Tolerance, Thy Name Plainly Ain't FSTDT

I started this particular dissection during the break but only wound it up tonight. It wouldn't be a New Year without a good old-fashioned fundie rant to debunk!

Among the recent droppings at FSTDT is a doozy. Join me in dissecting the strange rantings of one "DesertFox." (Extra points if we think the Fox part might refer to Fox News? But of course!)

The media discredits anything the Right does. So what if they want a CC in place of a Jew? Isn't that their right? Of course it is! And I for one am sick of Christian Conservative being a dirty pair of words.

As one of the commenters at FSTDT observed, anybody can be sick of any turn of phrase. Recent polling revealed that most people in North America are tired to bits of "Whatever!" as a phrase, for example. Plug in any characterization there in his statement about "dirty phrases": Naked Pagan, Latte-Drinker, Regressive Redneck, or even Congressional Representative. The statement's just as meaningful with any substitution you care to make....which is to say that it expresses someone's individual opinion. That's all. Saying you're sick of Christian Conservative being a dirty pair of words does nothing, in and of itself, to confer legitimacy on the positions such a person would take and espouse.

I want them emblazoned on a 100x100' flag and flown from the top of the capitol in every state, every territory, and every other US jurisdiction (such as DC). We need to make it plain that Christianity's principles made this country great -- not Izzie principles, not Jewish principles, not Hindu or Buddha or Taoist or animist or Kung Fu beliefs.

First...a square flag? OK, if that floats your boat. But the rest of this statement points out clearly that this poster doesn't get the Establishment Clause, making it plain that there is no such thing as a "state religion" in the States. That's part of what the Puritans were running away from, remember? So ix-nay on the ag-flying-flay. As to this list of principles (and what does this guy have against the excellent 70s series with David Carradine as Kwai Chang Kaine?), we'll return to it anon.

Then, after 20 years or so, when everybody "gets it," then we can quit worrying about it, take them banners down and go back to being -- a Christian nation that lets others be so long as they're law abiding and not out to wreck our Christian nation. That is the principle that needs to be appended to the Constitution -- that this is a Christian nation based on Christian principles, and no one will be allowed to try to take the nation down by using its own rules against Christianity, in places public or private.

Boy, he's putting a lot of faith in 20 years of flag-flying imprinting anything on anybody's minds. How many of you, dear readers, can accurately describe your own State flag?

And, also...if the principle he is advocating for has been there all along, then why now does it need to be "appended" to the Constitution? Is he not a strict constructionalist? Does he want lawmakers to overturn the Founders' convictions, or judges to legislate from the bench? Slippery slope, pal, slippery slope...

Free speech is free speech, but you don't get to use it to impugn Christ.

Er...actually, yes, if that's how you're inclined, you do. That's what makes it free speech.

All religions are equal, but Christianity is more equal than any other. Judaism is next more equal.

Oh, look - Judaism gets to take the crown if Miss Christianity is unwilling or unable to fulfill her obligations! I wonder which faith gets Miss Congeniality?

After that they're all the same. You don't like it, phuqq you.

Ah, here we go. Faith is not a personal choice of conscience. It's a hierarchy where two Abrahamic traditions get pride of place and everyone else fights over the scraps. Hindus, you're the same as Wiccans. Buddhists, duke it out with the Muslims. You can't apply unless you follow the teachings of someone who was probably brown but is almost always portrayed as white. Take what you get and like it.

Dude, what about "no test of faith" do you not understand? Ever run into the works of this guy named George Orwell? Because I think you're one of the people he was trying hardest to talk to! Four legs good, two legs better....

The overriding point here is that we were great when we didn't question Christianity or push the laws or customs to the very outermost limit.

Ah - sing your hymns, ante up for the collection, and don't make waves. What Norman Rockwell paintings are you hallucinating as you inhale the burning fumes of Harry Potter books? The great myth by which the USA functions is pushing laws and customs to their limit, striking out afresh, the New Eden! If you want conformity, may I recommend Italy?

Then along came the ACLU, doing just that. The only way I can see to forestall such death-by-a-thousand-cuts is to make it unmistakably clear that Christianity and Judaism are the sources of our greatness, and we won't allow pissants to tear us down.

But...wait...I thought Judaism was only "next more equal"? Are you watering down your vision already? Reconsider, DesertFox. This can't be earning you any Rapture Points(TM).

And the truth of the matter, at day's end...is that this is all irrational screeching about the fact that Everybody Everywhere Doesn't Think The Same As Me. There is NOBODY out there stopping DesertFox from pushing his creed as fervently as his personal whim dictates. He can put his 100' x 100' flag of choice on top of his own home, or those of fellow-travelers, as he likes. He wants a nativity scene in his yard over the holidays, or Bible tracts on his porch on Hallowe'en, he's welcome (well, so long as he hasn't agreed to homeowners' agreements prohibiting such, but HE would never do that, since his belief is so staunch, right?).

His real problem is that he doesn't see mirrors everywhere around him. He sees windows. And windows are disturbing because they lead to Other Points Of View. And we can't have that.

Personally, I think Jesus would be appalled by the draconian, control-freak efforts some of his purported followers are putting forward, supposedly inspired by his example.

Here's hoping that we all had a Merry Christmas, Count and Co. And a Cheery Festivus, Luminous Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah and Blessed Yule. Let's all be tolerant out there going ahead into 2011.