In God They're Sussed

I'm increasingly fearful and disgusted by the turn the seemingly endless US Presidential campaign is taking to religion. It looks to me as if the religious right has won, by succeeding in making religion, or the perceived lack thereof, a litmus test for office.

There was one Jesus freak at a recent debate who stood up, displayed a Bible like a war wound and demanded to know if the candidates onstage believed every single word of it.

Naturally, they all weaseled out of answering. But whywhywhy has this been allowed to get this far?

Once more, for those who still don't get it: THIS IS NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION. No matter how much the religious right Christ cult wants it to be. This country was founded by Deists and other "undesirables" who fled (or were kicked out of) their European homelands because they were religiously persecuted, and rightly vowed "Never again!"

Besides, nobody can agree on "Christian" values anyway. They can't even agree on the true nature of Jesus. Look in the New Testament: you'll find Jesus being bratty to his mom ("Woman, what have I to do with thee?" She should have smacked him...) and telling his disciples to abandon their families in favor of going on the road with him. Not exactly a nice Jewish boy.

And then later, along comes Paul with his misogynistic message for women to keep their mouths shut in church and be doormats for their husbands in the home.
Huh. I fondly recall the kerfuffle some years ago when the leader of the Episcopal Church, up at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, put forth the proposition that Paul was a closet gay, and thus a charter member of the Judeo-Christian He-Man Woman-haters Club, Palestine branch.

Islam is by no means the only religion that legislates against what "reformer" John Knox, that Scottish loony tune, called "the monstrous regiment of women." It's just the one that's the meanest and nastiest about it.

If you're looking for a female-friendly faith, may I suggest (not proselytize!) the pre-Christian tribal Paganism of Western Europe, in all its various local flavors: Celtic, Norse and Teutonic especially...

In all these Northern systems, women enjoyed all human and civil rights, were honored by law and practice, could be the dominant legal partner in marriage, could divorce and remarry with no issues, and could take the kids and their own property with them.

It wasn't until the Christ cult got their foot in the door in Europe and wiped out the Pagans (the great Joseph Campbell, born and raised Catholic, bitterly complains, "What was the matter with Christians? Why couldn't they live at peace with other religions?") that these utterly civilized and humane systems were swept out of existence.

If Christ-culters have problems with, say, homosexuality, abortion and the rest of their ragbag of "sins", here's a thought: Don't do it. Don't be gay. Don't have abortions. And shut up about casting those who do in the role of sinners. Who the hell are you to say what the sins of others might be? What was that advice I seem to recall about ignoring the beam in one's own eye? Right, then.

How does allowing gays to marry legally hurt you or your families? I'd say it improves family values. How does allowing civil rights for everybody diminish yours? And why should any nation's legal system codify its laws according to a two- to five-thousand-year-old interpretation of "sin" anyway?

If Christians think they're being bashed, maybe they should turn a humble and seeing eye to their own practices. That's what's making others bash them. They've made no bones, many of them, about their desire to theocratize this country: would Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln have passed their Bible litmus test? I think not.

Far too many Christians are that in name only. By their fruits ye shall know them? Yeah, I guess so. Dead Sea fruit, by all appearances. Hostile, hateful, unloving, unforgiving, intolerant. And then they whine and piss and moan when people take them to task for such attitudes.

I don't think their god would like it much if he came back (and no, not to Missouri, Gov. Mitt Romney notwithstanding) and saw what they'd gotten up to in his name...but I'm not looking to see that anytime soon.

So I for one would like to see religion excised from the current campaign, with the nice sharp scalpel of secularism and the law. And if the candidates don't put a sock in it forthwith and posthaste, don't vote for 'em. Write in Thomas Jefferson, or Odin, or Bono, or anyone you like. Just don't encourage them any more than they've been already.