Dear Reader,
In case you haven't realized, many Christians with Internet access, some of which you may know, are very passionate about their religion. One in particular has a habit of forwarding out Conservative Christian based e-mails. And although I was lucky enough NOT to be on the mailing list of the latest one, it so disturbed a good friend of mine that he brought it to my attention. I'm glad he did because too many of us have a habit of just nodding their head at these types of things because: It's Christian, It's alllll good.
It's not. In many of these messages there are disturbing (and even latently non-Christian) undertones that are simply sickening to imagine as ever being added to moral standards. Often, Ghostwriters write them with an extremely right-wing point of view that they would like to impress upon people by using God as an excuse. Don't get me wrong, I respect their freedom of religion as much as they disrespect mine, which is quite a bit, I assure you. Leaving you all with that thought, I would like end by pointing out some of the ludicrous points made in this e-mail and others like it. Read through them, and then if you like, forward it to people whom you KNOW would send you something like the aforementioned e-mails.
Sincerely,
Dan Scognamiglio / Bonnie Schubert.
Agnostics United
*E-mail quotations from the "Why, God?" chainletter in Italics.
1. Finally, The Truth on National TV Billy Graham's daughter was being interviewed on the Early Show, and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government, and to get out of our lives. Being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand that He leave us alone?"
We, as Americans have not asked God to get out of our lives and our schools. We have pleaded for the Christian religion not to become the official creed of all citizens. This is what the quote and e-mail calls for and it is totally unacceptable. Insinuating that God will not give us his love or protection from evil because we do not force every student in homeroom to say a Christian prayer before first period is as ridiculous as Anne Graham's response.
2. Then, someone said you better not read the Bible in school ... the Bible that says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
This, my friends, is propaganda. Any "Christian" who forwards this to anyone is more ignorant than any heathen could ever be and they obviously don't read their Bibles. The Bible says: "Thou shalt not murder" NOT "Thou shalt not kill". In fact the bible specifically calls for people to be put to death for a total of 613 offenses, among them: black magic (Exodus 22:18), working on a Saturday (Exodus 21:29), following another religion (Exodus 22:20), prostitution (Leviticus 21:9), kidnapping (Exodus 21:16), for being the owner of an unruly/dangerous animal (Exodus 21:29), and for having sexual intercourse with a woman who is menstruating (Leviticus 20:18). The undoubtedly good lessons that can be found within the Bible are almost certainly found within most other major religions' holy books. In all fairness, they are not allowed in school either. The Bible should not be read in school because it is completely inappropriate to force our students to lean towards Christianity. The Bible also should not be read in school because of how easily it can be twisted or misinterpreted, as we can clearly see from the e-mail in question. This is not a Christian Nation, and we are tired of these people assuming that it is.
3. Then, Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped, and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide), and we said, an expert should know what he's talking about, so we said OK.
Then, someone said teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And the school administrators said no faculty member in this school better touch a student when they misbehave because we don't want any bad publicity, and we surely don't want to be sued (There's big difference between disciplining and touching, beating, smacking, humiliating, kicking, etc.). And we said OK.
You're damned right we said OK! Most of us are done living in the Dark Ages where we resort to violence to teach our children the difference between right and wrong. Dr. Spock also had a formal education, something I'm sure the writer of this article also scoffed at. Could it be any more inappropriate to attack his personal life, something this ghostwriter, I'm sure knew nothing about? Could it be any harder to point out some skeletons in one of his idol's closet? Is violence they way to teach God's love? I think not.
4. Then someone said, let's let our daughters have abortions if they want, and they won't even have to tell their parents. And we said OK.
Again, yes. We did say OK, and rightly so. Abortion is obviously a personal decision, as the Right-Wing Christians themselves prove by arguing against it. It shows how different religions and different people have completely different views on it. Will you call your parents on your wedding night to tell them you've just had sexual intercourse? Of course not, because that is your PERSONAL LIFE. Parental notification is a personal issue and one that should not be regulated by the federal government.
5. Then some wise school board member said, since boys will be boys and they're going to do it anyway, let's give our sons all the condoms they want so they can have all the fun they desire, and we won't have to tell their parents they got them at school. And we said OK.
Whoever did write this e-mail; their attempt at irony was almost as pathetic as their argument, to the point that it could be considered comical. Our "sons" don't want condoms to go out and have fun at the candy store. Frankly, they want them so they can be responsible. They want them to prevent the very diseases and unwanted pregnancies that many Christians love to use as a scare tactic to control their younger members. One thing that is ironic though, is how the very people who warn of the dire consequences mock and forbid the solutions.
6. Then some of our top elected officials said it doesn't matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. And agreeing with them, we said it doesn't matter to me what anyone, including the President, does in private as long as I have a job and the economy is good.
You don't need to be a genius to figure out who this is aimed at. For every comment you can make about President Clinton's personal life, you can find a GOP member who supports the Christian Right-Wingers in office who won't have a single complaint made about him because of who's throwing the stones. If America wants to be appalled they should take a look into the private life of John Ashcroft, not Bill Clinton.
7. And then someone else took that appreciation a step further and published pictures of nude children and then stepped further still by making them available on the Internet. And we said OK; they're entitled to their free speech.
It's sometimes hard to contain your laughter when people make statements that are blatantly untrue. This passage is a fine example. I certainly can't speak for the Christian Right-Wing, but as far as I, and the rest of Americans are concerned WE DIDN'T SAY OK. Child Pornography is definitely illegal and not tolerated by us. In fact, the writer of this e-mail might be surprised to know that our government has actually arrested quite a few people because of it. I can't think of anyone who condones Child Pornography, but I can only assume the writer of this e-mail does, since apparently some people he affiliates with have said "OK, they're entitled to their free speech" when talking about Internet child pornographers.
8. And then the entertainment industry said; let's make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence, and illicit sex. And let's record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes. And we said it's just entertainment, it has no adverse effect, and nobody takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead.
As far as I'm aware there was no such meeting when the entertainment or recording industries sat down and planned this all out. I'm sure the writer of the e-mail would like it if that were true though: it would make for another easy scapegoat. I love the first amendment just as much as any other American, but I think we all agree that it must be limited somewhere, like child pornography for example. That's just completely unacceptable, but as you'll find, the author of that e-mail and I are often in disagreement.
9. Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
This is another ludicrous statement. Public discussion of God is suppressed, but not banned, just like any other controversial issue because it IS a controversial issue. Also, discussion of God flows as freely through cyberspace and anything else. Look at any search engine. Look at what you're reading now. This e-mail or the one it refers to. What point could they possibly be trying to make here?
Posted by Maleta at 7:20 p.m.