Sunday, March 04, 2007

Scarborough unfair

"During almost 15 centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? . . .superstition, bigotry and persecution."

James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance


Joe Scarborough is a riot - not because he has a sense of humor but because he doesn't. I normally Tivo Bill Maher's show on HBO and watch it on Sunday, so my disgust with Scarborough's idiocy du jour is a bit late, but as his pet theme is currently making its way through the American consciousness like some kind of pestilence, it's never too late to comment.

Joe tells us in all smugness that there is a "cottage industry" involved in "annoying Christians" and of course the comment was directed at fellow rationalist Maher who never hesitates to tell us he doesn't believe in the invisible man; Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Muslim. I guess that annoys Christians, or at least those Scarborough identifies as Christians, which he seems to do without any awareness of the vast diversity of Christian beliefs over the millennia. It really annoys him that anyone suspects Jesus did not bodily ascend to heaven and might have the nerve to mention it. It annoys him that anyone disagrees with the peremptory precepts of fundamentalist preachers and he believes others should equally be annoyed at this blatant freedom of speech.

This pleases me no end of course, as Jesus' tolerance notwithstanding, Christianity in its mainstreams has annoyed the hell out of people who dissent, even in small matters, and has done so by killing them, torturing them, persecuting them, excluding them and expelling them. For 1700 years there has been unremitting battle against pagans, heretics, free thinkers, dissenters and adherents of any other religion as well as members of various Christian sects. They continue to annoy people of other beliefs by marginalizing them and attempting to exclude them from public life if they will not acquiesce in the program of Christianist domination rampant in our America of today, constitutional guarantees notwithstanding. Worst of all, the promoters of an evangelical ascendancy sell their aggression as a response to an attack - an attack that consists of not surrendering a basic freedom of religion.

So sorry Joe, I don't believe your crap - not any of it - and I don't believe Jesus did either. I have the right to question, I have the right to disbelieve and I have the right to say so publicly. You don't have the right to be protected from hearing things that question or do not coincide with your beliefs and if you don't like freedom, get the hell out of my country and take the rest of your stupid, sneering, small-minded, superstitious, subhuman tribe to Scarborough Country with you; your cheap hair color and all.

2 comments:

RR said...

What a coincidence: I just sat down at the computer after watching my Tivo'd episode of Real Time...

It was funny to watch Joe S complain about being "persecuted" as a Christian... Earth to Joe: the whole frigg'n country is run on the irrationality of your zealot clansmen. What would be news is if some of the atheists and freethinkers out there actually got more than 1 min on a news program and weren't slighted in the process.

Capt. Fogg said...

The more I think about it, the idea of him sitting there insisting that the only way to God is through his religious ceremonies has got to be the most arrogant and annoying thing ever said by anyone anywhere.

If there were a way to annoy "Christians" of his ilk to the point where they'd melt into a puddle, I would be on it in a flash.

Every persecutor these days is posing as a victim. I read a book a few years ago where the author describes hearing a KKK meeting where they were singing "we shall overcome"