I think many of my blogs may have come off as anti-Christian or anti-religious.  Frankly that’s the wrong impression.  I really respect many people of many different faiths.  I think religion can provide strong morals, such as ‘love thy neighbor’, and other wisdom to live by.  In fact if I were surrounded in a world of practicing Christians, I wouldn’t be so bitter all the time.  The fact is though, there are a lot of people in America who, under the guise of religion, spread hate and discrimination.  That is what I cannot stand.  If you’re going to say you believe in something, actually take the time to know what you’re believing in and practice it.

Why were women so restricted 200 years ago?  Because people used the Bible to justify the housewife position, women only existed to serve their husbands and procreate.  They could not do ‘a man’s job’.  Perhaps that is why our country was founded on the principle of women not being allowed to vote for their own president, they didn’t have as much going on up in their heads as men.  Then the Bible was used to defend slavery.  There are extensive topics regarding the subject, all pointing to the absolute obedience of a slave to his master.  White supremacy ruled over our nation and churches did nothing to stop the vast injustice.  Now we come to a new century.  One in which two people in love aren’t allowed to get married.  The World Health Organization has already ruled that, no, I do not have some medical illness.  No, more likely that I won some sort of genetic lottery.  Or, as current science is looking into, was affected by a mix of hormones while I was developing in the womb.  A little less sin, a lot more born the way I am.

So.  There are a lot of Christians in my life whom I love and do truly respect.  Please note that any bitter rants about religion are not directed at you.  But the great thing about America is that you can choose whatever religion you want.  And I can too.  This isn’t some system where beliefs are stifled.  This is a country that is fertilized so that its population can believe what they want.  That is the absolute beauty of our system here.  Why some conservative right wing [neo Nazis] want to push THEIR views on a multicultural, multiracial, multireligious nation is up in the air.  Would I ever want to push legislation banning religion because I personally am agnostic?  No.  In fact I find the timeless quote going along the lines of ‘I may not believe in what you say, but I’ll give my life so that you have the freedom to say it’ outstandingly true.

A lady came in to Guest Service on Monday and talked to me for 20 minutes.  It was a complaint.  Why?  Because we sell the Fischer Price dolls that apparently say ‘Islam is the Light’.  Ok, yes, if you listen and are looking for words out of baby gurgling, you can hear that.  Or you could hear ‘Salami is so Right’.  What do you think the media is going to sensationalize though?  Anyways, she sits there and very seriously says how awful this is that we still have it on our shelves.  KMart and Wal Mart have apparently taken them down.  Then she drops a political bomb on me:

“This is America”

REALLY?!  You’re going to sit here and tell me that you don’t want a product sold because you don’t agree with what it’s saying?  IN AMERICA?  In a land that was founded because a group of people were persecuted for their religion?  There are millions of Muslims in America.  They are AMERICAN.  They are no better and no worse than anyone else in this country.  That is OFFENSIVE to them.  That is one of those ‘beyond-words’ its so offensive.  It was offensive to me, not as a Muslim, but as an American.  A patriotic American who believes in freedom for all, even if I’m not going to agree with them.  And she has the FREEDOM to believe that America has to follow HER rules and bow to HER will.  But it is not, in any way shape or form, her right to impose her beliefs on anyone else. 

Really?  This is over a toy.  She’s going on, threatening to talk to churches boycotting Target stores, etc.  I don’t care.  If people want to discriminate against another religion, I don’t want them anywhere near me.  Grow up lady.  Grow the hell up.

The real kicker about all this?  I held a straight face.  I was sympathetic.  I assured her that I would pass the complaint on internally and that I could see where she was coming from.  She actually told me that I was much better than workers at ANOTHER Target who had treated her rudely.  Not just a worker, the manager of toys.  Then when the store manager was called over, apparently they were rude to her too.  Wow, I wonder why.

But I stuck by the points I’m making here.  It was by no means my place to tell her that, no, I thought she was dead wrong and ought to be hung out to dry by real and honorable Christians throughout the country.  She can have her beliefs, I can have mine.  The difference is that I use a personal blog to express myself and she tries to change what a store sells so that she can feel comfortable and secure in her religion.

I don’t consider her a Christian, and I don’t consider anyone else who is willing to use their religion as justification for pushing their beliefs onto other people.  I’m hoping that people reading this will see the difference between expressing yourself and your opinions vs trying to graft your will onto a nation with a diverse population.

The picture above is Sally Kern, who got re-elected to senate in Oklahoma or something.  Her and her husband want me to be sent off to a “Re-Education Camp” (direct quote from Mr. Kern) because the way I am does not fit with their beliefs.

It is better to give more freedoms and let people take advantage of them on an individual level than for a majority to withhold rights from a minority because they may not agree with them.

Good photo editing though, right?  All the Devil horns ‘n stuff look superb.  Photo-realistic if I must say.  Then taking a Zombie head and putting it on her “pastor” husbands head…wow.  No one could tell that was a human beforehand.  Those people are not Christians in any sense of the word.  They can say they are, but honestly, according to their own beliefs, it will be Jesus who decides that.  And Jesus has preached nothing but love.  Spreading bigotry and hate was not part of his gospel.

PS- If anyone wants to read the article that finally made me write all this out, it’s here. Remind me not to ever vote for a politician just because they’re KERN-servative.

PPS- I’ve always wondered why Muslims don’t do more to discourage radical behavior like terrorism that draws so much hate their way.  Now I’m left wondering how Christians are any better when their base is rallied to vote in the embodiement of hate into our government.

PPPS- This article was written by a Christian. Are you the same kind of Christian as him? Comment on this post. Is he really the voice of today’s Christians?

Is it my faith you seek, because you already had it, or was it just my simple starry eyed admiration that you wanted to keep with your propaganda machines constantly telling me over and over what my ideals are and what my beliefs are and who I should hate and who I should love and who deserves the war that we bring to them, only because they have brought it unto themselves in the first place, is it that or did you just want me content as you went on your little rampage taking me for granted, trying to keep me in a coma as the chaos ensued around my hospital bed but you kept my ears plugged and my eyes covered, well, you tried but somehow I got the remote and turned on the TV, and even with the poor reception I saw what you never intended me to see and what you never wanted me to hear, and I saw how you deceived me and I heard the illegitimacy of your lies and suddenly my mind was clearer than it had ever been before and I was simply a slave and you were my master and the whole situation was no longer something innocent it was a rape of my innocence and you were over me panting and I still had it in my head that no meant no but there comes a point when your voice just stops working because you’ve been screaming so much and through it all you never heard me you covered my head and did you work and somehow everyone else looks past me and looks to you and supports you and I shout out again for help but people tell me to be quiet and I look in your eyes and wonder how I could’ve been one of those people who told others to hold their tongues when they cried for help and I wondered how I was the one who saw your bloody hands and somehow managed to be silent when mothers screamed that their children were being slaughtered and after all I’ve been through who am I to ask for anyone else’s help, who am I to expect anyone else to listen and suddenly the responsibility is falling on my shoulders because now I sit back and do nothing as your followers bow and bow again, defend you as the blood pools around your feet, fight for you as the blood pools around the world, and they just keep on chanting in time with you and I can’t for the life of me understand this madness that everyone is caught up over, I can’t understand why I’m no longer in the land of the free, I can’t understand why people are holding guns up to their heads and pulling the trigger when they could swear to god they’re pointing it at the enemy.