Oooops, He's Gay!

The recent revelations that Evangelical Fundamentalist Ted Haggard had gay, drug-fueled sex with a male prostitute over the span of three years doesn't come as any surprise to me.

How many times have we seen ultra-pious, self-righteous men "of faith" turn out to be hypocrites?

As I've noted before, it's becoming a well-worn principle that the more extreme and intolerant a person seems, the more likely that they in some way embody the traits they rail against. If a person is rabidly anti-gay, they probably have difficulties or insecurities with their own urges. If a person can't tolerate the philosophical views of others, they probably have insecurities with their own rigid beliefs.

And how can a person not be insecure about Fundamentalist beliefs? It's tough to hang on to a worldview that is fundamentally divisive, arrogant, intolerant and judgemental, based on a book of myths and fables written in a vastly different era. Best to congregate only with people who share your radical, illogical views.

Which is a recipe for disaster. Both the violent disasters of crusades, jihads and witch trials, as well as the personal disasters that occur when imperfect people pretend to be perfect and pass judgment on everybody else, as Haggard did.

It's not shocking, but it's tragic.

Red Cow Crazy

If you want to be on the cutting edge of Fundamentalism, consider Jerry Falwell's red cow.

According to one interpretation of Revelations, a red cow will be a sign of the coming Apocalypse.

So Falwell has engaged cattle breeders to come up with the best red cow they can muster. Does this include genetic modification? Does this mean "fire engine red"? Does this mean ginger-red, like human redheads? I'm sure some Christian fanatic will let us know exactly what God wants, but until then, Falwell can only approximate.

Luckily for us, his lunacy remains in the realm of magic and fantasy. No apocalypse is coming, at least nothing resembling Revelations. Whatever catastrophes we humans produce will begin and end with our own stupidity. No winged lions will fly through the sky, no dragons will be slain. Those fantastic prophesies spring from the childish minds of ancient scribes who hoped to control society by force of fear and magic. Revelations is no more real nor true than the tooth fairy.

But fearful, insecure megalomaniacs like Falwell still use the imagery of myth to manipulate believers who can't think or reason for themselves.

It's easy to believe that Jesus was an extraordinary thinker and rebel. It is lunacy to believe that he was the creator of the universe, or that the Bible was somehow written by the creator of the universe. Those notions were created by people who wanted to control others. And sadly, those notions remain part of our cultural dysfunction.

How Stupid Are They?

American Mullah Pat Robertson went to Israel this week to warn of the coming Apocalypse. What does anyone expect from a radical Fundamentalist?

Of course, crazy religious zealots have been warning that the End Times are imminent for centuries, playing on the fears and anxieties of ordinary people.

But because so many things are wrong with the world today (War in the Middle East, Heat Waves, Melting Ice Caps, Killer Hurricanes and Tsunamis), many religious leaders hope the fantasy of the Second Coming is taking place, if only to vindicate their superstitions and egos.

So just for the record, I'll wager $10,000 with anyone that, ten years from today, August 1, 2016, the world will still be here, no Apocalypse will have occurred, no winged lions will have gone flying across the sky, no fiery dragon will be thrown into any pit of fire.

Indeed, many of the catastrophes we suffer between now and then will be man-made, and our children and neighbors will carry on, hopefully wiser.

If you're dumb enough to believe in fables, fairy tales and infallible books, you might just be dumb enough to take my bet.

America vs. the Christian Taliban

Here’s yet another story of Christian Fanatics in America whining and complaining that if they can’t throw Jesus in the face of anyone they choose, wherever they choose, their religious liberties are being violated. What rubbish.
In this case, a public school graduation was sermonized by a preacher who insisted that the only way to paradise was through Jesus.

Which is, of course, utter superstitious hogwash, and no more valid than a suicide bomber believing that he gets seventy virgins in paradise when he blows somebody up.

Christian Fanatics need to stop trying to turn America into their version of the Taliban and accept that their exclusive “faith” is off-putting to many of their neighbors because it is intolerant, divisive, judgmental and arrogant.

America was never supposed to be a theocracy. It was supposed to be a tolerant, plural democracy. Too bad Christian fundamentalists care more about their narrow, literal interpretation of the Bible than they do about the true spirit of America.

Apocalyptic Idiocy

Which of the following is a myth, fable or fairy tale?

A) Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
B) The Odyssey
C) The New Testament
D) The Koran
E) The Torah
F) All of the above

The correct answer is F.

Yet millions of scared, ignorant people believe that their holy book is the perfect, infallible communication from their version of God.

And with the Middle East in flames, fundamentalist Christians in America are yet again buzzing about the End Times, the Apocalypse. Their twisted minds somehow believe that the Book of Revelations--which is a grotesquely bizarre fable full of winged lions and dragons and magic--is a prophesy that has yet to come true. (If Revelations is a perfect communication from the Creator of the Universe then we have to conclude that the Creator is itself a bizarre, dark, angry, spiteful, violent monster.)

Such believers are scary, and dangerous to the rest of us. Their faith in the magic fairy story of Revelations often pushes them to advocate war, in particular when it might further a World War starting in the Middle East. It also pushes them to ignore long-term catastrophes like Global Warming. And it seems to give them license to tyrannize citizens with alternative beliefs. The "Culture of Life" crowd is actually a "Cult of Death" crowd.

Their faith is rigid, intolerant, arrogant, divisive, delusional, illogical and dangerous. Identical, in fact, to fundamentalists in the Middle East.

As long as people put their trust in crazy old books and manipulative holy men instead of using their own brains to navigate the vagaries of life, the world will remain filled with violence, division, strife, polarization and death. And the idiots waiting for God's Apocalypse will only help to create a Man-made Apocalypse instead.

Reed and Greed

Few public figures are more arrogant, smug and self-righteous than Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, recent business partner of Jack Abramoff and Grover Nordquist, and current Republican candidate for leutenant Governor of Georgia.

Now, after years of pretending to be a Real Christian and freely denouncing others as immoral, Reed has revealed his true self: a greedy, sleazy manipulator.

Reed's escapades are beautifully detailed by Garrison Keillor in the Baltimore Sun.

How many more fat-cat, phony-faith Republicans will we have to endure before American voters wise up and kick them out of the henhouse? Reed and his pals are unethical hypocrites, pure and simple.

A Message To Crazy Pat?

I'm still waiting to hear from American Mullah Pat Robertson. A private jet owned by Robertson crashed recently into Long Island Sound, killing two of the five passengers.

To recap some of Robertson's many opinions, he attributed 9/11 to the Supreme Court, which pushed God from schools, courthouses, legislatures, etc. and allowed lifestyles that were against God. He also declared that George Bush could do no wrong as President because he is a man of prayer, and no matter what he did, God would bless him, and America. He also said that Christians and Jews were qualified to run America while Hindus, Muslims and Atheists were catagorically not qualified. He declared that Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Methodists were on the side of the Antichrist. (He's a Southern Baptist) He also said that women should to submit to men, period. Public education, to Robertson, is against Christianity. And Katrina and terrorism were the the result of abortion.

So Pat--did your plane crash because God is profoundly unhappy with you and wanted to send you a message? Perhaps your angry, arrogant, intolerant, narrow-minded superstitions are pissing God off?

Read more insane Robertson quotes here.

John Gibson, Partisan Hack

John Gibson--Fox News commentator, clandestine Bush Administration mouthpiece and alleged journalist--spewed more hateful, hyperbolic nonsense on his My Words Blog recently.

Responding to the lengthy and bizarre letter from Iran's President to our President, Gibson decided the letter contained a host of "Democratic talking points." For example, the letter noted that the gap between rich and poor in America has widened, and Gibson apparently realized that Iran's politicians got the idea from the traitorous Democrats, who do nothing but criticize President Bush.

(It's fun to watch Radical Right Conservatives attempt to continue their support for the worst President in our nation's history, a man who ruins everything he touches. His reign has been an utter and unmitigated disaster, and their Sisyphean efforts to defend him look more desperate and ridiculous every day.)

But when it comes to smearing Democrats, along with insulting entire cities like Berkeley and Boulder, Gibson fails to make other, more relevant connections.

For example, Gibson fails to point out that Christian fundamentalists in America increasingly sound like the Taliban. He fails to mention that the phony-pious faith-speech of our Radical Right leaders often uses the same black/white rhetoric and vocabulary as Al Qaeda's leaders.

Is Gibson guilty of intellectual dishonesty or ignorance? Or both?

If you want to make truly scary connections, Gibson, remember to point out that fundamentalism is just as arrogant, divisive, tyrannical and dangerous coming from a Christian as it is coming from a Muslim. Or would the truth get in the way of your ratings?

Ferguson and the Theocons

Here is a letter I wrote to Andrew Ferguson, a columnist for Bloomberg, regarding his column U.S. Braces for Attack of the Giant Theocons.

Your column attacking Kevin Phillips and his use of the word Theocon makes no distinction between fundamentalism and liberal religion (in the tradition of, say, Universalism).

The abolition and civil rights movements both rested on the the foundation of liberal religion. They sought to expand liberties. Abolition urged a single premise, that all men were created equal and slavery was therefore wrong. Lincoln was not a fundamentalist, and though his beliefs were strong, he never let superstition trump reasoned decisions.

The civil rights movement, once again, demanded the equal participation of second class citizens in all areas of American life. Martin Luther King was not a fundamentalist. He didn't believe other faiths were evil or wrong. He wasn't an agent of exclusion.

Philips isn't talking about these religious types. He is talking about fundamentalists who not only believe that they are right, but that all others are wrong. Their beliefs are arrogant, divisive, absolute and tyrannical. And they care about democracy only insofar as it gets them closer to their goal of a purely Christian theocracy; insofar as they can codify their beliefs into laws through legitimate means. But the absolute truth of the Bible, as they interpret it, ultimately supercedes the principles of democracy. As cultists, polygamist mormons and well-known preachers have all demonstrated, American laws can be ignored if they go against the perceived teachings of the Bible.

The confluence of fundamentalist religion and politics is anti-democratic, as so many states in the Middle East demonstrate. And it is becoming increasingly clear that many fundamentalist Christians are aiming for a theocracy in America. If you disagree, you haven't been to an Evangelical church lately. They are scary. Indeed, anyone who believes that the sometimes-beautiful, grotesque, magical, brutal, contradictory and hallucinatory stories of the Bible are somehow a perfect and infallible communication from the Creator of the Universe scares me. They have forgotten the difference between connotation and denotation, between history and allegory. The world would be a much better place without that mistake.

While I wouldn't prohibit orthodox believers from participating in politics, I would urge the rest of us to see clearly their rigid, intolerant, tyrannical, arrogant absolutism. It is antithetical to pluralism. We should fear it and argue against it without excluding it.

More Catholic Tyranny

I’m surprised it took religious radicals this long to turn on The DaVinci Code. The book was never the object of organized derision, but the power of film seems to have prompted Catholic officials to call for a boycott of the movie.

Which is yet another example of a religious sect organized around the principle of tyranny. The ossified Vatican can’t entertain opinions contradicting their longstanding superstitions and edicts (even when those edicts were flawed or errant to begin with). The popularity of The DaVinci Code has become a huge, corrosive threat to their religious mythology.

Sadly, it seems more important to maintain the power and authority of the Pope and Church than to assist people in deepening their connection with the mystery of creation. But then, the Vatican has always been a shining outpost of fundamentalism, claiming to know with absolute certainty the truth of creation and the creator.

As I've said before, anyone who claims to know with absolute certainty the nature and will of God is dangerous and deluded. Nothing could be more frightening or corrupting than a group who has chosen superstition over common sense, logic, reason and science. “Seventy virgins in paradise” is no more or less crazy than “He was born of a virgin.”

Birds of a feather, crazy together.

I'll be sure to see The DaVinci Code. I suspect it will be highly entertaining.

Hallucinating Bush

The next time we choose a President, it might be a good idea to elect someone who isn't being directed by the voice of God.

In the White House rose garden today, Bush lost his cool when asked by a reporter about the status of his embattled Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. Bush snapped, “I’m a decider,” and he has decided that Rummy is doing “a fine job.”

That fine job included invading Iraq without a plan for securing the peace, ignoring long-developed military plans and advice, disbanding the Iraqi Army, and not committing enough troops to secure weapons stockpiles that were looted by insurgents and used against our troops.

Aside from keeping Rummy, the horrendous stream of other bad decisions flowing from Bush (botching Katrina, failing to reform Social Security, lacking an Oil Policy, supporting torture) brings me to one conclusion:

Whatever half-baked God might be talking to Bush is not any kind of God I’m interested in following.

Bush has proven himself completely incompetent. He is inept, and incapable of changing course because he is so arrogantly certain that his course is always right. How can it be wrong if God is directing me?

Next time around, let’s elect someone who has confidence in his or her own intellect, reason and common sense, instead of some hocus pocus magical nonsense. Recall that when the Son of Sam killer confessed that a talking dog told him to murder, we tossed him in jail and threw away the key. So the next time a politician claims to be receiving the advice of God, we should take that person to the funny farm. The less superstition in government, the better for all of us.

Evangelical Assault On Pluralism

When Christian evangelicals complain about a growing assault on Christianity, what they really object to is a growing assault on their assault on pluralism.

Christian evangelicals, like all fundamentalists, want the United States to be an explicitly Christian nation, with their literal interpretation of the Bible codified into law and imposed on all the non-fundamentalists around them.

They are only interested in Democracy as long as it serves their aims. But the minute it doesn’t, they turn their backs on Democracy in favor of the Bible--a conglomeration of hand-picked fables from a variety of scribes written over several centuries, ending roughly two thousand years ago.

When non-fanatic citizens try to limit or criticize such objectives, they are accused of assaulting Christianity. Listening to fundamentalists in recent months, one gets the impression that they are a tiny, beleaguered minority being oppressed. But of course, 80% of Americans consider themselves Christian. And anywhere from 30 to 50% consider themselves evangelical or born-again, which is to say, fundamentalists.

Notice that when they try to mandate prayer in schools, they’re not leaving room for meditation or prostration or any other non-Christian form of worship. When they try to get the Ten Commandments installed in a public building, they aren’t also making space for the Precepts of Buddhism, the Sutras of Patanjali or the wisdom of any other worldview.

Contrary to their claim that they aren’t against other religions, their vision of public religion doesn’t include a beautiful rainbow of other ways of thinking. It isn’t about more religion in the public square, it’s about more Christianity.

After all, they point out, this nation was founded by Christians. But they miss the fact that this nation was founded by a variety of profoundly different Christian factions, most of whom disagreed with each other about the nature and expression of faith.

So of our “founding fathers,” whose Christianity would we follow? Fundamentalists don’t want to ask that question. They want people to embrace only one kind of worship--theirs. To them, other forms of worship--Progressive Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc.--are irrelevant and illegitimate.

So the next time you hear someone assert that Christianity is under attack, keep in mind that they are complaining about the constraints being placed on their sectarian dream of a slow, methodical spread.

Ted Haggard's Scary Voodoo

Evangelical Reverend Ted Haggard said on CNN today that Jews, Muslims and Christians don’t, in fact, worship the same God. According to Haggard, “different spiritual entities” exist and are worshipped by the three religions.

Different spiritual entities?

What new kind of gobbledygook is that?

Does he mean there are several Gods vying for control of the universe? Does he mean that ‘ghosts’ exist out there in the ether, masquerading as Gods, and the Jews and Muslims have been fooled into mistaking them for the real God?

Or does he mean that each religion has a different conception of God that is antithetical to the others? (And that his, of course, is the correct conception?) If so, he demonstrates the sadly arrogant, divisive, tyrannical and dangerous bigotry of fundamentalism.

To admit that all religions are an imperfect attempt at approximating the true nature of reality would rob Haggard of his power--the power to be self-righteous, to be exclusive and to tell people how to live their lives with absolute authority. Thus, fundamentalism reveals itself as an extreme, fantasy-based tool to control people by stoking their fears.

Lunatics like Haggard are certainly frightening people, but not because what they believe bears any resemblance to the truth. They are scary because they are so sure and self-righteous that one has to wonder how far they will go to uphold and enforce their superstitions. We already know how far some Muslims will go.

As recent history has made clear, Christian fundamentalists want to live in a nation where their beliefs are codified into law because their interpretation of the Bible is more important to them than the principles our country was founded upon. Indeed, as the comments of Haggard and others imply, fundamentalism goes against democracy, pluralism and liberty.

It doesn’t get much scarier than that.

Fundamentalism Is Worse Than Atheism

A recent op-ed in the New York Times by Slavoj Zizek (Defenders of the Faith, 3-12-06), suggests that Europe’s Muslims are indebted to Europe’s atheists for providing an atmosphere of tolerance.

"For centuries, we have been told that without religion we are no more than egotistic animals fighting for our share, our only morality that of a pack of wolves; only religion, it is said, can elevate us to a higher spiritual level. Today, when religion is emerging as the wellspring of murderous violence around the world, assurances that Christian or Muslim or Hindu fundamentalists are only abusing and perverting the noble spiritual messages of their creeds ring increasingly hollow. What about restoring the dignity of atheism, one of Europe's greatest legacies and perhaps our only chance for peace?"

Some critics point out that atheism itself is a belief, and thus contains the same seeds of intolerance as religion. But these critics fail to consider the actual nature of atheism. Atheism is not an affirmative belief. It denies the existence of God. It does not affirm the existence of anything else. As such, it has no sacred text, creed nor rhetoric to give absolute guidance when it comes to living our lives. Atheists may or may not have strong affirmative beliefs about the true nature of the universe, but the one thing they agree on is that there is no God. So it is impossible to see in atheism--a singular denial--the seeds of intolerant affirmation. In other words, if an atheist happens to want to exterminate some other group of people, it is not because atheism explicitly or implicitly tells him to.

A related criticism of Zizek is that religion is one of many belief systems that have, in the past, led to sanctioned violence, murder and destruction. Critics cite Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Josef Stalin as non-religious examples. But beneath these seemingly disparate maniacs lies a single, solitary thread. Zizek’s piece concerns fundamentalists, whose belief in a particular religious text is absolute. And wherever one finds mass murder, crimes against humanity or genocide, one also finds fundamentalism. Not religious fundamentalism, per se, but an absolute believe in a doctrine, usually codified, like the racial purity tenets of the Third Reich or the anti-intellectual dogma of the Khmer Rouge. Fundamentalism requires a blind faith in doctrine, usually combined with a trust in the authorities administering that doctrine.

Religious fundamentalism is a subset of a more general fundamentalism, which arrogantly claims: “I know the absolute truth, and all else is false.”

The absolute conviction that a single theological claim is false (atheism) is substantially different, and radically less dangerous, than the absolute conviction that a set of claims are true (fundamentalism).

I'm not an atheist, but atheists don't trouble me. Atheism, in itself, lacks the substance necessary to lead to violence. But of its nature, fundamentalism contains the seeds of division, hatred and intolerance. Sadly, we have witnessed them blossoming time and again.

Gay Adoption Bigots versus Science

The recent push by several states to ban adoptions by gay couples has nothing to do with children's health and everything to do with religious superstition and intolerance.

Opponents claim the ideal environment for a child includes a mother and a father. Which might be both true and completely irrelevant. Millions of children are successfully raised in America by single parents. Ideal homes, schools, communities and governments are exceedingly rare. And no credible nor substantial evidence exists that single parents have any better or worse track record than same-sex couples when it comes to raising children.

So those who oppose same-sex adoptions can't credibly claim that they fear for the happiness of children, otherwise they would be just as passionately opposed to single-parent families.

Their opposition is really against homosexuality itself. They are terrified that children of same-sex couples might grow up to be tolerant of gays, or worse, gay themselves. The fact that few gay adoption opponents will actually acknowledge this truth indicates they are actively trying to hide their bigotry and intolerance for fear of seeming ugly and hurting their cause.

Their fears are justified. Homophobia is an ugly form of bigotry, and virtually every credible scientific study suggests that at least a large percentage of gays are born that way. In other words, if there is an active Creator of the Universe, it seems to have made some people gay.

But crazy fundamentalists, who believe in the lunacy of sacred texts, don't want to accept the findings of science because those findings might shatter their fragile, warped view of things. Fanatics would rather be intolerant bigots. What a shame that their notion of divinity is so small and brittle, rather than expansive, inclusive, accepting and tolerant.

Abortion - The Real Question

The recent attempt to outlaw abortion in South Dakota has prompted much media speculation about the long-term outlook for Roe v. Wade. But with all the questions about the future, a more pertinent question is not being asked by media pundits.

When interviewing abortion abolitionists, journalists ought to ask:

Why should your religious superstitions outweigh a woman's right to control her pregnancy in the first trimester?

It would be fascinating to hear the responses. Of course, anyone who thinks abortion is wrong won't be forced to have one...

Boehner and Matthews - Softball

Here's an email I sent to Chris Matthews of MSNBC's Hardball yesterday...

Dear Chris,

Are you kidding me? Your ads scream that you will ask the tough questions and cut through the spin. But could you possibly suck up to Senator Boehner any more than you did today? What tough questions? All you did was flatter him. And yet he has been accused of being another Corporate gift pig, another country-club big shot who will neither reform the Republican party nor preside in any different manner than Tom Delay. His party is under seige, his presumptive leader, President Bush, is a national disaster, and all you can do is laugh and make liberal jokes. You're becoming a joke. I expect more from so-called journalists. Our liberties are under attack, our military is mired in a lie-based war, our Vice President outed a CIA operative, and the best you can do is probe whether the tax-cut policy is still a big winner for the GOP. Wanna ask a real question? Ask Boehner why his religious superstitions should trump a woman's right to control the first three months of her pregnancy. Ask why the American public should trust the Republicans after five years of constant lies. At least Wolf Blizter hasn't yet turned his show into a conservative mouthpiece. I'm starting to think you have. Shame on you.

Fanatic Pizza, with Extra Intolerance

Christian Fanatics continue pushing Theocracy-Lite, this time in Florida and Missouri.

In Florida, Dominos Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan is building an all-Catholic town called Ave Maria where things like contraception will be discouraged and adult bookstores banned. After a firestorm of protest from civil rights groups and others, Monaghan's associates were compelled to clarify.

In a 3/3/06 interview with the AP, Ave Maria developer Paul Marinelli stated, "We're just trying to create an environment where children will be safe on the streets, where they can ride their bikes and play ball in the park. We're truly just trying to create a town with traditional values."

So...are children elsewhere unable to play in the streets? Are kids no longer allowed to play ball in the parks? Of course not. The key phrase is traditional values, fundamentalist code for the more honest statement, "We want to create an enclave of bigotry and intolerance where we can enforce religious superstitions on our community without interference from those with modern beliefs."

What could be more un-American than trying to operate outside the law? Well...

Missouri legislators are considering a Hurray, Christianity! resolution that describes their version of the role Christianity played in our nation's founding and seeks to protect the right of the majority to express their faith.

Of course, this isn't about protecting their faith, which is well protected by the Constitution. This is about pandering to Fundamentalists for votes, and for promoting religion through the legislature. The resolution is not a law, but a governmental statement whose approval would be, by its very nature, divisive, alienating and discriminatory.

Read it for yourself at:

http://www.house.mo.gov/bills061/biltxt/intro/HCR0013I.htm

It all gets back to Fundamentalism. When people believe that an ancient book is somehow the actual, infallible word of the Creator of the universe, their reason is no longer functioning properly...like the men who flew planes into the World Trade Center. Blind belief leads to tyranny. And folks in Florida and Missouri are doing a great job of proving the point.