lpetrich

However, if Linda Bowles followed 1 Corinthians 14:33-34, she'd put herself out of business; it's fun to think of that part of the Bible every time I see some obnoxious female fundie.

Also, where is the "religious left"? I see very little evidence of that -- where are those who wave the Bible at right-wingers?

Krieger

Nice reply, Dark Jedi.

Jamie_L

In the lifetime of this country, many Americans have seen themselves demonized as extremists for holding on to beliefs that the framers of the Constitution found dear - dear enough to write into the Constitution in fact.

Jamie

Dark Jedi

It was. As it is, it worked out. My wife is the troop leader, and the troop re-formed under her. There are advantages to being maried to a theist!

Now she gets to learn the true humor of the BS recruiting slogan "It's only and hour a week!"

SLD

Wow. What a great article. It's so nice to know that those Christians care about us heathens so much as to force their god ordained biblical views down our throats so that we too can share in the glory of christ's love. Why is that the Religious fundamentalists in this country feel that they are being persecuted unless they are given government aid in persecuting those of us who don't believe the way they do?

I especially love the part about turning the clock back to 1954. What a great time. Blacks and women knew their place and didn't challenge it. It was even still legal to rape one's wife. Good ole Sen. McCarthy and the HUAC was rooting out them daggum atheists and communists whereever they could find them. (Course McCarthy was rootin' around some other places as well.) The Bill of Rights still did not apply to the states; you had no right to counsel if accused (who needs them no good pesky lawyers, anyways). Schools didn't just have voluntary prayer - it was mandatory - if you didn't get down and praise Jesus you could go to jail. Why, heck, Plessy v. Ferguson was still good law at the beginning of 1954, and even by the time Dodson graduated from High School that year. Corporations could pollute without impunity; why Love Canal was just getting warmed up. Yep, thems were the good ole days.

Of course, then came that liberal Earl Warren and the country went to hell in a hand basket. Here is Warren quoting how the Bill of Rights was founded on biblical principles and then goes right on destroying those biblical principles such as racial separation, school prayer, and lettin them pointy headed lawyers defend those criminals!!

SLD

4th Generation Atheist

If we wanted to quarantine the Xtians, we'd just wait until Sunday morning and go barricade all the churches from the outside. And we'd have done it a long time ago.

SLD, you forgot the overarching joy of the '50s: the constant anxiety about imminent nuclear war. Kept everyone patriotic, that did!

[ January 17, 2002: Message edited by: 4th Generation Atheist ]</p>

Oresta

Don't forget Korea - our dress rehearsal for U.S. intervention in Vietnam.

Thor Q. Mada

"Perhaps the greatest challenge facing America today is whether people of faith will allow themselves to be quarantined"

This is a good idea. Why didn't I think of this myself?? Indeed religion has all the definitions of a contageous disease, and therefore those suffering should be put into quarantine to prevent it from spreading and mutating. This should have been done a few thousand years ago, and now it is clear that it has mutated into a dangerous variant. So what do we do next???

DougI

Linda Bowlesdisorder makes the statement, "We curse in public places." I agree this is a problem in America. Anyone who does so is a 'major league a--hole'. Does anyone know if right-wing Christian paranoia has been classified a mental disorder yet?

Here's some more of her distortions:
"the media make celebrities of serial murderers"

Would that be like in the case of that woman executed in Texas who Pat Robertson wanted spared because she was a born-again? CBN couldn't get enough of making her a celebrity. Perhaps it is those school shooting children who the religious Reich used as a platform for their agenda. Every time there is a murder it is publicized by the Right-wing as a need for their proper mentality.

"our children are taught about condoms in the third grade"

She would have us assume that is universal. The case is probably that it happened in one school (or something completely made up) and overexaggerated. I sent her an e-mail asking which school she was talking about but I doubt I'll get a straight answer.

"Our books, movies, art, television and music are a unified chorus of smut and anti-social messages."

Well it's called free speech but there isn't much we can do about movies like Left Behind and Battlefield Earth.

"the Boy Scouts are under attack to embrace atheists and homosexuals"

Or is it that the Boy Scouts are attacking Atheists and homosexuals?

"the family is being legally undermined"

Obviously an underground conspiracy since no examples are provided. Sounds like another fundamentalist catch phrase that must be thrown in whenever criticizing society.

"religious apartheid is officially sanctioned and practiced by the government"

Yes, those tax exemptions are a real bitch. When Bush promises to integrate religious and politics and give taxpayer money to churches, he is really saying how much he wants to destroy religion.

"and bewildered taxpayers are told they have no choice but to pay for liberal propaganda, blasphemous art and pornography on public television"

In other words not all media is forced to go through a religious nut filter. Happy days when the Taliban would destroy all art with the image of a person on it. Those liberal fanatics in Afghanistan had to paint over works of art in order to hide them from the fundamentalist authorities. Pornography on public television? Damn, I ought to turn to PBS more often because all I see is home repair shows. Ummmm, hammer that nail baby, yeah, that's the spot for increased structural support, ooooh!

SLD

Duhh. Not to mention spreading nuclear fallout via above ground tests. Police work was a lot easier back then before they had to inform you that you actually had civil rights. Why a few swift kicks in the nuts and voila, an admissible confession. Sure made criminal trials a lot quicker.

And speaking of women. The few women who did work in the labor force didn't take up all the good jobs for us men. And if they didn't put out . . . heck we kicked 'em out. After all what are women good for?

Yesiree, those atheists have ruined it for us rich white protestant men.

SLD

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