Is this a Christian Nation?

Set aside a couple of hours and watch this documentary about a fight in a town in North Carolina over whether a Christian flag (let that sink in for a sec) can be flown over a public monument to American military veterans. Rarely will you ever hear the religious speak so candidly.

You know, I’ve been accused of being paranoid about a particularly malignant form of fundamentalist Christianity. I’m not referring to mainstream Christians, like UCC, mainstream Presbyterians and Methodists, who for the most part are pretty harmless. I’m talking about Christians who take the bible literally. These are the kinds of people who would slaughter you if God told them to do it. They’re the kind of people who would deny their children blood transfusions.

It’s time we stopped giving them so much status and respect and started to make them prove themselves. What is that saying about extraordinary claims requiring extraordinary proof? Yeah, I’m thinking it’s time we started demanding that or subjecting the claimants to some well deserved ridicule.

When politicians start catering to religious fundamentalists for votes, the consequences to the culture can be quite serious. The Israelis are starting to understand what this means to women because the parties have been appealing to the ultra orthodox in recent years. Its been a disaster with little girls being spat upon for no covering up enough to professional female researchers being denied the right to address conferences or accept awards. Some of this behavior is being sanctioned by government officials on behalf of these ultra conservative Jews who traded their votes for enforcement of their particular brand of conservatism. And let’s not forget that in this country, Obama actively courted the evangelical vote in 2008. It shouldn’t be a surprise that they saw this as a green light to reinforce their socially conservative worldview to our detriment. How Obama approaches them this year will tell you a lot about what women and other disenfranchised groups can expect from the White House no matter who is elected.

Here’s the link. Prepare to be horrified, fascinated and scared shitless by these people.

Thursday: Charity, a question and a poll

Well, that didn’t last long.  My car is making unpleasant noises and is hard to steer.  Not sure what’s going on but I know who’s going to make it right so off I go back to the garage this morning.

In the meantime, Seth Andrews of The Thinking Atheist, is setting out to prove that secular people can be as generous and caring and humanitarian as religious people.  He has found two charities that are worthy of your attention. You *can* do good without God. Take a look:

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The Question: In less than a year, we have seen marches for the 99% by Occupy Wall Street, Rallies on the Mall for Secular people and even vigils of hoodied people for Trayvon Martin.

Where the f^&* are the women???  Why isn’t NOW, NARAL, the Feminist Majority, etc, planning a massive jillion woman march in Washington?  I am completely baffled by our lack of a presence.  We should be out there with big signs that say, “I’m female and I vote”.  The best I’ve seen so far is the protest in Virginia, while well attended, is hardly the national presence we need sitting down in Washington.  Yeah, they’re tearing up the Mall right now for renovations but c’mon, this is just inexcusable.

Side question: has anyone other than me noticed that NOW seems to have mission creep?  I know that marriage equality, racism and Trayvon Martin are important issues but maybe it would be better to just stick to the basics for awhile and stop trying to be all things to all people.  The site is starting to remind me too much of the all suffering, sacrificing mother who can’t say no to all the demands on her and neglects her own interests.

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The Poll:  Atrios is getting down to the final wankers for the lead up to The Wanker of the Decade.  Who is it going to be?