Spin Dry

Okay. I'm tired of it now. Tired of all the whiny-ass fascist fundie Christians in this country claiming that they're "persecuted". Persecuted my Aunt Fanny. You think you're persecuted, go talk to a Jew who survived the Holocaust, or a veteran of fighting in East Timor or Kosovo or The Sudan. Talk to a Muslim in England or America. Talk to any gay man or lesbian who was an adult pre-Stonewall, or who is an adult in certain parts of the country today.

The only "persecution" you're suffering is that you can't have your own whiny way. No, correction -- that you can't make everyone else follow your silly rules and regulatons. And I'm sorry, but if by "I can't forcibly convert this country into a Christian Nation" you're being persecuted, well... in the words of Martin Luther: "Bumst dich."

Other than a few Southern Churches being burned as part of a... well, it might have been an art project or something, or maybe just a joke gone wrong and covered up -- you're not getting persecuted. Other than when you're being belittled and ridiculed by people who find your brand of religious lunacy utterly risible. Now, if you'd like us to persecute you, we can. There are lions at most zoos, and even at three bucks, a gallon of gas is cheap for certain purposes. I mean, like a book burning. You know, nothing major. A bunch of us go and buy out a local Zondervan's, then torch all of those evil writings in the parking lot. Toss in a few Chronicles of Narnia DVDs to boot. There. A bit of persecution in the real sense.

The fundies screaming "persecution" at the world today are like a woman who cries "date rape" because her steady boyfriend tried to hold her hand at the movies. But, for us to not give you what you want -- that ain't persecution, baby. That's presevation -- of self and sanity. To quote one of the wing nuts, Rick Scarborough of Vision America:

High on the list (of our issues) are a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and a judiciary more sympathetic to religious expression, like permitting the Ten Commandments in government buildings and allowing pastors to endorse candidates from the pulpit.

And right there, in one sentence, is a beautiful tryptich (plus one) of Constitutional violations. To wit:

1. The Constitution does not exist to tell individuals what they can and cannot do. In fact, the Constitution does not apply to citizens at all, except insofar as it protects them from the government. The purpose of the Constitution, despite what all the anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-flag burning nitwits would have you think, is to tell the government what it cannot do to the people or the States. Period.
2. A judiciary more sympathetic to religious expression, eh? WTF does that mean? More sympathetic to your religion, to the exclusion of others? What if the entire SCOTUS were, say, Buddhists? Would you then object if they used their religion to render every opinion? Yeah, of course you would. All the while conveniently forgetting that the supreme law of this land isn't your Bible; it's our Constitution. And any justice who does not regard that document as the highest of all laws does not deserve to be on the High Court -- or any court.
3. Again, sticking those religious monuments in public places is verboten, per the First Amendment. When it comes to the government and public money, it's all or none. Hey, tell you what -- if I let my State House put the Ten Commandments out front, will you then let me sponsor placing the Satanic Commandments, just as big, out front? Your only consistent choice is to say yes, but, of course, you care nothing for religious freedom. What you want is "freedom for my religion". Screw that, if it impedes anyone else's free practice of (or freedom from) religion.
4. As for allowing pastors to endorse candidates from the pulpit -- I'd have no problem with this on one condition. As soon as a pastor expressed such an opinion in public, their entire denomination would lose all tax exemptions. Period. Hey, if it's that important to your church, it should be worth the money, right? Dude, if you really want what you say you want, pay for it. Pony up your piece of all those contributions. Pay property taxes on all your land holdings. Hell, let's make that tax exemption loss retroactive. Make that sacrifice, then let your pastors and priests and rabbis extol candidates and issues all they want. But... if you want to hang onto that great perc of religion -- STFU about politics in the pulpit, or in any other place where a church representive speaks officially. And yes, this goes for churches that espouse liberal causes from the pulpit as well. The cause doesn't matter. The intent does. And if you want the government to stay out of religion, you damn well better keep your religion out of politics.

Anyway, all of this is documented in an article in the Dallas Morning News. Read it. And, when you're done, go shopping here.