Wednesday, May 16, 2007

God is calling his people to heaven

When I first heard the news that Tammy Faye Bakker only had a few weeks left to live as she battles with inoperable lung cancer I thought that this was a subject that I should leave alone. Besides being in a leadership position with a large fundamentalist movement in the early 80s that was ultimately crushed by scandal she is really a moral, decent and upright person. Tammy Faye, with her incredibly thick make up, was an incredibly accepting person. This included people that did not share her beliefs with her. Her most recent foray into entertainment was an appearance on the surreal life along with some characters like porn star Ron Jeremy, rapper Vanilla Ice, Traci Bingham, Erik Estrada, and Trishelle Cannatella. She was often heard making comments such as “people need to grant themselves permission to cast off the things that are holding them back, to forgive themselves and others, to be happy with themselves whoever they are, to persevere in the face of opposition, and to show each other unconditional love.” So the fact that I do not agree with Tammy Faye’s religious views has absolutely no effect on my feeling that she is generally accepting of varying beliefs and lifestyles and had nothing in mind but to make the world a better place. The only major thing that I can fault her for is having bad taste in men. This of course is a trait that she shares with most women in America, if not the world.

So as I mentioned, my plan was to leave the ironies of religious icons dying of horrific afflictions alone. Then all of the sudden I saw a story on CNN that Jerry Falwell, was sick. I clicked on the headline only to be taken to a story saying that he was dead!!! Jerry Falwell represents the same section of society under the banner of extreme fundamentalist faith that Tammy Faye represented, but with one exception. Jerry Falwell was an evil arrogant, hateful bastard. Falwell certainly left some marks on American society. We could call these marks stains since even after his passing they will be difficult to remove. One of those stains is the formation of an anti-gay group that was bent on “the polarization of the American electorate and the rise of Christian evangelicals as a political force in American politics.”

Falwell is credited with making it comfortable for religious leaders to get into politics. This of course has had some very positive effects on our society from Ted Haggard’s induced gay sex addiction to President Bush having difficulty fielding questions about the apocalpyse in press conferences.

Falwell’s biggest headline grabbers were of course more recently in his career. In 1999 he pointed the “Moral Majority” towards an incredibly important task of destroying the teletubbies. The teletubbies, an awkward children’s show from the 90s had a character that Falwell considered to be “a symbol of gay pride and a poor role model for children.” Falwell also overlooked Al Qaeda’s responsibility for the 2001 September 11th attacks on the World Trade towers. He claimed that there were some other groups that were responsible for the attacks and that these groups had brought the wrath of God. Falwell was quoted saying “I really believe that the pagans and the abortionist and the feminist and the gays and lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say, you helped this happen.”

Falwell actively pushed to get religion and politics as intertwined as possible. He often claimed that this country was founded under the principle of “one true God.” Of course in the Treaty of Tripoli, which was drafted under George Washington and signed by John Adams it is stated “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.” Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Peter Carr wrote “Shake off the fears of servile prejudices under which weak minds are firmly crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because if there be one he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.”

The most hilarious part of this story is that just a week before his death Falwell was interviewed and said that he had asked God for another 20 years of life to complete the work that needed to be completed. He quoted the story of Hezekiah, who asked God for the same thing and had it granted. Apparently "god" did not feel that Falwell was as worthy of this request as Hezekiah. Of course the Christian community is just as happy with Falwell’s passing as the non-religious community. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist convention said "A true giant of the faith has gone on to his heavenly reward." Obviously, like most Christians, Land does not comprehend the seriousness or permanence of death.

Falwell was single handedly responsible for a large movement to intertwine politics and religion. This is an idea that our Founding Fathers would have viciously opposed. It is this type of mentality that is holding America back from progress, causing us to wage wars that we have no right to wage, causing us not to accept those that differ from us in religious views or lifestyle choices. One can only hope that the age of close-mindedness, bigotry and hate ended with Falwell’s death, but as we all know, in all likelihood, it more than likely left a vacuum for an even bigger monster to take his place. If people have to believe in the ridiculous notion of a “sky god” let us hope that they at least are led to act more like Tammy and less like Jerry. Someone please save us from ourselves!

23 comments:

tina FCD said...

I had heard about Tammy Faye being ill. But I never knew she was like that, the things you described. I just always thought she was a nut case too. I really like the quote by her in your post.
John Hagee is sort of like Falwell.

You should do more posts if you get time. I like the way you write.

angelsdepart said...

I try to post only when I really have something to say, otherwise, they would likely be uninteresting gibberish!

Reg Golb said...

"intertwine government and politics" I will assume you mean religion.

How is religion causing us to wage war? because we are trying to protect ourselves, to protect innocent women and children in iraq and afghanistan, are these religious leaders the same ones like hilary, reed and pelosi who agreed to go to war?

angelsdepart said...

Reg, thank you for the correction. I did indeed mean religion and politics. You ask how religion is causing us to wage war. Well, good ol G.W. Bush does not even try to hide the fact that "God" is his reason for striking Iraq.

"God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them." G.W. Bush

As far as protecting the innocent women and children, you know damn well that that is not the reason we are there. There are 100s of women and children dying every day in Darfur. How come we are not there? OIL! That's right, Darfur has no oil. Even if we were in Iraq to protect the innocent women and children then we are not doing a great job. U.S. Soldiers have been charged with everything from stealing money from the Iraqis to raping teenage Iraqi girls.

Democrats that voted for the war back in 2002 including Hillary (check your spelling) voted in favor of the war based on the fabricated evidence presented to them by Bush. If this man of God had not been such a convincing liar then we may very well be in a very different situation today. Now that we have a better understanding of Bush's willingness to distort the truth to achieve his agenda, let's hope that it is not to late to stop him.

Reg Golb said...

I don't even know why I am responding to such a stupid post, 1. but Bush never said that,

2. you just proved that oil is the reason no religion

3. hilary (is use 1 L because I find your comment bordering on hilarity) did her own research on the wmd's which she said directly in numerous speeches

4. if bush did trick hil and the rest, then he is smarter than you all give him credit for.

angelsdepart said...

Well, Bush did say that, here is the story from the Washington post. this was originally quoted from an Israeli paper (They are our friend’s right?)

Oil is the reason for going to war, religion was the reason given by the Bush administration. America would not have been behind oil as a reason for war, but most of us are dumb enough to buy religion as an excuse.

Here is a link for the Hillary Clinton for President webpage. Looks as if the spelling of her name is with two L’s. Do you enjoy making frivolous claims or are you just retarded?

I don’t recall calling Bush dumb in this blog, it wasn’t even about him. Dumb or not, if you present evidence in the form of lies, as the President of the United States, then you are likely to trick some people based on your status, regardless of your intelligence. Not to mention it was a very emotional time in 2002-2003, so many people didn’t take much convincing.

Hillary is not my choice for President, but I do have to give her credit. Once she realized her mistake in making a “Yes” vote for the war, she changed her position and tried to make a difference. Bush knows that the war is a bad deal, but is more than willing to let the killing continue so that he can stake his interest.

Hey, I noticed you didn’t even touch the “soldiers raping Iraqis” subject. Got any more pearls of wisdom smart guy! Or is CNN lying too?

Reg Golb said...

"Even then, there's uncertainty. After all, this is Abu Mazen's account in Arabic of what Bush said in English, written down by a note-taker in Arabic, then back into English"
I would question the whole story as does the Kamen.

The spelling with only 1 L is a joke, like her. It is a joke, I know how to spell. That was at least an attempt at humor, not everyone has a sense of humor.

Hilary changed her vote when she realized it would be politically advantageous to do so.

Hey, you should also notice I never commented on your lack being able to comprehend a joke and being serious.

So I will comment on the rape charges. "SO WHAT" when it occurs, punish them to the full extent of the law. It is not a mystery that some people, even soldiers are evil and bad people.
What does this have to do with the argument anyway?

angelsdepart said...

Now it’s a joke?!?! How convenient for you!

You said
“hilary (is use 1 L because I find your comment bordering on hilarity)”

Is that Ebonics? Maybe that is why I didn’t understand it. Don’t get mad at me for not comprehending a joke, when the joke isn’t funny. I bet you often feel that people don’t have a good sense of humor. I am sure it is always them and not you.

Interesting that when discussing the rape charges that your comment is “SO WHAT.” I was in utter horror at this. Innocent Iraqi teenage women being raped and your response is “SO WHAT.” You make me sick!

By the way, this was a valid refutation to your argument.

You said
“because we are trying to protect ourselves, to protect innocent women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan”

Raping them is not protecting them. That is what this comment has to do with the argument. Are you sure you’re up for this? I am sitting here watching in horrified amazement as you dive deeper and deeper into your own stupidity!

Reg Golb said...

That was a so what in regard to the argument, not the rape itself. I may not be as smart as you, but I am not condoning anything illegal. Rape is evil and like I said, it should be prosecuted, as should any other crime. Are you claiming that more women and children have been raped by US military than before we came?
I was simply stating that overall, women and children are better off now. As far as Darfur, we should be there right now, I think it is deplorable that we have not gone in to help those people.

So by your logic, cops should all be fired because some are bad.

Reg Golb said...

HILLARY 2003: There is a very easy way to prevent anyone from being put into harm's way, that is for Saddam Hussein to disarm. And I have absolutely no belief that he will. I have to say that this is something I've followed for more than a decade. If he were serious about disarming, he would have been much more forthcoming. I ended up voting for the resolution after carefully reviewing the information, intelligence that I had available, talking with people whose opinions I trusted, tried to discount the political or other factors that I didn't believe should be in any way a part of this decision. I would love to agree with you, but I can't based on my own understanding and assessment of the situation.

is that hilarious or what?

angelsdepart said...

Reg ……………………………… *Sigh*

You said
“Are you claiming that more women and children have been raped by US military than before we came?”

Lol um… yes I am saying that. Is there any other way? The only way soldiers could rape Iraqi’s is if they were there. Am I missing another joke here?

I agree with you that we should be in Darfur but as mentioned before there is no oil there, so there will be no religious excuse to go.

Your “cops” analogy does not really make sense. Cops are not being deployed into someone else’s country to push an agenda and secure oil interests in the name of religious agenda and protecting foreign people. But I will play along. If American police were sent to Iraq to protect people and instead they were harming people, then yes they should be removed.

This conversation is getting so strange!

Reg Golb said...

Where is your proof that more women are raped now by us military that before?

angelsdepart said...

Hillary made a mistake (Hey, you spelled her name right! What happened to your joke?) She has corrected her position and her mistake. It's George's turn. I'm waiting.

angelsdepart said...

Reg, the U.S. military could only commit these acts if they were present. What are you trying to get at. Maybe I am missing your point!

Reg Golb said...

I am claiming that the women and children are better off with Saddam and his goons out.

You are saying that they were better off before we came.

You have 1 rape allegation as proof.

I simply said they are better off now, we disagree. You don't have any proof that more are being raped by us military than before we came. You know, by Saddam and his goons.

angelsdepart said...

lol, OK I get it now!!! Well that is hard for me to answer because I have neither been there before or after our invasion of their sovereign land. I do believe Saddam was an evil man. I am happy that he is dead, but dismayed that it took so long. As far as the Iraqi people being better off, I have to be skeptical. It seems to me that I have heard many stories over the past years of escalating violence in Iraq. The casualties on both sides are increasing along with our troop count. I fear for our service men everyday. There are to many fucked up things going on in the world. We should concentrate on fixing our own issues before dealing with those of other countries. Unless of course, they have oil! (that was a joke, how did I do?)

tina FCD said...

That really was a strange dialog between you two.

Anonymous said...

maybe there is ony one of them

angelsdepart said...

One of them? God?, Pizza?, Falwell,? What the hell are you talking about?

Anonymous said...

maybe angelsdepart is REG GOLB

maybe?

angelsdepart said...

lol, funny!

angelsdepart said...

Is that you Frankypoo?

tina FCD said...

lol!