*NOTE* This bill is put out by the same people who tried a year ago ban the interstate sale and travel and breeding of all boa, python, anaconda species. Herp keepers are of the common belief this is an attempt to push the same bill with less of a targeted group and make it more widely acceptable.
April 11, 2009
April 3, 2009
GYT
http://itsyoursexlife.com/gyt
By the age of 25, one in two young people will get a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Most won’t know it. GYT is about taking control of YOUR (sex) life by getting tested – and talking openly about it.
Getting tested is easier than ever before. Urine-based tests are now available for chlamydia and gonorrhea, two of the most common STDs. Rapid HIV tests can provide results in as fast as 20 minutes with a swab inside the mouth. It’s YOUR (Sex) Life sums it all up for you, including symptoms (when there are any) and treatment options. What are you waiting for? BRB…GYT Today! So …GYT … Pass It On!
February 13, 2009
February 11, 2009
February 6, 2009
No Thank You, We Don’t Believe in Socialization!
No Thank You, We Don’t Believe in Socialization!
©2000 Lisa Russell
Used with Permission
I can’t believe I am writing an article about socialization, The word
makes my skin crawl. As homeschoolers, we are often accosted by
people who assume that since we’re homeschooling, our kids won’t
be “socialized.” The word has become such a catch phrase that it has
entirely lost any meaning.
The first time I heard the word, I was attending a Catholic day
school as a first grader.
Having been a “reader” for almost 2 years, I found the phonics and
reading lessons to be incredibly boring. Luckily the girl behind me
felt the same way, and when we were done with our silly little
worksheets, we would chat back and forth. I’ve never known two 6 yr.
olds who could maintain a quiet conversation, so naturally a ruler-
carrying nun interrupted us with a few strong raps on our desk. We
were both asked to stay in at recess, and sit quietly in our desks
for the entire 25 minutes, because “We are not here to socialize,
young ladies.”
Those words were repeated over and over throughout my education, by
just about every teacher I’ve ever had. If we’re not there to
socialize, then why were we there? I learned to read at home. If I
finished my work early (which I always did,) could I have gone home?
If I were already familiar with the subject matter, would I have been
excused from class that day? If schools weren’t made for socializing,
then why on earth would anyone assume that homeschoolers were missing
out?
As a society full of people whose childhood’s were spent waiting
anxiously for recess time, and trying desperately to “socialize” with
the kids in class; It is often difficult for people to have an image
of a child whose social life is NOT based on school buddies. Do you
ever remember sitting in class, and wanting desperately to speak to
your friend? It’s kind of hard to concentrate on the lessons when
you’re bouncing around trying not to talk. Have you ever had a
teacher who rearranged the seats every now and then, to prevent
talking, splitting up friends and “talking corners.” Were you ever
caught passing notes in class?
Now- flash forward to “real life.” Imagine the following scenes:
Your Employer is auditing the Inter-Office Email system and comes
across a personal note between you and a coworker. You are required
to stand at the podium in the next sales meeting to read it aloud to
your coworkers. The Police knock on your door, and announce that
because you and your neighbor have gotten so close, they’re
separating you. You must move your home and your belongings to the
other side of town, and you may only meet at public places on
weekends.
You’re sitting at a booth waiting for a coworker to arrive for a
scheduled lunch date. Suddenly a member of upper management sits down
across from you and demands your credit cards. When your friend
arrives, you just order water and claim you’re not hungry, since he
stole your lunch money.
You’re applying for a job and in an unconventional hiring practice,
you are made to line up with other applicants, and wait patiently
while representatives from two competing companies take their pick
from the lineup.
You’re taking your parents out for an anniversary dinner. After you
find a table, a waiter tells you that seniors have a separate dining
room, lest they “corrupt” the younger members of society.
You go to the grocery store only to find that since you are 32 years
old you must shop at the store for 32 year olds. It’s 8 miles away
and they don’t sell meat because the manager is a vegetarian, but
your birthday is coming up and soon you’ll be able to shop at the
store for 33 yr. olds.
You’d like to learn about Aviation History. You go to the library and
check out a book on the subject only to be given a list of “other
subjects” that you must read about before you are permitted to check
out the aviation book.
You’re having a hard time finding what you need in the local
department store. The saleslady explains that each item is arranged
alphabetically in the store, so instead of having a section for
shoes, you will find the men’s shoes in between the maternity clothes
and the mirrors.
Your Cable Company announces that anyone wishing to watch the
Superbowl this year must log on a certain number of hours watching
the Discovery Channel before they can be permitted to watch the game.
You apply for a job only to be told that this job is for 29 year
olds. Since you’re 32, you’ll have to stay with your level.
In a group project, your boss decides to pair you up with the person
you don’t “click” with. His hope is that you’ll get learn to get
along with each other, regardless of how the project turns out.
These absurd examples were created to point out how absolutely
ridiculous the idea of “socializing” in schools is. Many people had a
friend who they stayed friends with all through grammar school- WHY?
Because their names were alphabetically similar, and they always
ended up in line with each other. As an adult, have you ever made
friends with someone simply because your names were similar? How long
would such a friendship last and how meaningful would it be,
providing you had nothing else in common?
People often use the bully as an example of why it’s so important to
let kids “socialize” at school. If that’s so important, then the
bully needs to go to JAIL after a few months, because self-respecting
society simply doesn’t put up with that, nor should my 6 yr. old.
Sure, there are crappy people in the world, but the world does a much
better job of taking care of these things. A bullying brat in the
first grade will still be a bullying brat in the 6th grade. He will
still be picking on the same kids year after year after year, unless
he moves to a new town. How long would the average adult put up with
a bully? Personally, as an adult, I have only come across one grown
up bully. I choose not to be around this miserable woman. So do many
other people. THAT is real life. If she were a coworker, I would find
a different job. If she worked at a business I patronized- not only
would I refrain from doing business with that company, I would write
a letter to the bully, her manager, the owner and the main office. A
kid in a classroom has no way to emotionally protect themselves
against such a person. I would never expect my kids to put up with
bad treatment from a bully in the name of “toughening them up.” For
what? So they can be submissive wimps when they grow up too? So they
can “ignore” their miserable bosses and abusive spouses? In real
life, if an employer discovered that an employee was harassing the
other staff members, that employee could be fired (pending the 90 day
evaluation) or relocated. In real life, if you are so dreadfully
harassed by a coworker you can seek legal recourse independently. In
a classroom, the teacher and other children are often powerless.
The idea of learning acceptable social skills in a school is as
absurd to me as learning nutrition from a grocery store.
As Homeschoolers, the world is our classroom. We interact with people
of all ages, sexes and backgrounds. We talk to and learn from
everyone who strikes our interest. We use good manners in our home
and I’m always pleased when others comment on the manners my children
have picked up. I believe good manners to be an important social
skill.
Respecting common areas is also of value to us. We often carry a
grocery bag with us on walks, in case we find trash that needs to be
discarded. When we’re waiting at a bus stop, if there is trash on the
ground, we make a point to carry it onto the bus and discard of it
properly. Once, while waiting at a bus stop- we saw a grown man drop
his popsicle wrapper on the ground. He was 2 feet from a trash can-
My daughter looked up at me with eyes as big as saucers. I told her
(out loud) “It must have blown out of his hand from that little wind,
because no-one would throw trash on the ground on purpose. I’m sure
when he’s done with his popsicle, he will pick it up and throw it
away correctly- otherwise, we can take care of it so we don’t have an
ugly world.” He did pick it up, rather sheepishly. I can’t imagine
expecting my children to have a respect for the cleanliness of common
areas in an environment where bathroom walls are covered in graffiti
and trees are scratched with symbols of “love” of all things.
Another social skill we strive to teach our children is that all
people are created equal. I can’t imagine doing that in an
environment where physically disadvantaged children are segregated
into a “special” classroom. Or even children who speak a different
language at home. They are segregated and forced to learn English,
while never acknowledging the unique culture they were raised in, and
not enabling the other students to learn FROM them. Learning, in
school, comes from the books and teachers. We will learn Spanish from
a BOOK, not from a Spanish-speaking student; and not until 7th grade.
I have never felt it would be beneficial to stick my 6-yr. old in a
room full of other 6-yr. olds. I believe God created a world full of
people of all ages and sexes to insure that the younger ones and
older ones learn from each other. A few years ago, we were living
thousands of miles from any older family members, so I brought my
kids (then 5 and 2) to an assisted living facility, so they could
interact with the elderly. Staff members told us that many of the
older people would wake up every day and ask if we would be visiting
soon. We always went on Wednesdays. My daughters learned some old
show tunes while one of the men played piano, and the others would
sing along. If I didn’t have to chase my 2-yr. old around, I would
have had plenty of women ready to share the art of crocheting with me
(something I’ve always wanted to learn.) If a friend was too sick to
come out of their room during our visit, we would often spend a few
minutes in their room. I always let them give the kids whatever
cookies they had baked for them, and I ended up cleaning a few of the
apartments while we visited, simply because I would have done the
same for my own Grandmother. Every room had pictures from my kids
posted on their refrigerators. We called this “Visiting the Grandmas
and Grandpas” and my daughters both (almost 2 years later) have fond
memories of our visits. I’m sure that if we were still visiting
there, my unborn child would have a thousand handmade blankets and
booties to keep him warm all winter.
I don’t remember any such experiences in my entire School life,
although I do remember being a bit afraid of old people if they were
too wrinkly or weak looking. I never really knew anyone over 60. I
never sped down the hall on someone’s wheelchair lap, squealing as we
popped wheelies and screeched around corners. I never got to hear
stories about what life was like before indoor plumbing and
electricity, from the point of view of a woman with Alzheimer’s, who
might believe she was still 5 years old, talking with my daughter as
if she were a friend. I never got to help a 90 yr. old woman keep her
arm steady while she painted a picture. And I never watched a room
full of “grandma’s” waiting for me by the window, because we were 15
minutes late.
On a recent visit to an Art Gallery, we noticed a man walking back
and forth, carrying framed artwork from his old pickup truck. I asked
my 6 yr. old if she thought he might be the artist. We both agreed
that was a possibility, and after a little pep-talk to overcome her
stage fright, she approached him and asked. He was the artist, and he
was bringing in his work to be evaluated by the curator. We all sat
down and he explained some of his techniques and listened to her
opinions about which piece she liked best. He told about how he
enjoyed art when he was 6 and would “sell” pictures to family and
friends. He recounted how he felt while creating a few of the pieces,
and how each one has special meaning to him. He even let her know how
nervous he was to show them to the curator and how he hoped she found
them as interesting as we did. As he was called into the office, a
group of thirty-four 3rd graders filed past, ever so quietly, while
their teacher explained each piece on the walls. The children were so
quiet and well behaved. They didn’t seem to mind moving on from one
picture to the next (The problem with homeschoolers is they tend to
linger on things they enjoy). They didn’t seem to have any questions
or comments (Maybe they’ll discuss that later in class). And they
never got a chance to meet the gentleman in the pickup truck.
I hope my kids aren’t missing out on any “socialization.”
The Bitter Homeschooler’s Wish List
The Bitter Homeschooler’s Wish List
From Secular Homeschooling Magazine, Issue #1
1 Please stop asking us if it’s legal. If it is – and it is – it’s
insulting to imply that we’re criminals. And if we were criminals,
would we admit it?
2 Learn what the words “socialize” and “socialization” mean, and use
the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do
now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun.
Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so
successfully and pleasantly. If you’re talking to me and my kids,
that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the
other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that
we’ve got a decent grasp of both concepts.
3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir
practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class,
4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever
gets to socialize.
4 Don’t assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for
the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you
know.
5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV,
either on the news or on a “reality” show, the above goes double.
6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you
know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by
homeschooling. You’re probably the same little bluebird of happiness
whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature
labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you’ve ever heard.
Please go away.
7 We don’t look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear
they’re in public school. Please stop drilling our children like
potential oil fields to see if we’re doing what you consider an
adequate job of homeschooling.
8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.
9 Stop assuming that if we’re religious, we must be homeschooling for
religious reasons.
10 We didn’t go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing
of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling
just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision,
tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of
our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your
own educational decisions.
11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my
credentials. I didn’t have to complete a course in catering to
successfully cook dinner for my family; I don’t need a degree in
teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in
the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call
public school left me with so little information in my memory banks
that I can’t teach the basics of an elementary education to my
nearest and dearest, maybe there’s a reason I’m so reluctant to send
my child to school.
12 If my kid’s only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can
possibly teach him what he’d learn in school, please understand that
you’re calling me an idiot. Don’t act shocked if I decide to respond
in kind.
13 Stop assuming that because the word “home” is right there
in “homeschool,” we never leave the house. We’re the ones who go to
the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and
in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends
and holidays when it’s crowded and icky.
14 Stop assuming that because the word “school” is right there in
homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every
day, just like your kid does. Even if we’re into the “school” side of
education – and many of us prefer a more organic approach – we can
burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we
don’t have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.
15 Stop asking, “But what about the Prom?” Even if the idea that my
kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-
priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go
to school don’t get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I’m one of
them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere
else.
16 Don’t ask my kid if she wouldn’t rather go to school unless you
don’t mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn’t rather stay home and get
some sleep now and then.
17 Stop saying, “Oh, I could never homeschool!” Even if you think
it’s some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you’re horrified.
One of these days, I won’t bother disagreeing with you any more.
18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class,
you’re allowed to ask how we’ll teach these subjects to our kids. If
you can’t, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn’t possibly do
a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.
19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child’s teacher as
well as her parent. I don’t see much difference between bossing my
kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about
everything else.
20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious,
quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or
loud because he’s homeschooled. It’s not fair that all the kids who
go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded
as representative of anything but childhood.
21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because
she’s homeschooled.
22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I
homeschool my kids.
23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I
homeschool my kids.
24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won’t
get because they don’t go to school, unless you want me to start
asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because
you went to school.
25 Here’s a thought: If you can’t say something nice about
homeschooling, shut up!
January 22, 2009
November 27, 2008
Happy Indian genocide day!
Had to get that out of the way. The ‘historical’ reason for this celebrations-it pisses me off. As a general day to be thankful-peachy keen 
On to some fun filled Separation of Church and State…………………………………….
Our founding fathers wrote the Constitution to insure separation of church and state. Here is a little light reading for you:
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was the principle author of the Declaration of Independence, the third President of the United States, and a primary architect of the American tradition of separation of church and state. Like many of the founders, Jefferson was a prolific writer and frequently commented on both religion and Constitutional Law. Jefferson authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, one of the most important separationist documents of the eighteenth century.
A good discussion of Jefferson’s attitude toward separation and public education can be found in an extract from Leonard Levy’s Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side.
Constitution gives no power over religion to the federal government:
* Believing that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State (Letter to the Danbury Baptists, 1802).
* Religion is a subject on which I have ever been most scrupulously reserved. I have considered it as a matter between every man and his Maker in which no other, and far less the public, had a right to intermeddle (letter to Robert Rush, 1813).
* I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling in religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the United States. Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise or to assume authority in religious discipline has been delegated to the General Government. It must rest with the States, as far as it can be in any human authority (letter to Samuel Miller, Jan. 23, 1808).
* I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its discipline, or its doctrines; nor of the religious societies that the general government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting and prayer are religious exercises. The enjoining them, an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises and the objects proper for them according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands where the Constitution has deposited it… Every one must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents (letter to Samuel Miller, Jan. 23, 1808).
* No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the power of its public functionaries, were it possible that any of these should consider a conquest over the conscience of men either attainable or applicable to any desirable purpose (Letters to the Methodist Episcopal Church at New London, Connecticut, Feb. 4, 1809).
* To suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own (Statute for Religious Freedom, 1779).
* In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the constitution independent of the power of the federal government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it; but have left them, as the constitution found them, under the direction of state or church authorities acknowledged by the several religious societies (Jefferson’s Second Inaugural Address).
* In justice, too, to our excellent Constitution, it ought to be observed, that it has not placed our religious rights under the power of any public functionary. The power, therefore, was wanting, not less than the will, to injure these rights (Letter to the Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pittsburg, Dec. 9, 1808).
On the benefits of religious liberty:
* …(O)ur rulers can have no authority over such natural rights, only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. In neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg (Notes on Virginia, 1785.
* Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their investigation. They are the natural enemies of error, and of error only (Notes on Virginia, 1785.
* …(T)o compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness (Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1789).
* …(P)roscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which, in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right; that it tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing, with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it (Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1789).
* We have solved by fair experiment the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries (Letter to the Virginia Baptists, 1808).
* Among the most inestimable of our blessings is that…of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support (Reply to Baptist Address, 1807).
Skepticism toward religious authority:
* The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man (Letter to J. Moor, 1800).
* The clergy…believe that any portion of power confided to me [as President] will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion (Letter to Benjamin Rush, 1800).
* History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes (Letter to von Humboldt, 1813).
* In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own (Letter to H. Spafford, 1814).
Thomas Jefferson, moral relativist:
* Nature has constituted utility to man the standard and test of virtue. Men living in different countries, under different circumstances, different habits and regimens, may have different utilities; the same act, therefore, may be useful and consequently virtuous in one country which is injurious and vicious in another differently circumstanced (Letter to Thomas Law, 1814).
* As the circumstances and opinions of different societies vary, so the acts which may do them right or wrong must vary also, for virtue does not consist in the act we do but in the end it is to effect. If it is to effect the happiness of him to whom it is directed, it is virtuous; while in a society under different circumstances and opinions the same act might produce pain and would be vicious. The essence of virtue is in doing good to others, while what is good may be one thing in one society and its contrary in another (Letter to John Adams, 1816).
* Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts only in which all religions agree (for all forbid us to steal, murder, plunder, or bear false witness), and that we should not intermeddle with the particular dogmas in which all religions differ, and which are totally unconnected with morality (Letter to J. Fishback, 1809).
November 26, 2008
The Christmas Tree Debate
This is an article from ‘Associates for Scriptural Knowledge’. Written by
by Ernest L. Martin, Ph.D., 1991
Christian Persecution Complex
THIS ARTICLE WILL PROBABLY OFFEND SOME BUT I THINK IT NEEDS TO BE SHARED. READ IT OR DON’T.
One Radical Opinion
by “Radical” Russ Belville
Friday, December 9th,, 2005
Christian Persecution Complex
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christians… everywhere you go…
This holiday season, we are fortunate to witness one of my favorite social/mental disorders. It’s not recognized in any psychology or sociology text, but it is as real as the “X” in “X-mas”. It has laid dormant for many years, but for the last five years, under the evangelical sunlight of the Bushites, it has bloomed into full flower, just in time for the holidays.
I’m talking about Christian Persecution Complex. This is what you hear from conservative commentators like Bill “falafeloofah” O’Reilly and the babbling Biblical literalists of the American Taliban like James “beat your kids” Dobson, Pat “assassinate democratically elected leaders” Robertson, and Jerry “gays and abortionists caused 9/11″ Falwell when they claim that Christmas is “under attack” and evil liberal “secularists” (when do I get my card?) want to remove all references to God within the public square. Today it’s their focus on boycotting companies like Sears if they don’t change their “Happy Holidays” banners to “Merry Christmas”. Because, you know, saying “Happy Holidays” equates Christmas with other dirty heathen holidays, and these type of Christians can’t stand it if their religion is not recognized, if not as superior, than at least as “first among equals”.
When you have Christian Persecution Complex, you see every judicial decision, every cultural change, and every constitutional challenge to the status quo of entrenched Christian superiority as a war on Christianity. They cannot see the difference between “a Christian nation” and “a secular nation with a Christian majority”. Since they are the majority, they seem to think that American culture and law should bend itself to their religious beliefs. They’ll talk about the “tyranny of the minority” when issues like gay marriage or school prayer are decided by the courts. They’ll scream that we’re trying to “excise God like a cancer” if we (you know, “the left”) argue that posting Ten Commandments in courthouses, In God We Trust on money, or forcing schoolchildren to recite under God during the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional (somehow, all three are merely ceremonial deism – not religion – but the fundies defend them as if it meant more than that.) When we defend women’s abortion rights, they’ll claim that we had to “cheat” by taking the fight to the courts, because we can’t accomplish our ends through the democratic political process. When we work to see gay people attain full citizenship in this country, we’re accused of “shoving the gay agenda down people’s throats”.
The persecuted Christian meme always cracks me up. The “tyranny of the minority” line especially. The Constitution is all about majority rule with respect for minority rights. One of those minority rights is the free exercise of religion or the freedom from religion with a government neutral to religion so as to prevent state endorsement of one faith or state persecution of another. What the persecuted Christians are advocating, with their lines about getting next to nothing through the democratic political process, is the idea of tyranny of the majority. The majority is Christian, therefore government should espouse Christianity. The majority thinks there should be prayer in schools, so be it. The majority thinks gay marriage is wrong, so gays should be treated as second-class citizens. Well, the majority also thought women shouldn’t vote, alcohol should be federally prohibited, and blacks shouldn’t integrate with white society, too.
And woe to the poor persecuted Christians, what with their big-ass lighted crosses overlooking many American cities (like my hometown of Boise), little crosses along nearly every roadside where a Christian has wrecked (why are Christians such bad drivers, anyway? I never see any Stars of David or Buddhas marking roadside crash sites), a church steeple every four blocks, massive scripture readerboards alongside the federal highway system, federal holidays marking the birth of your savior (why don’t we get Mohammed’s birthday as a day off?), almost every calendar made indicates your religious holidays, your holy book in every hotel room, TV shows like “Reba”, “Touched by an Angel”, “Three Wishes”, “7th Heaven” and other very Christian-friendly shows on network TV, worldwide Christian broadcast channels, popular musicians and sports figures giving “shout-outs” to Jesus at every awards show, your holy symbol is a popular piece of jewelry worn by many, missionaries knocking on doors and leaving little Jesus pamphlets in phone books, no politician can ever hope to be elected to national office without at least lip service to your religion (no atheist stands a chance in politics, because he won’t affirm the popular superstitions), your Bible stories are inextricably woven into the fabric of our culture, popular newsmagazines like Time and Newsweek devoting cover stories to Jesus, popular broadcast TV news shows running specials on Christian issues (Barbara Walters’ next special is about Heaven) and you’ve still got (in my opinion, unconstitutionally) prayers by chaplains to begin Congress, oaths sworn in court on your holy book, recognition of your deity on the currency, your Ten Commandments still displayed (in a limited fashion) around courthouses, and the leader of the country claiming he’s ordained by God. Christians complaining about persecution in America are like white college males complaining there’s no White Student Union on campus.
As a member of the majority religion, they don’t see these government endorsements of Christianity the way some of us do. They see In God We Trust on the money and it’s just a simple fact to them; I see government promoting faith in an unprovable religious opinion counter to the First Amendment. They see Ten Commandments in courthouses and it’s a natural extension of God’s Law; I see a government that claims to treat all its citizens equally without regard to religion, yet displays Judeo-Christian scripture to show that some religions are more equal than others. They see prayer in public school as a healthy ritual for children; I see the children of Wiccans, Buddhists, Muslims, and Atheists forced to endure government-sponsored indoctrination into Judeo-Christian ideals (how am I supposed to convince my kid that belief in God is a foolish superstition when his school and his government are constantly telling him there is a God?)
They mischaracterize “the left” as well. No one on my side argues that God is a cancer. In fact, many many lefties are people with as deep a faith in God and Jesus as the persecuted Christians (probably moreso). They just understand that their belief is their opinion, not a nationally-recognized fact that should be promoted by government.
The past forty years of “shoving stuff down your throats” (funny how the righties tend to use such homoerotic imagery) would be better characterized as forty years of removing the religion that’s been unconstitutionally shoved down our throats for the 189 years prior.
Some in the Religious Reich will argue that without recognition of God as sovereign, governments of men think themselves to be God, with disastrous consequences for the people. Without God, they claim, the rights of man are just grants of the government which can be taken away on a whim. They’ll try to scare folks with tales of Sweden jailing pastors for preaching anti-gay hate speech in public (otherwise known as Leviticus).
I completely disagree. In fact, history shows that the more intertwined church and state become, the worse government becomes and the more tyrannical the state becomes. Iran’s done a pretty good job of de-secularizing their state and recognizing God, don’t you think? (Hey, that’s as reasonable a comparison to the right’s God fetish as the righties’ comparison of American lefty secularism to Sweden.)
The genius of the Founders was recognizing that the only legitimate government derives its authority from the just consent of the people, not ordination from somebody’s God. Yes, they were Deists, yes, they were religious men, but they understood that their religion was their opinion, and were well aware how the influence of the church on the state corrupts both.
Furthermore, our rights ARE subject to change and amendment, regardless of the existence of God or not. We used to have the right to own slaves, then we didn’t. We used to have the right to drink beer, then that right was taken, then it was given back. Women used to not have the right to vote, but then it was granted. All of this was done by changes and amendments and a Supreme Court that views the Constitution, not the Bible, as the supreme law of the land.
The difference between us is that they see the greatest danger is America turning its back on God. I see the greatest danger is America elevating Christianity to a higher status than any other religion or lack of religion. My America — religion-neutral — creates a framework where people of all religions or no religion are free to worship as they please. Their America — Christianity-endorsing — creates an uneven playing field favoring Christianity in recruiting, fundraising, and political power.
Another thing I find amusing about Christian Persecution Complex is what they are fighting over and the imaginary threats they perceive in the battle. School prayer? Hey, as long as there are finals, there will always be school prayer. What is the harm you can show from the lack of school prayer? What direct, scientifically verifiable effect is derived from forcing schoolkids to pray?
The Ten Commandments in courthouses? Why? The Ten Commandments aren’t laws. Cops can’t arrest me for not honoring my mother and father or having any other Gods before Him. Whether they are displayed or not doesn’t change our legal system one iota, for our laws are based on secualar, not religious, authority. What demonstrable harm can you show from not displaying the Ten Commandments?
Keeping “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why? Is an American Buddhist less patriotic than a Christian? Can an atheist not show allegiance to country? If we don’t say “under God”, is He going to get angry and send a record number of hurricanes at us? (Whoops, bad hypothetical…) What terrible thing would happen if we didn’t say “under God”?
Fighting embryonic stem-cell research and abortion? Why? Name one American citizen that’s been harmed by either. Oh, I know, 40 million “murdered womb babies”, right? Ah, but fetuses are not American citizens. According to the Constitution, they have to have been BORN in America or naturalized to be a citizen (good thing, too, or any illegal immigrants who merely conceive on American soil would then be carrying an American citizen fetus, who’d be a citizen even if he were born back in Mexico).
Fighting gay marriage and gay rights? Why? What heterosexual’s rights or what straight marriage is negatively affected by allowing gay people the same rights?
All of these issues (except perhaps abortion; there are pro-life atheists) are only controversial to those who place their personal religious opinions based on Biblical scripture above the constitutional law of the land. Religion tells you that if you don’t put religion first, bad things will happen. No proof required, no skepticism allowed. It is its own tautological argument — “the religion is true because it’s in the Bible, the Bible is true because God wrote it, God exists because the religion says so.” That’s a great way to run a church where everyone agrees with the opinion, but a lousy way to run a country filled with many contradictory opinions.
Our nation’s continued evolution from religious fanaticism to enlightened reason has been going on for longer than forty years. We used to be a country that burned witches, invoked scripture to support slavery and Jim Crow and no rights for women, and unconstitutionally injected Christian religion into secular government as a frightened reaction to the Cold War. Compared to most other Western countries, we still have a long way to go.
To close, here is one of my favorite scriptures:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
