The Bigots’ Crusade

Humility, tolerance, and the “Golden Rule” were the central themes of a speech given by President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast, earlier this month, in which he argued that no religion has a monopoly on adherents committing heinous acts of evil in its name, nor should those who have committed said acts be considered representatives of their nominal faiths. These comments followed a recent rash of high-profile violence in Europe and elsewhere, perpetrated by Muslims, and seized upon by bottom-feeders in politics and the media as proof that the West is at war with Islam itself.

In his speech, the President urged historical perspective, noting how the Crusades, the Inquisition, slavery, and Jim Crow were all conducted under the banner of Christianity, but we shouldn’t (and generally don’t) condemn the entire religion, and everyone in it for those acts of violence and oppression. This passage, in particular, immediately drew the usual, protracted howls of barely-coherent scorn from Conservatives in the Church of Reagan, many of whom wallowed in Christian persecution complexes, while citing it as proof that the Commander-in-Chief who oversaw the termination of bin Laden, and has been responsible for the assassination of countless Middle Easterners by drone, is “weak” in the War on Terror; perhaps even a “secret Muslim,” himself!

Others scoffed that Obama had to go back dozens hundreds of years to find anything done by Christians remotely comparable to what radical Muslims are doing in the present—“That’s in the past! Christianity is all growed up, now!”

They didn’t seem to understand that he certainly could have gone there, had he chosen: for example, it was just under six years ago that George Tiller, a doctor who performed partial-birth abortions, was murdered by Scott Roeder—who, far from being a lone whacko, was part of a terrorist organization called the Army of God, which previously claimed responsibility for several bombings in 1997 on abortion clinics and a lesbian bar by Eric Robert Rudolph, among others.

Meanwhile, on the oppression side of things, a “crusade” against the Civil Rights of homosexuals in the United States continues to this very day. Shortly before Obama gave his speech at the Prayer Breakfast, the US Supreme Court had ordered probate judges in Alabama to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in their state. The Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore—who, in 2002, speculated that confinement and even execution might be appropriate penalties for homosexuality—told the probate judges to ignore this order. The latest result of this conflict between State and Federal courts is currently pending, and should be known within days.

Also this month, the fugly Governor of Kansas, Sam Brownback, wrote an executive order rescinding anti-discrimination protections of gays, lesbians, and other non-heteronormative individuals in his state. Days later, the State Legislature of Arkansas passed a bill banning local governments from passing non-discrimination protections for LGBT people in the workplace, public accommodations, and housing. Other states currently considering similar actions include Indiana, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Georgia, Tennessee, and New Hampshire. In every case, we can assume the primary motivations are religious in nature because… WTF other reason would there be??

One Response to “The Bigots’ Crusade”

By » Mert (July 24th, 2015 at 3:37 pm)

Wait, is the fatass in orange supposed to be the bad guy? I don’t get it.