There's nothing I love more than smug assholes twisting the words of the Bible and the Constitution to suit their needs. The Bible-thumpers are particularly disturbing as ones faith in God can be a very powerful thing.
For some, faith can be the driving force that keeps them going. It can help people through tragedies and trials. It can bring people back from the brink of self-destruction. It can also be a routine every day source of happiness. There's any number of reasons why faith and religion can be a positive influence in the world.
For others, it is a motivation for actions that one would normally be too chicken shit to conduct without some viable excuse. The Bible is a large book. There's a lot of business going on in there. In fact, there's enough material in there to supply any twisted fuck with enough divine guidance to do just about anything their perverted mind wishes to undertake.
Quite a few years ago I recall some documentary that was interviewing some backwoods hillbilly. He was sitting there on his bed with a high-powered rifle across his lap and discussing his hatred for gays. The one line that has stuck in my head, and always will, is, "...and if the good lord tells me to shoot, I will shoot." This man believed that he was God's tool to kill homosexuals.
Another example are the anti-abortion fanatics. Abortion in itself is a very controversial topic. Unfortunately, it has become a very political issue and there are millions of people who will vote primarily on that issue alone. Personally, as long as the procedure is deemed legal, it should be up to the choice of the individual. If, for some reason, it is overturned, I will accept the decision and move on, without loss of sleep. It is not that big of an issue (to me). However, there are some who believe that it is necessary that doctors who do these procedures should be killed. In doing this, they believe that they are doing God's work. I call bullshit. The murder of a doctor does not make you a saint. It makes you a murderer, and you will burn in Hell. Plain and simple.
There are countless examples of religious fanatics justifying their actions by saying God told them to do it (George W Bush claiming that God told him to go to war in Iraq, Spanish Inquisitions, etc.). The point is, I'm not buying any of it. It's things like this which cause my view of religion to be somewhat jaded. How is it that, with the potential for so much good, so many of the faithful use religion as an excuse for insidious deeds?
Which brings me to my point: the extreme religious right using God and the Bible as justification for absolute insanity in their stance on President Obama. The idiocy started right about a year ago when stupid-ass chain emails were being tossed around declaring Obama was the anti-christ. My dear parents were receiving these emails weekly from a church acquaintance which allowed me the opportunity to read the crap first-hand.
Let me tell you something, the Bible can be interpreted to justify just about anything if you want it to. I bet that, with a little work, I could use the good book to justify me eating a whole pizza for lunch, skipping out on work early, getting piss drunk, and then hitting up the titty-bar. Pretty sure I could also use it to justify punching you in the face. Whatever.
Cowards do this on a regular basis. There's nothing quite as motivating as divine justification.
The latest in extreme religious right wing actions is the fad known as "hide-behind-scripture-wishing-for-the-death-of-Obama-without-actually-saying-it". I came upon an article yesterday which talks about these new bumper stickers/ t-shirts/ assorted asshole merchandise which reads some variation of "Pray for Obama - Psalm 109:8". Without doing any research or having the Bible committed to memory, one would think this is a nice thing by nice religious people. If you look up the Psalm however, you get this:
"Let his days be few; and let another take his office and charge"
Still, no big deal, right? Other than the fact that it looks like some douche bags are using scripture to pray Obama out of office, of course. I mean, the line between religion and government has been blurring for some time now, and for the religious right it has ceased to exist altogether.
When you read on to the next line, however, you get this:
"Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow"
...and now you are just in asshole fuck religious fanatic territory.
Just come out and say it, cowards. Come right out and make your t-shirts say, "Pray for the murder of Obama". That's what you really want to say. So just come out and say it. Don't be coy and sneaky. And what makes these people different from the fanaticism of the likes of Al Qaeda? Not too much, in my opinion.
What would happen if we had people doing the same thing releasing this merchandise in regards to George W Bush? You know what would happen. What's the difference? These people are justified because of their faith.
With Secret Service recently reporting that death threats have skyrocketed since Obama took office, I find it extremely irresponsible with the way that some are inciting violence and anger. For 99.9% of the population, it is all just talk. But there are those few, who take it upon themselves to do the unthinkable, and it is those who are the most dangerous. What sets those few apart from the docile masses?
Why, it's God, of course. And each one of those individuals believes that God is on their side.
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with the far left you get trillion dollar deficits
ReplyDeletewith the far right you get religion wingnuts
One of the two actually has an affect on my personal lifestyle.
It's apparent that I take the issue more seriously than you do. Hiding murderous inclination behind the bible is disturbing, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteIf you would like to deflect, as you almost always do, I do think the deficit is disgusting. The bailout was an ill-advised venture, especially considering that the practices of those who were saved have not changed. Health care reform, I do think is important, and that is costly.
The fact remains, however, that I don't know what it takes to save an economy. It's easy for those who are no longer in power to complain that the mess isn't being cleaned up quickly enough or cheap enough for their tastes. But that is the nature of politics. Party first, eh?
It's odd that certain people did not complain when a $250 billion surplus was turned in to a $400 billion deficit recently. In fact, we were told repeatedly that "deficits don't matter" (lesson learned from Reagan, if you recall). Again, that is the nature of politics. Complain incessantly when the other party is in power, but do the same when it's your turn.
What any of this has to do with disgusting religious practices I guess I'll never know.