In this great piece by one of our guest bloggers, we see a development of certain key themes that are so vital to understand, but it is important to realize that just because some one calls themselves a Christian, does not make them a Christian -in fact many well know Christians represent the polar opposite of the values of Christ—Huckabee, Franklin Graham, 80 percent of evangelicals, fundamentalist pro-lifers, would appear to fall into this category—being the polar opposite—they are more akin to an anti Christ. We need to start calling out pseudo Christians—because by remaining silent we are indicating that we too have forgotten who Jesus actually was. As aside there was absolutely no way Jesus was homophobic, sexist or racist. But likely being black, definitely a foreigner—amongst other personal traits, he would likely be despised by the pseudo Christians of today. Oh the irony.
As is pointed out below, the values of so many US Christians are strangely stuck in the old testament—as of course are many values of Islam—and this begs the question as to why these “anti Christians” would not to convert to Islam—because surely they would be more comfortable with Mohammad as their go to guy. More Mohammad, more guns. I note that this below piece condemns sharia law—and as a generalization this is not unreasonable—but shariah law means different things to different authorities—and while some aspects in some parts of the world are indeed grotesque, it should also be pointed out that some aspects might be deemed to be more spiritually advanced than the base spiritual value of the West, being nothing but profit. In many ways Islam is in fact superior to the West, they gained the moral authority during the crusades—and today they are fighting global warming to a greater extent than these fake US Christians who believe in environmental rape and pillage. I am guessing that Islam (please advise if I am wrong) would not allow the wholesale torture of domesticated livestock—which is the default mechanism in the US.
-Patrick Andendall
Guest post by Matthew 7:1 –
In the span of a few months time, the culture wars have proven something in a crystal clear fashion, that I wanted to record for posterity. I find it both amusing and incredibly annoying at once.
We have gone from a climate of regressive states throwing tantrums over their ‘right’ to deny same-sex marriages, in the name of ‘religious freedom,’ to a climate of the top contender of the GOP Presidential candidate race, Donald Trump, stating that all of muslim mosques should be shut down altogether. The catalyst for this rapid change has, of course, been the conflict in Syria, and the determination by GOP politicians to ban the entry of muslim refugees into the US. Never again may the GOP comment on the topic of ‘religious freedom’ laws without exposing profound hypocrisy and disingenuousness.
I always find it really odd that the extremists of Christianity don’t realize just how much alike they are with their counterparts in Islam. But they say that crazy doesn’t recognize itself as crazy, as a rule.
What I find truly revealing though, is that the Christian conservatives, clamoring about how dangerous it would be to bring in Syrian refugees, have not the slightest sense of irony about how much they are really condemning themselves, as extremists of religion. Extremists of the Christian faith are ever bit as bad as extremists in Islam. And, when you say that out loud, you will no doubt incur the wrath of incensed Christians, who will point out how their killing hasn’t been as bad -they don’t make terrorists. This, of course, reveals a great deal of the real problem, that they are not all that well-versed in historical events, and that they rely heavily on what they are told by sources that are have incredible bias. (Fox News, their local good ‘ol boy network, and their religious/political leaders)
When Paul Ryan, and Donald Trump, or any of the conservatives, go hysterical at the idea of helping refugees, which is what the real terrorists actually want by the way, then what they are actually saying is, “We can’t differentiate between any muslim and an extremist muslim terrorist.” They are all dangerous because they are not Christian, if we want to be more true to their actual way of thinking. They are all suspect. They are all to be treated as 2nd class citizens, and as a gay man in the southern US, I recognize that discrimination instantly. I know for a fact that I will never truly be treated as an equal by the likes of anybody squealing about how all muslims are bad people to be mistrusted. The people who make blanket statements against all muslims have the same mindset as the people who do so about me – they are just bigots. The funny part is that they don’t recognize that they are being bigots against others for reasons that they would also judge harshly about themselves, should the name of the religion be switched.
Now to be clear: I am not one bit impressed by the teachings of Islam. However, to be fair, I am not at all impressed by the teachings of the Old Testament either. I don’t enjoy religious old texts whatsoever. I find them contradictory and actually highly irrelevant. I find it tedious to read them, and pretty horrible, when you consider how many people cherry-pick among the texts, choose their preferred translation, and extract something to back up the opinion they want to have. Not that I don’t think there are good religious people who do a lot of good in the world. There are, and there are good Christians and good Muslims, but I make it very clear, that when it comes down to it, I think the world needs to move beyond religion, to a system of beliefs that they can all agree on. I know that sounds naive, but I enjoy the teachings of the Dalai Lama. I think he’s on to something.
Does my dislike for religion mean that I think all religious people should be banned? No, of course not. I’m not that conceited, to believe that my path is the only correct one. So my view on allowing refugees is that once they are screened appropriately, they should be granted refuge from a horrific climate, and one that the US had a part in exacerbating. No rational person can say they are all terrorists -that they are all bad people. If you want to ban something, work on banning the actual problem, which is when religious extremists gain power. *cough* *cough* Ted Cruz, anybody?
Work on banning extremist religion. Work on banning Sharia law. 1,000 times yes! Nobody has time for that! But shut up about how you need the ‘religious freedom’ to tell me who I can share my life with, when I’m not even religious. Just go ahead and admit that you are suspect of anybody who isn’t like you -whether or not they are Muslim, or gay, or black, or Asian, or whatever they happen to be. Admit that what you are really wanting is the freedom to dominate the culture, and to impose your majority belief on other people. You aren’t fooling anybody -though you will still likely not admit what it is you are after -not in public. The US is not a theocracy, and it won’t be ever -the minority population is growing every year and soon you’ll be outnumbered. How about being adults and accepting that your way is not the only way, and that you are not superior human beings?
Lastly, recognize that what you find so dangerous in Muslim people is very much the same thing as what is really dangerous about you, conservative extremist Christians! You are two sides of the same rusty coin. The US doesn’t want you, either. May your ways all fall down the sewer drain, where they belong.
~Matthew 7:1
For more content, please visit http://imaginarygayagenda.businesscatalyst.com/tablet/index.html.
There is a goof reason why for many years, Conservative Christians (fundamentalists, extremists, militant, terrorist, theocrats, dominionism supporters, etc) have been called the ‘American Taliban’
In the name of ‘Faith’ these miscreants(Christian, so called, rightwingnuts, and bible humpers) will cause more and more mayhem in the U.S. The recent, and ongoing situation in Oregon will provoke more of this.