Holy Crap, Batman!

This morning I read an article about Sarah Palin making a stop while on her book-burning book-signing tour. She was in North Carolina and stopped by to have lunch with Billy Graham. Graham's son, Franklin, said that his father has "followed her career and likes her strong stand on faith...Daddy feels God was using her to wake America up." Hmm. It might surprise you to know that Billy Graham is a registered Democrat, so I wonder if he meant his comment in a way other than how it appears on the surface? Franklin also said that Palin "quizzed Graham what the Bible says about Israel, Iran and Iraq. "

The latter is what really gave me pause. I really don't give a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut what Sarah Palin believes when it comes to religion. As far as I'm concerned, she can roll around on the floor and speak in tongues to her stony little heart's desire. She can wrassle with rattlesnakes, if that’s what she wants to do. In fact, I think that’s actually a pretty good idea. C’mon, Sarah, you’ve got the faith!

Well, I can't say that I have a God-shaped void in my heart and soul. And I'm not seeking something beyond what I can see and touch or understand intellectually here on earth. I'm not like you, Sarah, and I know a lot of people who feel the same way I do. I also wonder at the faulty logic of seeing the beauty of nature and making the leap to knowing that someone had to create it. Science, be damned! Take your proven theories and get out of my face! Stoopid scientists, tryin' to make sense of the world by using sound principles, research, and investigative techniques instead of relying on superstition and faith to explain phenomena. Besides, "thunder is God bowling" is so much cuter than all that babble about lightning producing enough heat to cause a shock wave, don't you think?

But like I said, I really don't care what she chooses to believe. That is her business. However, I do not want anyone in a position of leadership who chooses to base their foreign policy on what the Bible says about places like Israel, Iran, and Iraq.

That bears repeating. I do not want my legislators basing their foreign policy--or any legislative decisions, for that matter--on the Bible. I know this will piss some people off, but so be it. I do not believe that the Bible is the word of God, and it should not be treated as anything more than a religious text. It most certainly should not be a source of political decision-making.

I've had a similar discussion with my Dad. I love him to pieces, but he asked me once about school prayer. "Don't you think kids should be allowed to pray in school?" Well, of course, they should, if that's what they choose to do, on their own time. But there should be no school-led prayer. President Obama took a lot of flak for saying that we are not a Christian nation. I'm glad he said it, because we are not. We are a nation of many different religions, and yes indeed, even people with no religion, and our government has no right to legislate anything to do with that. Believe what you want to believe, but keep your religious views out of my government. Especially if you are anxious for Armageddon so that you can be taken up in the Rapture, or whatever that timeline is. Some of us aren't so keen on experiencing Armageddon, thank you very much.

On a related note, I recently received some feedback saying that I was bashing Christianity. I have to wonder...if someone feels that way, why they are still reading? Maybe getting a little thrill out of my dirty whorish mouth? How many times have I said this? If you don't like what I have to write, or if you just plain don't like me, no one is forcing you to read. And you know what? I don't visit your blog and leave comments about things that you write, no matter how insipid or mistaken I think they are. If I disagree with your viewpoint, I just move along and leave you to your opinion. You have the right to yours, and I have every bit of the same right to mine.

I have a long history with religion and problems that it has caused, in my own life and around the world, for thousands of years. I have not gone into these things here, because it's my business, and I share it with people on a personal level if and when I want to. But it's this kind of persecutional paranoia that is one of the reasons I have grown increasingly disenfranchised. I believe you have the right to believe what you want, and I also have the right to believe or not believe what I want. Your sanctimonious irritation at my personal opinion on my own blog only reinforces the feelings I've developed over the years. The hypocrisy I've seen, the belief that anyone who doesn't believe exactly as you do is going straight to hell, the sure and steadfast knowledge that those who love others of the same gender, no matter how wonderful, kind, and decent they might be, are going to burn in the fiery pit...it all leaves me cold, and I want nothing to do with it.