Can we just stop it? Both sides. Time Out in the corner for the lot of you. (Yes, that's me too after writing this diary ;)
I am consistently amazed at the amount of internecine fighting we get on this site on account of religion. Yeah, to a certain extent the "Affirmation diaries" are ostentatious and attention-whoring. (Note, people: when the man says "email it to me" or "put it in the comments", EMAIL IT TO HIM OR PUT IT IN THE COMMENTS AND LET THE NEWS DIARIES GET ON THE RL. Sheesh.) I didn't read them either; I wrote my contribution and if I want to read other ones I will go to PastorDan's site. But then, this morning, I see no fewer than three diaries that are hostile to religion or to the affirmation of such with high spots on the Recommended List. My concern about diaries such as this is a lot more concrete and pertinent to users of this site, namely that in arguing about stupid petty stuff such as this we waste time and lose sight of the common enemy.
IT'S THE THEOCRATS, STUPID!
Why why WHY are people wasting time arguing back and forth about this when there are people out there on the Right who want to turn this country into a FUCKING THEOCRACY? Isn't our energy better focused on grinding those bastards into the ground? Is it just because we're all in the community and therefore it's easier to bitch at our neighbors than it is to take on people that actually disagree with us substantially? Please tell me that something other than intellectual laziness is at work here. Otherwise I may be nauseated.
Theists: Why are you complaining about being repressed by the non-theists? (Yes, yes, Pot meet Kettle, I know.) Fucking STOP IT. There are people in your own theistic tradition who would oppress you much, MUCH worse if given half a chance (and have started already). Atheists and Agnostics, for all their talk, agree with you on most, if not all, matters besides this, and more to the point most of them would not outright BAN your religious practice if they gained power, as I am sure Bill Frist, Tom DeLay et al. would LOVE to do. R-E-S-P-E-C-T? Fuck that shit. Worry about it later. This is a matter of S-U-R-V-I-V-A-L. There are people who are trying to undermine the Constitutional basis of our democracy and install a religious government with which you certainly don't agree.
IT'S THE THEOCRATS, STUPID!
Non-theists: Why are you lumping religious progressives in with Christian nut-jobs in saying that Religion is TEH 3V1L? Fucking STOP IT. Progressive people of faith agree with you on most, if not all, matters besides this, and more to the point almost all respect the fact that you have had the intellectual and moral courage to proclaim your non-belief in the midst of a culture of (often rabid) believers on some level. They may disagree with you on whether or not there is a God, but they will defend to the death your right to proclaim that there is not. Do you think you'll get the same deal from the religious right, they of the "godless heathens" and "let a wave of hate wash over you"? Who, I will remind you, are actually in POWER now? Rather than wasting your rage on people who use faith for good, why not try to channel your ire into persuading those who may use it for evil?
IT'S THE THEOCRATS, STUPID!
You know, I never hear about the Objectivists on the Right getting into scuffs with the JAY-sus freaks. This is because the GOP leadership GETS IT. There are so many other things to worry about that religion, and as such the Republicans have formed somewhat of an "unholy alliance" to pass their entire agenda (Bankruptcy Bill? ANWR drilling? Estate Tax Repeal?) because they know that they campaign and govern more effectively when they are working as one unit. (If/when the Dominionists get all the power they want, the excrement may hit the windmill there. But that's still a hypothetical.) How do we expect to present such a coherent argument if we're split into factions over whether or not there's a GOD? `Cause you know what, when it comes down to it it's a trifling thing. A "superstition", as some have called it. But at this point, I would support someone who believed that flocks of pink bunnies controlled the world if in all other ways they were pushing for a progressive agenda.
I am a Jew and a progressive, but if my religion suddenly took a collective swing to the right I would remain a progressive before I remained a Jew. (Cue the sound of my very Jewish mother's breaking heart. Luckily I don't feel like I have to make this choice, yet.) Why? Because doing the right thing on this plane is ultimately more important to me than where I end up in an afterlife that may or may not exist. And if as progressives we can collectively put aside this bugaboo long enough, we just may present a united enough front to start winning again.
OK. I'm off to my corner now. But before I go, one more time (because VR operant conditioning really works, honest ;):
IT'S THE THEOCRATS, STUPID!