http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/83894-james-veverka-2-12-730
To the Editor,
Steve Earle is at it with his half-baked facts. Steve, who is well known for his anti-Muslim rants just can't stand it if someone criticizes his momma, Christianity. His first foray into falsehoods is to say the left doesn't believe in God. Huh? Last I heard, only 4% of Americans (World is at 14%) are true atheists so I wonder where Mr. Earle's new tale emerged from. Fox? While it is true there is a great decline in Christianity in America and the west, liberals still believe, too. They just detest any alliance of church and state and couldn't care less what George Washington or Patrick Henry believe in regards to God. They also aren't so naive as to take the Bible literally. If Mr Earle would just crawl out of his little box he would find that there are thousands of Christian liberal progressive organizations and debate pages online. (If he has time away from Fake News!)
It certainly was hilarious to see the right wing have another hissy fit over the President's accurate statements as to what Christians are capable of given the license. After all, they may not use the sword anymore but they use their religion to attack and cut asunder the rights and dignity of the LGBT community and women to begin with. And it all comes from the Bible. The "alleged" pro-life, anti-abortion, food stamp hating movements in the USA are Christian. The American Family Association, the Family Research Council, the Defense of Marriage org are all hateful anti-gay, anti-women groups who are loudly Christian. The laws that kept interracial marriage illegal until the Supreme Court had to spank the religious nuts in the 1960s, were based on that old time religion. The laws making contraception illegal were based on Christian procreation nonsense. There are still Fundamentalists like Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee who demonize contraception and responsible family planning. Again, Mr Earle doesnt tell the whole story about slavery. While Christian humanists and secularists opposed slavery, Slavery supporting Christians were quick to defend their position with the Bible because the Bible legitimizes and regulates slavery in Leviticus and Exodus. Slaves are to obey their masters according to Paul (Hey its the Word of God!). Jerry Falwell made his name by preaching that Christianity required segregating the races and right wingers flocked to his cause. Many Christian churches in the South were established to keep white kids from attending classes with black students. And, as Jamelle Bouie writes in Slate, lynching was understood by its defenders “as a Christian duty, consecrated as God’s will against racial transgression.”
Today, the GOP and the Tea Party are where we find most of the racists, sexists, gay-hatred, religious intolerance at a pathological level. Its also the only place where you will find crazy preachers who really would like to criminalize the LGBT community, women who choose not to have a child at this time, and doctors who care for them (if some Christian terrorist hasn't assassinated him/her yet). There is a meme online that sums it up for Mr Earle. A college age woman is sitting with her notebook. The meme says, "Dear Theists, we will stop caring what you believe just as soon as what you believe stops influencing the decisions of those in power, thereby affecting our lives negatively". So, Steve, until Christians stop using their religion in politics, just as Islamists do, we secularists will keep the shovel ready.
Now as to Christian capabilities in the present. On May 28, 2014, Christian militia members threw grenades before shooting indiscriminately at a mosque in the Central African Republic capital of Bangui, killing at least 11 people. Christian militias in Central African Republic are - presently - carrying out ethnic cleansing of the Muslim populations during the CAR's ongoing civil war. Thousands of people have died as a result of the conflict. Human rights violations and abuses were committed by all parties. The Muslim Seleka coalition and the Christian Militia, Anti-balaka, are also responsible for terrorism, war crimes and crimes against humanity according to a recent UN inquiry. Also of note, the Anti-balaka terrorist leader was arrested in January for crimes including murder, rebellion, rape and looting, the country’s senior prosecutor said on Sunday.
Of course he has a ways to go to catch up with the 8 million lives lost in the Protestant Vs Catholic "Thirty Year War".
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