Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Gee, think they're feeling threatened? (Updated.)
Well, the economic downturn is deeper and more widespread than other recent recessions have been. The stalwart defenders of morality have shown to be inept, perverted, and corrupt themselves. The GOP is being turned into a small regional party of little consequence. And more Americans than ever now say that they are not religious.
Little wonder that the religious are feeling a bit threatened, eh? You can see it from the rather subdued and pathetic troll who showed up here recently, to an uptick in violent threats that PZ has been getting, to actual violence:
Gunman: 'If You're Not A Christian You're Going To Die'
BOULDER, Colo. -- A 24-year-old ski lift operator who fatally shot the general manager of the Eldora ski area was determined to kill co-workers who weren't Christian, according to court records obtained Thursday.
The documents, filed Wednesday in Boulder District Court, said witnesses told authorities that Derik Bonestroo walked into a building at work, fired a gun into the ceiling and said: "If you're not Christian, you're going to die."
General manager Brian Mahon was shot and killed Dec. 30 at the ski area west of Nederland, Colo., in Boulder County.
Witnesses said when Bonestroo asked Mahon's religion, Mahon said "Catholic" and Bonestroo shot him twice: in the chest and head. Mahon is believed to have died instantly. Other employees ran out the back door of the ski employee's meeting area and fled into the woods, describing an additional four to five shots being fired.
But I'm sure none of these are "True Christians".
Hang on - it's likely to get worse before it gets better.
3/10 8:45 AM edited to add: Here's a diary currently on the rec list at dKos that is another example of this: My Wife Just Got a Very Creepy Anonymous Letter
Jim Downey
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Unsurprising
You have to realize that many of the Protestant Christian denominations (especially the more extreme Evangelical and Baptist branches) consider the Catholic church to be "the harlot" in Revelations. It's considered a "fake Christianity" that will be destroyed when Jesus returns.
So while they might join Catholics to fight the common enemy of Humanists, atheists, Muslims, etc, they truly don't like Catholicism very much.
Besides, is this really surprising? Their entire belief system revolves around a god who desires to kill all whom refuse to bow to him, and they focus their entire lives on a man who was supposedly slaughtered like a pig for them. It's a recipe for disaster when the small segment of already mentally unstable people are raised in those beliefs.
Not Christian enough?
The scary part is when Christians start telling other Christians that they are not "Christian enough." Or when they are too stupid to realize that there are other sects of Christian - last time I chrcked, Catholics are indeed Christians. Certainly the Pope would think so.
I've seen that before, though. In college, my roommate and three other girls in our house had a religious epiphany that led them to believe that Jesus was speaking to them directly during prayer sessions, and my roommate took a knife and scratched the eyes out of all the photos of her high-school friends and carved crosses on the pictures as part of a prayer session to make them better and stronger Christians. This from a girl who was a deep Southern Baptists and had not only been raised in a very religious family, but went to Christian schools exclusively before coming to our university.
It's like Muslims who are fighting each other because one side isn't religious enough, according to the other. And I don't think that is going to stop, either.
I second that observation
Back when I was still a semi-practicing Catholic, evangelicals would occasionally start attacking my religion to my face, completely uninvited. As if the term 'Catholic' coming up in conversation was a cue for their tirade against the idol worship and evil ritual, no matter what the social situation was. And that's probably exactly the case!
And then there was that Mormon missionary.
Me: "So why is Mormonism so much better than the Catholicism I already have?"
Him: "Because worshiping the Virgin Mary is idol-worship, and Joseph Smith said we should revere no one but Christ."
O-kaaaay. Right.