This morning on NPR I heard a voter in Alabama questioned about how he, as a Christian, could vote for the accused child molester, Roy Moore.
He said, "Well, it's like this: I got a choice of voting for a man ACCUSED of child molestation versus the man who I KNOW to be a murderer--because he supports abortion--he's an accomplice to the murder of untold millions of babies."
How would I respond to this voter, were I any Democratic candidate for Senate or for dogcatcher or for President?
I would say,
"Excuse me? A murderer?
Well I can understand you think life begins at conception and therefore the removal of a two cell conceptus is the taking of a human life.
But I do not believe that.
My religion tells me something different.
My faith--and my mind--tells me that a two cell thing is not a human being.
I do not believe, I do not agree with you that an 11 week fetus which is about the size of a small salamander and looks no more human in real life than a tadpole, is a human being.
You say you know the mind of God, well, excuse me but I do not believe you have a private phone line to God. You do not have God on your speed dial, nor does he call your number.
Not you, nor your pastor knows a goddamn thing about what God says that I do not know.
What arrogance: to claim God speaks to you and not to me!
If you believe abortion is infanticide, do not have an abortion.
Speak out against it.
But do not force your religious belief on me or call me a murderer because I disagree with you, because I do not hear God's voice in my head.
And don't insult my intelligence by saying the Bible says abortion is wrong.
The men who wrote the Bible, and it was men who wrote that book, not God, had no idea about fertilization or the soul entering the egg with a sperm.
So believe what you want but don't call anyone a murderer because he doesn't go to your church."
That's what I'd like to hear some Democrat say some day. Have the courage of your convictions.
Have some balls and get mad about it.
He said, "Well, it's like this: I got a choice of voting for a man ACCUSED of child molestation versus the man who I KNOW to be a murderer--because he supports abortion--he's an accomplice to the murder of untold millions of babies."
How would I respond to this voter, were I any Democratic candidate for Senate or for dogcatcher or for President?
I would say,
"Excuse me? A murderer?
Well I can understand you think life begins at conception and therefore the removal of a two cell conceptus is the taking of a human life.
But I do not believe that.
My religion tells me something different.
My faith--and my mind--tells me that a two cell thing is not a human being.
I do not believe, I do not agree with you that an 11 week fetus which is about the size of a small salamander and looks no more human in real life than a tadpole, is a human being.
You say you know the mind of God, well, excuse me but I do not believe you have a private phone line to God. You do not have God on your speed dial, nor does he call your number.
Not you, nor your pastor knows a goddamn thing about what God says that I do not know.
What arrogance: to claim God speaks to you and not to me!
If you believe abortion is infanticide, do not have an abortion.
Speak out against it.
But do not force your religious belief on me or call me a murderer because I disagree with you, because I do not hear God's voice in my head.
And don't insult my intelligence by saying the Bible says abortion is wrong.
The men who wrote the Bible, and it was men who wrote that book, not God, had no idea about fertilization or the soul entering the egg with a sperm.
So believe what you want but don't call anyone a murderer because he doesn't go to your church."
That's what I'd like to hear some Democrat say some day. Have the courage of your convictions.
Have some balls and get mad about it.
Once again I remind you, "you can't fix stupid"!
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeleteSorry to have to disagree. This is not stupid. This is a cultural folkway, a mode of thought. My son, at Vanderbilt, in an ethics class and the professor addresses a thorny ethical/moral question to a student and the student replies, "Well, first, I'd ask myself what Jesus would do." Half the class groaned, but the other half, from the Bible belt, nodded. To them, to people raised, "educated" in this tradition, this sort of lazy, evasion of thinking is perfectly acceptable.
So, talking directly about this is still an option. It means you haven't given up on these people; you believe they are not simply stupid, just misled.
Perhaps the problem is that God (or his son Jesus) does not speak directly to either you or me, as he does to the "believers" - making it hard for us to understand where these people are coming from. On the other hand, none of these evangelicals sound to bright to me, so I'll stick with my sense that "you can't fix stupid". This conclusion is further supported by listening to Roy Moore's commentary today on the state of the country. Listen to him and tell me what you think - he is not misled - he is deeply flawed!!
ReplyDeleteSorry - that is "too bright", not "to bright" - wouldn't want to appear "ill-educated"
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeleteTo instead of too can be forgiven in the age of twitter where u is as good as you.
Fact is, you knew; you were just typing fast.
My point is, we all have to go right at these Bible thumpers and say, openly, in public at every opportunity how offensive we find it to be told by anyone that he or she has heard directly from God and that means you and I have not.
Hit them between the eyes, every time.
Mad Dog
Mad Dog and Anon,
ReplyDeleteI see both your points. I agree, Mad Dog, that in many instances the infernal bible thumping is the result of cradle to grave indoctrination. On the other hand, I'm with Anon that there's more afoot here than nurture-nature's got a hand in this as well-some of those Alabamans behind Cowboy Roy weren't the sharpest blades in the draw to begin with. So no, you can't fix stupid-there's no cure-but as the election results indicate-sometimes it can be successfully treated..
Maud
PS-Besides the obvious reasons, I was delighted to see Jones win because had the nutty cowpoke won, Mad Dog would be even more convinced ground game and traditional campaign strategies are no longer of value. Moore employed neither, however, canvassing and the ground game helped motivate the base in the African American communities Tuesday-or so it's believed..
Maud,
ReplyDeleteWell, if there is such a thing as "political science" we ought to be able to figure out the effect of all that effort on Jones' behalf. Trouble is, I don't see the hard effort being made by political scientists, with in the field studies checking on who was talked to, who actually went and voted.
We can tag whales and birds. and see what they do, where they travel, how they behave. Are we unable to tag human voters?
Mad Dog