Dear God- It's Me, Jack, And I'm Pissed
Because, once again, there are people who want to turn AmeriKKKa into Gilead
Yeah, we want God in control of government … We want God writing the laws of the land.
It’s a pretty simple threat to understand. For those of us who aren’t Christians, there are folks out there who would happily force us to live by the rules and stipulations of their magic friend. That those strictures happen to mesh beautifully with their fears and prejudices is but a wonderful coincidence, I’m guessing.
Normally, I’m respectful of the religious beliefs of others. But, as these tyrants show no consideration for our beliefs (or lack thereof), I feel no compulsion to respect theirs. They’re intolerant, insensitive, and dismissive assholes who genuinely believe their faith tradition is infinitely superior to any other. Yes, out of more than 3000 religions in the world, theirs happens to be the ONE and ONLY path to salvation.
Go figure.
It’s gotten so ridiculously comical that some of these maroons are traversing the country, whipping up support for dismantling the separation of Church and State. Why? Because their Imaginary Friend is The Way, The Truth, and The Light…and they want Him to have dominion over everyone and everything. They want to control how you think, how you vote, which bathrooms you can use, whom you may love, and…well, it’s a very long list.
All of this is even though, by my way of thinking, “He” doesn’t exist except in the imagination of those who’d use their religion as a means to bludgeon others into compliance.
Of course, this conveniently ignores atheists, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and a veritable clown car of folks who proudly cling to beliefs (or non-beliefs) that aren’t Christian. And there’s nothing in the world wrong with that. Most of us just want Christians to (honestly) do their thing and leave us alone.
Christianity is the majority faith tradition (roughly 3/4 of Americans claim to be Christian of some derivation). Still, the American Taliban (Right-wing Christians and Christian Nationalists) are but a small percentage of that. Sadly, they make the most noise and thus, represent the biggest threat to American democracy.
Given that Christian Nationalists are well-represented in Congress, it doesn’t take a vivid imagination to comprehend the threat they pose to all Americans, regardless of their flavor of Imaginary Friend.
I can only speak for myself, but I don’t take kindly to Right-wing American Taliban know-it-alls working to force their not-at-all-Biblical faith on me. They know nothing of the teachings of the Jesus Christ they proclaim to revere, and their faith is cherry-picked straight out of the Old Testament.
That being the case, I’d ask them a couple of quick questions:
Are you wearing clothes of mixed fibers?
Do you eat shellfish?
If the answer to either of those questions is “yes,” I’m going to call “bullshit” on them. And even if they answer “no,” there are a whole raft load of other Old Testament questions I could ask them to test their fidelity, which they’ll undoubtedly fail. They’re all as fake as a $3 bill.
The truth is that this has nothing to do with “restoring God to the public square.” It’s about temporal political power. It’s the same reason Evangelicals went overwhelmingly for The Former Guy in 2016 and 2020. Never mind that he’s in no way aligned with their alleged beliefs (the ones they were willing to suspend indefinitely because The Former Guy promised them “a seat at the table”).
Because God loves you and wants only the best for you.
Christian musician turned right-wing political activist Sean Feucht continues to travel across the country with his “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour, which is a joint project he launched with right-wing youth organization Turning Point USA to bring Feucht’s mix of worship and hard-right politics to every state capitol in the nation.
Feucht is a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist and, as he has done in previous tour stops, used an event last Friday in Madison, Wisconsin, to lift up local politicians who share his far-right views.
Christian nationalists believe the U.S. and state governments should operate and legislate according to their interpretation of the Bible, and that only Christians who share their political and religious worldview should control the reins of power. While many right-wing activists seek to downplay or obfuscate their Christian nationalist agenda, Feucht has been very open about his intentions, reiterating his desire to see “God in control of the government” while standing outside the Wisconsin state capitol.
Nah, it’s not about putting “God in control of the government.” It’s about putting the American Taliban in control of the government and creating a political system that closely resembles Gilead from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
It’s about using religious faith to camouflage the lust for political power- and with it the material wealth and the ability to exert control over the lives of those who don’t look, act, live, love, think, and/or believe as the “anointed” do.
It’s about convincing the American Sheeple that God loves them and wants only the best for them…and that’s why they should vote the American Taliban into power. That is, before the American Taliban stages a violent coup and installs their own regime of not-so-benevolent terror and hyper-Christian orthodoxy.
(Or, as the late George Carlin used to say, God loves us but he’s perenially short on cash.)
Later in the worship service, Republican state Rep. Chuck Wichgers appeared on stage, where he praised those who had gathered to pray for helping him fight the “demons” at work within the capitol.
“When it comes to this building, there’s demons in those walls,” Wichgers told the crowd. “The only way they go away is by this [prayer]. That’s the only way. And when you’re not here, those demons are laughing at you for not being here. They’re saying, ‘Go away, we’ll give you the laws that you want, we’ll violate the 10 Commandments, we’ll do whatever it takes to make you guys think you’re happy.'”
Of course, Rep. Wichgers never explains what makes the “demons” so bad or why they’re laughing at those outside the walls of the capitol.
Evidently, someone didn’t get the memo covering the separation of Church and State. Either that, or he probably spent the weekend watching “The Exorcist” and got a wee bit too carried away.
Too bad for him that “demons” aren’t any more real than his angry, vindictive version of God His own self.
Not to worry, though, because Sean Feucht had already moved on….
Two days later, Feucht brought his tour directly into the state capitol of Indiana, thanks to the assistance of Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch., After Crouch spoke briefly to the crowd, she was prayed over by Feucht, who promised that she would be “filled with favor” for orchestrating the prayer gathering inside the capitol.
I don’t care who Feucht prays over; he’s still a self-righteous nitwit who takes himself and his “Christian” faith far too seriously. The truth is that prayer changes nothing. He can pray over his grape juice for as long as he deems necessary. When he’s finished, it still won’t be a Cabernet- and nothing will change that.
Prayer is worthless, except perhaps for the peace of mind it may bring to those doing the supplication. If they feel they’re accomplishing something, bully on them- but the reality is that prayer heals nothing. It builds nothing. It solves nothing. It takes action to make things happen. Prayer is merely a way of saying, “I’m not willing to take concrete action, but I’ll sit here in silence and ask my God (who doesn’t exist) to do something about whatever it is I’m concerned about. And then when nothing happens, I’ll call it ‘God’s will.’”
Way to cover all your bases there, eh? If something happens, GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!! If nothing happens…well, God always answers prayers. Sometimes the answer is “no.” This is how I see believers deluding themselves into believing that God answers prayers. They twist the “results” so that no matter what happens, it’s an affirmative outcome, even if the answer is no.
As I’ve already said, I’m normally willing to be more respectful of the religious beliefs of others. However, if they’re intent on forcing their beliefs on me and others who don’t share them, they’re wholly unworthy of that respect. Faith should never be used as a club.
I don’t expect much, and I ask even less of Christians- as long as they keep to themselves and leave the rest of us alone. They have every right to practice their faith, but that right to be valid when they decide to force their beliefs on those who don’t share it.
And don’t even get me started on the separation of Church of State and the Establishment Clause…because those are both constitutional BFDs.
Do your thing. Leave the rest of us alone. Keep your religion out of our government.
That doesn’t seem like it should be terribly difficult, eh?
