increasingly getting sick of the Religious "Right"

[acroyear]

Katherine Kersten, Minnesota's little pillock : Pharyngula:

A belief in human equality also has no basis in the Judeo-Christian literature, which endorses inequity everywhere: there are "chosen" people, there are slaves, there are the righteous and the wicked, the crippled are excluded from the temples, the women are inferior chattel, the foreigners may be slain or enslaved.

[...]

Why do these wackjobs always assume that reason and compassion are antagonistic? Reason tells me that it is a smart idea to be compassionate to the less privileged: maybe they have some ability that my society would find useful, to be pragmatic about it; there is no reason to assume that if someone is destitute, I must therefore do what I can to make their life more miserable; someone may be poorer or weaker than I am, but in turn, I'm poorer and weaker than someone else — does this warrant that I suffer? I also possess empathy, and when I see others harmed, I feel an echo of that pain myself. And, of course, perhaps someday I will have Alzheimer's, and I'd rather not encourage the growth of a culture that would someday discard me.

I also think there are a set of ideas that are entirely the product of reason: that we should build a whole culture that enables and sustains equal rights and equal opportunities for everyone, because that will maximize the happiness and productivity of our society. I really don't need a deity to tell me that, and it rarely seems to be a message promoted by religious hierarchies.

There are even more curiosities in that passage. Why does the right always talk as if Americans are exceptional? Do the French lack compassion, maybe, or are Canadians opposing equal rights for women and gays and Hispanics? It's as if Kersten thinks moral principles are unique to this country.

And guess what: compassion and equality are not counterintuitive. Well, at least not among people who are not brought up with right-wing religious values. Children brought up in healthy, loving families seem to naturally share their toys, love puppies and kittens, and socialize well with other kids…all without reading books about it, or receiving psychic messages from angels. The source of these ideas isn't Judeo-Christian at all: I've seen no evidence that Chinese children, for instance, are amoral beasts (well, no more so than any other kids), or that Inuit adults are unfeeling and don't believe in justice.

Comments

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

And then there's that second half of the Bible, the New Testament, where the main character goes around saying things like, "Love thy neighbor," "Do unto others...," "The meek shall inherit the earth," "Judge not, lest ye be judged," and "whomever is without sin, cast the first stone."

Often times I think certain Fundies pay no attention to what Jesus actually did. They wear the WWJD jewelry with little thought to how he would actually behave. He protected prostitutes, looked after lepers, and told those that would listen it was a good thing to visit prisoners. He didn't go around harranguing gay people, or telling women who ended their pregnancies that they were going to hell.

**sigh**

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

and he directly attacked, in a fit of truly righteous anger, the greedy men in power who made money from the faithful (and the pharisees that supported the tradition), those who turned the house of prayer into a den of thieves.

it may only be one line (repeated 3 times), but the full extent of the meaning of that line is totally lost on most Christians today.

[marauderosu.livejournal.com]

“When facism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” - Sinclair Lewis

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

Which the ignorant seem utterly unaware is exactly how it arrived in both Italy and Germany...and Spain for that matter (leftist militants were targeting the clergy, so Franco was able to set himself up as a defender of the church in order to gain even more support).