God hates freedom

Or so the Christian right says

I'm sure you read the ironic story about the snake handling Minister who died of a snake bite recently. Of course if you're what passes for religious these days you might not find it ironic and simply write it off to a lack of faith sufficient to make God interested in protecting him.  Must have been some stray thought, some 'impurity' because anyone crazy enough to play with rattlesnakes sure has a lot of faith.  It can't be that God doesn't pay attention or has the same nasty sense of humor he had when he was ruining Job's life for sport, can it?  And of course it can't be that he either doesn't exist and we're on our own or he's just uncaring -- or can it?  Because if it does, it means a good part of  our nation is deluded and quite militant about their mission to subdue the unbeliever and his ideas about freedom, or else.

If you ask me, it's worse than it used to be and the most deluded are in open warfare against your personal freedom of not only speech and religion, but freedom in general.  Sure, someone will defend their church or their friends or themselves, but the damnation of the assault on personal freedom from the less extreme is so faint and impotent that it might as well not exist. 

What's "trending" today, as the newswhores love to say?  Well, there's the couple whose second child died for want of medical care because the parents had "faith" in mumbo jumbo.  I'm sure the faithful will call them  victims of a secular state because they're going to jail. 

I read today about the gay man who was denied "last rites" by some priest who pretends there's a god who gives him authority to damn people. I read today about an Alabama High School attempting to tell students they couldn't bring a same-sex student to the prom for no other reason than their damned god doesn't like it and of course gives devout idiots the right to mess with other people's lives. 

I read today about a South Carolina legislator who is trying to defund colleges that allow discussions of books about homosexuality. I read today about two  candidates for the Texas Board of Education who think the government shouldn't get involved in education but that self appointed Bible thumpers have the right to because they say they do, citing the idiocy about Judeo-Christian values eliminating the law.  Values like slavery, genocide, holy murder, torture and persecution no doubt.

I read today about Iowa Republicans trying to force public schools to display "In God We Trust" although the question of whether that would be the same God that protects one from snake bites and lets your kids die even when you pray to him still remains. Certainly they mean the God they invent to make themselves important - the one who hates Gays, laughs at science is disgusted by sex and thinks women are chattel.

And that's just today.  Wait until tomorrow, but don't wait too long.  It took thousands of years to rid governments of  the freedom stealing agents of  God, but  it's all over now.  We either speak up today -- and speak up loudly -- or we will all be forced to keep our peace forever.