The AFA Is As Phoney As A Seven Dollar Bill

Let’s start by noting that the name of the organisation is the “American Family Association” (AFA). So, if in all innocence you came across the name, you’d be expecting probably a lobbyist group that lobbies on behalf of health, education, welfare, etc. issues that are of concern to the average American family.  You will not note the word God, Religion, Christianity, Church or any other word normally associated with all things Biblical in the name of the organisation. That’s misleading at best; misrepresentation at worst since in fact they are a 100% Right Wing, even extremist and fundamentalist, Christian organisation.

We note that the word “families” occurs only once in their “Philosophical Statement” and not at all in their “Action Statement” or “Statement of Faith”, whereas there are numerous references to God, Bible, Jesus, etc. So, any rational person must conclude that a more accurate phrase or name for their organisation would be “American Association for God” or “American Bible Association” or “Americans for Jesus Association” or some variation thereof. 

The following trilogy of statements is extracted directly from the AFA website:

AFA PHILOSOPHICAL STATEMENT

 

The American Family Association believes that God has communicated absolute truth to mankind, and that all people are subject to the authority of God’s Word at all times. Therefore AFA believes that a culture based on biblical truth best serves the well-being of our nation and our families, in accordance with the vision of our founding documents; and that personal transformation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest agent of biblical change in any culture.

AFA ACTION STATEMENT

The American Family Association acts to:

(1) restrain evil by exposing the works of darkness;
(2) promote virtue by upholding in culture that which is right, true and good according to Scripture;
(3) convince individuals of sin and challenge them to seek Christ’s grace and forgiveness;
(4) motivate people to take a stand on cultural and moral issues at the local, state and national levels; and
(5) encourage Christians to bear witness to the love of Jesus Christ as they live their lives before the world.

AFA STATEMENT OF FAITH 

1.  We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

2.  We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

3.  We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

4.  We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

5.  We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

6.  We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost;  they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

7.  We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now what is wrong with the above bullshit? Firstly, and obviously, they state that there is absolutely no question in their minds that there is a God (their invisible friend, but with friends like God of the Old Testament, who needs enemies). Unfortunately, the AFA provide no evidence for this claim. The exact same must apply to their Lord Jesus Christ. There’s lots of PR and hype – no evidence that the AFA could use in a court of law to so prove his reality. Also we note their trust in the absolute infallible truth of God’s word as related in the Bible (presumable in all editions and versions and languages). Unfortunately, the Bible has been shown to be, by thousands of people, including myself, as fallible as fallible can be. So, their trilogy of God, Jesus and Bible as the be-all-and-end-all of their worldview is okay by me, if they just wouldn’t endlessly ram it down the throats of everyone else. But that’s one philosophy the extreme religious right do not adopt – live and let live. They are peas in a pod with radical Islam in that they need to ram their own narrow Biblical worldview down the throats of others.

They also adopt a similar philosophy when it comes to gay (homosexual/lesbian) relationships, and positively froth at the mouth when it comes to same-sex marriage. I’m sure the extreme religious right wing, of which the AFA is a member in good standing, their members would say that what they do behind closed doors with their wife or husband is none of anybody else’s business, no correspondence need be entered into, yet it’s okay for them to be a sort of ‘Peeping Tom’ and condemn others and the lifestyle of others.  

Their prime spokesman is one Bryan Fischer. If he’s not raving on daily about the evils of homosexuality (one of the many practically frothing at the mouth over the issue), he’s really got it in for U.S. President Obama. I’m well aware that not all Americans like all American presidents all of the time, but Fischer’s public hatred of Obama is pretty much over-the-top, though I suspect that’s partly a cover for his anti-Muslim sentiments.

Here are just a very select few of the Right Wing Watch headlines that accompany stories about Bryan Fischer and the American Family Association he represents.

“Fischer: Obama is an Antichrist’.”

“Fischer: Obama is ‘filled with arrogance’, believes that he knows better than God.”

“Fischer: A full moon is when ‘Satan chooses to activate his influence and control over people’.”

“Fischer: Abortion rights will lead to terrorist attacks.”

“Obama’s Inaugural Address sends Fischer off on another anti-gay rant.”

“Fischer: Obama is trying to make gun owners seem crazy.”

“Fischer says the anti-gay right is tired of getting ‘pushed around’ and ‘backing down’ and vows to push back.”

“Fischer: We are the victims of ‘a new moral McCarthyism’.”

“Fischer: High-capacity magazines necessary to defend yourself from a posse.”

“Fischer: Anti-gay activists are now ‘the new Rosa Parks’ and victims of Jim Crow.”

“Fischer: Natural disasters are God’s spankings.”

“Fischer: Modern assault weapons the same as hunting rifles used in the American Revolution.”

“Fischer: Fiscal Cliff legislation is ‘demonic’.”

“Fischer: Sandy Hook shooting proof that America’s ‘moral capital’ has run out.”

“Fischer: God didn’t stop CT [Connecticut] school shooting because he’s a ‘gentlemen’ who doesn’t go where he’s not wanted.”

“‘Barack the destroyer’: Bryan Fischer’s grand unified theory on Obama.”

“Fischer and Beisner say that not using fossil fuels is an insult to God.”

“Fischer: Obama is intentionally trying to keep ‘as many Americans as poor as possible’.”

“Fischer: Only eyewitness testimony can determine the age of the Earth.”

“Fischer: The 9/11 terrorists were ‘agents of God’s wrath’.”

“Fischer: Obama ‘may in fact be a closeted Muslim’.”

“Fischer: If Obama is re-elected, ‘America has no future’.”

“Fischer: I am a ‘prophetic voice’ warning against the gay agenda.” 

“Fischer: The UN is ‘deliberately seeding’ Muslims throughout the southern United States.”

“Fischer: CNN is ‘what the Gay Gestapo looks like in action’.”

“Fischer: ‘Political leadership ought to be reserved for the hands of males’.”

“Fischer: ‘We cannot give one millimetre to the forces of homosexual activism’.”

“Bryan Fischer is looking at the bright side of slavery.”

“Fischer: Liberals can’t be reasoned with, they can only be defeated.” 

“Fischer warns the ‘homosexual lobby’ will soon allow celebrations of incest, paedophilia, and bestiality.”

“Fischer demands mass public executions in response to Libya attack.”

“Fischer: We want to take America back to the Book of Genesis.”

“Fischer brings on guest to explain ‘it really all stands to reason’ that few women get pregnant from rape.”

“Bryan Fischer: Todd Akin is ‘absolutely right’ [that ‘legitimate rape’ rarely results in pregnancy].”

“Fischer and Beisner praise [Paul] Ryan’s ‘Biblical view of the environment’.”

“Fischer says ex-gay mom had an obligation to God to kidnap her daughter and flee.”

“Fischer: Obama’s re-election will lead to ‘serious talk about secession’.” 

“Fischer: ‘Muslim’s are worshiping a demon’.”

“Fischer: Removal of prayer & Ten Commandments from schools responsible for CO [Colorado] shooting.”

“Fischer: It was Liberals who opposed the fight for civil rights.”

“Fischer: Obama like a ‘street thug’ who is destroying America just for the pleasure of it.”

“Fischer: Gay biological parents should be denied custody and only allowed supervised visits.”

“Fischer: Jesus’ teaching is ‘virtually the foundation of the Second Amendment’ [right to bare arms].”

“Fischer: Gays are driven by a ‘dark, venomous, demonic hatred’.” 

“Fischer: Government should mandate that everyone attend church and tax those who don’t.”

“Fischer rewrites American history so it corresponds to the Bible.”

“Fischer: Gay marriage leads to sex with animals.”

“Fischer: Liberals have been duped by Satan.”

“Fischer: Abortion, gay rights & environmentalism are the work of Satan himself.”

I’ve only highlighted a relative few of Fisher’s recent headlines, and the above only extends back to mid-2012! So, this is just the very, very tip of the Fischer iceberg. His headline rants as documented by the Right Wing Watch (People for the American Way) extend back to 2009, and that’s way in excess of a five-fold increase on the above. But you probably get the idea by now.  

In conclusion, we note from these headlines that the rants and ravings of Bryan Fischer, and of the American Family Association, have relatively little to do with the health, education and welfare of the family unit, and everything to do with promoting their own extreme Christian agenda, especially an anti-gay and anti-Obama (translated, an anti-Muslim) agenda. Fischer will spew forth hatred with a vengeance, yet he calls himself a Christian. Go figure.

Philosophies of the Religious Right: Part One

The majority of churches, religious institutions and prominent religious individuals, though deluded IMHO, are for the most part, most of the time, middle-of-the-road and live-and-let-live. But as any probability statistician can relate to, there will be minorities on either side of that road. One side of that religious road, the Right side, are not only in your face but hold opinions (usually stated as facts) and philosophies that are anything but the normal mainstream. In fact they are extreme.

During the recent (2012) American election campaign, several Republican (GOP)/Tea Party candidates got some (probably) unwanted publicity by making out-of-the-box and extreme comments with Religious Right Wing overtones on topics such as church and state; legitimate rape; rape and God’s plan; same-sex marriage; the literal creation-in-six-days Bible, and so on. Not that extreme out-of-the-box worldviews were confined to politicians and wannabe politicians. There are a whole potful of organisations and individuals from shock-jock media personalities, news commentators, televangelists, and lots more who routinely come out with outrageous foot-in-mouth and extreme Right Wing points of view, nearly always with a Christian religious slant. I learned a lot about the extreme Right Wing by following the US election campaign unfolding. Here’s my summation based on what exposure I had over those many, many, many endless months while the campaign coverage was in full swing.

The Religious Right aren’t going to pay any attention to this, but no matter, here goes.

What are the issues the extreme Religious Right are frothing at the mouth about and is it cosmically significant?

The Literal Bible:

Their Point of View: Since the Bible is the infallible God’s Holy Word, all Biblical Books, Chapters and Verses; all versions of the Bible; all translations of the Bible; were under His Almighty editorship, and therefore, how can you not take the Bible literally. If God says that life, the universe and everything were created in six days, then that’s absolute fact. If God says that the first man was made from dust and the first woman from that man’s rib, you’d better believe it. If Genesis relates that Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt, it was so (and if the Bible says it was so, it was so and you could sprinkle her onto your fish-and-chips). If the Bible acknowledges the existence of unicorns, then unicorns exist (or existed). And so on and so forth from Genesis to Revelation.

My Point of View: All you need to do is find one logical contradiction, one fallacy, one bit that goes so against the grain; that being the case, the entire Biblical house of cards has to come tumbling down. Let’s just say that entire books have been written pointing out in exquisite detail Biblical contradictions, fallacies, and untruths that only Blind Freddy with an absolutely closed mind (my mind is made up, don’t confuse me with facts) can fail to acknowledge what to everyone else is the bleeding obvious. If, and that’s a big if, God exists, He is not infallible, His memory is faulty, or He didn’t bother to oversee the master editing of His Holy Word. If He couldn’t or wouldn’t ensure Biblical accuracy, well what does that tell you about the bona fides of the Almighty?

Evolution

Their Point of View: Since God created life, the universe and everything in roughly the year 4004 BCE, and since God created all life forms in the form to which we see them today, then the entire concept of natural selection and biological evolution is nonsense. There’s not enough time for evolution to have happened. There is no need to evolve a giraffe since God created the giraffe. Since God created Homo sapiens there is no need to postulate that human beings evolved from apes. Evolution is all absolute rubbish.

My Point of View: I fail to see what is so hard for anyone to comprehend here. Evolutionary theory should be obvious to even blind Freddy (a synonym for the Religious Right). The logic is ironclad. Parents (of any species) give rise to offspring that are NOT identical to themselves. That in itself is evolution – a change. Some of those offspring may be better adapted to survive long enough to reproduce more offspring in turn vis-à-vis some of their brothers and sisters. Those ever so slightly better able to reproduce will pass on more likely as not some of those positive features to more offspring than their less adapted siblings. Over time, those better adapted leave behind more descendants than those less well adapted who leave behind fewer offspring. That sort of feedback mechanism ensures evolution, which is just change over time. Evolutionary theory is however backed up by physical evidence; fossil evidence for starters, not to mention firsthand eyeball observations of evolutionary change happening in the here and now.

Intelligent Design

Their Point of View: Life, the universe and everything is so perfectly constructed and interrelated like some fitted together zillion piece jigsaw puzzle that only a Supreme Deity could have pulled it off and put it together. A clock requires a clockmaker; or as Fred Hoyle put it, a tornado doesn’t rip through a junkyard and assembles a Boeing 747. 

My Point of View: The fallacy here is the assumption that there was total chaos (an unassembled jigsaw puzzle; clock parts lying on a bench; a junkyard that had all the bits and pieces necessary for a Boeing 747) and then a snap of the intelligent design fingers and low and behold a zillion piece jigsaw puzzle is assembled; a clock starts ticking away; a Boeing 747 is all fuelled up and ready for takeoff. Forgotten in this equation is is time, and lots of it and probability theory. If you sit down at the poker table, you’re not likely to be dealt a Royal Flush, but by manipulation of what you throw away and what you gain, you increase the odds of ending up with one. That’s evolution, from chaos to finished product. Then too, over the course of a lifetime and thousands of games and hundreds of thousands of hands, the odds of you getting dealt a Royal Flush right off the bat increase. It will probably happen, if not to you then to someone else, like your opponent. Time and probability help turn chaos into complexity. There’s a long, long, long chain of events twixt chaos and a Boeing 747, and a lot of time required, like 13.7 billion years worth. That’s hardly a quick snap of the intelligent design fingers. In any case, any scientist can easily point out that that zillion piece jigsaw puzzle not only has a few pieces missing but some pieces haven’t been assembled intelligently at all. If a perfect God created a perfect human being (intelligent design), how come many of us acquire back troubles? 

Homosexuality

Their Point of View: Same-sex relations of a sexual nature are unnatural and God doesn’t like it (probably because you can’t do your ‘be fruitful and multiple’ thingy bit).

My Point of View: My position is that what two (or more) consenting adults do behind closed doors is none of my business. It has no bearing on my life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What two married adults, same sex or opposite sexes, do behind closed doors is none of my business. Ditto that life, liberty and happiness bit. The only issue I haven’t quite come to terms with is whether same-sex couples should raise children. In theory it shouldn’t matter; in actual practice, given the realities of human culture and society and worldviews, all else being equal, it might be better if children weren’t raised in a same-sex atmosphere, but I’m still fence-sitting on that.

Equality in Marriage

Their Point of View: Marriage is between one man and one woman – full stop. All else is an abomination in the eyes of God.

My Point of View: If two men, or two women, wish to marry, it’s no skin off my back. Different strokes for different folks, that’s my motto.

Contraception

Their Point of View: Contraception/Birth Control is an attempt to thwart God’s ‘be fruitful and multiply’ commandment and therefore it is a no-no.

My Point of View: Some couples don’t want kids (shock, horror, blasphemy). Some couples cannot afford kids. Some couples have jobs and lifestyles not suited to parenthood or raising a family. Which is the better option, no conception in the first place and an unwanted child in poverty that’s ignored, or conception in the first place with no grief on down the line? Besides, if you’re not bringing a new life into the world, at least you’re not condemning that non-life to an eventual death.

Abortion

Their Point of View: A human life starts at the moment of conception. Therefore, abortion, a post-conception act, must be murder, which God forbids (though God kills Himself, but that’s another topic).

My Point of View: Until such time as a foetus has a reasonable chance of surviving outside of the womb, the foetus is part of the anatomy of the mother. The mother has the right to decide about what happens to her own anatomy. Abortion is okay. Once that foetus crosses the threshold, then, unless the life of the women is endangered, no abortion. If the pregnancy isn’t by consent, say via rape, inside or outside of marriage; same distinction. But since the rape induced pregnancy will be known about quite some time before the foetus can survive outside of the womb, the mother can make an informed decision to abort or not abort as she sees fit. 

To be continued…

God Has Passed His ‘Use By’ Date: Part One

What does the phrase “past its use by date” mean? It means the product is no longer relevant or serves the purpose for which it was once intended; it’s superseded; irrelevant; it’s outdated; if organic it stinks, leaves a bad taste in your mouth, can be harmful to your health and wellbeing, and all-round is a product better discarded into the rubbish bin, buried, incinerated and forgotten about. That seems to sum up the product we call God of the Old Testament.

Most western civilized people would probably agree that promotion of concepts like one person being the be-all-and-end-all trinity of judge, jury and executioner; genocide; mass murder; slavery; animal abuse; discrimination; physical and/or mental torture; dictatorship; massive displays of ego and demands to be worshiped, are all well and truly past their use by date. Most western civilized people apparently believe in the existence of God. God on the other hand is one who promotes, condones, and even actively participates in the above concepts. If logic has any meaning, that suggests that God is well past His use by date.

God’s Old Testament philosophy (worship me and me alone or else), public policy (favouritism to the Hebrews) and personal actions (mass murder of the Egyptian firstborn for example) were already out of touch even before BCE turned into the CE, far less having any relevance in the modern 21^st Century. It’s time to kiss God’s insanity a not-quite-so-fond farewell – and good riddance to bad rubbish. God is not a role model anyone should wish to follow, unless of course you’re a fan of Hitler, or as one with the Taliban.

If you want a modern parallel to God of the Old Testament – well the Taliban come damn close. God could be their role model, though not even the Taliban are quite up to God’s standard of atrocities. I’m sure most Americans would suggest the Taliban are well past their use by date, in fact should never have been harvested at all. Ditto that sentiment for the Almighty. 

For example, one cannot be both pro-God and pro-life (or anti-abortion) since God of the Old Testament can hardly be described as adopting a pro-life philosophy, despite His do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do “Thou shall not kill”. God is the world’s most accomplished practitioner of genocide (as in the Biblical flood). God does not hold life sacred. Sodom and Gomorrah and the invasion of the Land of Canaan are proof of that.

That was then; now is now. There have been two especially topical issues near and dear to the hearts of fundamentalists who bow down to the Almighty – abortion and close encounters between members of the same sex.

That other very topical no-no issue other than a woman’s rights over her own body including abortion are lesbian and homosexual rights, especially same sex marriage. Now the Bible (KJV) doesn’t even mention the word ‘homosexual’ or ‘lesbian’ or the phrase ‘same sex’ or for that matter even the word ‘sex’ or ‘sexual’ or ‘unnatural’. Any references to same sex sexual relationships are obscured in very vague phrases like ‘that we may know them’. That phrase ‘know them’ apparently is Biblical doublespeak for things unnatural and naughty. Now the overriding point here is that what any two (or more) consenting adults do behind closed doors is none of anybody else’s business, especially as any such activity has absolutely no impact on your lifestyle, freedoms, etc. And that doesn’t change just because they have a piece of paper that says ‘married’. Just as you value your privacy and don’t want others prying into your affairs, well, ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. We note that there is no commandment (amongst the Big Ten) against same sex marriage or same sex anything for that matter. God provides no justification for you to cast the first stone.

Between way back then, and the here and now, both God and Biblical texts support and endorse the concept of slavery, which nearly all of the rest of modern civilized nations now reject. If there is no justification for slavery, yet God justifies it, then God has certainly reached his ‘use by’ date on that issue.

Hitler and associates have been condemned by the civilized world for their policy of genocide against the Jewish population, and no doubt Hitler would have stood trial and been ultimately executed for that policy had he not committed suicide in his Berlin bunker in May of 1945. So how come God hasn’t been equally condemned for his near extermination of the entire human race vis-à-vis that forty day and night rain event? Hitler and company reached their use by date well and truly, and that applies equally to God the exterminator.

It’s one thing to ‘invade’ another’s territory with ‘honourable’ intentions like the Coalition of the Willing did in Iraq and NATO has done in Afghanistan, or the Allies did when they had to invade Nazi Germany and would have done to Japan had it not been for a A-Bomb. In hindsight, the invasions of Central and South America by the Spanish (for gold, glory and God) or of North America by various European nations (citizens often escaping religious persecution) and of Australia by the British (as a dumping ground for undesirable elements) are today considered not quite as justifiable than it was at that time with all the gung-ho nationalism that was exulted and the norm during the golden age of exploration and colonization.  In hindsight, the native inhabitants of those lands have some just grievances.

However, it’s not normally the socially acceptable thing for one advanced country (or peoples) to invade another country (or peoples) equally as civilized with the intention of forever occupying that country, though history is full of examples. But there is a massive difference when such a policy is instigated by humans relative to when that policy is instigated by God. If Fascist Italy & Nazi Germany (especially) can be bucketed for invading Europe and Russia, or Japan for invading Asia and the Pacific, why then is it okay for God to have had His Chosen People invade the Land of Canaan or in alternative terminology, the Promised Land, with God’s view or intention towards permanent occupancy? Whether it was the Axis of WWII or the Chosen Peoples of Old Testament times, there was violence, blood was spilled, and death and destruction resulted. So, today Japan, Italy and Germany get the thumbs down for precipitating WWII; God still gets thumbs up. If invasion is unacceptable for colonization purposes, then sorry, all (including God) are past their ‘use by’ date.  

God’s perverse nature doesn’t even have to be a major happening or Biblical event for it to be evident. God’s everyday-in-everyway inhumane treatment of individuals is rife in the Old Testament, from exiling Adam and Eve, to giving old Abraham a near heart attack, to Job’s torments, to imprisoning Jonah for three days in the stomach acid of a large marine animal, to having His Chosen People wander about the wilderness for 40 years. And poor old Moses, forced at 80 years of age to carry two heavy slabs of rock down a mountain. You’d of thought the Almighty could have penned His Commandments on papyrus. God’s idea of fun-and-games would, in the modern United States (and other civilized countries), be considered within the category of cruel and unusual punishments – banned by the American Constitution.

Now consider the first three of God’s Ten Commandments. Substitute the President of the United States (POTUS) for God. Can you imagine a POTUS thundering out phrases along the lines of “thou shall have no other presidents before me”; “you shall not have images or statues or busts of other presidents”; “thou shall not bow down and honour them with public holidays (no Washington’s and Lincoln’s Birthday holidays) or read their biographies or encyclopaedia entries for I am a jealous POTUS”, and “thou shall not curse me or write negative editorials about me or fail to vote for me, because I AM THE GREATEST!” Any such POTUS would be railroaded out of office so fast their head would spin – if they even kept their head attached to their tarred-and-feathered body that is. Any such POTUS would have reached his (or her) used by for absolute certain. If it’s not okay for the most powerful of all world leaders, or at least of all western heads of state, to put himself on a pedestal, why is it okay for God?

Speaking of ego, I’m appalled by the number of recording artists who give thanks to God in the liner notes (of their CDs or LPs), or actresses/actors ditto, for their alleged God-given talent which gave rise to their superstar status. Please, do you really think that God gives a right royal stuff about little old you to the point of singling you out as an emerging super-talent? Give credit where credit is really due. It’s the luck of the draw. It’s your ability, your talent, your hard work, your parents who contributed the right genetic stuff, and/or just being in the right place at the right time. Some people can sing, some people can act, some people can preform brain surgery, some people can sell real estate and used cars and some people get elected to public office. God had nothing to do with your, or their, wheel of fortune, so give God no credit, just the boot.

To be continued…

Religious Hatred: The Westboro Baptist Church: Part Two

One tends to associate religious intolerance for other religions with bloodshed. The phrase ‘holy wars’ comes to the fore. However, the peace movement has come to religious hatred as well as in all other manner of protest movements. The most famous, or infamous, of the peaceful religious haters is probably the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). I’m sure many of the recipients of their hate would prefer the days of bloodshed so they could dish a bit something back in return.

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

To give you an idea of exactly what direction the WBC is coming from, here are some of their philosophies (in my own words) that appear to be central to the WBC worldview.

*Harking back to my introductory remarks, it would seem as if the WBC has set itself up as the authority on all that’s holy and godly. In fact, according to them, faith in any other religion is akin to devil worship. Tell that one to the pope; he could always use a good laugh given all the strife his organization is in. Of course it’s that very strife, sexual child abuse, that give the WBC the God-given right to state that the Catholic religion is a false religion, and by-God is the WBC position an example of anti-Catholicism.

*Whatever transpired in the Bible is the absolute literal truth. All events in the Bible panned out because God willed it so. So Noah’s riding the flood wave crests and Sodom & Gomorrah were literal disasters and practice sessions – God’s warm-ups to the coming of God’s Big Crunch against the modern world (presumably as outlined in the Book of Revelation).

*If the Bible says it’s a no-no, then it’s a no-no, and if the USA doesn’t endorse and enforce Biblical no-no’s then God’s going to boot and continue to boot America in the privates! Since America doesn’t endorse and enforce God’s Holy Word, well, anything and everything that’s nasty that befalls America is a sign God is pissed! God hates America! When America gets kicked in the privates, from the untimely death in combat of one soldier to the demise of hundreds in a hurricane – you know who is responsible!

*The Old Testament notwithstanding, God hates the Jews, because the Jews killed Jesus and the Jews support abortion and homosexuality (Biblical no-no’s), so in the opinion of the WBC, God sent the holocaust and thus the Jews got their just deserts.

*Homosexuality (“fags”) is sin number one. It’s the prime target of the WBC. God hates fags! If you’re gay, if you support the gay community, if you condone gay activities, God’s gonna get you! In fact, the entire gay community, all those who aren’t 100% heterosexual, should be put to death in accordance with Old Testament doctrine and practices.

*At least the WBC gets one brownie point since they do not support racism because the Bible doesn’t support racism. The Ku-Klux-Klan is not amused!

*President Obama is the antichrist. [He’s just one of hundreds so identified over the millennia so don’t put too much faith in that procrastination.]

*Any disaster, natural or otherwise (like 9/11), is a direct expression of God’s wrath, and that applies not just to America but anywhere and everywhere else in the world. When an earthquake hits China, or a tsunami hits Japan, or tornadoes rip across the U.S.A., it’s “Thank God” according to the WBC. Cop that you devil worshiping bastards! And that includes Islam. Mohammed gets the Big Finger from the WBC too. 

*There are no innocents. The child in the womb who died in the womb goes straight to hell too.

*You must “Thank God” for everything that happens, because everything that happens happens because God wills it to happen and anything God wills to happen must be for a good reason and thus God should be thanked for bringing you the benefits of His infinite goodness. That includes anything and everything that you may not personally think of as good. So if you’re seriously injured in a car crash, and your child is killed (and who is now in hell), you are to “Thank God” for that because God willed your injury and death and damnation of your child for a good reason (which is that God hates the both of you). Now aren’t you grateful?

*The WBC exists not to spread the word about God’s love, but about “God’s hate”.

*The WBC wants everyone (excepting themselves of course) to die horribly and burn in hell.

*Only the WBC – repeat, ONLY the WBC understands all of this; thus their warnings via those pickets and placards. In their hearts they know their messages will be unheeded, but that’s okay since that leaves them to become the be all and end all of God’s chosen few.

I had a quick check on an online Bible site to see if the Bible (King James Version) used the phrase anywhere that “God hates” – No. I guess the WBC likes putting words in God’s mouth!

I wonder in turn if the God of the Old Testament hates the WBC. He probably does since they’re not doing their full bit to contribute to the terrestrial quota of blood and guts that He likes spilled on His behalf. Actions speak louder than words, and when you come down to the nitty-gritty, the WBC are just spouting off words; lots of hot air. They huff and they puff and though they like dead cops and dead soldiers and dead fags, they won’t pull the trigger themselves. They don’t put their money where their mouths are. They should. It would give them real credibility and of course they could (and would) always claim that God made them do it. Still, the membership of the WBC gets to picket another day if they mind their peaceful ways. You can’t picket from a prison cell.

WBC logic screw-up number one: If in fact, as the WBC says, “God hates everybody” and “God hates America” then of necessity God hates all those members of the WBC since they collectively are part of “everyone” and they reside in America. So there! Though somehow I rather suspect they’d try to wiggle out of that logic somehow.

There’s another facet that shows up how screwy their logic is. Since all of these deaths by 1000 cuts (Katrina, 9/11, the war in Iraq, homicides, etc.) have been going on, and on, and on and on, it appears that God’s wrath is going to be exhibited as the nickel-and-dime-the-world approach to a long dragged out Armageddon. But for every 5 & 10 God’s wrath devours and deposits in hell, another 100 are born. Those births too must be “Thank God” events.  It’s self defeating. My reading is that if God were really that pissed, He wouldn’t toy with us via death by a thousand cuts – a cop here, a soldier there, a mass shooting the day after that with a now and again 9/11 type event thrown into the mix. God would just ring up the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and bring on the Book of Revelation scenario and just sort of nuke us and be done with it. WBC is a few nickels-and-dimes short of a dollar!

Yet another flaw in the WBC version of what passes for logic is their “Thank God for Dead…” The dead of course are those prematurely deceased human beings who are now in hell. But equally the WBC should “Thank God” for their births since of course by their logic God must have been the driving force behind their conceptions in the first bloody place. So that “Thank God for Dead…” makes no Godly sense whatsoever, unless it’s God’s plan to have people born only to be prematurely killed just to thus satisfy the theology of the WBC and give them a reason to picket and keep on preaching their hate. No, something screwy somewhere, like the mindset of the WBC, since when it comes to God and the WBC, logic is damned.  

This entire “Thank God for…” slogan can easily bite the WBC on the ass. Most of the leading lights at the WBC are well educated university graduates. You’d think that maybe they would hold up a sign that says “Thank God for education and academics” and protest that there should be more funding for education and teachers, etc. That would be constructive, but that’s not the way of the WBC – to be constructive that is.

By WBC logic, if you Thank God for dead cops and soldiers, because that’s God’s way, then you must also Thank God for live cops and live soldiers since they presumably are alive because that too is God’s will. Of course you won’t get the WBC to admit to that. If you Thank God for a tornado that kills, you need to Thank God for the rain that grows the crops that feeds all those that God’s wrath hasn’t yet consigned to a place where rain doesn’t fall. If you Thank God for anything that kills the human species, you have to Thank God for all that which doesn’t kill. But there’s no WBC placards that reads Thank God for flowers or baseball or Vietnam Veterans or holidays in Australia. Sorry WBC, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.  

To be continued…

Religious Hatred: The Westboro Baptist Church: Part One

One tends to associate religious intolerance for other religions with bloodshed. The phrase ‘holy wars’ comes to the fore. However, the peace movement has come to religious hatred as well as in all other manner of protest movements. The most famous, or infamous, of the peaceful religious haters is probably the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). I’m sure many of the recipients of their hate would prefer the days of bloodshed so they could dish a bit something back in return.

All monotheistic religions – and there are many of them – all have as a core value that theirs is the one true religion that represents the one true God and that all other monotheistic religions are false religions and represent a false version of God. That alone immediately leads me to the conclusion that they all are just full of B.S. and that there is no such animal as the one true religion and the one true God. But that’s not my overriding theme here.

Rivalry  between various monotheistic faiths have of course given rise to much inter-religious hatred and stemming from that, much violence and bloodshed. Methinks the God of the Old Testament, a serious fan of blood and gore, would be Lord Almighty pleased!

Anyway, religious hatred come violence has spanned the range from all out warfare, to terrorism, to more localized conflicts. Across the generations, so it has been and so it is now and no doubt so it will be way into the future (if humans don’t breed themselves out of existence first). A definitive list of monotheistic religious conflicts is way too extensive to give here, but Northern Ireland, the Crusades; and 9/11 all come to the mind as examples.   

At least when the holy bombs explode and the holy bullets fly and the holy swords slash away, you know what you’re up against and can strike back accordingly or as best you can.

But there’s religious hatred and violence, and then there’s religious HATRED that replaces physical violence with psychological warfare. No holy bombs, bullets or swords. Violence is replaced with the picket line, the placards, the chants, the songs. This now becomes the new (and improved?) non-violent version of bombs, bullets and swords. But make no doubt, the religious hatred, or in some cases, to make it clear, the HATRED, remains – in spades. To the best of my knowledge organized religious hatred of the peaceful kind is uniquely American. I’d like to say only in America, but I’d probably be corrected quick-smart. Still, God’s own country is awash in religious hatred without a bomb, bullet or sword anywhere in sight.

And so you can express your religious hatreds and carry out those messages and shed not one drop of actual blood and thus stay inside the law since the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech as long as such speech causes no actual or potential physical harm to others. For example there's no incitement to cause a panic, or to induce a riot or stir up the masses and cause a lynching. Still, what it lacks in doing physical damage is more than made up for in psychological trauma that these picketers direct their “God hates” placards against.  

Now what do civilized people, Americans or otherwise, make of religious picketers that carry placards that have as a central message “God hates…” and variations on the theme. Here are some actual examples of messages written on picket placards: it’s a representative, but hardly exhaustive list:

“America is Doomed; Fag Flag [the Stars & Stripes]; Fag Lover Obama; Fag Soldier in Hell; Fag Troops; Fags Are Beasts; Fags Are Violent; Fags Are Worthy of Death; Fags Die, God Laughs; Fags Doom Nations; Fear God; God Blew Up the Troops; God Hates America; God Hates Divorce; God Hates Fags; God Hates India; God Hates Jews; God Hates Obama; God Hates You; God Is Angry Everyday; God Is Your Enemy; God Killed Your Cops; God Killed Your Sons; God Sent the Shooter [various lone gunman massacres] ; God: USA’s Terrorist; Pray for More Dead Soldiers; Prepare to Meet Thy God; Remember Lot’s Wife; Thank God for 9/11; Thank God for AIDS; Thank God for Dead Cops; Thank God for Dead Soldiers; Thank God for [Hurricane] Katrina; Thank God for IEDs [Improvised Explosive Devices]; The Siege Is Coming; The World is Doomed; USA = Fag Nation; Your Sons Are In Hell; You’re Going to Hell”.

Then there’s a picket chant: “1, 2, 3, 4, God Hates the Marine Corps”.

And their song title: “God Hates the World”.

Pretty disgusting wouldn’t you say? Well, all those and more are brought to you, if not in person, then via your TV or Internet screen, courtesy of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), with a home base in Topeka, Kansas, which must be insulting to real Baptists since the WBC has no actual affiliation with any official Baptist organization. They’re a rouge organization, and for all practical purposes, an extended family organization. Well the BBC in a documentary on the WBC called them “The Most Hated Family in America” (2007).

Ah, but what does the WBC picket and why? Well their usual target is funerals and the higher the celebrity profiles of the funeral (victim or attendees) the better. But the funeral has got to have some sort of connection with, in their twisted logic, sins against God. So as long as the funeral has something to which, in their convoluted form of ‘sins against God’ religious logic, they can claim that “God hates” that something back in return. If “God hates” that something, and since the WBC stands shoulder-to-shoulder with God, then the WBC hates that something too and by God are they going to let the world know it!

Funerals are of course especially emotionally-charged occasions; military (killed in action) funerals all the more-so, which of course ramps up the impact the WBC will have, so military (killed in action) funerals are just about Target Number One.

The WBC also pickets other churches, since those churches, obviously, advocates a false religion or theology or god and thus are evil in the sight of the WBC God; and thus the call to arms and person the picket line. As long as something has a connection to something the WBC perceives that their God is against; then the WBC stands ready to picket! Apparently God can’t defend Himself adequately enough against false religions and needs additional moral support!

I spotted in one of their numerous extremist videos the statement that if you took on the WBC, any challenge to them at all, well God would get you for that since a slap in the face to the WBC was a slap in the face to God Almighty. Okay, I’ll take up and swallow their bait. I’m not afraid of their (non-existent) Big Bad God.

To be continued…