fundie video

Sen. Dole (R-NC) Vilifies Atheists in Campaign Ad

UPDATE: Democratic challenger Kay Hagan defeated Libby Dole. Thankfully, the residents of North Carolina saw through the BS and recognized Dole’s ad for what it was: unfounded, bigoted tripe.

George H.W. Bush’s now-infamous quote regarding the patriotism of atheists is old news for most. At a 1987 campaign stop in Chicago, Bush 41 made a disgusting statement that should be offensive not only to atheists, but to theists as well. The shocking amount of judgment that he passed on an entire group of people should have been a career-ending soundbyte. Unfortunately, Americans were more disgusted by Michael Dukakis with a goofy helmet in a tank than this bigoted quote by the (then) Vice President of the United States. Here is the text of the statement:

Sherman: What will you do to win the votes of the Americans who are atheists?

Bush: I guess I’m pretty weak in the atheist community. Faith in God is important to me.

Sherman: Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?

Bush: No, I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.

Sherman (somewhat taken aback): Do you support as a sound constitutional principle the separation of state and church?

Bush: Yes, I support the separation of church and state. I’m just not very high on atheists.

It’s no secret that atheists are the most reviled minority in the United States. It’s no surprise that there are very few atheist elected officials in this country. So it certainly comes as no surprise when Senator Elizabeth Dole runs an attack ad attempting to draw a connection between her opponent, Kay Hagan, and… dun dun dun… ATHEISTS!! Never mind that the ad is completely false. It is attempting to create guilt by association and make viewers question the judgment of the opposing candidate simply because she may have known some atheists. I thought it was bad that most other attack ads focusing on guilt by association had to do with terrorists; I never thought I would be a member of a group referenced in one.

Check out the ad below before the cease and desist order goes through. While I don’t think that attempting to tie someone to atheists should be considered a defamation of character, insinuating that a candidate makes the quote at the end of the video when she did not, is a misrepresentation of the truth (a.k.a. LIE). If the video is taken down, I’m sure it will pop up somewhere else on YouTube. I’ll fix the link if and when that happens.

Rapture Nonsense from Jack Van Impe

“Think of the passengers of airplanes with Christian crews”? What sick, demented god would wreak such havoc on his creation?

As Alexander the Pretty Good said over at Holy Freak, “Christians and atheists have the same goal. And we should both be working together to achieve that goal. Both atheists and Christians want all Christians to vanish off the face of the earth.”

On a more casual note, I have a hard time taking serious religious advice from a woman named Rexella. Sounds more like the name of a kinky dominatrix.

SEXPOSED!

Of all the archaic “morals”, when will this one finally cease to exist? If someone chooses to not have sex before marriage, that’s fine. I know a lot of people who have made that choice and I 100% respect that. What I don’t respect is that some people have been brainwashed into thinking that it is somehow a sin or devalues your future relationships.

The Bible promotes slavery. As a society, we have all cast a furrowed brow upon that practice. The Bible promotes the subservience of women. As a society, most of us at least, have frowned upon that view as well. When will the same be true of pre-marital sex?

What tickles me the most is when I meet a practitioner of this idea that has done pretty much everything except have vaginal intercourse. Does that even honor the spirit of the idea? If you take the message of the video that you wouldn’t want something that someone else has already used, then how do oral sex, mutual masturbation, anal sex, and other acts “slip through the cracks.”

Don’t get me wrong, I think abstinence is a good idea, but I think discretion is an even better one. Obviously, there are a lot of threats that face people who engage in sex: sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy being the most common. But are there not other ways to avoid those things without fear of eternal hellfire? After all, in accordance with Christian tradition, one could live a life of absolute debauchery and then surrender their heart to Jesus when they’ve finished sowing their oats. The only thing that keeps more people from truly liberating themselves from the shackles of this ancient prohibition is the fear that, if they were to die before surrendering their life to Christ, you know, the hellfire thing.

Alliteration and Passionate Prose Doesn’t Make it True

Produced by Igniter Media Group, the following clip illustrates what is apparently a popular sermon by the late S. M. Lockridge, who is apparently some sort of minister.

Igniter describes that their mission is “to create high quality media that equips people with visual resources that declare Truth.” Hmmm. I might challenge that description. I would revise it to “create high quality media that takes a muddled, ancient and contradictory message and puts a modern spin on it so that you temporarily forget the meaningless banter being preached and focus on the shiny spinning objects and cool music.”

Their back-patting page goes on to say “since [2002], we have been committed to creating media that challenges and encourages people to live honest and authentic lives, grounded in Truth.” Of course, this phraseology only further frames the debate in their favor that one cannot live an honest and authentic life without their pre-packaged Truth(c).

I guess what I find so dumbfounding is more basic than all of this. Why would genuine people need videos, music, fancy buildings and all manner of other religious accoutrements to have a personal relationship with their savior? If the core message is a personal relationship, why do so many other folks get involved?

But I digress. Enjoy (or become nauseated by) the video.