Thursday, February 27, 2014

ARIZONA VETO





The recent attempt by Arizona to pass a law allowing citizens and businesses to refuse public services to gay Americans on religious grounds was vetoed by the Governor. 

All should realize that this was not a policy of Republicans in general, but was wholly driven by the Fundamentalist Christian Religions.   Politicians have parroted this bigoted rhetoric to garner support from Christian Fundamentalist – including the Catholic Church.  


Had this law gone into effect it could have yielded resulted beyond effecting just the Gay community: it would have  return the state of  Arizona to the days of Jim Crow where people with  religious objections could refuse service to a mixed race couples, women who have had abortions, doctors that have performed abortions, atheist, non-Christians etc.    It would have been possible for an Arizona hotel to refuse President Obama and his children accommodation on the religious grounds that they are the products of miscegenation.  



We have a glimpse of a future under a Christian theocracy: Abortion would be criminalized, birth control would be banned, homosexuality would be criminalized, books, movies and music would be censored and racial taboos would be enforced.   You would not find a great difference between a Christian theocracy and the Muslim Taliban.  

Our only protection against the religious right’s drive to establish America as a Christian Nation is Article One of the Constitution. 




Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof: or abridge the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 

To paraphrase George Carlin: The Christians are coming and they are not very nice people.  



Our separation of church and state is meant to protect us from the fanaticism of religions; but systematically the Christian religion in America has been chipping away at our guaranteed freedom from religious domination.   We have In God We Trust on our money; prayers open most public meetings; there is a Congressional Chaplin; zealots post the Ten Commandments in public buildings; public officials constantly reference God’s Law over Civil Law; and let’s not forget that most bigotry and hatred grows from the roots of religion.

 It is a form of bigotry to speak out against religions; and I have stated before that individuals have a right to their personal beliefs.  

The insidious way that religion (Christian religion) functions in our country endangers our individual freedom, and as such should be confronted and condemned at each attempt to impose Christian doctrine as the law of the land.   



We should not rail against Republican bias on social issues; but address the fact that Republicans are only the spokesmen for the Christian Religious Right; and that it is the Christian religion, not a political party, that is attempting to enforce draconian rule.  




  the Ol'Buzzard



11 comments:

  1. Too true and very well put, OB.

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  2. I wonder if in addition to the business aspect (loss of money) if some realized that other religions could use the law to refuse service to bible-bangers?? I think some journalists might have brought this up when interviewing some idiot pols from AZ.

    Saw a clip where one of the idiots that sponsored the bill said that nobody told them what the law would do. He admitted he was too fucking stupid to realize the consequences of his bill!!

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  3. The last comment by Kulkuri open up an entirely new can of baked beans! Could an atheist business owner refuse services to say a Jehovah's Witness on anti-religious grounds? If this was about free speech, then why should only kkkristian free speech count? This law would never have stood the scrutiny of a real legal challenge and you can sure bet that the challenges were already being researched and written up as the idiots in Arizona legislature were marching off the edge of the cliff.

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  4. One more thing...the law in Arizona was only one of many currently being proposed in State legislatures purportedly to use the cover of religious freedom to discriminate. Look at the bigger picture, though I was being a little silly in my earlier post, this trend and tactic really represents a very serious conservative agenda against the civil rights we take for granted. Bills currently under consideration in Kansas, Idaho, Georgia, Mississipi, MIssouri and Idaho all use similar language. If these bills gain acceptance, then it is the beginning of the erosion of a broad swath of civil rights laws. That's a typical fascist tactic, you start with an easy target...The Gays... and then go from there.

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    Replies
    1. It is all about civil rights verses religious dogma.
      O'B

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  5. These people are edging ever closer to power. The GOP think they are using religion but it is a reverse takeover. The American Christian Taliban should be feared as the worst evil on the planet.

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COMMENT: Ben Franklin said, "I imagine a man must have a good deal of vanity who believes, and a good deal of boldness who affirms, that all doctrines he holds are true, and all he rejects are false."