Religion And Being A Jackass

Ran into this over on The Wild Hunt blog, and as such these jerks at Operation Destroy America get the honor of being the inspiration of tonight's blog. Apparently these bigoted little swine decided that it would be ok to try and cram their religious bias down the throats of the US Senate by shouting down and otherwise disrupting the prayer offered by a Hindu guest chaplain. Now, the folks at Wild Hunt covered the reaction to this by the Religious Reich and the political implications rather well I think, so I won't bother going into that aside from thanking the various pundits of religious bigotry for again showing their true colors and desires - that being namely a theocratic government to replace the present (if waning) republican system we have.

No, what I'm going to get into is a bit broader. What I'm going to ask, plain a simple, is what the bloody hell gives these idiots and millions like them the right to assume that they can force others to conform to their religious expectations? I'm not just talking about this incident, but rather about every Christian fanatic that has ever used any form of force to apply their religion to others. I'm talking about the brow beating, the group or public intimidation tactics, the "wolf pack" and tag team conversion attempts, the hard sell street evangelism, the counter conversion attempts, the ever-so-concerned warnings about the "dangers to our immortal souls", the unwarranted gagging of dissenting opinion, the constant lies and slander, and the apologetic deceit constantly shoveled out as "truth". Not to even bother mentioning the countless historic incidents of physical violence, forced conversion, genocide, etc.

Now to be fair, it's not only Christianity that does this (*cough* Islam *cough*) or has done this historically, but talking about here and now, and in the US fundamentalist Christians are the biggest offenders, so they are the treatment. Further, not every Christian is a jackass - many are rather nice. But even the nicest can have a religious arrogance of sorts about them. You know, the kinda thing that permits the kind of jackassery I was talking about about, or simply turns a blind eye and excuses it when a fellow Christian is doing it because, after all, it's a fellow Christian.

Often, Christians will offer one of two excuses for this sort of crap. The first of these is that it's their duty to God to see his will done (or whatever), and therefore they must obey him. That alone assumes a whole bloody lot though. Not only does it presuppose the existence of God as they see him, but it presumes that their religious views about this god are literally true in some sense. And guess what dear reader? There is zero objective proof to back up any of that in the least. None. So, in essence, shmucks of this type are justifying making other people's lives miserable (or more annoying at the least) because they believe their own opinions are the end all and be all of existence. That isn't religion, it's nothing more than arrogance, hubris of the sort was punished by divine vengeance in the Greek myths. Furthermore, if that's the case and the accepted standards of behavior, then what's wrong with returning the favor and giving them the same treatment? Pagan hardcore evangelism and high pressure conversions anyone? Some of the more nutcase Satanist wannabes or Islamic jihadists from going out and hunting Christians for sport maybe? Or maybe a revival of the old Aztec religion and daily human sacrifice? After all, any of the above could use the excuse that their god(s) told them to do it. Oh, but that isn't the One True Christian GodTM. Hubris, pure bloody hubris.

The second commonly used excuse is that of love. The line goes that the Christian so loves the individual (or the world or country or whatever) that they have to warn them of the horrendous dangers "to their immortal souls" that they face if they continue with their "sinful" ways. A lot time people will be placated by this line, and I am no exception as I have been in the past. But they shouldn't be, because it's not true. Why? Firstly because it presumes that the Christian knows what's good for the individual in question better then the individual does, which is really just the same argument as I noted above. Pure hubris, but perhaps slightly less so than the above example. But there's another reason that this excuse is simply so much bullshit.

If you love someone, truly love them, you love them as they are. You don't try to force your own ideas on them, or manipulate them into being someone they aren't. You simply accept them. And if that means letting them go their own way, that's what you do, regardless of how much it may hurt. If they have found a source of love or hope or peace or joy that you don't approve of but they aren't hurting themselves someone that truly loves the individual will deal with it and keep on accepting them. And no, Christians cannot say that non-Christians are hurting themselves, as they cannot prove this to be the case as noted above. They may believe it, but that does not matter in the final analysis.

Finally though, what all of these Christian types are forgetting is simply human decency. How would they feel if someone came into their homes or churches and tried to convince them that their religion was oh so evil? How would they feel if they were praying or simply holding a conversation about religious topics and some schmuck came up and started berating them for it? How would they feel if some guy on the street or one of their friends came up to them and tried to convert them through high stress or social pressure methods? How would they feel if their religion was demonized at every turn, or if they were made out to be evil incarnate because of their religious views? Wouldn't like it very much, would they? No, that would be horrible, the end of the world even! They wouldn't stand for that! They'd organize and fight back (*cough* Harry Potter *cough* The DeVinchi Code *cough*). But it's ok if they do that sort of thing, perfectly fine. Well, don't be surprised oh ye of the Religious Reich if others feel the same way, and decide they aren't going to take it anymore either.

May Nemesis's glory shine on you all.