A War of Wit with an Unarmed Opponent.

The following is a true story. The names have been changed to protect our privacy.

(Insert "Law and Order" doink-doink sound here)

I thought I'd said all I had to say about this topic, but then today... 

I have a Facebook friend - a lovely retired lady (let's call her "Claire") - who happens to be a Christian. Claire is sweet and good-natured and I have never heard her utter an unkind word to anyone. All well and good. When she posts religious things, I don't respond. I post plenty of Humanist things. Claire never responds to those. I always respond when she posts travel pictures and such. But today...

Today, Claire shared a link to a Chick Fil-A online coupon with all of her Facebook friends. I hope she shared it in the best of intentions. I can't imagine otherwise. There is truly not a mean bone in her body. I can't say the same for one of Claire's Christian friends. Uncle P responded to Claire's link and Claire's friend (let's call her "Lamia") responded to me, and so on. Here's how it went:

Uncle P: I don't support companies that support hate groups.

Lamia: They don't support hate groups ... They support Gods irrefutable Word in scripture. Get informed.

Uncle P: Lamia, I'd suggest you get informed yourself. They give money to groups which have been officially identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as Hate Groups.

Lamia: Let's talk about "informed" God is about love, BUT there are rules...hate groups do not like rules. You want to live your life doing what ever you want and go to hell, than go for it. If you want to live life in eternity, there are rules. So, rules=heaven......do whatever you want=the fiery lake.........your choice

Her response has nothing to do with what I said, but then this appears:

Claire: From a Friend: [REDACTED] wrote: "Good suggestion. I went to SPLC's website and searched for Ckick-fil-a. Except for one incident where a man attacked someone while carrying a bag from CFA, there was no mention of CFA."

To which I responded:

Uncle P: I never said that the SPLC mentioned Chick Fil-A. Chick Fil-A is not a hate group. They do, however, donate to several groups on the SPLC's list, which can be found by doing a simple search of Chick Fil-A's beneficiaries. Lamia, I feel sorry that you aren't able to think for yourself and are unable make informed decisions based on true morality, rather than dogma. I am finished commenting on this thread. Claire - I'm sorry to have caused such a fuss.

Trying to have a honest, open and cogent conversation (even on line) with a Wingnut Christian is harder than convincing a top to bottom for the first time (I am getting so saucy, these days!). I've come to realize that such people are very, very afraid to die. Hell, we all are. We just don't admit it to ourselves every day. We'd go mad, if we did. See yesterday's post for my view on that. It seems to me that extremely religious people must fear death so much, that they have to believe in stories that promise them an eternal afterlife. They can't appreciate their life for its own sake. They don't appreciate the majesty in the odds of their very existence. They don't see the beauty of the Fibonacci Sequence in everything that exists. The thought that they may only exist once terrifies them. Instead, they should learn to take joy in the fact that they exist in the first place. It makes me sad to think that people still want to live some parts of their lives based on bronze-age mythology. 

My sense of morality comes out of knowing how rare and fragile our lives are, and doing everything I can to make the lives of not only the people I know and love, but all people everywhere, at least as good as mine. That's what should matter. I can't imagine anything more immoral than a person or corporation who gives money to any organization which actively works to hurt people. How is that 'Christian' in any sense of the word (at least as I was raised to understand it)? I wanted to tell Lamia that she should sell her daughter into slavery and she'd better hope she never let a shrimp pass through her lips, but thought better of it. She wouldn't understand it, I'm sure. And I wasn't about to attack her punctuation and grammar, as bad as they are. I figured I'd let the Grammar Nazi's do it here. Have it it all you GNs!

And Lamia - since you apparently still believe in magic, here's something that will undoubtedly have you accusing the guy of being a witch:

Just so you know, Yann Frisch is Uncle P's newest obsession, even though everything I've found on YouTube seems to be variations on the same routine. It's still pretty impressive.

More, anon.

Prospero 

Dan Cathy Has the Right to Do Whatever He Wants with His Money

I'm not about to defend the actions of Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy. He is a backward, Southern  hick holding on to the superstitious beliefs imposed upon him by his backward, Southern hick parents, who truly thinks that God wants him to keep LGBT people from having equal rights. But the Constitution guarantees him the right to believe whatever he wants to, when it comes to religion. So if he wants to take the money his privately held corporation makes from franchising fees and use it to promote the values in which he believes (no matter how archaic and unevolved they may be), it is his right as an American citizen to do so. It might be different if Chick-Fil-A was a publicly held company; the shareholders would then have a say in what Cathy does. But it's still privately owned and as such, there isn't much anyone can do to make him stop giving money to hate groups - just as there is nothing Cathy can do to stop me from giving money to pro-LGBT groups. If you don't like what he does with his money (like myself and millions of others), then don't buy Chick-Fil-A's food.

"But Uncle P, each Chick-Fil-A is owned by independent franchisers, many of whom support LGBT rights and causes" (something I've heard from plenty of people, including a few at my usually very liberal Day Job). That may be true, but the money they pay in franchise fees goes to the Cathy family, which donated over $1.7M to anti-LGBT rights groups last year. Those people could buy franchises of any number of other businesses, but they have chosen to be a part of a company whose President openly supports hatred. They do not get a pass.

Cathy says that his company's philosophy is based on "Christian values." You know - Love and Compassion. What he really should say is that their philosophy is based on "Old Testament values" - like selling your daughters into slavery, treating shellfish as an abomination and stoning to death those who "sin." Hardly "Christian" values. So my personal challenge to Mr. Cathy (indeed, anyone who uses Christianity as an excuse to promote intolerance) is this: Find me a New Testament passage in which Christ mentions homosexuality or marriage (and no, the performing of a marriage is not commenting on it). Find me a quote from Jesus that says "Homosexuals are evil." Find me a quote that says "Hate thy neighbor." You won't, because they simply don't exist. 

As for the cities of Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia making official proclamations barring Chick-Fil-A from opening franchises, I have to disagree. Government has no right to deny a business the opportunity to operate (unless they are doing something illegal). Chick-Fil-A should be allowed to operate wherever and however they like, just as consumers have the right to boycott Chick-Fil-A for their hateful, harmful, immoral and decidedly un-Christian practices. Personally, no matter how damned delicious I find their food, I will never spend so much as one pink dime of my money at Chick-Fil-A again, and hope that you won't, either. 

My friend Bill M (who happens to be straight), has posted some of his thoughts on gay marriage on his blog. I encourage you to check it out. He also recently posted the following on Facebook:

"I don't think gay marriage opposers get how things work. If your religion says you can't watch Doctor Who on Sunday, that doesn't mean you try to outlaw watching Doctor Who on Sunday! It means that YOU cannot watch Doctor Who on Sunday. I can watch all the Doctor Who on Sunday that I damn well please! If your religion is against gay marriage, that doesn't mean you outlaw it. It means YOU cannot marry someone of the same gender. Basically, you don't force your beliefs on others."

If only everyone were as evolved as my friends (of course, that's a big part of why they're my friends in the first place). 

More, anon.
Prospero