religious bigotry

September 26, 2015April 18, 2020

Sometimes You Have To Respond To Ignorance

created image of My version of Tim is on the Internet meme

Letters to the Editor of a local newspaper was one of our first ‘comment sections’ where regular readers could share their various viewpoints tempered with moderation by the newspaper staff. Today, even with prescreening, the letter section sometimes resembles the fact free fantasizes we find in places like FOX ‘news’, news websites and Facebook. Some friends think the ignorant comments should be ignored but I think one should respond to ignorance in some cases like I did to a recent letter to the editor about the US Supreme Court same-sex marriage ruling.

A gentleman had the following letter published in my local paper this past week:

June 29, 2015April 18, 2020

Relax, You Can Still Hate Same-Sex Marriage

created clipart showing a rainbow flag behind a church

After the historic US Supreme Court decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, affirming the right of LGBT people to marry and have their marriages recognized in all 50 states, political and religious conservatives whined and cried about the end of religion as we know it and claimed there would be massive lawsuits to force pastors and churches to perform same-sex marriages besides the usual ‘God will smite us all’ end times rhetoric. Relax conservatives, you can still hate same-sex marriage. You just can’t stop them from happening now.

One of my favorite sections of the decision:

May 31, 2015April 18, 2020

Could Fear Of Islamophobia Lead Atheists To Overlook Religious Bigotry?

What started out as story about a soccer team invoking religious privilege, that was posted on an atheist blog, took a left turn as the author and many commenters didn’t seem to be concerned with an Islamic school soccer team forcing two Catholic girls to sit out half a match because the Muslim player’s religion wouldn’t allow them to mix with strange females. Could the fear of Islamophobia lead some atheists to overlook obvious religious bigotry? Looks like it can.

Hemant Mehta, over at Friendly Atheist, posted a story about two girls who played on a boy’s soccer team in Ontario Canada:

May 18, 2015April 18, 2020

Thinking That Religion Is Only A Bunch Of Pretty Words Is Naive

screencap of Reza Aslan, writer and scholar of religious studies, on the Daily Show for an interview on May 13th

Reza Aslan, writer and scholar of religious studies, was on the Daily Show for an interview on May 13th

Being a Humanist and an atheist, I get exposed to a range of views on religion. On the strict atheist side I hear about how religion should be left in the dustbin of history while on the Humanist side I tend to hear that religion is just pretty words that make people feel good. I’ve always found the idea that religion is just pretty words to be at best naive and ignores the reality in the world.

Last Wednesday, Reza Aslan, writer and scholar of religious studies, was on the Daily Show for an interview.

March 18, 2015April 18, 2020

The Reality: Our Government Has Been Infiltrated By Radical Christians

Rev. Franklin Graham, Christian Extremist

During a recent discussion about ISIS on Bill O’Reilly’s FOX ‘news’ show, Rev. Franklin Graham was brought on for really no other reason than to give his religious bigotry perspective. He actually said the government had been infiltrated by Muslims when in reality bigoted Christians, like himself, have infiltrated the government and they are actively passing their form of Sharia law on the rest of us.