Sometimes people say things they didn't mean to say. I do that all the time. So I try to clarify and make my point more clear. It's part of the human condition to make mistakes with the tongue.
But sometimes people say things so outlandish, so ridiculous, so moon-bat that it defies logic. Such is the case with Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association who said --- in summary --- that only Christians have rights in America and all other religions are only allowed by the good graces of the Christian majority.
That is so ignorant that I have a difficult time knowing where to begin. To say the Founding Fathers only granted religious liberty to Christians is, well, crazy. First, the only recognized Christians at the time of the Bill of Rights were Anglicans, Congregationalists and Catholics, and all three fought against the other two claiming superior relationship to God. And none of those three groups thought Methodists, Presbyterians or Baptists were Christian. In fact, all the Big Three in the Colonies considered everyone else as unchristian, as unregenerate, and as heathen as any Muslim. And Fischer and the American Family Association are trying to say only Christians were allowed liberty by the Founding Fathers? Is he willing to say that means only Anglicans, Congregationalists and Catholics are afforded liberty today? Lo! I'm willing to wager that means most members of American Family Association don't have the official American recognition of being Christian. Hmmmm. Quite a problem with that interpretation, Mr. Fischer.
Second, any reasonable person knows that Fischer's position is something we should just ignore: it is that of a theocratic fruit cake. Problem is that his argument is being sold by many in the Religious Right as a means of money and political power. Unfortunately, these leaders are not educating their flocks about the history of our nation. Instead they are twisting the history and the Bible to suit their own needs. They are manipulating the sheep.
Here is the link to the Americans United blog by Joseph Conn that goes into more detail about the claims of Fischer. It is quite a read.
Let's hope the reasoned and educated people can overcome the bigotry and ignorance of Fischer and American Family Association.
1 comment:
Let's hope there are enough reasoned and educated people who vote, but the last election, and the resulting rash of ignorance that has subsequently come to light from those that were elected, makes me shiver. The bills that have been proposed in the name of religion are downright scary and disheartening. They are the result of the talk of people such as this creep.
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