Proposition P, or The Defense of Religious Leaders Who Did Not Wear Magical Underwear, would change the California constitution so that only prophets identified and revered BEFORE 1820 would be recognized.
Once Proposition P is law, any non-traditional prophets... say ones that claimed they could find gold by putting stones in a white stovepipe hat or who, for years, promoted the practice of polygamy... would be devalued as second-class and believers in these modern, substandard prophets would not be allowed to claim their values as valid as those who believe in, like, totally REAL God.
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Since the Mormon Church found it necessary to butt its nose into my marriage,
I will support JeffLieber's "Modest Proposal," an excerpt of which follows:
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Truce off.
Ok, FGO, you want to butt your homophobic ass into my private life?
Fine then, let's see how you like it when people insult something that's central to your life.
Studies have shown that fundamentalist Christianity is a mental disorder that can be cured through reparative therapy. People who refuse to use their own brains to figure out the world and instead rely on rigid dogma display a dangerous kind of personality disorder that can lead to major psychological problems. But there is hope for people - three easy steps that can lead you to true mental balance:
1) Put down the Bible and step away.
2) Look around at the world and think, "Hey, maybe there's something else here."
3) Open your mind to the possibility that you don't know everything.
Those three steps will lead you one step closer to mental balance, and away from the dangerous mental disorder that is fundamentalist Christianity.
How does that feel, FGO? I just took something that's central to your identity and called it a mental disorder. Do you think that's a fair thing for me to do?
No?
Then leave me the fuck alone.
Fine then, let's see how you like it when people insult something that's central to your life.
Studies have shown that fundamentalist Christianity is a mental disorder that can be cured through reparative therapy. People who refuse to use their own brains to figure out the world and instead rely on rigid dogma display a dangerous kind of personality disorder that can lead to major psychological problems. But there is hope for people - three easy steps that can lead you to true mental balance:
1) Put down the Bible and step away.
2) Look around at the world and think, "Hey, maybe there's something else here."
3) Open your mind to the possibility that you don't know everything.
Those three steps will lead you one step closer to mental balance, and away from the dangerous mental disorder that is fundamentalist Christianity.
How does that feel, FGO? I just took something that's central to your identity and called it a mental disorder. Do you think that's a fair thing for me to do?
No?
Then leave me the fuck alone.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Hate leads to hate crimes
Of course, the local paper won't call this a hate crime, but that's clearly what it is.
What else would you call it?
After a right-wing organization tied to John McCain's campaign distributed an anti-Muslim hate film across the country as a free insert in local papers, somebody sprayed an irritating chemical into a room at a Mosque where children were being watched while their parents were involved in a Ramadan prayer service.
This kind of anti-Muslim hate is disturbing not only because all racism and religious hatred is disturbing. It's also disturbing in the way that such hatred has exploded since 9/11. Muslims have become the new Communists - they're "the other," the ones that "hate our freedom," the people who are trying to "destroy our way of life." It's almost as if we have some sick need for someone to blame - like we always have to have an enemy on which to focus all of our anger, to blame for the world's problems, to make us feel superior and holy, to separate the world into "us" and "them." After the fall of the Soviet Union, it only took us ten years to latch on to "Muslim extremists" as the new "evil empire." Yes, the perpetrators of 9/11 adhered to an extremist form of Islam - but the average Muslim in America or anywhere else in the world is not an adherent to the violent views of Al Qaeda and its allies.
Just like the average Christian doesn't subscribe to the views of hate groups like Focus on the Family and the 700 Club - groups who blame natural disasters on God's wrath against those who preach inclusion and tolerance.
Just like the average Jew doesn't subscribe to the views of the extremist settler movement in Israel, which calls for the extermination or mass explusion of the Palestinian people from "greater Israel."
Scapegoating a religious group to acheive a political end has a name, a symbol, and a brutal history. We fought a major war against it, and we won. Let's not let that kind of evil penetrate our own society, which we value for its love of freedom and diversity.
Update: Here's a link to another story about this incident.
What else would you call it?
After a right-wing organization tied to John McCain's campaign distributed an anti-Muslim hate film across the country as a free insert in local papers, somebody sprayed an irritating chemical into a room at a Mosque where children were being watched while their parents were involved in a Ramadan prayer service.
This kind of anti-Muslim hate is disturbing not only because all racism and religious hatred is disturbing. It's also disturbing in the way that such hatred has exploded since 9/11. Muslims have become the new Communists - they're "the other," the ones that "hate our freedom," the people who are trying to "destroy our way of life." It's almost as if we have some sick need for someone to blame - like we always have to have an enemy on which to focus all of our anger, to blame for the world's problems, to make us feel superior and holy, to separate the world into "us" and "them." After the fall of the Soviet Union, it only took us ten years to latch on to "Muslim extremists" as the new "evil empire." Yes, the perpetrators of 9/11 adhered to an extremist form of Islam - but the average Muslim in America or anywhere else in the world is not an adherent to the violent views of Al Qaeda and its allies.
Just like the average Christian doesn't subscribe to the views of hate groups like Focus on the Family and the 700 Club - groups who blame natural disasters on God's wrath against those who preach inclusion and tolerance.
Just like the average Jew doesn't subscribe to the views of the extremist settler movement in Israel, which calls for the extermination or mass explusion of the Palestinian people from "greater Israel."
Scapegoating a religious group to acheive a political end has a name, a symbol, and a brutal history. We fought a major war against it, and we won. Let's not let that kind of evil penetrate our own society, which we value for its love of freedom and diversity.
Update: Here's a link to another story about this incident.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Positive Religion
A soldier in Iraq is being granted conscientious objector status after he experienced a "religious awakening" and decided that he couldn't be a good Christian and a soldier at the same time.
When I talk about promoting "positive religion," this is what I'm talking about - a religious view that seeks to lift up society, bring people together, and promote peace. In Judaism, this is called Tikkun Olam, the moral obligation that we have to repair the world for future generations. This Christian soldier has decided that his own moral obligation to repair the world requires him not to participate in an unjust war.
That's positive religion.
"I have been trying to justify being a soldier and finding a way to do so while still being a Christian, because that is what I wanted to do since I was a kid," Barnes wrote in his request for conscientious objector status in December 2006.
"But I can no longer justify spending my short time in this world participating in or supporting war. ... I must try to save souls, not help take them."
When I talk about promoting "positive religion," this is what I'm talking about - a religious view that seeks to lift up society, bring people together, and promote peace. In Judaism, this is called Tikkun Olam, the moral obligation that we have to repair the world for future generations. This Christian soldier has decided that his own moral obligation to repair the world requires him not to participate in an unjust war.
That's positive religion.
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