For Christ’s Sake

[cbayer]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/02/republican_reaction_to_obama_s_prayer_breakfast_many_conservatives_don_t.html

Some Republicans would rather defend Christianity from all criticism than stand clearly against religious violence.

By William Saletan
FEB. 9 2015 3:29 PM


Rick Santorum, speaking here to guests at the Iowa Freedom Summit on Jan. 24, 2015, in Des Moines, is among the past and current GOP presidential candidates who have attacked Obama’s National Prayer Breakfast speech.
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

A few days ago, at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama asked people of all faiths to reflect on the perils of religious arrogance. He began with terrorists who “professed to stand up for Islam.” But he cautioned his fellow Christians:

Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ. … So this is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith.

Obama continued:

I believe that the starting point of faith is some doubt—not being so full of yourself and so confident that you are right and that God speaks only to us, and doesn’t speak to others, that God only cares about us and doesn’t care about others, that somehow we alone are in possession of the truth.

This message of humility has infuriated the GOP. Several past and current Republican presidential candidates—Rick Santorum, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Jim Gilmore—have attacked the speech. So have dozens of conservative commentators. They reject the suggestion that Christianity has anything to apologize for. Many go further. They claim that Islam sanctions violence, that Islam is our enemy, or that Christianity is the only true faith. In issuing these declarations, Obama’s critics validate the propaganda of ISIS and al-Qaida. They’re not just pandering to the Christian right. They’re aiding the Islamic right.

Conservatives are correct that we’re in a global struggle over Islamic violence. But the struggle isn’t between Islam and Christianity. It’s between people who want religious war and people who don’t. Al-Qaida and ISIS can’t conquer the world with 19 hijackers or 20,000 fighters. They need the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims. That’s why Osama Bin Laden always framed the conflict between al-Qaida and its targets as a war between Islam and “Crusaders.” It’s why George W. Bush always stressed that Islam wasn’t our adversary. And it’s why today’s conservatives, with their anti-Muslim rhetoric and their excuses for the Crusades, are doing the enemy’s work.

more at link

[jwirr]

1. Isn't it interesting that they deny the facts regarding the history of the church with lies?

[cbayer]

2. It's tragic, but it's so blatant that I think it's becoming

The Emperor's New Clothes.

Their denials of history are rather stupefying.

[Leontius]

9. Then refute the lies.

[okasha]

11. But that takes woooorrrkk!

[Leontius]

12. And a working knowledge of the subject.

Maybe the hive can help.

[okasha]

13. Which puts the hive

and Santorum & Co. pretty much on the same level.

[Fred Sanders]

3. The struggle is what it was before, between the media and the citizens versions of truth.

It is still the same struggle between science and superstition, now with a well funded superstition side and a choked science side.

[longship]

4. But many on the science side are fighting back.

Notably at the conjunction of science, religion, and government .

When these issues arrive in a courtroom, religion often loses.

Those fighting the battles and winning are:

National Center for Science Education
Freedom from Religion Foundation
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
American Civil Liberties Union
And others.

The religious kooks may have many adherents, but the courts regularly side with the secularists. Their religiously based lunacy cannot stand up against rationality, especially in a court of law.

That's why:

1. They lose.
2. We need to make sure that judges on our courts will not place religious belief above the law.

The best way to insure these things is to elect Democrats to office at all levels. BTW, we are currently losing that battle at all levels.

Or, as Major Kong once said: Now let's get this thing on the hump. We've got some flying to do!

[okasha]

5. For a horrible example of what we DO NOT need,

see Chief Justice Roy Moore of Alabama. He's a repeat offender.

[longship]

6. Kicked out once. He's like a bad check; he keeps bouncing back.

Like a rubber ball.

Bouncy-bouncy!

[okasha]

7. That, too.

I think of him as the Hill Country cedar (actually Ashe juniper) pollen that every bit of a north breeze deposits on us every Dec.-Feb. Makes millions miserable.

Are you doing okay up there in the Frozen North?

[longship]

8. It has been usually cold but dry.

I've only had to be plowed out three times. Last year it was once a week or more all winter. I don't mind the cold as long as my old furnace keeps working and there's enough fuel oil to keep it burning. This year the price of fuel was about $1.50 / gallon cheaper, so I bought extra. Still might not make it through, but I have enough cash saved to add more.

Now if only the snow stays away...

Sunny today, but -- BRRRRRR!

Hope you are well, good buddy.

[okasha]

10. Here's hoping the snow misses you.

We have a saying about South Texas weather: febrero loco, marzo tampoco. (February's crazy; so is March.) It can go from 90's one day to snow the next.

Doing good. I'm taking the plunge into oil painting, and have some really sharp beginners in ceramics.

Keep warm.