Monday, October 16, 2006

Stupid or Gullible?

Sweetie and I watched last night's "60 Minutes" piece on the new book, "Tempting Faith" (segment and recap can be reached here).
As I listened to Mr. Kuo's comments, two thoughts went through my mind:

  1. Well, duh.
  2. Nice to see that gullibility is alive and well.

As a long-time secularist (but not a fundie secularist) I have been long-offended by the notion that people of my ilk were busy trashing the Christian religion. I hope this book puts that silly notion to rest. I am certain that some of us secularists view the activities of various organized religions with a measure of disdain and/or humor, but at least we haven't been conning religious folks out of their dollars and votes.

I am certain that many of my fellow secularists may think that these evangelical Christians must be dumber than a sack of hair. I disagree. What you are seeing here is gullibility on a massive scale. And I have to doff my derby to the GOP for carrying this charade on for so long. And, if there is a heaven/hell, I do hope that Ralph Reed has his own personal rack reserved.

I am also certain that some of my fellow secularists may laugh heartily at Mr. Kuo's surprise that the GOP was taking advantage of he and his fellow evangelicals. Mr. Kuo, why do you think so many of us become secularists in the first place? Whenever evangelicals raise the roof about gay marriage, abortion, or the loss of God in the schools, all I ever think about is this: What about the poor? I thought that Jesus spoke often about the poor. What happened to the notion of helping the least among us?

I once told an evangelical Christian who was busy trying to convert me that I would gladly join his congregation if they would stop talking about gay marriage and abortion and instead discuss the poor and the downtrodden. He got kind of a curious look on his face as if he had never considered those issues until that moment. I've never forgotten that encounter.

Now perhaps some of you evangelical Christians may fully understand why church and state should be separated. I think Mr. Kuo's gotten the message, at least for now.

6 comments:

TeacherRefPoet said...

Religious right: focus on abortion, gay issues, sexual morality

Relgious left: focus on the poor and social justice

Jesus spent maybe a line or two talking about sexual morality. (There's more in Leviticus and in Paul, but I take my marching orders from Jesus, not them). He spent page after page after page talking about the poor and social justice.

The religious left brought us the Civil Rights movement...they can get us out of this morass, too.

Any march that can't include both you and me isn't a march I want to be a part of.

Thanks for the link.

Seven Star Hand said...

Hey TSpoon,

Good article!

Here's some more red-hot ink for your pen. Keep the heat on our evil leader in chief and his cohorts and help me "vanquish the sword!"

More stunning proof that Christians are easily duped into supporting blatant evil

The latest book of stunning revelations titled "Tempting Faith" by former Bush Administration insider David Kuo presents compelling first-hand evidence that the Christian Right was purposely duped into providing pivotal political support and cover for a host of crimes and excesses by Republican leaders and the Whitehouse. This book and the Foley fiasco are serving to awaken Christians to the undeniable fact that they have been deceived into abetting the evil deeds of duplicitous scoundrels, once again.

The events of recent years and the several millennia before them have provided us with comprehensive proof that religion is the chosen and purposeful tool of great deceivers. Whether we view the actions of the Temple priesthood of ancient Israel that conspired with Greco-Roman invaders, the sad and sordid history of the Vatican and Papacy, Christian crusaders and colonizers, injustices by leaders and followers of Islam, the oppression of Palestinians by the State of Israel, or the more recent activities of the so-called Christian Right and Republican Party, religious followers are regularly and easily misled into supporting obvious evil.

In recent years, I have produced stunning and comprehensive proof of purposeful deception in the canons of all three Faiths of Abraham and struggled to alert people to this and to related upcoming events and situations. Due to "poisoning of the waters" by deluded religious leaders and followers over the centuries, most have greeted my efforts with derision or indifference, thereby failing to pay attention long enough to discern the accuracy of my research and assertions. Starting with the perfectly timed Atlantic hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, a small number of people, some of them in government leadership positions, began to recognize the truth of my conclusions and assertions. The events of the last year-plus, starting with the ramifications from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, have helped to sweep away many of the facades erected by the Bush-Cheney crew and cohorts. Many of their deceptions have been exposed, their greed and arrogance proven, the myth of their competence destroyed, and most recently the depths of their duplicity and hypocrisy have been illuminated by a series of stunning revelations.

Nonetheless, the so-called Christian Right has continued faithfully supporting them, in spite of mountains of evidence that should have dissuaded any clear-thinking soul. The recent non-stop flood of stunning evidence leaves little doubt that the so-called liberals and the left were 100% correct about the Bush-Cheney crew. Despite assertions to the contrary, conservatives and the Christian Right are now exposed as having arrogantly and foolishly supported blatantly evil scoundrels. We now have proof, beyond disproof, that Republican leaders viewed them as little more than marks and dupes to be milked of their faith, money, political support, and the lifeblood of their son's and daughter's on the battlefields of Bush's and Cheney’s deceptive wars.

It is a sad but true statement that deceived and deluded Christians are much more responsible for the evils perpetrated by the Bush administration than any other group. They have arrogantly and foolishly supported those who simply pretended to have the same beliefs, even though their deeds provided stark and irrefutable evidence to the contrary. My recent articles and book expound upon the reasons why religious followers are so easily duped into doing and supporting blatant evil. Now the events of recent weeks have provided stunning evidence that these assertions and conclusions are true. Christians and conservatives must now come to grips with the sickening reality of the great harm they have caused to everyone else because of their blind support of scoundrels who merely pretended to serve the Creator, as a purposeful ploy to gain wealth and power.

What then is the purpose of "faith" but to prevent otherwise good people from seeking to understand truth and wisdom?

Read More...
Here is Wisdom !!

Peace...

lemming said...

Have you ever read PJ O'Rourke on South Africa? Much the same process - people who are reasonably well intentioned but simply have not thought about the issues of teh era occuring on multiple levels.

tommyspoon said...

Lemming,

Yes, I have read O'Rourke's writings on South Africa. But I think the situations are slightly different in this regard: most of the whites in South Africa knew that apartheid was morally wrong yet went along with it out of fear or desire to maintain their lifestyle. Evangelical Xians in this country seem to have completely forgotten about the New Testament and have become "Leviticans" (a term coined by the writer John Scalzi).

My question is why this selective memory? It seems like most of the folks who raise the roof about gay marriage or abortion are not likely to be actively engaged in either issue (i.e., they aren't gay or pregnant). So these issues aren't issues of immediate material concern to them. So why the ruckus?

The homeless people I pass every day on the street are a far more serious issue, and one that Jesus spoke of at great length. Add to that all of this "rapture" nonsense and I add my last question for you: Since when did Christianity become a Death Cult?

lemming said...

Oh, I don't pretend that the two are the same - I'm just struck by O'Rourke's experience at a dinner party. He suggested to his hosts that they could (should) invie some of their Black acquaintances over for drinks, etc. As he describes teh conversation, it clearly had never occured to them that this was something they could do, just not on their radar.

I'm starting to wonder how much of the problem has to do with "selective radar." Then again, I'm in one of my more optimistic moods today.

Anonymous said...

"Jesus spent maybe a line or two talking about sexual morality. (There's more in Leviticus and in Paul, but I take my marching orders from Jesus, not them). He spent page after page after page talking about the poor and social justice."

Exactly, teacherref