“Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?”
-Virginia O’Hanlon
After the anti-gay-marriage advocate [Roman Catholic Republican] Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch resigned (she cheated on her husband with a Senate staffer), the LGBT community of Minnesota apologized to [Roman Catholic Republican] Koch for threatening her “traditional marriage” and pushing her towards an “illicit affair with her staffer. . . “
Forgive us. As you know, we are not church-going people, so we are unable to fully appreciate that “gay marriage” is incompatible with Christian values, despite the fact that those values carry a biblical tradition of adultery such as yours. We applaud you for keeping that tradition going.
Right-wing Christians are waging a war on non-believers’ right not to have religion shoved down their throats. . .
The “war on Christmas” victim narrative usually tries to obscure what’s really at stake: the promotion of Christianity at the expense of other faiths and non-belief. . .
Essentially, the Christian Right wants the government to back its religion. . .
If we wanted to borrow from the Christian Right’s hyperbolic framing, a “war on Atheists” or “war on Secularism” would be a more appropriate title for the holiday season, and all year-round.
The super-rich might not be so outraged by accusations that they haven’t earned their money fairly if they didn’t know it was true. . .
Many of today’s super-rich, particularly in the financial sector, have achieved their wealth in ways that are fundamentally anti-capitalist. As a consequence, people are justifiably wondering whether we have an economy that operates on the principles of capitalism or of oligarchy. . .
Are the rich and successful the creators of wealth and jobs for all of us, or are they the predators and moochers (Ayn Rand’s term in Atlas Shrugged), the reverse Robin Hoods who succeed by finding ways to redistribute wealth upwards?
Millions of Americans may not be able to vote in the 2012 elections because some states are introducing tough new laws which they say are necessary to curb voter fraud.
These sweeping new laws could disenfranchise millions of voters in 2012 – and it is students, minorities, immigrants and ex-convicts who are disproportionately affected.
A total of 14 states, the majority of which are Republican-controlled, have passed such legislation. The most controversial measure is the new requirement for voters to have a government-issued photo identity document (ID). Others include restrictions to early voting and imposing barriers to registration.
According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 25 per cent of African Americans and 16 per cent of Latinos do not have a photo ID.
Hundreds of thousands of students may also be denied the right to vote. In the state of Wisonsin, student IDs are accepted if they include current address, birth date, a signature and have a two-year expiration date. But no college in the state currently meets those requirements.
Former convicts are denied the right to vote in some states. In Florida alone, nearly a 100,000 of those who have served time are disenfranchised.
So, what is behind the effort to change voting requirements? Are voting restrictions justified, or are they undemocratic?
Inside Story US 2012, discusses with guests: Hilary Shelton, the director of the Washington bureau of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the oldest civil rights organisation in the US; Simon Rosenberg, the president of New Democrat Network, a progressive think tank based in Washington DC; and Cherylyn Harley LeBon, a former spokesperson for the Republican National Committee who had also worked in the Bush administration.
“I go with the pastor,” George told Fox. “He’s telling us that he won’t be able to have services on Sunday if that’s the case. You don’t want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism.”
When the Fox host pointed out that George’s comparison was “a little strong,” the cardinal stood by his statement.
“It is, but you take a look at the rhetoric,” he continued. “The rhetoric of the Klu Klux Klan, the rhetoric of some of the gay liberation people. Who is the enemy? Who is the enemy? The Catholic Church.”
. . . today’s Tea Party is less an ideological movement than the latest incarnation of an angry white minority – predominantly Southern, and mainly rural – that has repeatedly attacked American democracy in order to get its way.
. . . This isn’t to say all Tea Partiers are white, Southern or rural Republicans – only that these characteristics define the epicenter of Tea Party Land.
America has had a long history of white Southern radicals who will stop at nothing to get their way – seceding from the Union in 1861, refusing to obey Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s, shutting the government in 1995, and risking the full faith and credit of the United States in 2010.
Image found here on 12.22.2011
In A Nutshell…
The mind virus of religious belief preys on fear, warps instinctive attributes and skews morality. It contradicts responsible behavior, reason and compassion. It retards free will and causes a lack of ability to differentiate between rational and irrational choices. It allows the religionist to exist in a perfectly rational way in many other aspects of their existence in society while the infected area of the mind is stuck in a cyclical delusion. . .
Conversion Immersion…
Just as a physical virus does, Fundamental Christianity protects itself by sequestering the infected host against outside attack. Thus, the “world” is discredited. Any evidence that is contrary to doctrine is willfully ignored and taught as persecution. In the real world, this stunting of intelligence causes a decline in mental health due to the allowance of instruction only through approved church doctrine. . .
Reason Is The Enemy…
The viral use of fear is particularly effective on believers who were already ignorant and superstitious prior to their conversion, but the virus of fundamental religion has propagated and adapted well only until very recently. . . The virus of fundamental Christianity is getting most of the press and although it is often marketed as the true religion of love and tolerance, inwardly it is a destructive force that causes division, promotes willful ignorance and retards intellectual growth. . .
An Atheist’s “Great Hope”
The rise of atheism on planet Earth has already caused fundamental religious belief problems maintaining itself in our post-modern world. Religious apologetics have stagnated. Like a virus that is running toward the end of its course, the meme of fundamentalism is losing its ability to replicate.
Always Question Authority 