American Heathen®

The following guest commentary is authored by Chuck Doswell.

When I bring up examples of religious believers who say and do horrible things, including violence (like the mass murderer in Norway, Anders Behring Breivik), I’m told by my mainstream believer friends that this person can’t be a “true” christian believer.  The same can be said for muslim extremists: islamic terrorists can’t possibly be true muslims, I hear.  Be they christian, jewish, or muslim, believers all base their beliefs on their “sacred” scriptures of choice: the bible, the torah, and the quran.

What mainstream (or moderate) believers do, as opposed to fundamentalists who accept every word in their scriptures literally, is to pick and choose their beliefs within their sacred texts.  They choose to ignore, for example, the calls for violence to be perpetrated on unbelievers, all the misogyny, the damning of homosexuals, and so on.  In effect, each person can design their own unique set of religious beliefs, which may or may not coincide with one of the numerous different versions (sects, denominations) of their chosen religion.  If religious beliefs are purely personal, then you can believe whatever you want out of the package contained in your sacred scriptures.  You can choose one of pre-packaged versions (i.e., a particular denomination/sect), or you can create your own.  The scriptures are kind of like a set of Legos!

Many moderate christian and muslim believers see their religions as favoring peace and love, despite the indisputable fact that their scriptures are awash with hatred and violence.  How can a believer see him/herself as a “true” believer, when they’ve cherry-picked the scriptures that form the foundation for their professed beliefs?  The hatred and violence within those documents remain, like little poison pellets of evil.  All believers in those religious texts have consumed their contents;  the only difference to be found among believers is the amount of such poison they’ve chosen to swallow.  Fundamentalists swallow the entire document, so it seems to me that they must be the only “true” believers!  Curiously, even self-proclaimed fundamentalists disagree about what poison they’ve accepted.  Believers show a remarkable willingness to embrace contradictions, however, so I suppose this is at least consistently illogical!

Moderates may not believe in the same things that extremist believers do, but if the extremists ever get their way (as in, for example, Iran), the moderates will be forced to choose:  us or the unbelievers?  And don’t tell me it can’t happen here!  In such a black-and-white world, unbelievers are fit only to be cast aside and even killed.  Many moderate believers refuse to take a strong stand against the extremists, some even to the point of saying and doing precisely nothing against the evils of the extremists.

The “true” face of religious belief was revealed recently when Saudi Arabia executed (by beheading) a woman convicted of witchcraft.  That a nation in this modern world would sanction such a murder on the basis of a medieval, mythical belief in the existence of witches and sorcerers is symptomatic of the evil of religion.  When you believe you have all the answers in the words of an infallible text, then anything you do in the name of your deity is justified.  Religion-based absolute certainty is a danger to the whole world.  Lest any moderate christians feel smug about their having rejected witchcraft, they need to remember that many people were murdered in the not-too-distant path by christian zealots (even in America!) based on accusations of witchcraft.  Believers live in a demon-haunted world, to use a phrase coined by Carl Sagan.  In such a world, torture and murder are needed to scourge the world of demons and sorcerers.  If you’re not with us, we’re against you – that’s the “true” face of all religions.

In my view of things, all major religions are myths.  In all forms, they’re nothing more than popular cults that glorify belief without evidence.  Their sacred texts are nothing more than plagiarized mythology (from earlier cults).  In other words, religions are nothing more than a dangerous collection of lies and myths, almost all of them demonstrably false.  How can one be true to something that contains so very little truth?   All religions contain poison.  The good done in their deity’s name is offset by the evils committed  and hatred perpetuated every day in the name of that same deity.  Their evil is defined within the vile documents they believe contain the very essence of their religion.  Read them for yourself!  Discover all the myriad poison pellets embedded within!

I’m asked quite often why this blog and my Internet radio show exist.  I try to explain the dangers of theocratic fascism that the right wingnuts/GOP/CNP(Christian Nationalist Party) present to the principles of freedom and liberty for ALL and Separation of Church  and State.  Most don’t fucking listen. Time and again I have to defend these ideals, ideals that emanate implicitly and explicitly from the words of the U.S. Constitution.  The question of “Why?” I have to defend these vitally important principles is best answered by using the words of christian fundamentalists.  Words that clearly show that their desire for theocratic government is not some fantastical claim made by “America’s Angriest Atheist”.  And, to those who claim that I’m out to destroy religious freedom in America, I offer you this promise.  I will defend the purity of the First Amendment.  That means freedom to practice your religion or not to practice any at all.  The only caveat to this promise is that I will not defend religious practices that endanger freedom and liberty for ALL citizens.  But I digress…

Here are some words from fundamentalists that underscore the danger their ideologies present to all of us:

From Eagle Forum’s Court Watch: Here’s a Sample Resolution for members which the group says can be used as a “weapon”. Used in “an election and at other times when petition-type expressions of our views and values are appropriate…

“WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States is, and must be, the Supreme Law of the Land, superior to all court decisions;
WHEREAS, the Constitution must be interpreted in the light of its text, constitutional tradition, and its Judeo-Christian foundation;
WHEREAS, the Constitution contains nothing that requires a “wall of separation between church and state”;
WHEREAS, a total separation of religion and law/government is impossible;
WHEREAS, the Framers of the Constitution did not intend that a total separation be attempted;
WHEREAS, the English Common Law in which American law is rooted was Christianized;
WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court does not require a total separation between “church and state”;
WHEREAS, Reconstructionist (activist/liberal) federal judges have blatantly assaulted these fundamental Constitutional principles and have re-written them under the guise of interpreting them;
AND WHEREAS, We, the people, still possess the ultimate human political power in this nation and have delegated to the President and Congress in the Constitution very broad powers to establish and empower national courts;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT ________ actively supports
1. the Congressional denial of jurisdiction to courts to hear challenges to either the verbal or non-verbal acknowledgement of God — i.e., “God” meaning the Deity central to the Ten Commandments – on public property and in official utterances such as (but not limited to) the Pledge of Allegiance and national motto.
2. Congressional refusal to recognize, fund, or otherwise enforce court decisions that prohibit either the verbal or non-verbal acknowledgement of God — i.e., “God” meaning the Deity central to the Ten Commandments — on public property and in official utterances such as (but not limited to) the Pledge of Allegiance and national motto.”

Or, how about Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and Rick Perry, all three christian dominionists.  An endorsement of Bachmann by Dr. George Grant the chancellor and founder of New College Franklin in Tennessee was met with open arms.  Then, in a quick about-face, Bachmann’s campaign website dropped the endorsement.  The reason? Media focus on the extreme theology of dominonism.   But, what exactly did Dr. George Grant do or say to be rejected?  Well, here’s a little sample transcript from a video courtesy of RightWingWatch:

“Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ-to have dominion in the civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness.

But it is dominion that we are after. Not just a voice.

It is dominion we are after. Not just influence.

It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time.

It is dominion we are after.

World conquest. That’s what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for anything less.

If Jesus Christ is indeed Lord, as the Bible says, and if our commission is to bring the land into subjection to His Lordship, as the Bible says, then all our activities, all our witnessing, all our preaching, all our craftsmanship, all our stewardship, and all our political action will aim at nothing short of that sacred purpose.

Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the conquest of the land – of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts, and governments for the Kingdom of Christ. It is to reinstitute the authority of God’s Word as supreme over all judgments, over all legislation, over all declarations, constitutions, and confederations.“

These are just a miniscule sampling of the words of christo-fascist fanatics who have a great deal of  illegitimate influence on our political system and the politicians of the GOP.  Still think I’m just a crazy, uncaring, immoral, untrustworthy atheist?  I don’t make this shit up.  I’ll go away when this bullshit goes away. So, why does American Heathen® exist?  If you can’t find a legitimate reason in anything above, then you’re part of the problem and the reason it does.  If you’re surprised by the words above, then you need to pull your head out of your ass, stand and be counted!

Pat Condell lays open the financial crisis Europe faces.  What’s ironic is that if you simply replace the names of the countries with names of states, you can easily translate this to the U.S.

Do you really think we’re immune?  Money and power crush democracies in the name of corporations and political gain.

While Americans slog their way through economic disaster, they are being heavily courted by fundamentalism at an alarming rate.  Fearful of losing their homes, their jobs, their future, people are desperate and the Religious Reich is taking full advantage of citizen’s fears by declaring that the answer to all their woes can be found in the immorality of biblical hodge podge.  The GOP, married to fundamentalism and sleeping around with corporate America, has all the signs and symptoms of the venereal disease called fascism.  In his book “American Fascists – The Christian Right and the War On America”, Chris Hedges lays out an extremely compelling case of fascist thuggery by the Religious Reich,  and their deep-seated desire to destroy democracy and establish a theocratic fascist government under the banner of their version of a christian skydaddy.

I’ve been reading the book of late.  And, I am thoroughly amazed at the remarkable insight that Hedges, a christian apologist, has when it comes to the destructive nature of christian fundamentalism.  Few moderate/apologist christians have the courage to call a spade a spade when it comes to christian fanaticism, but Hedges makes his views crystal clear.  America is moving toward theocratic fascism, and doing so at an alarming pace.  My interest in this is abundantly clear.  Freedom of religion and from religion are paramount to the survival of our democratic republic.  This is the reason I speak out.  But, it is in anyone’s best interest, anyone who doesn’t believe in a skydaddy, or doesn’t believe in a skydaddy that fits the supernatural puke of the fundamentalist version/interpretation, to heed Hedges’ warning.

A paragraph that really captured my attention comes from the chapter “Apocalyptic Violence” p.198…

“The New York Times in 1944 asked Vice President Henry Wallace to answer the questions: What is a fascist? How many fascists have we? How dangerous are they? The Vice President’s answers were published on April 9, 1944, as the war against the Axis powers and Japan was drawing to a close.  He wrote:

“The really dangerous American fascist… is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way.  The American fascist would prefer not to use violence.  His method is to poison the channels of public information.  With a fascist the problem is never how best to present truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money and more power.

They claim to be superpatriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution.  They demand free enterprise but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest.  Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjugation.”“

The GOP (or as I un-affectionately call them the “CNP” for christian nationalist party) platform and mantra for the past 20 years fits nicely into Vice President Henry Wallace’s description of a fascist from 1944.  Don’t you think?  Attacks on labor unions, progressives, gays, women’s reproductive rights, science… Blatant bigotry, racism, calls for the dismantling of the Wall of Separation, or simply denying it exists…   And, more importantly, playing upon fear of economic collapse while obstructing the democratic process of solving the country’s economic problems by refusing political compromise.  And what of the lies?  Literally thousands upon thousands of lies, manufactured to specific potency for a poison delivered through news. The table for American fascism has been set, I’m afraid.  And, those who are about to sit down at the dinner table, the American people, are unabashedly ignorant of the poison they’ve already consumed, and the final solution being prepared for them in the holy religious kitchen of the fascist GOP.

As a former Marine who served two years during peace time… I extend my sincere thanks and love to all military veterans for their service. To the families of those who have perished in service to our country, I extend my condolences and my sincere hope that you find peace through time.

To the politicians who put our service men and women in harms way for political gain, corporate greed, and religious ideology… Fuck You.