Democrats vs. GOD

Blogsnark: Democrats vs. God There is a common conceit among religious Republicans that because liberals and Democrats disagree with them over certain religious doctrines and what role the state should have in religious matters, therefore Democrats are anti-Christian and anti-God. It's the "if you're not with us, you're against us" syndrome that afflicts those who reason poorly. Bob Clasen provides a good example of this as he objurgates against everything that isn't like him: It seems to me that Democrats hate Christianity with a mindless loathing. Perhaps Democrats hate God Himself. The fact that most Americans are Christian and about half the nation are Democrats doesn't seem to have entered into Clasen's calculations. If they had, he'd never have come up with such a silly observation. The latest crusade is to kill Christmas. It is no longer okay to say "Merry Christmas" or put up a Christmas tree in any government building. The ACLU will file a lawsuit and hound you into bankruptcy. Don't even think about putting up a creche or singing Christmas Carols. None of this is true, of course. There are no prohibitions against saying "Merry Christmas," singing carols, or even putting up a creche so long as it's not the only display around. There is no "crusade" against Christmas — that's just a figment of the fevered imaginations of bumptious right-wing pundits who don't have anything else to complain about. Members of the Christian Right experience a great need to be persecuted — if they aren't being "persecuted," then they are doing something wrong. To take just one ridiculous example, for some reason, this year UPS has prohibited its drivers from having a Christmas wreath on the front of their trucks, or their drivers wearing a Santa hat. For God's sake! Now Clasen is moving from silliness into absurdity. First, what UPS does has nothing to do with the First Amendment — prohibiting this or that symbol is not part of an effort to strip religion from government. Second, and more importantly, neither Santa hats nor especially wreaths are symbols of a Christian Christmas — the first is a secular image and the latter is pure paganism. Many believers would actually appreciate the removal of such non-Christian elements from popular holiday celebrations. Thus, this "example" that Clasen finds persuasive has nothing to do with what he is talking about. Ridiculous indeed. I am sure the nation's Founders would be astonished at this interpretation of the First Amendment as Christianity and preachers were omnipresent in the eighteenth century. I'm sure that some would be astonished that blacks are free and women can vote — so what? What happened to the free exercise of religion???? It's right where it always was and always should be: in the hands of private citizens. This is another example of the attempt to portray conservative Christians in America as "victims" of "persecution." They want to act as though their religious liberty has been lost or infringed upon somehow. It's instructive to note that Bob Clasen doesn't offer a single example of individuals (when acting as private citizens) being prevented from freely exercising their religion. What is the big fucking deal? Christians teach that we should love one another, forgive our enemies, tell the truth and obey the ten commandments. Christians may teach these things, but Bob Clasen's own essay is a good example of how Christians don't actually follow those teachings. There's nothing in his essay about love or forgiveness — and there is previous little truth, to boot. People like Clasen should spend more time trying to live by their alleged teachings rather than trying to play-act the martyr role. Just imagine if these ideas caught on! What a catastrophe! Honesty and charity would spread like wildfire! Husbands and wives would love one another! Crime would disappear. How terrible!!! Crime would disappear if Christian teachings dominated society? I'd like someone to name a single Christian society where that happened. Medieval Europe, perhaps? The fact of the matter is, Christianity does nothing to advance those goals and we only need to look to contemporary America to discover this. Agnostics and atheists have a lower divorce rate than any other group than Catholics (who have the same rate) — and a far lower rate than Southern Baptists and "born again" Christians. The "secular" Northeast has lower murder rates than the "religious" South. Atheists are around 10% of the population, but only around .2% of the prison population. All of this should make it clear that Clasen's prescription for an improved society falls squarely under the heading of "gross malpractice." Besides, atheism is just another religion, no more provable than any other. It is a huge LEAP OF FAITH to believe that everything everything just popped into existence from nowhere "somehow" by "chance" as a result of the "Big Bang!" ...To make this superstition (atheism) the only permissible teaching of the state is to violate the injunction against establishing a (state) religion. It's rare to find a conservative Christian make the effort to learn about atheism before attacking it and Bob Clasen certainly doesn't disappoint. The illogic of his captious comments, though, is quite amusing. First he complains that "liberals are waging a war to eliminate religion," but now he complains that liberals are trying to establish atheism as a state religion. Logically he can't have it both ways, but any resemblance between Clasen's writings and logic is purely coincidental. It's interesting that he would label atheism a religion that is jut like others, complete with a huge leap of faith, and then denigrate this as a "superstition." If his statements were to be taken seriously, then Christianity would also have to be labeled a superstition — but somehow I doubt he would do that. When people try to argue that atheism is a religion they start out with the apparent goal of putting atheism on the same level as Christianity; often, though, they end up attacking religion and faith in a manner designed to make atheism seem inferior. At no point do they betray the realization that their attacks apply to their own beliefs. Bob Clasen wants Democrats to keep hating God. Personally, I'd like religious conservatives to keep up with the same tactics used by people like Clasen. The lies, half-truths, and total absence of logic or reason make my job much easier.