Subject:
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Re: Danish cartoons outrage some Moslem groups and nations
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 8 Feb 2006 22:11:18 GMT
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Viewed:
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1590 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, John Neal wrote:
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I will grant to you that both sides are intolerant. But there is one
difference that makes all the difference and makes comparisons, while
seemingly accurate, completely and unequivocably wrong. Violence.
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John, I simply can’t accept that.
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The> Islamofascists commit suicide, murder, butchery of all kinds in the name
of their God, and the Christian Right, while screaming their agenda, however
hateful it may be perceived, do not act out violently.
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All evidence suggests that Fred Phelps and Pat Robertson and Eric Rudolph and
all the rest would engage in murderous violence--and their followers would
support them--if only they thought that they could get away with it. Robertson
has publicly called for assassination. Phelps advocates violence against
homosexuals. Rudolph is a terrorist convicted of murder. These are not
misunderstood mystics whom the Left can caricature--they’re American citizens
proudly proclaiming themselves to be doing the Lord’s work and passionately
supported by their followers and apologists.
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Now, before you start pointing to specific instances of hate crimes
perpetrated by so-called Christians, please realize that that behavior is
universally condemned by any sort of mainstream Christian.
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Their condemnation doesn’t really matter, since we’re discussing the
fundamentalists (or absolutists), rather than the sane moderates.
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The Christian Right has the right to scream any hateful idea they want, as
do the Islamofascists. And one could argue that they both do. But what they
do with that intolerance are completely 2 different things.
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Of course they have the right to express their views, though they cross the line
when they preach politics from the pulpit or when they threaten those who
disagree with their views.
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So that blogger, while cute and clever in his prose, is, in the final
analysis, plainly wrong. Let us just imagine how absolutely and completely
unglued the Islamofascists would become if anyone dare create a “Piss
MoHo” work of art! And then we can compare that reaction to “Piss Christ”
or any of the literally 1,000s of offensive works of art aimed squarely at
Christianity and see if they are really the same. My money says, “Hell, no!”
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Let’s imagine a President Pat Robertson, for a moment, who had dubiously secured
for himself the role of Commander In Chief during a time of permanent war, and
in so doing alleged himself to have the absolute power to do whatever he wants
(you know, just like what Dubya has done). Do you really think that
Robertson--out of the mainstream or not--wouldn’t exert his crazy fundamentalist
will over the citizenry? How long do you think it would be before atheism, or
even non-evangelical Christianity, were declared a blasphemous crime against the
theocracy? My money says “a day or two at most.”
The Robertson example is extreme, I grant, but no more extreme that Robertson
himself.
Long, long ago I commented here in OT.debate that people, while not necessarily
evil, will nonetheless “expand” to fill the space available to them,
behavior-wise. If passionate Christian fundamentalists had free rein to act as
they pleased, I have no basis to conclude that they would not speedily and
happily usher in a new dark age of intolerance and inquisition.
(not that anyone expects an Inqusition...)
Dave!
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