Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Join the Campaign for an Independent Jesustan

Well, this whole Terri Schiavo business has really taken the lid off the fetid mess that constitutes fundamentalist-based politics in this country. With a president who really believes himself chosen by God, senators and representatives who are so intimidated by the religious right that they won't challenge their mythology in the name of the Constitution, and nutwads like Judge Roy Moore getting national TV time with Chris Matthews as though he has anything rational to share--all of this reveals a nation tipping back toward the Dark Ages if secularists don't start fighting back. Last night Moore once again said, "Evolution is a theory," completely exposing his stark ignorance about what the fuck a theory (as opposed to a hypothesis) is.
MOORE: Because there‘s no—there‘s no scientific evidence of evolution.

Evolution is a theory and has been recognized so by many. You have always heard of the missing link, haven‘t you?

MATTHEWS: Right.

MOORE: It is still missing.
He's right about the missing link still missing, because THERE IS NO MISSING LINK TO BEGIN WITH. The links are there, proven in scientific studies. Oy! What a putz! He did, fortunately, admit that he would find it acceptable for a heart surgeon to be trained on creationist views of biology, so when he has that first infarction it's going to be really interesting to see how he fares. Send that man a greasy pork sandwich with a side of chili fries and some deep-fried peach pies for dessert.

A great book on this by Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, is well worth reading. He pulls no punches.

Anyway, I'd like to start a movement for a free and independent Jesustan, carved out of Texas, with land grants given to all migrants. Then, in a year or two, when they've reinstituted the total law according to their version of the Bible, bringing back slavery, wife killing, baby sacrifice, and so on, the real United States will be justified in invading them (we can plant a few trailers with tanks and alumininum tubes in them to claim as WMDs) and installing a non-religious representative constitutional democracy. Of course, it may require a few years, or decades, of puppet regimes before they "get it."

Or we could just fence it off as a kind of national mental institution.

Now before anyone flips out, I certainly understand and share the desire for transcendence, and even Olaf here meditates and tries to have those moments of connection to the One. However, it's private. That's my objection to these shitheads who presume to rule us on the basis of their private hallucinations. Law in this country is made from long public discourse (or ought to be, I should say) and if the basis on one's argument is a book of questionable origins which cannot be part of the debate and subjected to all examination of any other text, then the argument from God, or the Bible, or the Koran, or Green Eggs and Ham cannot stand.

So there.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great! I'm all for Jesustan. Have you thought about how to feed them, etc? I don't think they have exhibited much evidence that they will be able to sustain themselves. I fear for those innocents living near the Jesustan border.

I don't believe that these people are really religious. They remind me of my childhood of forced religious participation. All the deacons hung out at pup 'n taco across the street during services. They would not be so concerned about Teri Schiavo dying if they really believed Jesus was waiting for her.

Jason said...

Awesome. You hit it dead on with the whole hypothesis/theory distinction. The current administration has shown an amazing ability to not let facts get in the way of their beliefs.

I like that schools and states and now *demanding* their rights to stay ignorant. As far as feeding goes, given recent events, it would seem that the residents of Jusustan would have no problem with the insertion of a feeding tube.

Olaf said...

Fascinating points--is there any protection for those who are willfully ignorant, who avoid scholarship where it collides with ideology? They should rightly have a country all to themselves. And since such a people are not and will not be self-sustaining, what should be done about their innocent offspring who will be brought into a backward and oppressive world, with light and freedom just across the border? Damn! It won't be as simple as I hoped.