Religion

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Air Force demands an oath to God

“No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”  That’s in the United States Constitution (Article VI, paragraph 3).

The US Air Force doesn’t care.  They swear an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and then they ignore the parts they don’t like by demanding that the oath include the words “So help me God.” bilde 

This clear violation is surely headed to court, and we’re going to hear the same arguments they always make:  But this is a Christian country and the majority should rule and blah blah blah.

I’ve debated this issue with True Believers and it’s a waste of time — they never seem to accept the fact that it’s unconstitutional discrimination.  Since it’s discrimination they agree with, how can it be wrong?

Imagine if they argued this:

“This is a white nation and the Founding Fathers supported slavery. The majority doesn’t want blacks in the military, so they should abide by tradition. The minority shouldn’t be allowed to dictate to the majority what the laws should be.”

“This is a straight nation and the Founding Fathers supported heterosexuality. The majority doesn’t want gays in the military, so they should abide by tradition. The minority shouldn’t be allowed to dictate to the majority what the laws should be.”

“This is a male-run nation and the Founding Fathers supported men being in charge. The majority doesn’t want women in the military, so they should abide by tradition. The minority shouldn’t be allowed to dictate to the majority what the laws should be.”

So, yeah, I’m upset whenever there is discrimination.  Like the current fight for gay rights, the people who want to discriminate can’t see past their own biases to understand what is wrong with their position.

And, for the record, I would be just as upset if the military was requiring an oath that denied the existence of God. The government has no right to discriminate based on religion or lack thereof.

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The word of “God”

Some wise guy started Facebook and Twitter pages under the name of “God” and has been dispensing wisdom and humor for a while now.  But this latest is the best.  god

“God” began a campaign to buy billboards in the hometown of Westboro Baptist Church (those bigots who hold up “God Hates Fags” signs) which says “God loves gays.”

It’s still going on, so more billboards may be raised.  You can donate here.

Why should the right always get to decide what God says, after all?  The thing that makes the tweets extra special is that they are that they are not mean-spirited or anti-religious at all.  You could easily imagine God saying these things.  (Well, except for the profanity.  Well, maybe the Old Testament God.)  After Robin Williams’ suicide, “God” spent a lot of time counseling people to get help for depression and otherwise has actually made some very caring posts.  Hm, maybe it is God after all.

So let’s share in some of “God’s” recent tweets both funny and insightful:

Life is fair because it’s unfair for everyone.

I had nothing to do with the cure for ebola.  You should thank the doctors and scientists for that.

Dear Humans:  This is your weekly reminder.  Stop killing each other!  Please and thank you – God

I challenge you all to the “don’t be a douche” challenge!  Do you accept?

If all religions advocate peace, then why aren’t their extremists extremely peaceful?

Dear Terrorists:  There are no virgins waiting for you in Heaven. None.  Take care – God

…and one I definitely agree with:

You don’t have to be religious to be a good person.

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Just because it’s historical doesn’t make it not religious

“But it’s a historical statue!” was the weak-ass defense of the legislators who placed a huge monument to the Ten Commandments in a courthouse in New Mexico.  “The fact that it promotes a specific God and religion to the exclusion of all others, and the fact that there are absolutely no other similar monuments anywhere else on this property is meaningless.”

Fortunately, a judge who actually took the time to read the Constitution (you know, that document all the legislators swore on their Holy Book to obey) said “Give me a break, what are you, stupid?“Ten Commandments Memorial Ordered Removed In Alabama

Okay, that’s not a direct quote, but you get the gist.

We’ve been through this many times before, and will continue to go through it again and again as Christians in America think that since they are the majority religion, everyone else can just suck it up.  And then when people say, “Hey, you know, I don’t really think this is allowed under the Constitution” and fight back, the Christians respond that we’re waging a War on Christianity.

Trust me, if Muslims, Hindu, Jews or Wiccans were doing this, it will still violate the Constitution.  That’s how it works, you see.

You want a monument to the Ten Commandments?  Fine, put it on your own property.  But public property belongs to all of us, which means you can’t favor one and not the others.  This is why even Satanists have been able to fight to get equal time on public property.

Don’t like it?  Then stop doing it.  Prohibit all religious symbols on public property and there’s no problem.

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The War From Christians

A judge in Louisiana recently ruled that the school district was liable for allowing one of its teachers to demand that students answer the test question “_____ is great” with “God”. The teacher then insulted other religions in class, saying “You’re stupid if you don’t believe in God” and told a Buddhist student his belief was not real and if he didn’t like it, he should “move to a place where there are more Asians.” godThis is a public school, mind you.

The good news is that the judge is someone who has actually read the Constitution and knows that this is clearly not allowed. The judge ordered the school district leaders (who defended this awful teacher) to go through classes teaching them how to read.

You know exactly how these people reacted, right? “This is just another attack on Christianity!” they screamed. “It’s a War on Christians!”

I dare anyone to give me an example of anyone trying to keep Christians from practicing their religion in America. Double dare you. Every single “attack” on Christians is actually a defense (as American Atheist President David Silverman points out). Those Christians who whine that there is a “war” against their beliefs are upset that they are not being allowed to force their beliefs on everyone else. They complain when people want to include others and say “Happy Holidays” instead of highlighting their own personal holiday; they complain when people don’t want their Commandments posted in public places with public money; they complain when we don’t want their religion’s creationism beliefs forced on our schoolkids — and every one is a defensive action against their war on us. We didn’t fire the first shot.

Now clearly, there are many Christians who do not whine like this, so don’t go reading this to imply differently. But those who do claim that their rights are being violated because they are not being permitted to force their views on us should perhaps move to a country where there is no difference between government and religion — Iran, for instance.

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Supreme Court once again ignores the Constitution

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The Roberts Supreme Court has once again shown that it cares little for the Constitution, legal history, or precedent.  It recently decided that it is perfectly fine for our government to favor one religion.

Yeah, I know, right?  You’d think the explicit words of the 1st Amendment make it amazingly clear.  You’d think anyone who could read would agree that wouldn’t be allowed.  And, in fact, that’s the way it’s always been.

But just like how they decided that (a) the 2nd Amendment applies to individuals and not the military;  (b) money is “speech” and the government doesn’t have the power to regulate campaign contributions;  (c) schools cannot make their own decisions concerning admission policies; (d) the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t have the power to protect the environment … anyway, I could go on.  In case after case, a slim majority of the Court overturned years of precedent to promote its conservative agenda, and damn the Constitution.

And the public knows that this is political.  It’s so blatantly clear that public support for the Court has dropped from 90% confidence to 44%.   (Still higher than Congress, though.)

Anyway, the Court held that there is nothing wrong with a government leading everyone in a Christian prayer every day.  The basis for this argument was “What Establishment Clause?”  They also completely rewrote American history by arguing that many of the Founding Fathers were Christians and therefore would agree.  (Well, yeah, but they specifically made sure that their religion stayed completely separate from the government by writing things like, oh, I don’t know, The Establishment Clause.)

Christians who rail against Sharia Law thought this was the greatest decision ever.  They only object when it’s someone else’s religion being used.  (And yes, I am aware that there are indeed many Christians who support the Constitution and disagree with this decision.)

 

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And I feel fine!

Bet you didn’t know that the end of the world is coming soon.

According to Pastor John Hagee, the “blood moon” phenomena is surely a sign from God that the end is nigh.  It’s just like how Halley’s Comet foretold the end of the world in 1666, and we all remember how the world ended then. Or every other time over the history of mankind we had a blood moon.

Every generation over the past two thousand years have concluded that the world is ending soon and in their own lifetimes.

Pastor Hagee believes that God is sending us a message, by use of a perfectly explainable and completely predictable celestial occurrence with natural bodies obeying the known laws of science.

I mean, how can He be any clearer?  I mean, apart from appearing before each of us, speaking in our own language, or doing a thousand other things which would make it absolutely clear He was telling us He existed and the end was near.

Ha ha, we laugh.  Pastor Hagee!  He’s the guy who also said that Hurricane Katrina was God punishing gay people.  What a maroon.

But the fact is that people believe this guy.  And this guy, like many prophets, profit greatly from those who believe.

Yeah, sure, they have the right to believe whatever stupid thing they want to.  But knowing these people exist and apparently make up a large percentage of the population goes a long way in explaining how certain people get elected, doesn’t it?

 

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We should be able to discriminate because religion

The photographer who refused to provide service to a gay wedding because it went against his religious beliefs lost again, this time with an appeal to the Supreme Court.

This has some religious people quite upset, because they believe — try to follow this logic — that laws that prevent cruelty to and discrimination against other human beings violates their rights.  Their right to deny rights to others.

I know, right?

The law in that particular state prohibited this exact kind of discrimination, so the photographer thought that there should be an exemption for those who disagree with the law.  You know, in the same way that there are exceptions in other laws that allow you to disobey them if you don’t like them.  In the same way some religious folks were able to ignore laws that struck down interracial marriage back in the ’60s.

Oh, right, I remember now.  That never happened.

Republican leader Mike Huckabee thinks this decision is just terrible.  After all, the Bible is against this and our laws should do whatever the Bible says.  Which means that not only should we be stoning gays to death, we should also bring back slavery.

As Huckabee stated, “unless God re-writes it, edits it, sends it down with His signature on it, it’s not my book to change.” I wonder how many gays Huckabee stoned to death this week?

Here in this place called the United States, we have a Constitution in which the Founding Fathers said, in the very first amendment, that our government would not promote a religion in any way (the “establishment clause.”)  There are other parts of the Constitution that prohibit any sort of religious test be given to anyone in our government, too.

Is it all that surprising that people like Mike Huckabee pick and choose what parts of the Constitution they think should apply to them in the same way they do with the Bible?

 

Editorial cartoon: Religious freedom

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If only we could just stone gays to death like the good old days…

Ah, yes, if only America had morals, then we could stone to death people who we disagree with.  What a wonderful world that would be!

So sayeth Pat Robertson, who speaks for millions who watch his show and believe this feeble old man (who thinks that “homosexuals cause earthquakes” because God is so unhappy).

“I think you’ve got to remember from the Bible, you look carefully at the Bible, what would have happened in Jesus’ time if two men decided they wanted to cohabitate together, they would have been stoned to death,” he said. “So, Jesus would not have baked them a wedding cake, nor would he he have made them a bed to sleep in because they wouldn’t have been there.”

“But we don’t have that in this country here,” he said with a wistful look in his eye. “So, that’s the way it is.”

You all remember those parts of the Bible where Jesus spoke about how he hated gays, right?  And how they should be stoned to death?  You don’t remember those parts?  Oh, that’s probably because they aren’t in there.

There actually are comments like that in the Old Testament, right next to the prohibitions against tattoos, ham sandwiches,  shrimp, planting crops together, wearing clothing made out of more than one cloth, divorce, and allowing women to speak in church.  But for some reason, there isn’t a huge Christian movement to ban bacon.

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Supreme Court ready to once again side with corporations over people

Based on the arguments presented at the Supreme Court today in the Hobby Lobby case, the conservative members of the Supreme Court once more appear ready to hold that corporations have more rights than people.  This is not a surprise to anyone who follows the court.

New U.S. Supreme Court Poses For "Class Photo"

It seems that corporations are people, and a corporation can have a religion.  What’s more, their religion is more powerful than your religion, and if you work for them, they can force their religious views on you.

Where is this in the Constitution?  Ha ha!  Didn’t you read the word “corporation”?  That’s all you need to know to determine how Scalia and his pals will vote.

The more liberal members of the Court (the three women especially) questioned how you could determine a corporation’s religion.  “How does a corporation exercise religion?” Sotomayor asked.  A poll of shareholders?  What about shareholders that do not share the same religion as the CEO?

Opponents rightfully pointed out that this could lead to corporations deciding that they could use their religion to justify firing all gays, prohibiting women from working, and otherwise taking away our basic rights.

This has the possibility of rising to the level of “terrible decisions” reached only previously by the Citizen’s United decision which found two fictions to be law:  that not only are corporations people, but  money is speech — therefore corporations have the right to speech much greater than those of us poor individuals.

Well, it will be the most terrible decision until the Supreme Court tops it with the follow-up case later this year that holds that individual limitations on campaign contributions are also invalid … at which time it may just be easier to allow the billionaires to vote for us.