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July 7th, 2006
 | 12:33 pm - Anti-semitic fundys in Delaware and other religious horrors
My only contact with Delaware has been driving through it during my childhood on the east coast. It always seemed like a fairly non-descript state that is not all that far from the DC area where I grew up. Clearly even someplace as solidly part of the east coast and that voted for both Gore & Kerry is not free from fundy vileness, as the following article so chillingly illustrates: A large Delaware school district promoted Christianity so aggressively that a Jewish family felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, because they feared retaliation for filing a lawsuit. The religion (if any) of a second family in the lawsuit is not known, because they're suing as Jane and John Doe; they also fear retaliation. Both families are asking relief from "state-sponsored religion."...
The district board announced the formation of a committee to develop a religion policy. And the local talk radio station inflamed the issue.
On the evening in August 2004 when the board was to announce its new policy, hundreds of people turned out for the meeitng. The Dobrich family and Jane Doe felt intimidated and asked a state trooper to escort them.
The complaint recounts a raucous crowd that applauded the board's opening prayer and then, when sixth-grader Alexander Dobrich stood up to read a statement, yelled at him "take your yarmulke off!" His statement, read by Samantha, confided "I feel bad when kids in my class call me Jew boy."
A state representative spoke in support of prayer and warned board members that "the people" would replace them if they faltered on the issue. Other representatives spoke against separating "god and state."
A former board member suggested that Mona Dobrich might "disappear" like Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the atheist whose Supreme Court case resulted in ending organized school prayer. She disappeared in 1995 and her dismembered body was found six years later.
The crowd booed an ACLU speaker and told her to "go back up north."
In the days after the meeting the community poured venom on the Dobriches. Callers to the local radio station said the family they should convert or leave the area. Someone called them and said the Ku Klux Klan was nearby. As always, more evidence that the heart of fundamentalist Christianity is violence, hatred, and of course, anti-semitism. Here is yet another battle with the on-going Culture War and clear proof that compromise is not an option. I continue to be baffled at the ignorance of the various libertarians I've encountered both in-person and on-line who firmly maintain that the fundys are not a serious problem in the US. I suppose believing that helps these people deal with voting for candidates who openly aid the religious right.
If you aren't already scared, take a look at this NYT article about a statue recently unveiled at fundy mega-church in Memphis. For the full effect, here's a close-up of the Statue of Liberation Through Christ and think about a future where that abomination sits in the NYC harbor. This nation is sick and vile and I think it is likely beyond salvaging.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/opiummmm/foxies/angry.gif) infuriated
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Comments:
It really is a horrifying story, and the statue is incredibly messed up.
Frightening alongside of that is the story that the military is no longer excluding white supremacy groups and gangs from joining-- that Bhagdad has Blood, Crip, and Aryan Brotherhood tags in it now.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/79236394/2783565) | | From: | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) hereville |
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| Date: | July 7th, 2006 08:40 pm (UTC) |
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| | I just posted about this on my blog this morning... | (Link) |
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Yeah, it's really, really infuriating. I just posted about this on my blog. But I hadn't seen that amazing faux- Statue of Liberty you linked to, so now I've had to go back and edit the post to include that image as an illustration. Thank you for pointing it out!
These are people with a lot of fear; they’re trying to protect their endangered memeplex by pumping up the us-or-them mentality, despite the general trend of that kind of thing failing in the long term. Putting up with them in the short term, though, is going to be annoying.
In the long-term of 100+ years, I'm convinced you are correct. However, between now and then I see a serious danger of the US become a de-facto theocracy.
If it ever happened, it would last about as long as Prohibition did. Probably shorter.
The Third Reich lasted about as long as Prohibition, too.
That is a truly excellent and frightening point. It might also last longer, because a theocratic US becomes the new North Korea, terrifying, horrible, but far too dangerous for any other nation to consider invading, and I don't trust the media-duped masses of the US to actually rise up against any form of oppression that isn't obviously targeting middle-class WASPs..
As someone from both a religious minority and a family that can count itself back to the founding of Richmond, VA, I have to say I am appalled. In the long run, fair minded ethics will most likely win, but now we are at a grow or go point. I think that in the next ten years we will know a great deal about the fear and the truth of the hearts of our fellow citizens.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/9557943/32678) | | From: | temima |
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| Date: | July 8th, 2006 04:31 am (UTC) |
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That statue wins a "Missing the Point Entirely" award, right there.
*sarcasm* But of course, only filthy anti-war leftists can be anti-Semites. That mob were just people of faith with very strong opinions.
*gag*
Maybe we should send all the fundys to the South and let them secede. Then put up a nice, high electric fence between North and South.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/65406612/7981622) | | From: | 5eh |
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| Date: | July 9th, 2006 03:35 am (UTC) |
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why should we give up part of our country for assholes, though? I'd rather just neuter them.
But then we'd still have to put up with the existing ones. And neutering them would not stop them from converting others.
You do have a point. Maybe we should just give them Texas and Oklahoma. Texas is infested with Shrubya, and Oklahoma has the crappiest weather in the country.
>>> As always, more evidence that the heart of fundamentalist Christianity is violence, hatred, and of course, anti-semitism.<<<
What an incredibly stupid statement. Hatred towards those Jewish kids was wrong, but SO TOO is hatred towards Christians.
How about this?
Try NOT hating anybody. C'mon; I know you can do it.
| | From: | heron61 |
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| Date: | July 10th, 2006 08:21 pm (UTC) |
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I'm most certainly not talking about Christianity in general, I am talking about the fundamentalist Christianity, the Christianity of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell (who openly blamed gays, atheists, and liberals for September 11). I'm talking about the Christianity of the organized Religious Right, who work tireless to erode women's rights and gay rights, who stand in the way of life-saving advances like stem cell research, and who are responsible for crap like that described above. The fact that you defend such people disgusts me, but since you likely vote for the same candidates that they do, I'm hardly surprised.
>>>fact that you defend fundamentalists disgusts me, but since you likely vote for the same candidates......
Strawman argument. I never said I vote for the same candidates; please don't put words in my mouth.
If you had sat here and said, "The KKK should be jailed and shot," I would defend them too. Simply because I would defend a KKK member or fundamentalist member does NOT mean I agree with them. It means that I think freedom is preferable to tyranny.
Like Jefferson said, "Whether my neighbor worships one god or many gods, matters not to me. It does not harm me, my property, nor my rights." I'm not going to go around spreading hate-speech against Fundamentalists. That's make me no better than them; perhaps worse.
| | From: | heron61 |
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| Date: | July 12th, 2006 09:51 am (UTC) |
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You described yourself as a conservative, AFAIK, conservatives largely vote for Republicans, which is who fundys also vote for. Nowhere did I advocate violence against anyone. In any case, I'm done with your comments. |
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