8.11.2005

A Note on Christianity

While we here at Barrelhouse are busy starting our new, dare I say, "religion"
(I prefer belief system), I just want to note that we mock things about Christianity because we love. I personally think Christianity would be better off without Dr. James Dobson quoting approvingly from a soon to be published book about how a father can ensure that his son does not go gay: (thanks to Tapped, among others):

He can help his son learn to throw and catch a ball. He can teach him to pound a square wooden peg into a square hole in a pegboard. He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger.

And we might be better off if uber-Catholic Senator Rick Santorum was not musing on NPR that(thanks to Buzzmachine, among others):

"This whole idea of personal autonomy — I don’t think that most conservatives hold that point of view. Some do. And they have this idea that people should be left alone to do what they want to do, that government should keep taxes down, keep regulation down, that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom, that we shouldn’t be involved in cultural issues, people should do whatever they want. Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world. And I think that most conservatives understand that we can’t go it alone, that there is no such society that I’m aware of where we’ve had radical individualism and it has succeeded as a culture."

Has it ever been tried, Senator? Meanwhile, virtually every failed regime over the past 100 years explicitly REJECTED individualism. And they took alot of innocents down with them.

The U.S. is a secular state for a reason. Because Europe was ravaged by wars started for every conceivable reason, and for a good chunk of the 17th Century, because of religion. Gee, that was the same Century that the first Europeans came to America. Coincidence, Senator Santorum?

The explicit goal of the United States, as codified in the Constitution, is not to ensure that everyone goes to heaven, but rather to ensure that every citizen's life is as long and peaceful as possible. Obstacles to this include not only outside forces like terrorism, but also an overbearing government that does not trust its citizens to make the right decisions.

Right now, many, many ridiculous things are being said in the name of Christianity. I cannot help but think that these so-called Christians need to take a deep breath, open up their Bible--past all the parts with the smiting--and reflect on what it means to have love and forgiveness for all. Save souls on your own time and you can bring about true conversions; forcefeed through law and dictate and you will be constructing a whitened sepulchre for yourself while not doing anybody else any good.

5 comments:

TMC said...

Is there a book on how to raise your daughter not to be a lesbian?

dave said...

That's why, in Religiance, we just focus on keeping it really, really real.

Those who actively practice keeping it really, really real don't worry about square pegs or round holes, throwing balls or observing their father's penises in the shower. They just worry about their own selves and how to continue keeping it really, really real.

Religiance: know what I'm saying?

Kistulentz said...

I think my personal favorite example of extremism is when the ultra-rightwingers use the Bible in defense of capital punishment (an idea explicitly rejected by Christ in all four of the Gospels). The idea of state-sanctioned murder is a distinctly Old Testament idea. So if I am following correctly, the Bible should be taken literally when it comes to accounts of creationism and the taking of "an eye for an eye", yet not so liberally when the same text offers, as it does in Leviticus, that you should a.) smite your neighbor if he works on the Sabbath. b) murder any woman who enters a temple while having her period c) murder anyone with imperfect eyesight.

Since the Democratic party seems to have difficulty finding quality candidates to run statewide in Pennsylvania, I'm going to suggest that we just simply interview Rick Santorum at every opportunity. Because each time he opens his mouth, he proves what an embarrassment he is.

Joe said...

I don't know, Steve. I think Casey's got a real shot. Near universal name recognition thanks to his dad. Highest number of votes received by a Statewide official in the history of PA when he ran as Auditor General last time. Granted, I wish the Dems had found someone from the western part of the State to appease the more mid-westish demographic found there, but right now I say Casey beats Sanny by at least 5 percent.

Now, how much of an improvement that’ll be I can’t really say given that Bobby’s pretty conservative in his own right, but I’d much rather have Harry Reid as majority leader than whoever the Republican’s pick to replace Frist when he goes off to run for President. (Unless of course they went with Specter, the only Republican I’ve ever voted for, but that wouldn’t happen in ten million years.)

Kistulentz said...

Ah yes, Joe...the right-to-life, pro-gun Democrats in the Casey family rule the roost. Too bad Bobby can't have a bit of the Ed Rendell fuck-you attitude. Might make the race more interesting. And it would help I could find one reason Casey was a Democrat other than because his father was.

As for Snarlin' Arlen, while I too find him more palatable than most, and certainly more than Frist, I still can't help but wonder how much he got for his soul in exchange for the magic bullet theory. I mean, does he seriously believe that shit? (For those of you who need footnotes, as a young prosecutor Arlen Specter was counsel to the Warren Commission that investigated the death of President Kennedy. It was Mr. Specter's theory that a bullet exited President Kennedy, traveled downward, hit Governor Connally twice, turned right, and ended up on the stretcher, nearly intact.

To which I say--of course it ended up on the stretcher. That is where the cigarette smoking man put it.