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More "Christian" Idiocy

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Fenian_Bastard, Oct 5, 2006.

  1. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    Not quite, Fen. A Recontructionist would go much, MUCH further than this guy. Christianity would become the state religion. Not only would creation science be taught, evolution would not be under any circumstances, except in basic terms in order that the next generation of Christian soldiers be versed in how to "disprove" it. Outward expressions of any non-Christian faith would be a punishible offense. In extreme cases, some Reconstructionists would re-establish Levitical Law to provide the death penalty for homosexuality and striking one's parent.

    This is a guy who's upset that a book on his daughter's required reading list has Bible-burning and swears. Let's not make him Fred Phelps v2.0 and save the boogeymen for Oct. 31.
     
  2. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    I'd just like to add a hearty "AMEN!!!"
     
  3. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    '

    Therein lies the rub, Pastor Formerly Known as Crass. You can't compound this case with the intelligent design movement or any of the more extreme elements of Christianity any more than you can take an Islamic parent complaining that a book is disrespectful to their faith and compounding that with al-Qadia to prove an Islamic agenda. The scope of Christianity is broad enough that you can't in fairness apply every misstep by the hyperconservatives to the mass of believers. The overwhelming majority of Average Joe Christians don't care about or don't follow the hyperconservative leadership.

    Put another way -- Cindy Sheehan gets more support from established anti-war elements than this guy gets from established conservative Christian elements. That's not to say some group like the American Center for Law and Justice won't hitch its wagon to that star, but for now it's just some upset dad who wants his school board to ban a book from its school library. He's not the first person to call for a ban, nor is he the last, and there's people with no Christian connection at all who'll complain about one book or another. But instead of debating the issue on its own merits, some people here who've been waiting for some ultraconservative revolution to fill the streets with the blood of the moderates have blown this up into some watershed moment for them. When again, as far as anyone can reasonably tell, it's some guy who took offense to a book and wants it removed. I don't agree with him, but I don't think he's a foot soldier in a hyperchristian jihad, either.
     
  4. Then you're not paying attention.
     
  5. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Mystery,

    I'd refrain from using the word "rub" for a week or so when defending the righteous.
     
  6. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    Hmmm, good point. Therein lies the rubbing one out?
     
  7. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    Paying attention to what? Must there be a conspiracy before me every time a self-avowed Christian does something culturally conservative? Does that fact I'm making these posts mean I'm getting advice/support/money from far-right fundamentalists and reconstructionists?

    I mean, we talk about how the Christian right is trying to overwhelm the airwaves with their morality, but where exactly is it being manifest? In the simulated hummer on an 8 p.m. sitcom? On Janet Jackson's boob popping out? On any awards show? You can say "well, that's the fundamentalists for you, crying wolf at every perceived slight and offense," but if they had the power one thinks they'd wield from reading this board, none of those situations would have gotten within eleventy billion miles of fruition. It's been five years and eight months since Bush took over, and he's had the Congress by his side since 2003, but I don't see the 700 Club leading the Nielsens or people being fined for saying drat on late night television.

    So what, specifically, am I not paying attention to regarding this specific case that sprouted the topic with a title "more Christian idiocy"?
     
  8. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    Maybe Fenian took it too far, but there is a real fear that if we give fundamentalists an inch, they'll take a mile.
     
  9. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    You're not paying attention to Fenian's parentheses around "Christian" in his title. This guy doesn't represent Christianity any more than Bush and his Bible Belt followers represent "conservatives".

    Furthermore, if this guy wants to debate the "merits" of the issue, tell him to read the whole damn book and then debate whether it's suitable or not.

    We had our fair share of these self-annointed arbiters of virtue up here, particularly over The Diviners by Margaret Laurence a few years back because it had some fairly explicit sex scenes in it. But none of these sanctimonious goofs had actually read the whole book.
     
  10. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    1. Fen told me that the guy in Texas was a Reconstructionist. I said it was a gross overcharacterization, showed why I thought there wasn't any proof of it, and he said I wasn't paying attention. Then I asked him what I was missing that he wanted me to notice. THAT'S what's at debate between us now.

    2. The story Fen linked has this passage: He listed each objected item line by line, complete with individual page numbers. Now you can at this point say that he wasn't reading for literary comprehension, and that's probably true, but he's not reading the first 10 pages and going off in a tizzy, either. But the reason people here are upset is they think this is some sort of vast right-wing Christian conspiracy to shut down secular thought or something, and it's really not that far-reaching. Again, it's a guy and his daughter who don't like a book being in the school's curriculum because of what they think is offense to God, not a salvo to the destruction of non-Christian ideology.

    3. At some level, isn't any attempt to change anything a form of self-arbitrated morality? At least at the most base of levels, bills and amendments and requests at the water board meeting are made because of some concept of "doing the right thing". In this case, you disagree with their reasoning (and for what it's worth, so do I). But everything has something to do with morality, even if they're not beating a Bible and screaming THUS SAYETH THE LORD, ALL HOMOS MUST BURN!!!!!!!!11

    3.
     
  11. BigRed

    BigRed Active Member

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0610050085oct05,1,4280486.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

    Alton Verm and this chick would have plenty to talk about.
    Idiots.
     
  12. friend of the friendless

    friend of the friendless Active Member

    Sirs, Madames,

    Mark Foley sought a middle ground on this. "Don't burn the books," he said, "just pull the pages."

    YHS, etc
     
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