30+ Examples of Christian Privilege

I don’t know if I have ever made it clear or not, but let me make it a cleat now.

Your friendly Hippie is a Christian. Compared to some I am a theologically conservative Christian. Compared to others, I am a liberal Christian. I am sometimes like Jesse Jackson, and sometimes like Jim Wallis, but never a Pat Robertson. I can say, and mean the major Christian Creeds without any “…buts”.

I say all this to say that I think “we” believers have/will have to much to answer for because of the non-Christians see “us”. And “we” have much to be justly criticized for… – Ninure da Hippie

30+ Examples of Christian Privilege

Written by Samuel Killermann

Sam is a writer and performer who uses those skills as an ally to advance progress in the realms of LGBT equality and social justice. He tours the country speaking to college students about stereotypes, prejudice, and oppression, and writes for this site when he’s at home in Austin, TX.

Following is a list of privileges granted to people in the U.S. (and many western nations) for being Christian. If you identify as Christian, there’s a good chance you’ve never thought about these things. In response to the ever-increasing “War on Christianity” headlines, I thought it prudent to create this list. Try and be more cognizant of these items and you’ll start to realize how much work we have to do to make the United States a place that is truly safe and accessible for folks of all faiths.

Please comment below if you have any additions or revisions to make!

You can expect to have time off work to celebrate religious holidays.
Music and television programs pertaining to your religion’s holidays are readily accessible.
It is easy to find stores that carry items that enable you to practice your faith and celebrate religious holidays.
You aren’t pressured to celebrate holidays from another faith that may conflict with your religious values.
Holidays celebrating your faith are so widely supported you can often forget they are limited to your faith (e.g. wish someone a “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Easter” without considering their faith).
You can worship freely, without fear of violence or threats.
A bumper sticker supporting your religion won’t likely lead to your car being vandalized.
You can practice your religious customs without being questioned, mocked, or inhibited.
If you are being tried in court, you can assume that the jury of “your peers” will share your faith and not hold that against you in weighing decisions.
When swearing an oath, you will place your hand on a religious scripture pertaining to your faith.
Positive references to your faith are seen dozens a time a day by everyone, regardless of their faith.
Politicians responsible for your governance are probably members of your faith.
Politicians can make decisions citing your faith without being labeled as heretics or extremists.
It is easy for you to find your faith accurately depicted in television, movies, books, and other media.
You can reasonably assume that anyone you encounter will have a decent understanding of your beliefs.
You will not be penalized (socially or otherwise) for not knowing other people’s religious customs.
Your faith is accepted/supported at your workplace.
You can go into any career you want without it being associated with or explained by your faith.
You can travel to any part of the country and know your religion will be accepted, safe, and you will have access to religious spaces to practice your faith.
Your faith can be an aspect of your identity without being a defining aspect (e.g., people won’t think of you as their “Christian” friend)
You can be polite, gentle, or peaceful, and not be considered an “exception” to those practicing your faith.
Fundraising to support congregations of your faith will not be investigated as potentially threatening or terrorist behavior.
Construction of spaces of worship will not likely be halted due to your faith.
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You are never asked to speak on behalf of all the members of your faith.
It is unlikely you will be judged by the actions of other members of your faith.
You can go anywhere and assume you will be surrounded by members of your faith.
Without special effort, your children will have a multitude of teachers who share your faith.
Without special effort, your children will have a multitude of friends who share your faith.
It is easily accessible for you or your children to be educated from kindergarten through post-grad at institutions of your faith.
Disclosing your faith to an adoption agency will not likely prevent you from being able to adopt children.
In the event of a divorce, the judge won’t immediately grant custody of your children to your ex because of your faith.
Your faith is taught or offered as a course at most public institutions.
You can complain about your religion being under attack without it being perceived as an attack on another religion.
You can dismiss the idea that identifying with your faith bears certain privileges.

Share more in the comments below!

Disclaimer: Pursuant to the UCC (Uniform Comedy Code), all depictions of events and persons on this site are more real than reality itself, and therefore any resemblance to reality is not really real.

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
– Romans 13:9</i>

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary — the evil it does is permanent.
– Mahatma Gandhi

In many parts of the world the people are searching for a solution which would link the two basic values: peace and justice. The two are like bread and salt for mankind.
– Lech Walesa
from his Nobel Lecture

===================

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This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

This material is distributed without profit

IMPORTANT NOTICE

You may have noticed the increased amount of notices for you to notice. Some of our notices have not been noticed. This is very noticeable. It has been noticed that the responses to the notices have been noticeably unnoticed. This notice is to remind you to notice the notices and respond to the notices, because we do not want the notices to go unnoticed.

Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

My YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/Ninure

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

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http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

How Conservatives Argue

This is something from files that is at least six years old!! What I find disturbing is that when I first read it, I thought it might be exaggerating things a bit, but I don’t tnk that the case at all. – Ninure da Hippie

How Conservatives Argue: A Case Study

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/1/13/141448/171

Liberal: The USA has fifty states.

Conservative: No, it doesn’t.

Liberal: Yes, it does. The USA has fifty states.

Conservative: What about Guam? What about that Guam, huh? Or the Virgin
Islands?

Liberal: Those are territories, not states. The USA has fifty states.

Conservative: Oh, so you’re saying those don’t count?

Liberal: Yes.

Conservative: Oh, so the people there don’t count? They’re not good
enough, huh? I thought you liberals wanted everybody to be counted.

Liberal: No, I said the territories don’t count as states. The USA
has fifty states.

Conservative: You’re really something, you know that? You liberals
are always going on about how all of us conservatives are racists, how
we don’t care about anybody but people who look like us. But you
don’t even want to count the blacks who live in Guam as Americans.

Liberal: First of all, I never said all conservatives are racists.

Conservative: Yes, you did.

Liberal: No, I didn’t.

Conservative: Michael Moore says it.

Liberal: I’ve never heard him say that.

Conservative: Yes, he does! He most definitely does!

Liberal: Look, I don’t know what he says. That’s beside the point.
And the people in Guam “count,” whatever that means. I don’t even
know who lives in Guam; I don’t know the first thing about Guam.
I’m just saying Guam isn’t a state – it’s a territory. The USA
has fifty states.

Conservative: What about Puerto Rico?

Liberal: What?

Conservative: What about Puerto Rico, huh? You love all those Mexicans
coming across the border stealing our jobs – you must LOVE Puerto
Rico, right?

Liberal: I’ve never been to Puerto Rico.

Conservative: Well, I have, and those kind of people would be pretty
offended to hear liberals like you saying they aren’t real Americans!

Liberal: I didn’t say that!

Conservative: You said they didn’t count!

Liberal: I didn’t say that either! No, wait, just wait… (takes deep
breath). I only said the USA has fifty states. Puerto Rico isn’t a
state – it’s a commonwealth.

Conservative: And they don’t speak English!

Liberal: Well, many Puerto Ricans do.

Conservative: How do you know that? I’ve been there – you
haven’t!

Liberal: All right, OK, fine, whatever. But the USA has fifty states.

Conservative: Well, I say Puerto Rico counts.

Liberal: Fine, but not as a state.

Conservative: Well, that’s YOUR opinion.

Liberal: It’s not my opinion – it’s a fact.

Conservative: Says you!

Liberal: No, not just “says me.” It’s a fact. Look it up.

Conservative: I don’t have time.

Liberal: You don’t have time to find out if the USA has fifty states?

Conservative: Listen, you may have time to sit around all day surfing
on your liberal websites, downloading Michael Moore, but I’ve got
things to do.

Liberal: Like reading about blacks in Guam and Mexicans in Puerto Rico?

Conservative: See, that’s why you guys always lose. I’m trying to
have a nice conversation, and you just keep up with the insults!

Liberal: Listen, I didn’t mean to insult you.

Conservative: Oh, yes you did!

Liberal: No, look, I’m sorry, OK? I didn’t mean to insult you.
Honestly. It’s just that… well, the USA has fifty states. That’s
a fact. And I’m just trying to state a fact, and you’re getting
very defensive, and…

Conservative: Oh, so now I’m defensive.

Liberal: Well…

Conservative: You just said you weren’t going to insult me!

Liberal: Look, I’m just trying to say the USA has fifty states!

Conservative: According to YOUR sources!

Liberal: MY sources?! What are you talking about? Look it up!

Conservative: I told you, I don’t have time to spend all day cruising
the internet, looking up geography questions! Maybe if you were busier
at your job, trying to live the American Dream, you wouldn’t have
time for all this hate!

Liberal: I work hard at my job!

Conservative: Then why are you spending all day downloading Michael
Moore?

Liberal: I don’t spend all day downloading Michael Moore! I don’t
even know what you mean by that! All I’m saying is that the USA has
fifty states!

Conservative: Again, according to YOU!

Liberal: Not just me! Here, here’s the World Book Encyclopedia. Look
it up – it’s fifty states!

Conservative: Oh, sure, the World Book! Yeah, like I’m going to
believe the World Book!

Liberal: What?

Conservative: Come on, it’s a liberal rag!

Liberal: (Long, teeth-gnashing pause) Look, just look up “United
States of America.” Ten bucks it says, “the USA has fifty
states.”

Conservative: Ten bucks, huh?

Liberal: Yeah, ten bucks. (pause) Wait, that’s the “M” volume.

Conservative: I know.

Liberal: You need to look under “U” for “United States.”

Conservative: I’m not looking for “United States.” I’m looking
for “Moore, Michael.”

Liberal: What?!

Conservative: And when I find a big glowing article about him, you’re
going to owe me ten bucks!

Liberal: Why would I owe you ten bucks?!

Conservative: You bet me ten bucks that the World Book Encyclopedia
isn’t liberal.

Liberal: No I didn’t!

Conservative: Yes, you did! You bet me ten bucks that I couldn’t find
a liberal article in the World Book. So when I find Michael Moore’s
picture, you owe me ten bucks!

Liberal: Oh, my lord…

Conservative: AHA!

Liberal: Listen, you idiot, just because you found Michael Moore’s
picture in the World Book doesn’t mean that I owe you ten bucks! It
doesn’t mean the World Book is a liberal encyclopedia! And it
certainly doesn’t mean the USA doesn’t have fifty states!!

Conservative: Oh, no? Look at this!

Liberal: (pause) “Massachusetts”?

Conservative: Bingo!

Liberal: What the hell does Massachusetts have to do with anything?

Conservative: The COMMONWEALTH of Massachusetts!

Liberal: So?

Conservative: So you said Puerto Rico is a commonwealth!

Liberal: Oh, no…

Conservative: You ADMITTED Puerto Rico was a commonwealth! Admit it,
you said it!

Liberal: Oh, man…

Conservative: So if Massachusetts is a commonwealth, and Puerto Rico is
a commonwealth, then they BOTH must be states! HA!

Liberal: OK, look…

Conservative: You owe me twenty bucks!

Liberal: What?

Conservative: Come one, pay up! Twenty bucks, let’s go!

Liberal: I don’t owe you twenty bucks!

Conservative: And I’m not even counting Pennsylvania!

Liberal: Pennsylvania?

Conservative: That’s a commonwealth, too!

Liberal: It’s a commonwealth, but…

Conservative: And Washington!

Liberal: All right, look, I lived in Seattle – Washington is NOT a
commonwealth!

Conservative: Seattle’s not even a state – it’s a city!

Liberal: Yes, it’s a city, in Washington State! Washington’s a
state!

Conservative: I’m talking about Washington D.C.

Liberal: What?

Conservative: Washington D.C. It’s a city.

Liberal: I know what it is!

Conservative: Well, you liberals are always going on about “Statehood
for Washington!” Which, you admit, is already a state!

Liberal: Washington D.C. is not a state!

Conservative: Washington State is!

Liberal: You just said Washington D.C.!

Conservative: And you said it should be a state!

Liberal: I never said that! I mean, it should be… but I
never…look…

Conservative: Should Washington be a state?

Liberal: Well…

Conservative: Simple question.

Liberal: Washington State?

Conservative: Yes or No?

Liberal: Washington State or Washington D.C.?

Conservative: Right.

(Long pause)

Conservative: He snorts cocaine.

(Long, painful pause)

Liberal: (slowly) This is Washington D.C. you’re talking about.

Conservative: Yeah. The mayor snorts cocaine.

Liberal: Actually, he’s no longer the mayor…

Conservative: I don’t think a state should have a governor who’s
used drugs.

Liberal: He’s not the governor; Washington’s not a…

Conservative: Except maybe California.

Liberal: OK, OK, stop for a moment…

Conservative: I mean, that was a long time ago…

Liberal: Listen, listen…

Conservative: I don’t see Michael Moore making any movies about
cocaine in Washington State, do you?

Liberal: Please, STOP!

(pause)

Liberal: Look, I’m just trying to make a simple point here…

Conservative: What about…

Liberal: STOP!!!

(long pause)

Liberal: I’m just trying to make a SIMPLE point here. It’s not a
big deal – it’s just a fact. The USA has fifty states. That’s
all! Yes, Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, but it isn’t counted among
the fifty states. Yes, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania are commonwealths
too. So are Virginia and, I think, Kentucky. I don’t know about
Kentucky for sure, and you know what – it doesn’t matter! They’re
considered states, OK? They’re states. Washington D.C. isn’t one,
even though I wish it was. Guam isn’t one. There are only fifty.
Fifty states. Fifty stars on the flag – fifty states. That’s all.
Fifty.

(long pause)

Conservative: Rush is so right about you people.

Liberal: Huh?

Conservative: Rush. He gets it. You people are the worst.

Liberal: I don’t…

Conservative: Here I am, trying to have an honest political discussion,
and all you can do is bring up this liberal claptrap! You call people
like Rush racists, but you don’t want to count Mexicans as Americans.
You insult the Governor of California every chance you get. You get all
your information from encyclopedias and Michael Moore. You want free
cocaine in Washington, and you want Seattle to become a commonwealth,
and you won’t pay me my fifty dollars even after I proved that blacks
run Guam! And then, worst of all, you insult our flag and our troops!!!
You disgust me!

Liberal: Good-bye.

Conservative: See, there you liberals go again! Sneaking off to
download porn from Kentucky! I’m not forgetting you owe me 100
dollars!

(pause)

Conservative: That’s it, cut and run!

(long pause)

Conservative: Why do you hate America?

Disclaimer: Pursuant to the UCC (Uniform Comedy Code), all depictions of events and persons on this site are more real than reality itself, and therefore any resemblance to reality is not really real.

===================

FAIR USE NOTICE:

This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc.

This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

This material is distributed without profit

IMPORTANT NOTICE

You may have noticed the increased amount of notices for you to notice. Some of our notices have not been noticed. This is very noticeable. It has been noticed that the responses to the notices have been noticeably unnoticed. This notice is to remind you to notice the notices and respond to the notices, because we do not want the notices to go unnoticed.

“I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain.”

Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

My YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/Ninure

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

Gay Republicans Offended That Obama Supports Gay Marriage. Seriously.

Well here’s a Blog post that this Hippie doesn’t have to write herself!!

Gay Republicans Offended That Obama Supports Gay Marriage. Seriously..

100 Things You Can Say To Irritate A Republican (HUMOR)

There is, in this article/list stuff that us sure to be offensive to folks who are avowed Conservatives/Tea Party members. Therefore, if you are a Conservative/Tea Party member you may wish to skip this post. – Ninure da Hippie

100 Things You Can Say To Irritate A Republican (HUMOR)
April 14, 2012
By Stephen D. Foster Jr.

Conservatives are so easy to anger these days. Even the most insignificant statement can set off their tempers. If you want to enrage a conservative, I suggest saying the following:

1. A Socialist wrote the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Jesus healed the sick and helped the poor, for free.
3. Joseph McCarthy was an un-American, witch hunting sissy.
4. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were traitors.
5. The South lost the Civil War, get over it.
6. The Founding Fathers were liberals.
7. Fascism is a right-wing trait.
8. Sarah Palin is an idiot.
9. The Earth is round.
10. Reagan raised taxes eleven times as President.
11. Reagan legalized abortion as Governor of California.
12. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency.
13. Ronald Reagan supported gun control.
14. Global warming is real.
15. Republicans hate illegal immigrants, unless they need their lawns mowed or their houses cleaned.
16. The military is a government-run institution, so why do Republicans approve the defense budget?
17. The Cold War is over and the Soviet Union no longer exists.
18. Paying taxes is patriotic.
19. Republicans: Peddling the same failed economic policies since 1880.
20. The Republican Party began as a liberal party.
21. The Presidents’ full name is Barack Hussein Obama and he was born in the United States of America.
22. George W. Bush held hands with the King of Saudi Arabia.
23. President Obama saved the American auto industry, while Republicans wanted to destroy it.
24. Hate is not a Christian virtue.
25. Jesus was a liberal.
26. Republicans spend MORE money than Democrats.
27. Tea parties are for little girls.
28. Public schools educate all children; private schools are for indoctrinating children.
29. The Constitution is the law, NOT the Bible.
30. Sharia law doesn’t exist in America.
31. The President is NOT a Muslim.
32. Corporations are NOT people. People are people.
33. Fox News isn’t real news, it’s just a racist, sexist, hateful, right-wing propaganda machine.
34. The Federal Reserve was a Republican idea.
35. Women are equal citizens who deserve equal rights.
36. Women control their own bodies.
37. Abortion is a relevant medical procedure, just ask Rick Santorum.
38. Please use spell-check.
39. It’s “pundit”, not “pundint”.
40. Social Security is solvent through 2038.
41. Health care is a right, not a product.
42. Roe v. Wade was a bipartisan ruling made by a conservative leaning Supreme Court.
43. G.O.P also stands for Gross Old Perverts.
44. The donkey shouldn’t be the Democratic mascot because Republicans are the real jackasses.
45. Barack Obama ordered the killing of Osama Bin Laden. It took him two and half years to do what Bush couldn’t do in eight.
46. Waterboarding IS torture.
47. 9/11 happened on George W. Bush’s watch, therefore he did NOT keep America safe.
48. Republicans invaded Iraq for oil, so Iraq should be allowed to invade Texas to get it back.
49. Separation of church and state is in the Constitution, it’s called the First Amendment.
50. Muslims are protected by the Constitution, just as much as Christians.
51. Barack Obama is the first African-American President, get over it.
52. The Oval Office is NOT a “whites only” office.
53. America is a nation of immigrants, therefore we are all anchor babies.
54. The white race isn’t disappearing, it’s evolving.
55. God is a particle.
56. Evolution is real.
57. The Earth is 4.54 billion years old, not 6,000.
58. The Founding Fathers did not free the slaves.
59. The Revolution was NOT fought over slavery.
60. Paul Revere warned the Americans, NOT the British.
61. Federal law trumps state law.
62. The Civil War was about slavery, NOT state’s rights.
63. Corporations care more about profits than they do about people.
64. Getting out of a recession requires government spending.
65. Glenn Beck is a nut-job.
66. Republicans: Paranoid since 1932.
67. Republicans don’t want to pay for your birth control, but they want you to pay for their Viagra.
68. Republicans actually NEED Viagra.
69. Fox News is owned by an Australian and has a Saudi prince as an investor.
70. Republicans complain about immigrants taking American jobs, then freely give American jobs to foreigners overseas.
71. Republicans hate communism, so why do they refer to themselves as red states?
72. Labor unions built this country.
73. Republicans hold America hostage as a political strategy; the temper tantrum throwing kind of political strategy.
74. Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian.
75. When Republicans see black, they attack.
76. Inside every Republican is a Klansman or a Nazi waiting to bloom.
77. Republicans only care about children BEFORE they are born.
78. Republicans are hypocrites, they’re just too stupid to know it.
79. The Christian-Right boycotts movies that have violence, and then promotes guns and insurrection.
80. I think therefore I am NOT a Republican.
81. Republicans that oppose gay marriage are most likely in the closet themselves.
82. Churches should stay out of politics, or be taxed.
83. People are too poor to vote Republican.
84. Democrats think for themselves, Republicans form think tanks to do it for them.
85. Republicans hate education because they couldn’t hack it in school.
86. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins and Republicans wallow in it.
87. A little socialism on the Left is better than a little fascism on the Right.
88. The current corporate tax rate is the lowest in 60 years, so stop whining about it being too high.
89. Republicans: Anti-Gay Marriage, Pro-Lesbian sex.
90. Republicans: Terrorizing the American people since 1981.
91. Republicans have their own terrorists, just look up Timothy McVeigh.
92. Republicans love outsourcing, just ask the Chinese Communists.
93. The Republican answer to the oil spill was to apologize to BP, a foreign oil company.
94. Democrats will be working hard to bring jobs to Americans, while the Republicans tea bag each other in the middle of the aisles.
95. Voter disenfranchisement is immoral and un-American, that’s why Republicans do it.
96. Republicans would let your house burn down unless you pay them to put it out.
97. Democrats want to take care of the sick. Republicans take their credit cards and then deny them medical attention.
98. Republicans say teachers are union thugs, then proceed to rape and mug the entire middle class on behalf of corporations.
99. Republicans think rape isn’t a crime, but miscarriages are.
100. Republicans are idiots and arguing with them is a waste of time!

Bottom line? If you want to anger a conservative, tell them the truth.

Disclaimer: Pursuant to the UCC (Uniform Comedy Code), all depictions of events and persons on this site are more real than reality itself, and therefore any resemblance to reality is not really real.

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
– Romans 13:9</i>

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary — the evil it does is permanent.
– Mahatma Gandhi

In many parts of the world the people are searching for a solution which would link the two basic values: peace and justice. The two are like bread and salt for mankind.
– Lech Walesa
from his Nobel Lecture

===================

FAIR USE NOTICE:

This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc.

This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

This material is distributed without profit

IMPORTANT NOTICE

You may have noticed the increased amount of notices for you to notice. Some of our notices have not been noticed. This is very noticeable. It has been noticed that the responses to the notices have been noticeably unnoticed. This notice is to remind you to notice the notices and respond to the notices, because we do not want the notices to go unnoticed.

“I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain.”

Books on Relgion and Spirituality

Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

My YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/Ninure

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

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It scares me that Extreme Right is actually getting away with knowingly telling outright lies about American history. It angers me that so-called moral ethical “Christians” feel no need to tell the truth. – Ninure da Hippie

Sightings 4/30/2012

b>David Barton’s Jefferson
— Martin E. Marty

Our premier historian of late colonial and early republican America, Gordon Wood, while reviewing a book on Roger Williams warms up readers with references to Thomas Jefferson. “It’s easy to believe in the separation of church and state when one has nothing but scorn for all organized religion. That was the position of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson’s hatred of the clergy and established churches knew no bounds. He thought that members of the ‘priestcraft’were always in alliance with despots against liberty. For him the divine Trinity “was nothing but ‘Abracadabra’ and ‘hocus-pocus’. . . Ridicule, he said, was the only weapon to be used against it.”

If you wanted to promote the idea of “a Christian America,” one which would privilege one religion, a version of Christianity, and de-privilege all others, and if you want to get back to roots and origins, the last of the “founding fathers” on whom you’d concentrate would be Jefferson. Yet the most ardent public and pop advocate of privilege and virtual establishment, David Barton, cites Jefferson for Bartonian positions which are directly opposite of Jefferson’s. Never heard of David Barton? Most of the historians you would ever meet never heard of him, and if you told them about him and his positions, they would yawn or rage about listing him among those who deal honestly with Jefferson.

Sightingsdoes not over-do ad hominem and sneering references, so we leave to others all the disdaining that Barton so richly merits. Do note, however, that he has invented a case and product which serve his viewpoint and draw him enormous followings among “conservative” factions which oppose separation of church and state in most cases except those they choose. Listen to Mike Huckabee or Glenn Beck or rightist cable TV and you will find Barton showing up everywhere.

His favorite founder seems to be Jefferson, of all people. How does he work his way around to the prime builder of “a wall of separation between church and state,” in the metaphor that would not be my favorite. Sample: Thomas Jefferson, razor in hand snipped all supernatural references out of his copies of the Gospels (in the four languages he read in White House evenings), to keep Jesus as a pure ethical humanist. This spring Barton is publishing The Jefferson Lies, which most historians would title Barton’s Lies about Jefferson. Astonishingly, he twists a slight reference to Jefferson’s book on Jesus and turns it into a tract which, Barton says, Jefferson would use in order to convert the Indians to Christianity. Reviewer Craig Ferhman in the Los Angeles Times found all that Barton found to be “outrageous fabrication.” On TV, Barton even said, with no evidence, that Jefferson gave a copy of his Jesus book to a missionary, to use “as you evangelize the Indians.” Had the Indians been converted with that text, their heirs would have had no place to go but to what became the humanist wing of the Unitarian-Universalist church.

Why does any of this matter? One, basic honesty is at issue; do American religionists need to invent such stories in order to prevail? Two, what if they did prevail? Most of the founders thought that religion was most honest and compelling when its leaders and gatherings did not depend upon lies about the state and, of course, upon the state itself. “Separation of church and state” is admittedly a complex issue, dealing as it does with inevitable conflict and messiness in a free and lively republic. May debates over it go on, but with honest references to Jefferson and his colleagues and not on the grounds David Barton proposes.

References

Gordon S. Wood, “Radical, Pure, Roger Williams,” New YorkReview of Books, May 10, 2012.

People for the American Way, “David Barton’s ‘Outrageous Fabrication’ about Thomas Jefferson,” Right Wing Watch, January 9, 2012.

Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Submissions policy
Sightings welcomes submissions of 500 to 750 words in length that seek to illuminate and interpret the forces of faith in a pluralist society. Previous columns give a good indication of the topical range and tone for acceptable essays. The editor also encourages new approaches to issues related to religion and public life.

Attribution
Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author of the column, Sightings, and the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Contact information
Please send all inquiries, comments, and submissions to Jeremy Biles, editor of Sightings, at sightings-admin@listhost.uchicago.edu. Subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription at the Sightings subscription page.

FAIR USE NOTICE:

This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc.

This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

This material is distributed without profit

===================

“I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain.”

Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place. For if you will indeed obey this word, then through the gates of this house shall enter kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their servants, and their people. But if you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.- Jeremiah 22:3-5

You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation. – Marian Wright Edelman

=================

Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

Sightings: God’s care for the poor

God’s Care for the Poor
— Martin E. Marty

The text for today’s meditation comes from The Wall Street Journal, a quotation provided by a major novelist, whose newest work was being reviewed. The quote, first: “The Lord commands us to ‘do good to all men,’ universally, a great part of whom, estimated according to their own merits, are very undeserving; but here the Scripture assists us with an excellent rule, when it inculcates, that we must not regard the intrinsic merit of men, but must consider the images of God in them, to which we owe all possible honour and love.” The reviewer is Thomas Meaney, co-editor of The Utopian, who assumes that readers will be surprised to find that the author of that quotation, so typical of liberal Protestant rhetoric, “as improbable as it may sound, is John Calvin.”

Not marginal to the Reformer’s thinking, this sentence appears in his classical, most deliberative, most studied and most frequently quoted book, Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541). The novelist is Marilynne Robinson, who here is quoted from her new non-fiction work, When I Was a Child I Read Books. She cites Moses, no less, and Calvin, who is usually seen as a grumpy conservative with a closed mind and closed hands. Here, as often, he comes across, she says—with documentation—as exhibiting and calling for “true liberality” and “openhandedness.”

That’s enough Protestantism for one week. Are there Catholic counterparts? Try U.S. Catholic’s John Gehring, who captioned his article “Not Our Cup of Tea”. He quotes a study which found 28 percent of cup-of-Tea Party members self-identified as Catholics. Many of them cite papal and episcopal documents against birth control, etc., as we recently relearned. Gehring wishes they would read and be faithful to other high-level documents by bishops and popes. He quotes U.S. bishops’ “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” with their warning against reducing “Catholic moral concerns to one or two matters to justify choices simply to advance partisan, ideological, or personal interests.” The Tea Party Patriots contend that their “impetus . . . is excessive government spending and taxation.” Gehring writes that tax rates are at their lowest in sixty years.

U.S. Catholic polled readers and found that 58 percent would pay more taxes to “fund government programs that aid the poor and support infrastructure and education.” Evidently a non-reader of the Catholic documents is Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Also, on our local scene is Chicago Tribune columnist Dennis Byrne who, to put it mildly, tends to Catholic interests. He doesn’t have to read John Calvin, but he might find in Catholic documents strong words which his don’t match. The sub-title of his typical article against government involvement in “welfare” reminds us: “You healthy people will be paying more for juicers, addicts, gangbangers, smokers, fatsos, drunk drivers” and, in the column, more, “other assorted careless, thoughtless creatures.” Probably true.

Byrne spends no compensatory editorial lines that might match up with Catholic social teaching. His are far in tone, character, and substance from somber old John Calvin with his biblically and classically Christian-based reminder that ways must be found to help the “undeserving,” where “the image of God in them” must be found, and to whom “we owe all possible honour and love.” Just because Calvin said it and Ms. Robinson and the Wall Street Journal passed this on to us does not mean that theirs should be the only word. But it is a word, one of many often overlooked scripts and Scriptures, to which Jews post-Passover and Christians post-Easter, owe another reading.

References
Thomas Meaney, “AgainstComplacency,” The Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2012.

John Gehring, “Catholicsand the Tea Party: Not Our Cup of Tea,” U.S. Catholic, April 2012.

Dennis Byrne, “Theimagination goes wild: Paying for the health care of the irresponsible,” Chicago Tribune, April 3, 2012.

Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Submissions policy
Sightings welcomes submissions of 500 to 750 words in length that seek to illuminate and interpret the forces of faith in a pluralist society. Previous columns give a good indication of the topical range and tone for acceptable essays. The editor also encourages new approaches to issues related to religion and public life.

Attribution
Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author of the column, Sightings, and the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Contact information
Please send all inquiries, comments, and submissions to Jeremy Biles, editor of Sightings, at sightings-admin@listhost.uchicago.edu. Subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription at the Sightings subscription page.

FAIR USE NOTICE:

This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc.

This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

This material is distributed without profit

===================

“I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain.”

Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place. For if you will indeed obey this word, then through the gates of this house shall enter kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their servants, and their people. But if you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.- Jeremiah 22:3-5

You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation. – Marian Wright Edelman

=================

Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

The Parable of the Taxpayer

(This could have been written today!! – Ninure Da Hippie)

A Reading for April 15: The Parable of the Taxpayer
by Chuck Collins 04-13-2010

This time of year it is useful to recount the parable of the angry taxpayer (from the VERY New Testament). Tip O’Neil, the colorful congressman from Massachusetts who said “all politics is local,” used to recount a version of this.

The taxpayer woke up one winter morning feeling upset about his taxes. He decided to travel to Washington to complain directly to his Congressional representative and attend a Tea Party rally.

He turned on the radio to listen the weather report, provided by the National Weather Service. He heard the city snowplow go by, clearing his street. He made a cup of coffee with clean water.

He cooked up some eggs and bacon for his family, food products that were certified by the meat inspectors at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It never crossed his mind the possibility that his family might be poisoned.
He kissed his children goodbye as they waited for the school bus to take them to the local public elementary school and high school. His oldest daughter hoped to attend college and was applying for financial aid loans and grants, like the ones he received a generation earlier. On his walk to the subway, he dropped her application letters in the U.S. Post Office mailbox.

He passed the senior housing community where his dear mother lived. He didn’t worry for a second about his mother, who had quality health care paid for by Medicare, a monthly Social Security check and a secure, friendly, and affordable community to live in.

He took the subway to the airport, half the cost of his ride subsidized by state and federal transportation funds. He then flew to Washington on a plane inspected by Federal Aviation Agency inspectors, after passing through security provided by the Transportation Security Administration.

On his way to the U.S. Capitol, he stopped for an hour at the Smithsonian Museum of History, celebrating our nation’s inspiring and unique history. Admission was free to all and thousands of school children were flocking into the museum when he departed. When he got lost, a courteous national park ranger gave him directions to the Congressional office building.

Finally, the taxpayer arrived at his meeting with the Congressman. “Congressman,” he said, pounding his fist on the table, “I don’t get anything for my tax dollars!” Later, he attended the Tea Party rally calling for less government and lower taxes.

This parable reminds us of all the things we take for granted in modern society, services we don’t usually notice until they go away. We like to grumble about “government bureaucrats,” but expect someone to be at our house within 5 minutes after calling 911. We want the library book on the shelf, the road to be plowed, the teachers to be well-trained, the floors of the elementary school to be clean — yet only pay attention when things aren’t going our way.

None of this takes away from the value of our faith communities — in strengthening communities, ministering to those in need, and providing services to the body and souls of our neighbors. The principle of subsidiarity — solving problems at the most local level possible — is essential to healthy communities and appropriate levels of government in our lives.
But living in the U.S., we tend to take for granted the advanced public infrastructure and knowledge institutions that our ancestors built for us. We’re like fish who swim in an ocean of public-funded services and don’t see the water around us.

Imagine if the taxpayer in the parable was miraculously transported to an impoverished country where clean water, emergency services, and education are only available to the wealthy. This invites us to not only see what we have — but also to consider what kind of society we’d like to become.

Of course there is government waste and inefficiency, as there are in all human enterprises. But the answer is more democratic engagement, not less. Complaining and withdrawing from our responsibilities as citizens will only make things worse. Instead, we should get together with others who share our concerns and work to improve things. It is after all our government, empowered by the constitution to provide for the “general welfare.”

Taxes are the way we pay for a healthy commons of infrastructure, public and community institutions, and basic quality-of-life services and safety services that make our lives better.

This April 15th and Tax Day, let us reflect upon this parable and share it with others.

Chuck Collins is co-founder of Wealth for the Common Good, a network of business leaders concerned about tax fairness. He is co-author with Mary Wright of The Moral Measure of the Economy (Orbis Press). He recently published Tax Day Talking Points.

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This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE

You may have noticed the increased amount of notices for you to notice. Some of our notices have not been noticed. This is very noticeable. It has been noticed that the responses to the notices have been noticeably unnoticed. This notice is to remind you to notice the notices and respond to the notices, because we do not want the notices to go unnoticed.

Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

My YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/Ninure

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

What is a Christian?

(This post originally appeared on my now-deleted MySpace blog in 2008)
A few days ago I posted an entry called “Are Mormons Christian?”

Interestingly, that question has appeared on a couple of Yahoo Groups I belong to and, like a comment on my Blog entry, among the responses the answer often was “That depends on how you define “Christian”.

This was my attempt at a very brief, concise, and inclusive defintion of Christian.

I believe a Christian is one who who can say the Aposltle’s Creed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles’_Creed) without reservation, believes and accepts Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, that Jesus is their highest Authority. 

In addition, and of no lesser importance, a Christian knows that the entire law is found in “You shall love God with all that one is, and that one will love their fellow humans (even enemies) in the same way they love themselves.” And knowing that a follower of Jesus, aka a Christian , tries daily to obey that law, in thought, word, and deed.

A Christian, IMHO, knows that nothing s/he does wins salvation (“for by grace are ye saved”), but what she does is both a proof and a response to that salvation

The officials within it are roaring lions;
its judges are evening wolves
that leave nothing until the morning.
Its prophets are reckless, faithless persons;
its priests have profaned what is sacred,
they have done violence to the law.
The Lord within it is righteous;
he does no wrong.
Every morning he renders his judgment,
each dawn without fail;
but the unjust knows no shame.
– Zephaniah 3:3-5

It is so much easier sometimes to sit down and be resigned than to rise up and be indignant. – Nellie McClung,In Times Like These

Live simply. Love generously.
Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.

‘God does not share his love between all of his creatures; He gives *all* of his love to *each* of His creatures!’ (Hugh of St. Victor).

===================

NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this Blog without warning, warrant, or notice.

They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.

FAIR USE NOTICE:

This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc.

This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

This material is distributed without profit

“I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain.”

Books on Relgion and Spirituality

Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

My YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/Ninure

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

Are Mormons Christian?

This article was originally posted/written in 2008 when I still had a Blog on MySpace (which got wiped out when MySpace elimninated all user’s blogs without notice.) I am posting this not to offend any of my Mormon readers if there are any (they can always leave comments which will not be censored unless they are vulgar) but because this is an issue that seems timely in light of the primaries…– Ninure da Hippie

===================================

I was talking to a dear friend of mine awhile back about my difficulty in stating my opinion on whether or not I believed Mormos were Christians.

I told him how much I hated when others looked at “us” and said “we” werne’t Christians because we placed “our “emphasis” in the Jesus “we meet in the Gospels”, on following His example, teachings, and commandments.

“We should think twice”, I said, “Before judging people who claim to follow Jesus”.

He looked at me, and asked. “So would you say people who are memebers of the KKK are Christians? They claim to follow Christ, don’t they?”

“Of course not!’

“And if somebody asked you if the KKK or Christian Identity were Christians, you wouldn’t hesitate to tell them what you thought, would you?”

I got his point.

Not everyone who claims to follow Jesus is a Christian. There are groups like the KKK and Christian Identity claim to ve Christian. And I remember years ago getting up very early in the morning to watch a TV program called the Shepherds’s Chapel, before I realized that preacher was teaching a theology that made Satan a Co-Creator with God.

When it comes to Christianity, if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck….it just might be a wind-up toy..or something much worse.

So I will answer…..

I do not beieive Mormons are Christians. They look like Christians….they can even speak “christianese.” Without a doubt most of them are moral, ethical people just like most of us.

…..but their beliefs about Jesus, God, “our purpose” is, as a my friend put it, a kind of genetic mutation of Christianity at best.

Mormons will tell “you” the tradtitional story of Jesus, but they will not tell you – and it could be that some really don’t know – a whole lot of the theology that Mormons are supposed believe – how their theology differs from the MAJORITY of Christians denominations in the world. (and don’t get me started on that extra “Bible”!!!)

This Video may help to show some of what I mean :

Live simply. Love generously.
Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.

===================

NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this Blog without warning, warrant, or notice.

They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.

FAIR USE NOTICE:

This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc.

This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

This material is distributed without profit

“I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain.”

Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

My YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/Ninure

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

Messing With God’s plans

But you rise up against my people as an enemy;
  you strip the robe from the peaceful,
from those who pass by trustingly
   with no thought of war.
The women of my people you drive out
   from their pleasant houses;
from their young children you take away
   my glory for ever.
Arise and go;
   for this is no place to rest,
because of uncleanness that destroys
   with a grievous destruction.
– Micah 2:8-10

The story goes that a North American missionary went out one day to preach in a barrio of a Brazilian city.

Taking John 3:16 as his text, he stood on the corner proclaiming the love of God for all people. A crowd gathered.

One man in the crowd interrupted the missionary, ‘You are wrong, Señor, God doesn’t love us.’

But the preacher was adamant. ‘Oh, yes. God does love you. God gives all good things, including the Christ, for you.’

The Brazilian, waving his arms at the squalor surrounding him, replied angrily, ‘Then somebody has been messing with the love of God!’ If God gave the earth for all people to share and enjoy, someone has been ‘messing’ with God’s plans.
– Charles Summers

FAIR USE NOTICE:

This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc.

This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

This material is distributed without profit.

===================

Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/