CRS
Chandler, Arizona, United States

There's an old saying. If you don't want someone to join a crowd, you ask them, "If everyone were jumping off of a cliff, would you?" Well, I have. So my answer would be "Yes". True story.
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An Open Letter to the Religious Right

Sunday, August 26, 2007

this entry brought to you by paul mccartney, "vintage clothes"


I was watching Jesus Camp the other day, and there was a line that was said by somebody that was stupendously stupid and exactly everything that's wrong with your religious mindset that is currently choking our country, and in fact the world: "They can take Jesus out of our schools, but they can't take Jesus out of our hearts!"

Hey, guess what? Nobody is trying to take Jesus out of your heart. Imagine that! Imagine a world where nobody gives a fuck about what you choose to feel in your idiot heart. Nobody gives a damn about taking away your Jesus. Seriously! Why is it that you people have such a fragile id that you feel deathly threatened when the rest of the world tries to stop your death grip from spreading where it doesn't belong? Why do you take it personally?

So I'm going to ask you to imagine a scenario, and I want you to really imagine it. Really picture this in your head. Let's say that tomorrow the government says that prayer in schools is acceptable all around the country. Now, I know nobody in your neighborhood has any pigmentation to their skin, but let's pretend for a second that you live in a growing economy and that somehow, a group of Muslims moves into your community. And let's imagine that these Muslims also happen to be radical Muslims. This isn't likely going to happen, because there is no reason for a radical Muslim to move into a strong white trash neighborhood, but this is still all in your imagination, and let's pretend you understand that the rest of the world is currently in the 21st century, and let's also pretend somehow you belong with the rest of the world.

Now let's imagine that your children are overjoyed at their new found freedom, and immediately start a prayer circle in the cafetaria that their school the moment they get their, to praise God in his infinite wisdom to allow such a miracle. Now, when your children are done praying, done saying their amens and speaking in tongues and collapsing on the floor, they gather their books, and happen to walk by the radical Muslim children, who are also praying in school, as is their sudden God-given right. And your child overhears them praying a swift death to all Infidels, and the Satan George W. Bush for his horrible war on Islam, and to all those who support him. Or maybe somehow these children are super duper radical and blame America in general for all the world's ills, and are praying for another 9/11. Now, in reality, no Muslim in America is going to be thinking such things; they're good people and good Americans and they cried during 9/11 just like the rest of us. But in your reactionary mind you can't tell the difference between one of these good people and the terrorists, so this particular imagination shouldn't be too hard to come up with. The Muslisms are in your child's school, and they are praying death on you.

So let's say your child comes home and is upset by this, and tells you what happened. Well like any concerned parent you're going to call up your local school and complain. But what is your school supposed to do? Tell them to only pray for certain things? And what if one of those Muslim children hears your child praying for their souls, and is offended, because they don't want to be blessed by the God of the Infidels? Now your child can't pray for certain things either. And now of course, you're upset, because somebody wants to suffocate your right to Jesus.

Honestly, how would this make you feel? And while you're thinking about it, why can't you just be happy that you can pray in whatever way you want to in your homes and in your churches, and understand that this country is not the size of one of those shitty little third world countries you don't hear about on TV, so there is not one official religion for the whole place. And if you could honestly say that 100% of the population was the same religion, you could argue and inter-argue about whatever form of Christianity you wish the country to officially recognizeto recognize to your heart's content. But it's not. Even in your own neighborhood, while there might not be radical Muslims, there's probably somebody-- imagine this-- that thinks different than you.

Now, I would like to ask you another question. Let's say that tomorrow, along with the prayer allowed in school, let's say that the government that same day announces that schools must teach creationism or Intelligent Design side by side with Evolution.

That's what you care so much about, right? But it comes with one caveat: every church in the entire country must also employ a scientist who spealizes in Darwin's theory of evolution. It would only be fair, wouldn't it? And every single sermon given by your pastor or reverend or whoever it is that stands up and talks about God for lengths of time in your church is called, would then be scientifically scrutinised. The scientist would explain how the concepts that the church leader just explained were scientifically flawed. For example, say your sermon for the day was about adultery. After the pastor was done with his sermon, the scientist would then come up to the podium and explain that humans, as animals, have an inherent desire to spread their DNA around, as all animals do, in order to create as many genetic copies of itself as it possibly could, and thus be genetically superior to others in the next generation, thus securing that the dominant create the neccesary mutations for the species to evolve in a more positive way. He would then say that monogamy was a genetic impossiblity, and you would not go to hell for cheating.

How would you like if it your child came home after Sunday school, gleefully talking of the beauty of Darwinism, and how since there's no heaven or hell, we ultimately must reap the benefits or pay the consequences of our actions in this very life?

There was a line in The Simpsons, where Superintendent Chalmers says "Prayer has no place in school, just as facts have no place in organized religion." And regardless of what you think of that line or The Simpsons in general, it is absolutely true. Prayer isn't allowed in school because is a place of facts, not beliefs, and further, this country has too many religions to ensure your child is praying with the right person. And science has no place in church because the whole basis of religion is a word called "faith", in spite of a lack of proof. The two cannot mix, so get over yourselves.

And if you think home schooling is the answer, you're only setting your children up to hate you later in life. Have fun with that.
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with love from CRS @ 11:13 AM 

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