A Fine Rant

Frank Schaeffer

The Pushback

Chauvinism and nationalism and the jingoism that goes with it all eventually become toxic to the body politic.

It's like a staph infection - we carry it around with us our whole lives, and once in a while something triggers it, and it grows and spreads, and it can threaten the survival of its host.

Time:

(APPOMATTOX, Va.) -- Amid a national furor over President Donald Trump’s tweet urging four Democratic congresswomen to “go back” to their home countries, a Virginia pastor is gaining attention with a sign at his church saying “America: Love or Leave It.”

ABC 13 in Lynchburg reports hundreds of people have expressed support and opposition on social media to the sign outside Friendship Baptist Church in Appomattox.

Pastor E.W. Lucas told the station Tuesday that he wanted to make a statement about the political divisions in Washington.

“People that feel hard about our president and want to down the president and down the country and everything, they ought to go over there and live in these other countries for a little while,” Lucas said.

Trump set off a firestorm Sunday when he tweeted that four freshmen congresswomen “originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe,” and urged them to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

What this Press Poodle-y Both-Sides bullshit piece in Time doesn't mention is that when Mr Lucas began his Sunday school service this week, his congregation got up and walked out on him.

- and -

No God No How

Tim Wise - A God Unworthy Of Praise Or Worship:

Among the most intriguing things about Christian fundamentalists, for me, has always been the way they envision God and then seek to sell that God to others.

On the one hand, they profess to love the Lord “with all their hearts,” and insist that this God so loved the world that he sent his only son to offer everlasting life (though some conditions apply). On the other hand, they’re quick to proclaim how the same God causes natural disasters, violent crime, and other tragedies as a way to punish the U.S. for allowing abortion, or “taking prayer out of schools,” or some other perceived moral slight.
- and -

To believe that God can truly love the world while deliberately sending floods, earthquakes, and other forms of suffering to that world as punishment for supposed bad behavior, is tantamount to believing that the abusive husband loves his wife, even as he pushes her down the stairs for being “a little mouthy.” It would be akin to accepting that the parent who beats their child “for their own good,” and says it was because “the little shit was back-sassing me,” is something other than a sadistic monster deserving not of love but rather, contempt and confinement.
- and -

If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.

-- James Baldwin

Today's Betty

Mrs Betty Bowers - America's Best Christian

This is Deven Green. You may recognize her voice next time you get an automated phone answering menu.

Today's Other Side

The Christian Left would like to remind everybody that maybe we got Trump because god was all out of frogs and locusts.

Thank you, and stay tuned - the plagues have just begun.

A Greater Truth

Conventional wisdom has always assumed Religion = Morality.

Without religion, we have no morality, and without morality, we have no basis for ethical conduct in society.

Over the last 30 years, every time the pollsters have asked about Americans' "Faith Profile", the number of people self-identifying as Atheist goes up a little.

It's now believed to be anywhere from 5% (when respondents are asked directly) to a high of maybe 25-30% (in a study where the methodology was more subtle).

One thing I find pretty interesting is the possible confluence of a shifting Religious Profile and the changes in crime rates. (ie: a falling crime rate is coincidental with the rise in atheism)

We're told that religious people must be good people because they're religious, which invites the inference that atheists must be bad people because they don't have that religion thing to keep them in line.

But while a full-blown 70-80% of Americans in the general population are either affiliated with a specific religion, or at least self-identify as "religious / believers",  99.93% of the people in prison here in USAmerica Inc self-identify as "religious / believers".

Flip side: 5-30% of Americans at large are non-bleievers, while 0.07% of our prison population are non-believers.

This does not prove anything - gotta be careful with the whole Correlation thing. 

Not everybody lying down with their eyes closed is dead.

But, as we start this next silly season of electioneering and clownery, we need to leave all of the Purity Tests out of it - including the one where we try to measure a candidate's worth by their willingness to abdicate part of their responsibilities to an imaginary friend.

Some Dots For Connecting

Golf pro Lee Trevino said:

"If you're caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron."

Even when he says shit like that, Franklin Graham is never seen holding a 1-iron.

In light of that simple truth, there can be no god.

The Church Rears Up

Teach a Baptist to read, and you get a Methodist.
Send a Methodist to high school, and you get an Episcopalian.
Put an Episcopalian through Seminary, and you get an atheist, which means you've come full circle.

Because religious doctrine is an after-market accessory. Nobody's delivered with a factory-installed belief in spooks and pixies.

But anyway - at least the Methodists have been on the right side of history for a while.

Sam Hodges, UMC.org:

More than 600 United Methodist clergy and laity say they are bringing church law charges against U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a fellow United Methodist, over a zero tolerance U.S. immigration policy — a policy that includes separating children from parents apprehended for crossing into the U.S. illegally.

However, an authority on church history and polity said he’s unaware of a complaint against a lay person ever moving past the district level.

The group claimed in a June 18 statement that Sessions, a member of a Mobile, Alabama, church, violated Paragraph 2702.3 of the denomination’s Book of Discipline.

Specifically, the group accuses him of child abuse in reference to separating young children from their parents and holding them in mass incarceration facilities; immorality; racial discrimination and “dissemination of doctrines contrary to the established standards of doctrines” of The United Methodist Church.

All are categories listed in 2702.3 as chargeable offenses for a professing member of a local church.
- and -

The Book of Discipline allows for a church trial and even expulsion of a lay member, but the first step in a long process would be for the member’s pastor and district superintendent to solve the complaint through “pastoral steps,” Lawrence said.

“I’m not aware of any circumstance in the 50-year history of The United Methodist Church when a complaint against a lay person moved beyond the stage of its resolution by a district superintendent or a pastor,” he added.

Wright said the group’s goal in filing charges was to prompt such discussions.

“I hope his pastor can have a good conversation with him and come to a good resolution that helps him reclaim his values that many of us feel he’s violated as a Methodist,” Wright said.

He added: “I would look upon his being taken out of the denomination or leaving as a tragedy. That’s not what I would want from this.”

Wright said the complaint has been emailed to Sessions’ home church in Alabama, and to a Northern Virginia church that Wright said he understands Sessions regularly attends.

Sessions’ pastor at the Alabama church did not return calls.

The Best God Is No God

Real tired of spending money time or effort on anything having to do with anybody's brand of religion - especially when it's government employees wrangling over who gets to mumble entreaties to non-existent deities on my fucking dime.

The Hill:

House Chaplain Patrick Conroy’s sudden resignation has sparked a furor on Capitol Hill, with sources in both parties saying he was pushed out by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Conroy’s own resignation announcement stated that it was done at Ryan’s request.

“As you have requested, I hereby offer my resignation as the 60th Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives,” the April 15 letter to Ryan, obtained by The Hill, states.

Through his office, Conroy, who has served as chaplain since 2011, declined to comment on Thursday. His resignation is effective May 24.
- and -

A second Democratic aide said Conroy’s ouster was “largely driven by a speech on the tax bill that the Speaker didn't like.” But the source also offered a second reason.

“Some of the more conservative evangelical Republicans didn't like that the Father had invited a Muslim person to give the opening prayer,” the source said.
Having an official chaplain of any stripe working for any branch of my government is an offense to the US Constitution. Fire 'em all.

1. Leave your imaginary friends in the cloak room. 
2. Put your asses in those chairs.
3. And get some fuckin' work done.

And Still

The weather vane previously known as George Will:

Iceland must be pleased that it is close to success in its program of genocide, but before congratulating that nation on its final solution to the Down syndrome problem, perhaps it might answer a question: What is this problem? To help understand why some people might ask this question, meet two children. One is Agusta, age 8, a citizen of Iceland. The other is Lucas, age 1, an American citizen in Dalton, Ga., who recently was selected to be 2018 “Spokesbaby” for the Gerber baby food company. They are two examples of the problem.

Now, before Iceland becomes snippy about the description of what it is doing, let us all try to think calmly about genocide, without getting judgmental about it. It is simply the deliberate, systematic attempt to erase a category of people. So, what one thinks about a genocide depends on what one thinks about the category involved. In Iceland’s case, the category is people with Down syndrome.

I have no idea what prompted this thinly-veiled screed against a woman's right to make her own decisions - could be as simple as Mr Will auditioning for a better slot on the Wingnut Welfare circuit.

But with the prospect of a President Mike Pence looming as a real possibility - plus the Blue Wave - the passions of the Pinched-Face Knee-Jerking American Taliban need to be whipped into a rich creamy lather again so the GOP faithful are motivated to get out there and vote.

Or maybe he had a deadline to submit 400 words, and he just had to pull something out of the files (or his ass, which seems just as likely these days).

Anyway.

Once again, let's review:

• Caterpillars ain't butterflies
• Tadpoles ain't frogs
• Ain't nothin' goin' on in my daughter's uterus that's any of your goddamned business

So fuck off, George.

About That TheoCon Thing

It's a long one, but you have to admit - the graphic's pretty good.

Michael Gerson, The Atlantic:

One of the most extraordinary things about our current politics—really, one of the most extraordinary developments of recent political history—is the loyal adherence of religious conservatives to Donald Trump. The president won four-fifths of the votes of white evangelical Christians. This was a higher level of support than either Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush, an outspoken evangelical himself, ever received.

Trump’s background and beliefs could hardly be more incompatible with traditional Christian models of life and leadership. Trump’s past political stances (he once supported the right to partial-birth abortion), his character (he has bragged about sexually assaulting women), and even his language (he introduced the words pussy and shithole into presidential discourse) would more naturally lead religious conservatives toward exorcism than alliance. This is a man who has cruelly publicized his infidelities, made disturbing sexual comments about his elder daughter, and boasted about the size of his penis on the debate stage. His lawyer reportedly arranged a $130,000 payment to a porn star to dissuade her from disclosing an alleged affair. Yet religious conservatives who once blanched at PG-13 public standards now yawn at such NC-17 maneuvers. We are a long way from The Book of Virtues.
Remember though:

This is Michael Gerson - who helped create the monster.  

It reads as pretty critical, but (to me) it ends up being more of an Apologetic than a Critique.

ie: He tries to say otherwise near the end, but it gets to the usual attempt to blame it all on the product while ignoring the process (and the management of the process) that gave us that product. 

And as always always always, there's the standard passive voice bullshit: "We're all to blame for this horrible mess, so let's call it even and start fresh". 

No. There's one side of this where many many good people (Christian and otherwise) are turning away - because on the other side there's a buncha fuckin' maniacs called Republicans.

There are not "very fine people" on both sides of this shit.

Gotta get used to looking for the razor blade in these apples (hat tip = driftglass).

BTW: There's a sound cloud file embedded in the piece that makes it quite a bit easier.

Another One I Missed

Trae Crowder on MRFF

"...because fuck the divine right of kings."

Random Shots

(...and cheap ones at that)

The good news is that Billy Graham is still dead.

The bad news is that Franklin Graham still isn't.

The good news is that Billy Graham recently discovered there is no god.

The bad news is that we have to live in this fucked up world without George Carlin.

An Observation

First - why the fuck do we still have to worry about Catholic Clergy?

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." --Thomas Paine
I think if anybody gets around to declaring a Word Of The Year, we'll have to default to "Abuse".

White people abusing their power over Brown people.

Men abusing their power over Women.

45* abusing his power over the government.

"Conservatives" abusing their power in general - even now, when they're clearly in the minority.

"When men imagine a female uprising, they imagine a world in which women rule men as men have ruled women." --Sally Kempton

It boils down to the same old bit that can be expressed a variety of ways:

Men fear Gender Equality because they're afraid women will treat them the same as they've treated women.

White people fear Minority Rights because they're afraid POC will treat them the same as they've always treated POC.

The Christian Majority claims persecution because they're afraid they'll be treated the same as they've always treated everybody.

Same goes with LGBTQ, and Unions, and Immigrants and and and.

It's not about Red vs Blue; it's not about Gay vs Straight; it's not about Men vs Women - it's not about any of that except as a means to serve the interest of someone looking to gain and/or maintain power.

Because it's always about the power first.

Today's Tweet

In his defense, this is a recording from a time well before Mr Pence became Senior White House Fluffer.

And besides, everybody (ie: every Republican) gets a Perpetual-Motion Mulligan, because apparently, all those "immutable religious tenets" are situational now. So you can bend them and shape them and pound them into any configuration necessary, in order to smash-fit them around any given political circumstance.

WATCH: "Is adultery no longer a big deal in Indiana and in America? I for one believe the 7th commandment is STILL a big deal. It's the most important promise you'll ever make. And holding people accountable to those promises...what could possibly be a BIGGER deal?" Mike Pence pic.twitter.com/tixVisZvaP

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) February 8, 2018

 

These people have no soul and no honor.

Stop Roy Moore

via Mock Paper Scissors

Today's Bible Nonsense

Thinking themselves wise, they became fools.

--Romans 1:22

The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps.

--Proverbs 14:15

There's one main, very good, reason so many "Christians" can be counted on to stay supportive of a complete phony like 45*.

"Folks in the grip of really powerful denial can be rendered effectively unreachable"

(starting at about 11:20)

Cult45*

Aptly named Senator Strange:

Of course it's not just the south, but down here, these guys are thick as flies on cow shit.

And we're not gonna get it fixed in 1 or 2 elections - it's a long hard road just to get back to where we can see something that looks like Regular Order on the horizon.

About That "Deeply Divided" Thing

Wanna see the real difference between them and us?

They actually believe this shit (or say they do so what's difference?):

And we know better:

I won't be able to reconcile myself with, or pair up with, or find commonality with anybody who insists on being ignorant - especially at a time when there actually are vast resources  they can use to find out about stuff.

I just can't.

Today's Godliness

A preacher/teacher guy named Robin Meyers via Oklahoma Gazette:

Oklahoma was the first state west of the Mississippi to be called for Donald Trump, and what prouder moment could there be for followers of Jesus? If Hollywood designed the perfect candidate to represent the anti-Christ for evangelicals, he would be thrice married, twice divorced, a builder of casinos, a sexual predator (unless the women are ugly), a liar and a man so in love with himself that his fondest wish is to die in his own arms.

--and--

Democrats are all secular humanists, they said, and the problem with America is that not enough people go to church. If we had the Ten Commandments in plain sight, they say, morality and virtue would return to America. Really? If you vote for someone who violated all 10 of them, then obviously something else matters a lot more to you than the religion you are wearing on your sleeve. As for the seven deadly sins, see Donald Trump.

And I'll say it again - there's plenty wrong with our Political System, but the short list is gonna have 'Fucked Up Voters' near the top.