the good old fashioned Roman Catholic church is experiencing a drop in North America? Couldn’t be populism at all!”

21) The Spiritual Humanist Blog: “The most prominent recent successful actions undermining separation of church and state is the faith-based initiative President Bush has put in place and the politicizing of the judicial system. The first is using millions of dollars of taxpayer money to promote Christian values without the checks-and-balances the secular system has in place. The second is an attempt to institute faith-based laws by overloading the judicial system with judges who base their decisions on the Bible instead of the Constitution and rational thought.”

22) Chris Rodda: “In this installment of my series on historical revisionism from the National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools (NCBCPS), I’ll be looking at a few misquotes of letters written by John Adams, and how, through the deceptive wording of a sentence following a discussion of the founding fathers, the NCBCPS curriculum implies that certain government acknowledgements of religion from the McCarthy era date back to the time of the founders.” Analysis follows.

23) Mauigirl’s Meanderings: “What about a theocracy makes it inherently detrimental to the country? The answer came to me: Power. Any time one point of view gets all the power, bad things happen. This applies in other countries, and it applies here in the United States. And when these bad things happen, they would affect all of us.” Scenarios follow.

24) From Sorghum Crow: “America is a melting pot, but there’s no real way to blend everyone together and come up with some sort of religious alloy. It’s all about faith and belief. My faith is better than your faith, my right is righter than your right, my one true way is truer than yours, and besides my god can kick your god’s (gods’) butt(s). The religious right seems to be more about controlling thoughts than Xristian values. I presume religions have a right to control or at least guide the thoughts of their adherents, that’s what religion is all about. If there are thoughts or actions that offend you, don’t think or do them. But please stay the heck out of my government, my head, my bedroom, my womb(if I had one), my doctor’s office, my pharmacy, etc., etc., etc.”

25) Reconstitution: “In much the same way as the Nazis crept into power by largely avoiding talk about the agenda Hitler laid out in Mein Kampf, the Dominionists try hard to not reveal too much of their true intentions to wide audiences. But their intentions are on the record, for those who want to do a little research. Let’s hear what some of them have to say about what they want.” Go read the quotations. More: “Features of the Jesusistan that these guys envision include-abrogation of the Constitution in favor of Jesusistani dogma, relegation of women to subservient, second-class status, criminal penalization of gay people (up to and including the death sentence,) the absolute abolition of most forms of BIRTH CONTROL (NOT just abortion,) the expulsion of non-“Christians” from all levels of public service (and they will decide who is a “Christian,”) the roundup and detention of Muslims, athiests, and (in some cases) Protestants not in tune with their agenda…. and these are only the high spots of the Jesusistan agenda. As Kennedy said, they intend to relegate every aspect of your life. This is not a “Christianity” that Christ would recognize, and there are no examples of theocracies that weren’t notable for outright brutality.”

26) Facilitate Wonder: “The difficulties of teaching about evolution in the United States are grounded in the confluence of three sets of misconceptions:
1. Misconceptions about evolution and the nature of science.
2. Misconceptions about religion and the nature of religion.
3. Misconceptions about the nature of our constitutional democracy.
Misconceptions within any one of these three classes can effectively hang up teaching and learning about the core ideas. Put two of them together and you’re screwed. And, I think most Americans, including most teachers (and perhaps even including myself) hold some fairly substantial subset of misconceptions in these categories.”

27) The Largest Minority: “(William) Donahue is an ultra-conservative who’s president of the Catholic League, a group founded to protect Catholics from the longstanding history of “defamation and discrimination” in America. However, Donahue is ironically doing more to defame Catholics than any other person. As a Catholic myself, I find it especially offensive that Donahue unleashes his ignorance and hate under the guise of Catholicism and Christianity in general. And that ladies and gentlemen is why I was so happy to see Mr. Donahue in the latest South Park episode. The episode examines the relationship between Easter and the commercialized celebration of it by inventing one. Donahue appears first at about 8:40 and for the rest of the episode after the 13:20 mark. His unchristian nature is made very apparent as he even goes against Jesus to defend his fascist ideals.” Check out the video of Donahue and Cosimo “chocolate Jesus” Cavallaro. By the way, I love the work – it’s beautiful.

28) Bibilioblography: “From the Federal Marriage Amendment (an effort to codify an ‘institution’ they feel is completely theirs) to the invasion of Iraq (which was once Babylon, something not lost on those of us who have some idea as to how these people think), from the Faith-Based Initiatives the Chimp-in-Chief has put in place (in clear violation of the Establishment Clause) to the obvious political clout that these wild woosters of wee-hee-hee (paraphrased from Firesign Theater) wield, from the revisionism of American history to the invasion of Creationism into our school systems, it is painfully evident that a theocracy is not only being plotted, but subtle mechanisms have been planted over the last few decades. And there is no being rational with the irrational, no reasoning with the unreasonable. My firmest hope is that we can do battle with words and paper, and if enough of us raise our fists and bellow to the skies our discontent, it will be heard: that the bleeding wounds of fanaticism can be staunched with logic.”

29) Frank L. Cocozzelli: “It seems that Donohue and his Catholic League cannot handle the supposition that a Catholic artist would express his ideal of Jesus in a manner very different from his own. Why? Because Cavallaro had the nerve to cast Jesus in chocolate, crucified in the nude (as the Romans actually carried out such executions). Another Bill Donohue dust-up that is designed more to create anger and hatred for the freedom of expression rather than to further an ethic of self-discipline, charity and tolerance that signifies Catholicism at its finest, just as its Founder meant it to be. The self-styled Grand Inquisitor, once again, failing to see the forest for the trees. ‘Give me their names.’ These are chilling words that have echoed throughout history. It is the age-old demand of agents of authoritarianism.”

30) Rascality: “And yes, of course, if you want to get technical, both theocracy and fascism stem from the same root cause, namely fear. The fear of divine retribution if you don’t believe in an omnipotent celestial male monarch (or judge). The fear of Big Brother coming to get you if you protest the present government’s policies too loudly or visibly (you’ve really got to go see this movie if you haven’t already). The fear of social scorn if you’re not goose-stepping for the war OR the Republican party like your neighbors.”

Thought I’d collect my favorite bits. I’ve gone from the first posted to the last, and taken my favorite piece from each. Yeah, this is going to take a while. Why 15? No reason, really, just a good chunky number. And no, I won’t be attempting to keep up with tags – sheesh. Here’s my own post, but I’ll excerpt my favorite bit later (grin).

1) Peace, order and good government, eh?: A recipe for hot cross buns, and this. “It was people of faith – often people of persecuted faiths — who understood most deeply why freedom of conscience matters and how serious an offence to conscience any state-authorized view of religion is. To those people of faith we all owe the most important clauses of our bills and declarations and charters of human rights and freedoms. Thought is free, and your mind is your own.”

2) Fitness for the Occasion: “The last thing we need as a country is to have one interpretation of one religion forced upon the rest of us. There is no need to force creationism into our schools, or to force homophobia into our marriage laws. There is no need to restrict a women’s privacy and her choices to those sanctioned by religious authorities. Laws that forbid commerce on certain days of the week, or that forbid certain sexual practices have no place in modern America.”

3) Rad Robin: “Well, just because I am pissed that you have been used by some very bad people and the consequences to humanity and the earth are devastating does NOT mean I hate your religion or you. Nothing could be farther from the truth. But it is incumbent upon me to say, WTF? Start thinking. Cause you are going down in the same ship that I am. I am responsible for not participating in a more organized way to stop the Christian movement. But you are responsible in aiding, funding, and espousing it. And I ask, when will sanity and a commitment to humanitarian goals that Jesus espoused return to this country? What would Jesus do today?”

4) Coffee Messiah: “No religious discrimination.
PRO End-of-Life Care (no more Terri Schiavo travesties)
Reproductive health decisions made by individuals, not religious “majorities”
Democracy not Theocracy
Academic Integrity
(like, a rock is as old as it is, not as old as the Bible says)
Sound Science
(good bye so-called “intelligent” design)
Respect for ALL families
(based on love, not sexual orientation. Hellooooo.)
And finally,
The right to worship, OR NOT.”

5) We Are All Giant Nuclear Fireball Now Party: Travelogue and photos! “The free ride for the dinosaurs would come to an end at about 65 mya setting events in motion culminating in the rise of the mammals and such wonders as the British invasion, hockey (threw this in as tribute to Chairman for Life Bérubé), TV dinners, Brittany Spears, sliced bread, Enron, beer and me throwing out my sleeping bag on a small patch of Earth shaped by titanic forces through millennia to be awakened before dawn by the coyote’s howl. So far the southwest was looking pretty good.”

6) Thoughts in a Haystack: “Thus, by mostly different routes, premillennialists and postmillennialists came to share the goal of dominion over the civil state and began to make alliances. One of these, the Coalition on Revival, brought together Rushdoony, North, creationist Duane Gish, D. James Kennedy, Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association and the above-mentioned LaHaye. Other familiar names associated with the movement are David Limbaugh (Rush’s brother), former sitcom star Kirk Cameron, Chuck Colson and Tom DeLay. Howard Ahmanson, savings and loan heir and major funder of the Discovery Institute, the primary advocate for the Intelligent Design movement, has also been linked to Christian Reconstructionism. … Of course, many of those [76% self-identified American Christians] might discover, if the Christian nationalists get their way, that the nationalists’ definition is different than theirs.”

7) commander other: “No rational person even resents government officials being personally religious per se. It is only when one religious belief is specifically promoted, encouraged, or supported above others that the problems begin. Good people can do good things for their communities without any one religion being sanctioned to conduct any particular program. And in fact, the example provided by this administration in that regard is exactly the wrong one to be following. Its actions merely exemplify its disregard for the founding principles of this country and its inherent idealogical weakness. If you’re a religious person, do good deeds in the name of your Creator as you are bidden. But please don’t support legislation in your States and communities that would set one particular religion above another. Your contract with your God is unbounded by the dictates of your government, and the personal impetus is far more valuable than a state or federal sanction.”

8) One Act in the Eternal Play of Ideas: Wow! A treatment in fiction – well, sorta. “Now, you will still find some heresy in me. You see, I believe that the Reign of the Righteous began with the presidency of George W. Bush. Of course, he did not eliminate abortion or make the detention camps he established into true reformation centers. It is important to recognize, however, that he laid the groundwork for so much of what we now take for granted. Among other things, his administration fought for the government’s right to detain certain citizens, began the holy struggle against the false theocracies of the Middle East (though he couldn’t call it that), and began the slow process of turning charity initiatives over to churches. To the best of his ability, he put godly people into the executive and judicial branches. In all this, he was opposed by the remnants of the old judicial system and the legislative branch. … My progress in camp was considered quite rapid after my conversion and, within a few months, I left the building for the first time for my baptism in a nearby lake. A few weeks later, I was given my new life. I work as a receptionist for my ward’s church and live in the single-women’s dorm just a few blocks away, as I’ve no father to be returned to. We are supervised at all hours there by local matrons, and I thank God for their kind donation of time to protect women like me from lingering weaknesses.”

9) A Stitch in Haste: Three clips from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. “Each is directly related to the clash between dogma and science — the front line in the battle against theocracy.”

10) Tangled Up in Blue Guy: A detailed and clear-eyed post. Not easily excerpted, so read the whole thing. “I think that it is astonishing that we would have people passing amendments which restrict the rights of other citizens; and this is a clear contradiction of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and more documents written by the founders.”

11) This *is* it: “No amount of religous study can give a man higher morals. A mother’s love, the willingness to put others lives ahead of your own, the selfless love that causes animals to do things for no other reason than it’s the right thing to do. I have seen it. The conflicts caused by religious conservatives are not based on morality, they are based on selfish pride. Morality is a trait of life, not taught from a book. Attaching yourself to literal interpretations is not wise, nor necessary, for a believer.”

12) Pissed in NYC: “When I hear those who call themselves religious condemn those who don’t embrace their sense of morality, or who attack women who are sexually active or gays and lesbians, I get very angry. I can’t discuss the topic rationally, and I refuse to show the speaker and/or his or her followers any respect. It’s not because I think that all religious people are stupid or evil. It just that I know that the constant stream of condemnation has real world consequences, even for those who do not follow the speaker or believe the message. I know the heavy price that may be paid when self-proclaimed theocrats point their fingers at others and declare them to be shameful. My uncle died 20 years ago this June. He was only 43 years old. I miss him.”

13) The Learning Curve: “These classes, however secular they say they are, endorse one particular religion (the article notes that many such classes focus only on the positive influence of the Bible and ignore its negative influence). I would be less up in arms about a class on world religion that included multiple religious texts as sources, but I still feel that those are classes that should be reserved for college. Partly because I feel that finding teachers who are able to teach multiple religious texts in a balanced manner is difficult, but mostly because I feel like a lot of schools don’t have the resources to support core instruction, let alone a class that focuses on religion.”

14) Journeys with Jood: “On my drive home from work, I sometimes come around the Peninsula, and there is one house with a GIANT wooden cross facing the route. I mean this is one honking big cross. And I have jumped to the conclusion that this person is an angry, judgmental individual who condemns free choice, who believes that our current Administration is right to be fighting a war in Iraq, who hates Gays, or single women. I assume this because he has a giant wooden cross. Would I not be moving toward acceptance if I knocked on his door and said, ‘I want to have a dialogue with you, I want to understand your beliefs. I want to be open to hear your ideas.’ If I don’t want people to make assumptions about me, should I not also give up my own assumptions about others?”

15) Ron’s Blog: “But it’s interestingly disconcerting how deep somebody’s impulse (not the Principal’s, but some teacher or teachers’) to inject religious content into the school assembly goes here. And it’s hard not to think that teachers who do so in spite of information that actual parents of actual students are asking that they be more attentive to the diversity of their student population aren’t doing so from some sense of grinding a political axe. My expectation is that some fraction of the school’s faculty will come to resent us for getting in the way of their attempts to use their little corner of the public square to politically “educate” the kids to seeing an intrinsic bond between God and country.” (from “God at School“)

More to come…