A blogger by the name of Roger Ailes (in his own words, “not to be confused with the fat Fox fuck”) once referred to Donahue as “Friar Fuck.” I laughed until my sides hurt when I read that. Genius wordplay.
The kind of “Christians” quoted in this article give Christianity a bad name.
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Thanks for the Humility, Mr. President. That is a lost virtue.
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How convenient for Darrell Waltrip and his ilk. According to his eschatology he could kill nonbelievers who would automatically go straight to Hell, while his mere faith guarantees that he will be accepted into Heaven regardless of any secular earthly punishment. How is that any different from what al-Qaeda tells their gullible minions?
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An excellent description of the household I grew up in.
I read the piece and my immediate thought was, this is good. Anything that leads people to question their beliefs in the supernatural is a good thing, and if the hard-core GOP decides they want to have the exclusive ownership of that nonsense, well ok then. To my fellow liberals, just by excellent to each other and jettison the rest of the baggage.
Yes, I never labelled my few sentences as an “analysis”. It does however make sense to me as an insight about why simplistic versions of religion have great appeal for insecure and vindictive people. As exemplary a theist as you might be, at least recognize that organized religions have a deleterious effect on a great many people.
I guess I should probably thank these ignorant bigots for forcing the scales to fall from my eyes and allowing me to see the truth of atheism.
I had the misfortune to be raised with relatives who exemplified Jesus’ teachings and committed themselves to bettering the third-world poor through education. They founded and grew two schools in Latin America, were registered Conscientious Objectors during WWII, and were incredibly well-read Liberals whose breadth of knowledge ranged from the Classics to the Bible to Bonhoeffer and Buber.
This was a difficult milieu from which to break, given the level of service to humanity which it represented; the nobility of its cause; and yes, the “holiness” of its purpose. I have to thank conservative “christianity” for giving me the ability to sever myself from this tradition and embrace rationality; though the core of its principal still remains.
Even as a child, I found the Biblical myths to be just that, ridiculous and unrealistic myths; on a par with the Grimm Brothers. Nor was I a fan of the crowd conformity of hymns to whose ideas you implicitly assent by singing. (Nor could I join in the mass chants of '60s anti-war marches: I refuse to allow others to do my speaking for me.)
So when the bastards of the “moral” right began braying their self-righteous screeds during the eighties, it drove an intellectual wedge between me and the tender christianity that I respected but couldn’t believe, since they were asserting an adherence to a “god” that both assumed to exist. Finally, after another decade or so of disgust with the “religious” primarily driven by the self-righteous right wing, I’d had enough to declare my independence from the whole fantasy. The epiphany was amazing.
Now, the meaninglessness of words like “holy,” “sacred,” “soul,” and any number of other silly concepts bounce off my consciousness with all the impact of “unicorn,” “elf,” “fairy,” and “Zeus.”
For this, I thank the religious conservatives. But for these ignorant, religious bigots, I might still be simpering along in some mild form of religious belief.
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Sorry, but hell is a place. In the summer it is Redding, California. Where it removes to for the other seasons, I don’t know, but I can attest to the absolute fact that in the summer, Redding, California is hell.
Well, let us not forget the murderous sanctions on Iraq during Clinton’s Presidency, the murderous invasion of Iraq during thr Presidency of Baby Bush, the insane droning of Obama’s Presidency, Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, the torturing by our government, etc., etc., etc. No, we don’t have to go back at all. It’s a happening thing.
But let us go back for a minute to the fifties when the CIA deposed a democratically elected leader in Iran and put a dictator on a throne, there. That, coupled with the US’ backing of the despotic monarchy Standard Oil created in Saudi Arabia were the seeds that have grown to be ISIS. We could have stopped watering and fertilizing those seeds all along but we haven’t. ISIS is truly the monster to our Dr. Frankenstein.
I guess it just seems like Erikson and his ilk possess Jesus in the sense that they have thoroughly co-opted Jesus.
That is Paulism. That was his schtick.
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Perhaps not forgetting it so much as lamenting its existence.
Thanks for not being at all condescending and judgmental to your fellow liberals.
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My response to that particular definition of who applies is in the parable of the Good Samaritan:
Luke 10:25-37 New International Version (NIV)
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
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I entirely agree. It’s just not the whole story on religion. But I don’t I consider myself an exemplary theist. To me, that’s like claiming that one has outstanding humility.
I would assert that most Christians down through History would consider that to be sacrilege, and deeply profane.
The Holy Ghost is not like a ‘possession’, like, a video tape, or a car, or a ham. It’s an I-THOU relation. You do not possess a THOU. You might think you do, but that would be a mistake of colossal proportions. In fact, many theologians would argue that the Holy Ghost aspect of the Trinity is comparable to the Ultimate ground of Reality. You may stand in relation to that Ultimate Reality, but you do not ‘possess’ it. It possesses you, for better or worst. St Paul wrote, “Not that I live, but that Christ lives me!” Of course, I’m not a Christian, so I’m not in possession of the absolute truth. I am passionately gripped by an uncertainty, to use Kierkegaard’s terms.
I-Thou – Martin Buber?
Sure. Buber was a wise man. Jews have always gone to temple to learn. They have promulgated a culture of wisdom, from their earliest days. I have to admit, raising Hogs in the middle east back in the day must have been a dicey business. Much better success with Lamb, I reckon. Those folks were on to something. Of course, that was before nitrites.