Deranged fundie quote of the day

[Shana A]

Deranged fundie quote of the day
by: Pam Spaulding
Sun Dec 21, 2008 at 23:10:15 PM EST

http://pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8748

Prop 8 protests and vigils inspired this lunacy:

    These protests are the ugly face of a pansexual ideology that will not allow for honest disagreement or dissenting viewpoints. And even though it claims to be all about tolerance and diversity, laws are coming that will enforce the politically correct view that homosexuality must be celebrated, embraced and affirmed in every arena of society.

    Make no mistake: From "hate crimes" and "nondiscrimination" laws - which enshrine homosexuality, bisexuality and "->-bleeped-<-" as protected classes - to a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, it will soon be difficult for Bible-believing Christians to stand up for God's created intent for sexuality, gender, marriage and the family.

[Pneumonica]

It seems like the policies endorsed by John Ashcroft (whose nickname I use I won't repeat here) as applied to any behaviorism they deem inappropriate.

To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends. They encourage people of good will to remain silent in the face of evil.
-Exerpt John Ashcroft's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Comittee, 2001

These people speak Newspeak and think Blackwhite.  You have to re-engage their intellects in order to get meaningful words to escape their mouths.

[tekla]

re-engage their intellects

Sorry, such wording implies that they have intellects to engage in the first place, and that such thinking was just abandoned somewhere along the trail.  I doubt it.  They were born dumb, and worked to get even dumber - and very successfully I might add.  But anyone who could, as an official of the United States, much less the AG, utter such nonsense is pretty much beyond any and all help.

And, in Ashcroft's case I could offer a number of examples that he is mentally deranged, and unhinged, and a moron.

[Pneumonica]

Well, in the case of our soon-to-be "dumbcluck formerly known as President", I would agree, but I've had experiences that prove otherwise.  There was a First Baptist street preacher named Pastor John out near the west mall of the University of Texas main campus.  He was a real treat, lemme tell you, and not exactly preaching to the choir on a college campus (so you have to admit, he had guts).

What was interesting about him was how those of us in the philosophy department (I was a philosophy student at the time... wow, that was a while ago) interacted with him.  If approached with a certain level of respect, he could discuss and enjoin in heated debate (actual debate, not screaming), and those of us who did so, despite being on his "goin' to Hell" list, were afforded great respect by him.  This included at least two very openly gay people.

He eventually went on mission in Africa, but he I use as a baseline of normalcy within an otherwise extremely abnormal fundamentalist movement - they have minds, but in many cases they've been told from birth not to use them.  (Indeed, my dad was literally instructed by my granddad to "not think" since it "only causes trouble"... fortunately, my dad was rebelious.)

[tekla]

I remember one of those, perhaps the same one, who was doing that on every campus he could find, year and year out, and people would talk with him - more philo majors than like say, engineering or science majors who had, like real homework to do - I want to think his name was Jake, or Jeb, Jed or something like that, and I never found him that 'real', he was pretty skilled at taking what were most likely 'rote' questions/comments from the audience (that were the questions/comments that were asked every day, on each different campus) and working them into his sthick, but when he was really confronted by someone who knew something (thus counting out most students) or who could frame a really deep and profound question (also counting out most students) he lost it, and retreated into the hellfire, brimstone blither every time.  (and I watched/listened to him a lot, stupidity really fascinates me, I can watch it for hours - and there was plenty of stupid going on on both sides of that debate.)

He'd fold like a house of cards when asked the real question about Leviticus - and if he was just doing a cafeteria deal of picking and choosing, which of course he was, everyone who is not a practicing Hasidic Jew is picking and choosing Leviticus, or, the even worse question of what Leviticus even matters given what Jesus said in John 13:34 and in other places.

And, preaching to the choir is not encouraged in the New Testament, pretty much strictly forbidden as a matter of fact, so going to a campus, even the UoT there in Weird Austin, is pretty much the calling, not the courage.  Its not like he was going to be hurt or physically attacked - as those who he is preaching against frequently are.

And poor Africa, like the one thing they need is some roving Texas nutbag telling them their problems are all due to them being sinners.  If he really wanted to help people in Africa, he would be working to build clean water supplies and get everyone a pair of flip-flops.

I do know some pretty smart people who are religious for reasons I sure can't fathom, but they don't think or act like these people are at all.