"I don't belong to an organized political party – I'm a Democrat." – Will Rogers
John Fugelsang has an easy 5-step process to determine if you’re a fundamentalist. I like it, I can dance to it, I give it a 42.
You might be a fundamentalist if:
Pop quiz: what do you see here first? Ovaries and a uterus? A “holy” couple? Or discrimination, ignorance, and misguided theology?
The merit of charity is so great that I am happy to give to 100 beggars even if only one might actually be needy. Some people, however, act as if they are exempt from giving charity to 100 beggars in the event that one might be a fraud.
– Rabbi Chaim Halberstam, as quoted in Introduction to Judaisim: A Sourcebook
My suburb is one of the most conservative – and lily white – locales in the Twin Cities. Why do I live here? I don’t know. Anyway, it’s a losing battle trying to fight the small-mindedness, fundamentalism, and racism that’s rampant here…but I try. My latest little rant to the editor:
Martin Bracewell’s editorial of last week raised my ire. The gist of his message is that Christians are “persecuted” in America for their beliefs. This is laughable. The definition of (religious) persecution is “a program or campaign to exterminate, drive away, or subjugate a people because of their religion.” This is not happening in a nation that is over 78% Christian. Instead, what is happening is that true patriots in this country are calling attention to the fact that a small group of “religious” fundamentalists are trying to enshrine their religious beliefs as law.
One of the reasons America was settled was to escape religious oppression. The founding fathers were very aware of the danger of religion-influenced government, and addressed this in the Bill of Rights, which says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Bracewell’s article says he finds it strange that many people fear that Bachmann and Perry might try to establish a theocracy. It isn’t strange at all; both Bachmann and Perry have publicly stated that they want to turn their religious beliefs into law, which is the very definition of a theocracy. One need only look at Iran to see how a theocracy looks.
It’s as simple as this: we can practice – or not practice – the religion we choose, and no one has the right to make the choice for us. That extends to laws based on religious beliefs. That’s what America is about. The exercise of – or lack thereof – my religion does not – and cannot – take rights away from anyone else. It is the hypocrisy of the right wing that they constantly bemoan the government interfering with their lives, yet at the same time want to interfere with our lives by making their beliefs law.
Shorter University in Rome, GA – a school that has as its motto “Transforming Lives Through Christ” – just instituted their own form of theocracy. They obviously have closed their eyes and ears to what Christ really stood for, as their institution preaches the kind of hatred and divisiveness that would have infuriated the Jesus portrayed in the New Testament. Here’s my open letter to Donald Dowless, the president.
Donald,
I just read a story about your university requiring all employees to sign a “Personal Lifestyle Statement” or be fired. I’m appalled. First of all, the hypocrisy of you calling your school a “Christian” university is stunning. You are about as far from Christ as East is from West. If you don’t recall – as many of you self-professed “Christians” don’t – Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. He did, however, list the two greatest commandments: Love God, and Love Your Neighbor as Yourself. I don’t find any ambivalence with that statement. He didn’t say, “Except for gay people.”
If you truly are a school of higher learning, you might take note of the fact that the Bible 1) was written by humans, some 70+ years after Jesus’ death; 2) was not compiled into its present-day books until hundreds of years later; 3) was not written in English; 4) has much nuance and debated translation. In fact, there is no “one” Bible that God just plunked down on your desk. And many, many Biblical scholars – people who actually think and explore and research and seek answers and who don’t wear blinders – debate the meanings of the verses that you use to promote your hateful and decidedly non-Christian agenda of the persecution of gay men and women. Not to mention that the verse most quoted in defense of your indefensible position was in the book of Paul, and not from Jesus himself.
I wonder how many other Biblical tenets you will force your employees to follow. Will you prohibit shellfish from being eaten on campus? Will you stop the wearing of all clothing with mixed fibers? Will you require professors to kill their children if they talk back to their parents? Since you follow the Bible so closely, I’m sure you’ll be enforcing these “rules” as well. Or will you use the tired argument of the “Christian” zealot and say that those rules were just a product of that time period, and that we now know better? The fallacy that somehow you know which parts of the Bible can be discarded and which parts should be applied religiously (pun intended)? If you’re going to tell me it’s the infallible word of God, then you better follow all of it, buddy. But I’m familiar with your hypocrisy, and am sure you have shielded yourself from logic with raiments of twisted God-speak that sound wonderful to the unthinking extremists that seek “learning” in the halls of your institution.
Perhaps you may someday – not out loud, but in that tiny part of your soul still struggling for love and compassion to win out over hate and fear – consider the idea that the Bible is a spiritual guide, and not the faultless writings of a God who somehow took pen in hand and wrote down a series of conflicting messages – in English – and then expected us to follow them all unerringly. I pray for you and your misguided policies, and especially for the teachers and students who are subjected to your unloving and un-Christian actions.
You can send your own letter to Don at chimes@shorter.edu. He’s far too important to make his own email address available, so filters it through his administrative assistant.
Following is a letter to the editor I penned for the 2010-12-08 edition of the Savage Pacer. It was in response to news that local residents are trying to stop the development of “workforce” housing (an apartment building for people meeting certain income limits).
Last week’s Pacer article about the proposed Village Commons development near Marketplace angered and saddened me. It’s hard to believe that fellow Savage residents of mine are so callous, selfish, ignorant, and downright hateful. The new apartments slated to be built are not “slum†housing, as characterized by one attendee at a neighborhood meeting; they will be brand-new apartments with rent fully-paid by the residents. They will provide another option for hard-working people and families to live in a good neighborhood with access to good schools and facilities. They’ll give people a chance to build equity and eventually afford a home of their own. They’ll be a safe place for families to raise their children. To the woman who said, “Boo-hoo. I don’t care about them,†I say: Be careful. That could be you some day. All you need to do is check out the weekly foreclosure listings in the Pacer and talk to your unemployed friends to see how fragile your status really is. History has shown time and time again that nations and governments fail when we become divided into “haves†and “have-nots,†into feudal lords and serfs, rich and poor. We succeed as a nation when we work towards increasing the well-being of all. We cannot be an insular community, where we only admit people who can afford half-million dollar houses. Our goal should be to raise everyone’s standard of living.
All major faith traditions have caring for the poor as a central tenet. The utter hypocrisy of casting out the less fortunate during Christmas – given that Savage has a majority of Christians – floors me. I truly hope that people can overcome their fear, that Village Commons is built, and that we become a stronger and more inclusive city.
Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I’ve taken enough from you good people.
I’m tired of your foolish rhetoric about the “homosexual agenda” and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.
My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay.
You simply must read the full text of this letter to the editor. Sharon Underwood from Vermont penned this wonderful response to homophobes back in 2000 in the Valley News out of White River Junction, VT.
If you haven’t heard, the neocons are having Louisiana governor – their next Sarah Palin – Piyush “Bobby” Jindal give the nutjob…I mean, Republican… rebuttal to President Obama’s (I love saying that!) speech tonight. This guy is just as scary as Palin, perhaps even scarier, as he was a Rhodes scholar, and therefore has a tad more brainpower than Caribou Barbie. A Hindu-turned-Catholic (at least publically), his background is disturbing in that he seems to be quite chameleon-like in his ability to blend into his environment in his quest for power.
Here is an interesting read from a Louisiana native that covers Jindal’s history, conversion to Catholicism, brush with the devil, and more. Has some links to articles that Jindal himself published in the mid-90s about wrestling with his faith and his part in an illegal exorcism.
I think we’ll have some fun with this guy when the Repubs trot him out as their 2012 candidate…
I’m currently reading a fascinating book called Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer. It uses a brutal double-homicide (mother-child) committed by Mormon fanatics as the catch, but covers the entire history of the Mormon “church.” I now realize how incredibly little I knew about those wackos. I realize that doesn’t sound very accepting. I’m normally a very accepting person; you want your own religion, fine. But when the religion advocates misogyny, male chauvinism, polygamy, murder, and an incredibly antiquated patriarchal system of rule, as well as a complete disregard for any form of government outside its theology, then I have a problem with it.
Now, I know that many will say, “But Christianity and Islam also advocate many, if not all, of those same principles! True, if you are a Biblical or Koranical (!) literalist. The fundamental – but not fundamentalist – difference to me is that modern, reflective Christians and Muslims have outgrown those tired ways of thinking, and instead concentrate on the spirit of the faith, which in both cases is love and caring for your fellow human.
I will not make the dogmatic case that any faith has ultimate authority, even though I subscribe to a modernist Christian theology; none of us will know – if we do then! – the truth of the matter until it’s too late to communicate back to the rest of the unwashed masses still breathing. And that’s why I react so strongly to any “faith” that purports to have the answer to everything. And especially one that preaches outdated, harmful and repressive tenets. Which is why I could go on a rant about the Catholics as well, but I digress.
Come to think of it, Mormons and Catholics share quite a bit! Patriarchal. Repressive of females. Governed by “revelations” coming through a male leader who has some secret conduit to God not available to others. Established their own strongholds (Vatican, Utah) to escape secular governance. Aggressively pursue spread of religion via fomenting of procreation by using made-up policy (anti-birth control, polygamy). Incredibly secretive. Attempt to theocratize government with huge cash influxes.
Amazing that millions of people – I’m talking Mormons again – revere, follow, and devote their lives to a narcissistic, lying (the Mormons are quite proud that he was an accomplished liar), philandering, power-mad man (I’m talking about Joe Smith). But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised – history is littered with examples of this.