Proof That Seperation of Church and State is Important (or why religious wing-nuts need to go away)
Posted by Jimi on May 25, 2012
English: 42 as an Interleaved 2 of 5 barcode (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Apparently David Barton is under the impression that HIS Bible is the ultimate answer in the universe, at least that is what he is putting forth in this article. Where does the church find these people? Do they actually search around for the people that drool the most and then recruit them for their seminary schools? Or perhaps they check the drag marks on their knuckles…
This statement by Barton is huge because by his own terms things such as women’s rights, anti-discrimination laws, abolishing slavery… those are all wrong and against the Bible and should still be legal. There is a lot more in the Bible that is simply not applicable to our modern society that according to his statement should still be practiced and yet I have never seen a Christian live up to all the rules and guidelines as put forth in the Bible.
The church is overstepping their boundaries by a fair magnitude lately and I cannot help but wonder why it is being allowed to happen. Is the government merely to scared to stand up to the church? Granted, we have extremists like WBC and David Barton, but even the Vatican is attempting to influence policy in America. You would think of any other organization in the world, the Vatican would understand the toxic nature of mixing government and religion together as is clearly seen throughout history.
The church has no place dictating policy to the US Government, none whatsoever. By all means, setup rules and guidelines for your cultists parishioners, but stay the hell out of our government. This cannot be stated enough times, this country was not founded on Christian beliefs, God was purposely left out of the Constitution, it was not a mistake. The only thing you will achieve by attempting to force your religious views into the Government of this country is angry people striking back against you, and eventually you will lose all those wonderful benefits that come from operating a church.
Everyone has their own belief system and I am not knocking them down, however, when you try to influence how I will live my life based on your ideals it pisses me off. Keep it up long enough and one day you will find some vocal group attempting to outlaw some activity you participate in and you will find yourself in the fight of your life to maintain your basic rights just like the rest of us are now against all you Bible thumping wackos.
P.S. I am not sure why WordPress presented me with images related to Hitchhiker’s Guide for suggestions on this blog, but I could not pass up the chance of putting the ’42′ bar code up.
Related articles
- Once again, Barton falsely claims the Constitution reflects the Bible ‘verbatim’ (secularnewsdaily.com)
- Why the Man Who Wrote ‘The Jefferson Lies’ Is A Right-Wing Liar Who’s Enabled By The Media (crooksandliars.com)
- Faux history for the GOP (salon.com)
- David Barton’s Jefferson — Sightings (Martin Marty) (bobcornwall.com)
- Taking a look at “The Jefferson Lies” (viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com)
- David Barton’s version of ‘verbatim’ (maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com)
- David Barton Lies Shamelessly on the Daily Show (littlegreenfootballs.com)
Simple Theologian said
So if I attempted to explain the Bible and Christ’s teachings I become a Bible Thumping wacko?
Daz said
That strange sound you heard just now…? That was the point flying about a mile over your head.
You become a Bible thumping wacko when you (i) attempt to force your religious views on others by force of law or (ii), as in this case, try to claim that the holy book of your choice instructs you that you may disregard the laws that others have to abide by.
Attempting to explain the Bible and Christ’s teachings merely makes you tedious.
Paul Phillips said
To add on to Daz’s comment I would say explaining the Bible’s teachings should always come with the caveat the explanation will be a selective one. As the post points out (and it is not really even debatable) the Bible has some questionable, at best, and horrifying, at worst, points included within its pages. Since it’s a big book, anyone can select certain passages and find inspiration that might be applied as a positive aspect for society (you could almost certainly do the same with books a defender of the Bible finds appalling). The important element to remember, however, is they shouldn’t be taken literally and shouldn’t be the literal basis for modern law when there is obviously so much flawed ideology within its pages. If you try to push one selected passage as a literal base for law you just open yourself up to a hypocritical position of having to explain why, for example, slavery shouldn’t be law. And if we accept some aspects of the Bible have those flaws, we really should be evolved enough to realize it is simply not the best justification for how we should govern in the modern world.
Daz said
A better answer than mine! Thanks. On the other hand, mine has that piquant tinge of cathartic snarkiness…
amandatheatheist said
I really like the new layout! I haven’t visited your blog in quite a while, so I have no idea when you changed it. It looks nice.
Jimi said
thank you. Change is actually something that is rather hard for me, I still wear the same fashions as when I was in high school, so even though I found this theme a long while back it took me half of forever to actually change it.