Interview Questions for the Religious Right…

...that will probably never be answered.

1) You state that not being wished a “Merry Christmas” is persecution of Christianity. By the same logic, wouldn’t failing to wish a Jew “Happy Hannukah” be persecution of Judaism? And not wishing an African-American family “Happy Kwanzaa” be persecution of their culture? Wouldn’t it therefore be better to wish everyone the inclusive “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” and not persecute anyone?

2) You say that you are not interested in creating a theocracy, but are interested in creating a form of democracy where God is the supreme source of law. Given that the definition of the word theocracy is a form of government where the rule of law comes from God, how is your form of government not a theocracy? Also, if the US is to accept the rule of God – there are many forms of God worshipped in our country – how would you go about choosing which form of God should be in charge?

2b) Since there is no logical or objective basis with which to evaluate religious beliefs, do you have a plan to institute an evaluation process that the citizenry could agree on its use?

Diary of the Future... 12/21/06

Interesting week:

Monday - checked in with Cori... turns out that her boss really wasn't angry with them, but had to "put on a show" for some guy who was hanging out in the store... it seems that a group of folks from the large fundamentalist church in town have decided they are the "morality police"... they are going around and encouraging boycotts and picketing of stores that don't meet their demands... for a small mom-and-pop book store like the Book Nook, that could spell disaster, especially in the middle of the holiday shopping season... So - her boss said that they would still take special orders of "unusual" books - but that they had to be careful to only take such special orders from people they know... since the Church threatened that they would "be watching" and might send in a spy or two to test that they are really complying with the Church's demands... Cori's glad that she still has her job - but she and the manager she works with is really upset that their boss would cave to the Church like that... I said that she might change her mind after the holidays... that the owner is afraid of any negative publicity in the middle of the holiday season that might cut into her holiday sales... perhaps she's giving in now, to keep the peace, and in January things will change... Cori hopes so, but in the meantime will have to spend some time this week removing the "objectionable" books to a storage room in the back, where they can refer their regluar customers...

Tuesday & Wednesday - Avani, Cori, and I approached Pat about the luminaries. We said that we were amenable to participating in having luminaries on our front curbs, but that since we did not celebrate Christmas, we were uncomfortable using the Christmas themed luminaries... we proposed that we could use only the white snowflake ones... She said she would think about it and get back to us... she specifically wanted to consult with the organizers of some of the other neighborhoods to see how they are handling similar concerns... Well, she got back to us and said that she called a few people, and that the first person she spoke to agreed with her that it would look "un-unified" to have only the snowflake luminaires out at our homes and that we should be like everyone else and use the entire pack, but then the town organizer for the event returned her call and said that they had made up special "non-Christian" packs of luminaries that had all white bags and an assortment of snowflake designs, and that he would send her a supply ASAP. She figures that means that it's "allowed", since the organizer said so, and she said she would drop off the snowflake-only luminary packs as soon as they arrive. I'm surprised that she gave in so easily... I'm curious what the organizer guy actually said to her that she would agree without trying to push us to use the Christmas themed ones... oh well - I suppose I'll say a blessing for him... :)

Today - I met Marcus at the bus stop and the minute the bus pulled away he starts crying... I had no idea what was wrong... I kept asking him if he was hurt, and was looking for an injury of some kind... he finally got around to pulling an envelope out of his bag... it was a note from his teacher attached to a note from the art activity instructor... The art instructor had given them a craft project to make a beaded necklace... the necklaces were in kits that contained different sized wooden beads of different shades of natural wood and a few colored ones, and a faux-leather lace... also included in the kit was a 2" high wooden cross... according to the note from the instructor Marcus refused to follow directions by not putting the cross on his necklace... the art instructor attached a ziplock bag with the necklace and the "missing" cross bead with instructions that Marcus was to complete the assignment correctly, or he would not be allowed to participate in art class the next time... His teacher attached a cover letter explaining that Marcus had told the art instructor he was Jewish and that he did not want to use the cross, but would make a necklace with the other beads... the teacher went on to say that the art instructor felt that this was an "excuse" and that he didn't have to keep the necklace after making it, that the point of the craft was not just to make the necklace, but to also follow the directions on how to make it... the teacher said that Marcus then made his necklace without the cross, and the art instructor punished him by having him stand in the corner... some of the other children then made fun of him the rest of the day, because they didn't understand what was going on... the teacher wrote that she tried to explain to the class, and to the art instructor that Marcus was not being bad, but she wasn't able to convince the instructor, and therefore, some of the children wouldn't believe her either... She went on to commend Marcus' behavior and attitude during the event - he had remained polite and made his point well, and said that she had made a copy of the art instructor's note and wrote a report to the administrative office... She said she could not countermand the instructor's "punishment", but that she was in total disagreement and hoped the administration would agree with her... she would let me know if anything happened... and in the meantime if I wanted to come in to chat with her about the incident, she would make herself available...

I think Marcus thought he was going to get in trouble because he brought home a note. I told him that the teacher was saying how good he was in class, and let him read the letter. After a while he finally calmed down and was able to tell me about what had happened... it pretty much sounded the same as in the teacher's letter... just with more details about how some of the other kids had picked on him... Luckily the kids picked on him for being "bad" and "mean to the teacher" and were not picking on him being Jewish - just being singled out for punishment, and by the art instructor yet - who isn't considered a "real" teacher... I suppose that's a good thing, that even if the teacher was acting bigoted, the kids were just being kids...

I'm going to meet with Marcus' teacher after school on Monday...

Is this an oxymoron?

Okay - I just have to vent on this one...

In planning for a pregnancy (no official news yet - read on), because my husband and doctors all knew this was something that could be potentially difficult, I spoke with my OB/Gyn about pre-natal vitamins, and with my GP and Allergist about switching to pregnancy-safe medications for my Asthma and Allergies... so, at this point, I'm taking totally different meds than those I have been used to for years... I'm taking nothing for the allergies, but have 3 meds for my asthma...

And - this past weekend, I spent a day with family, and apparently I'm _really_ allergic to the long-haired cat....

So my asthma and allergies are having a field day....

I think I'm pregnant, and therefore my allergist won't prescribe me anything additional to deal with the symptoms (he did recommend increasing the dose on one of my meds, but that's not really taking care of the problem as much as keeping it from getting worse)...

So - I call my OB/Gyn's office to speak to the nurse....

I start with the "I think I might be pregnant" conversation.... and the response was that I should wait until after January 5th to take a home test, since anything earlier might give me a false negative... and a false negative is bad, because I might not take care of myself properly if I think I'm not pregnant....

Okay.... so now on to section 2 of the phone call "What is safe for me to take because of my allergies"?

The response - oh, take anything, it doesn't matter what you take until you get a positive pregnancy test....

Excuse me? Did I miss something here? I'm supposed to avoid a false negative so that I take good care of myself in case I am pregnant.... but then it's okay to do whatever with OTC meds because I don't have a positive test??

The nurse must have correctly interpreted the pause in our conversation, because she continued by recommending to me some OTC meds that are considered pregnancy safe....

I'm glad she's not my regular nurse (she's filling in temporarily in the absence of my regular nurse who is a real sweetie!)... I'm just shocked, because I'm usually so happy with everything and everyone at that office, that it's really surprising to me to have an issue there...

So there's the vent... thanks for listening...

More babywatch updates in January, unless something else comes up before then!

-Emily

Personal Question to the Blogosphere...

Okay - for those of you asking for baby news... here's the bombshell of the year, I think I might be pregnant!

First - I don't want to get my hopes too far up... my first Gyn told me with my PCOS I was going to have lots of trouble getting pregnant... my current Gyn's opinion is that it should'nt be too hard - try for a few months first, and if it's not happening, we'll put you on some meds and that should take care of it... she's really of the opinion this is no big deal.... while my last Gyn basically gave me this "be finished with having children by the time you're 30 or else" mentality... So - basically, I'm still not sure who to believe... I doubt my original "doom and gloom" diagnosis is correct, but at the same time can it really be that easy?

So - we've been trying without meds for a little bit....

I need opinions from women who have been there... since the online resources for "extremely early pregnancy symptoms" are really a mixed bag...



So - all the sites say that the "first symptom you are likely to experience is a missed period".... sorry, but my monthly is not imminent, and I'm currently feeling like something different is going on... All of the sites seem to indicate that symptoms are not to be felt except for after you miss your period.... and some sites tell you that if you are experiencing early symptoms that it could all be in your head because you _want_ to be pregnant (or seriously _don't want_ to be). Not very helpful... thanks...

So - currently I could possibly be about 10 days pregnant... and I have been experiencing the following:

Day 4 & 5 - could not finish what for me would be a normal sized lunch... got disgusted with what I was eating half way through, and could not continue eating...

Also on Day 4 & 5 - experienced a random hour of nausea, which was made better by drinking peppermint tea...

Since day 4 - been disgusted with strong odors, which my husband finds amusing, since I suddenly do not like the smell of tuna fish - which is usually one of my favorite foods...

Since day 4 - feeling PMS-ish, bloated, and mild cramping (though my period is not due till after new year's)... usually my period-related cramps go from mild to severe really quickly, and have me reaching for my prescription pain meds... this time, they stayed non-painful... just achy for days.... went for 4 days straight and now they come and go randomly...

Since Day 6 - feeling like my lower abdominal muscles are doing exercises without me... happens on and off... less for the last 2 days....

Any opinions out there?

I can't bug my doctor about it, since she said you can't _really_ tell without an at-home pregnancy test first, and you can't take that until after you've already missed your period... so I'm anxiously waiting for week 2 of January next year so that I can see if the at-home test comes back positive, so then I can schedule an office visit with my doctor...

Has anyone "been there done that"??

Thanks!

-Emily

Vacation...

For my loyal readers - First of all - Thanks!
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

I will be out of town throughout the holiday season and into next year... and where I am travelling may or may not come equipped with Internet access...

So - you may find a new post, or perhaps there will be new posts starting next year.

Just wanted to let you all know.

Thanks again, and see you on the other side!

-Emily

Reflections on Christmas Past

I remember a year - I think I was in 6th grade... I was home alone with a friend of mine... and it was around Christmas...

Being a Jewish household, this meant that we did not have any Christmas decorations on our house...

We had this pair of missionaries stop at my door... my friend and I answered... and being young and too polite to say "no thank you" and close the door in their faces, we stood at the door and listened to them talk about God and the season of Christmas... One woman kept saying how it was so nice to find such polite young women at home, and that it was never too early to start thinking about God and our futures...

They had some brochures they left us with... one said he was going to give us "the good stuff", and pulled out a few of those cartoon tracts for us...

We said our goodbye and shut the door.... my friend and I looked at each other, and immediately got the giggles... we were just so struck by their earnestness and the emotion with which they spoke... we thought it was so over the top it was funny...

I should stop here and also say that my friend was Christian herself...

Now - we were not being disrespectful to the religion - just the people at our door... we talked about how we would have found it more interesting if they actually wanted to talk with us about some serious religious topic, rather than talk _at_ us about how important it was to have a personal relationship with Jesus...

We threw out the brochures, and then took a look at the cartoons, it being the first time that either of us had ever seen them...
I found them insulting and intolerant, and she kept saying how she thought her church wouldn't agree with them, and that she was going to ask her minister about it...
She took them and put them in her coat pocket to bring to church that Sunday...

We went back to playing and completely forgot about the visit until my mother came home and asked about the brochures in the trash... I decided to tell her that the missionaries had left them on our porch for us, rather than tell her I had actually opened the door and talked to them (we had had instructions not to open the door for strangers, but we both thought it had been my friend's mom and opened the door without looking first).

Later on, my friend's mom came over - they lived down the street - and my mom asked if she had seen the missionaries... my friend's mom said no, that she hadn't had them stop by... to which my mom concluded that they were probably targeting homes where there were no Christmas decorations...

From then on, I remember always feeling vulnerable around Christmas... that by not having Christmas decorations it made us a "target". That we were somehow in danger from some evil in the world because it was suddenly obvious to others we were Jewish.

I got over the fear and paranoia pretty quickly when I realized that our having a mezuzah on our door made it obvious all year round that we were Jewish... so we were not in any more or less "danger" during Christmas... but I never got rid of the overall worry that during the Christmas season not having decorations still somehow made you more vulnerable than at other times....

Each year the something "bad" did not occur made the worry less and less... It still was in the back of my mind, but I haven't really thought about it again until this year...

With all the "war on Christmas" nonsense, I keep fearing that someone is going to take personal offense with the fact that my family doesn't celebrate Christmas... especially since I know that many of our neighbors don't understand Judaism...

And yet - not unlike the Maccabees of old - somewhere in the back of my head, my inner voice says "bring it on!" Just let someone target my family, take offense with my traditions, try to stifle our celebration... they will feel the wrath of The Emily.... beware the Whomping of Wynn...

So - by realizing that I would rather fight than be threatened, I am no longer afraid of what the neighbors think, or what they might say or do...

But what about those people who live in places where they know they cannot fight and win?

I don’t want to be labeled a Dominionist!

In preparing to become parents (no congratulations yet please, still firmly in the “trying” category) – my husband and I have been discussing childcare arrangements. For example, can we find good affordable childcare in our area, or would it be better for one of us to stay home with the baby and be a full-time parent?

Of course, as a woman, this decision comes fraught with all sorts of gender baggage… If we can’t afford childcare, because my husband makes significantly more money than I do – obviously I’d be the stay-at-home parent. Does this make it ridiculous that I have a college degree? Am I somehow damaging women’s rights by deciding to stay at home rather than forcing my corner the world to accommodate my motherhood? Will I be looked down upon as a woman because of my decision? Will people think I’m not intelligent or successful?

Putting aside this whole debate – I’m nowadays even more worried about people thinking that I’m “pro-traditional family”!

If my husband and I decide that it is in the best interest of our child for me to stay home to care for the little bundle of joy – it will be primarily a financial decision. Hubby makes 20K more than I am currently, so as much as he is willing to stay home (and probably would enjoy it too), we would better survive on his salary than mine.

The problem is – these days with dominionist thinking on the rise, I am truly concerned that someone is going to assume that I’m “submissive” to my husband, or a “traditional woman” because I’m at home raising the baby.

I’m also an educator by nature, and I have often thought about homeschooling my children, at least for the early primary years. The school systems are fair to poor in my area, and most families that can afford it, send their children to private school. Since, as you can see, finances are of concern to me, I was thinking that I could do a decent job teaching the kids in their early years, while we save up the cash to send them to private school when they are a little older…

So – I’ve got this whole “We’re going to look like a dominionist family” complex going – simply because I’ll probably end up as a stay-at-home mom, and might homeschool the kids…

And have you ever stopped to look at the resources available to stay-at-home moms and homeschooling families??

Unless you’re including all the internet sites and books that list ways to “make lots of money while staying home with the kids!” - the majority are very Conservative Christian, if not outright dominionist. There are very little neutral or “liberal” (put in quotes because to the dominionists, anything that isn’t the extreme right, is liberal, even if it’s neutral or centrist in nature) resources out there. And much of what you find that is more mainstream really makes assumptions that your choice to stay-at-home or homeschool was made because of “values”, as compared to financial needs or convenience.

So, on top of the fears of putting women’s rights back a few decades because I personally am choosing to be a full-time mom, I have to worry about my inadvertent support for dominionist culture because of my choice. Because that’s what I’m afraid will happen. I will stay home and raise my children, and homeschool them, and someone will look at our family and just assume that we are something we’re not.

I wonder sometimes if this is how some dominionist organizations get their high numbers of supporters… that in fact there are a whole bunch of liberal families that happen to be in the same position as my family, and because they look “traditional” from the superficial demographic information, that these orgs assume that these families are supportive of “traditional values”.

Diary of the Future... 12/12/06

Well - Cori certainly had a bad day today...

She rode past the house this afternoon on her bike while I was attempting to cement back a piece of molding that had fallen off the side of the car. She asked me which pharmacy we used, as she was looking for a new one.

Something seemed to be bothering her, so, abandoning the adhesive that wasn't working well in the cold, I invited her in for some tea...

It seems that she had had a triple whammy day... First, one of her professors is upset with her... She is taking comparative religions, and he had assigned the class to write a report about the origin of Christmas. Cori wrote about the pagan roots of the holiday, and she got her report turned back with a nasty note about her "making false statements" about Christianity, and that she should check other sources and hand in a new "corrected" report... She is also worried that she is going to be fired from her part-time job at the Book Nook on Main St. The owner is upset with the manager because he allowed a special order of a book concerning the study of witchcraft... because Cori was the one who wrote up the order, and the manager approved it, the both of them are having a "meeting" tomorrow with the owner about the "incident".

Cori's really upset about the whole Book Nook thing too... She can deal with the professor - she's always known he was "an ass" as she put it, but she really likes working at the Book Nook, and especially likes how the store has always been willing to order _anything_ in the past (not to mention her generous employee discount)... Neither she nor the manager have any idea why the owner would be so upset over it... they've special ordered soft porn before... why is a Witchcraft book suddenly more controversial than that?

And, if that wasn't enough - she stopped at the pharmacy on the way home, and got told by the pharmacist that they wouldn't fill her birth control pill prescription, because it was immoral and against their religious beliefs! And she's not using the pills for contraception, but for a medical condition... the nerve! Ugh, I can't believe how fast our little corner of the world has changed since that "character restoration" referendum...

So I gave Cori the number for the Walgreen's, and she's had her doctor call in new prescriptions there... Oy! What a hassle!

As for my world - it was a normal week... at least as normal as you can get around here these days...

Christmas decorations everywhere... makes it really obvious who doesn't celebrate... and for the first time since I was a child, that makes me nervous...

Breaking News - HR 579 - Protect Christmas?!?!

Thursday, December 15, 2005 - The US House of Representatives debates House Resolution 579 - "Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected".

As per The National Jewish Democratic Council:

"This afternoon, 26 House Republicans -- together with the GOP leadership -- will be forcing the full House to vote on whether House members support the "symbols and traditions" of Christmas, and whether they disapprove of the utterly mythical "attempts to ban references to Christmas." Today's roll call vote comes on the heels of a House floor debate held last night regarding H. Res. 579, a resolution "Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected." During the debate, Democratic members asked the Republican author of the resolution, Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-VA), if she would permit the symbols of Chanukah and other holidays to be included in the protection of the resolution -- and she refused."

Further information about the text of the resolution appear at the Library of Congress - THOMAS system.

Ira Forman - Director of the NJDC had the following comment:
"In this case, House Republicans are adopting the talking points of the most extreme, most divisive far-right elements in today's society -- and making that agenda the work of the people's House. Aside from being a colossal waste of time, it's divisive, it excludes other practices and faiths, and it buys into the conservative fantasy that there's some war against the 95 percent of Americans (according to Gallup) who celebrate Christmas."

It surprises me that I have found no mainstream media coverage of this resolution and the resulting conversation in the House. (If someone has found one - please post!)
I would have thought that perhaps Fox News would have a feature on how the House has "finally dealt with the situation".

I think this has gone too far. It's one thing to clog the media with a debate on the "war against Christmas" - it's quite another to bother taking time from more important issues - like Iraq, the economy (anyone else smell a smokescreen?)- to make legislation protecting a religious holiday observance. Not to mention against the Bill of Rights!?!?! Have they not heard that they "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"?

Take a look at the listing of co-sponsors of this legislation. If you are from AR, CA, FL, GA, IN, KS, KY, MD, MI, MO, NC, NJ, OK, PA, SC, TX, or VA, call your elected representatives and tell them this isn't your idea of representative government!

-Emily

Cross-Posted at www.Talk2Action.org

Please leave a message after the beep

Okay - I'm starting to feel a bit like Charlie Brown...
Maybe it's because I just watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on TV (yes, for all it's Christmasy-ness this Jewish girl still loves her Peanuts)...
I'm just feeling a bit depressed....
I'm not feeling the love here....

For all of my posts, both here and at Talk2Action - I'm not getting any response...

Is it me?

I _thought_ I was a pretty good writer - at least I've seen much worse... and I thought that my topics were thought provoking and interesting....

But no one seems to be reading, even with my attempts to shamelessly plug my site...

And I really feel awful about the whole Talk2Action site - I just posted what I thought was a really good diary entry there, and have gotten no comments back... but folks who posted after me have several...

I feel like I'm back in high school asking why everyone hates me... can y'all see I'm ugly from that side of the screen or something?

Perhaps you are just reading, and not sticking around to say anything...

So - before I pitch a fit and delete the whole damn thing - please leave a message here.... even if it's just to say "I was here"...

It would make me feel so much better just to know that I have _some_ readership - even if it's only one or two people...

Thanks in advance for making my day.

-Emily

Ignorant Bystanders

Why the Christian Right is winning, and what to do about it

When one studies bullying, and effective strategies to put a stop to bullying behavior, special focus is given not to the bully and the victim, but to the bystanders. There are many bystanders, who witness the interchange between bully and victim, and may even witness physical violence, but take no action to intervene or get help. The effective strategy to end bullying is empowering those bystanders to take action. The bystanders must be taught that not only is bullying wrong, but that they have the power to stop it. If one bystander was to go get help from an authority – that is one way to stop it. But also, the action of one bystander standing up and speaking publicly, “No! You will not do this, it is wrong.” may stop the bully cold. Especially if, encouraged by the single bystander, other bystanders also stand up and agree - the bully gets the clear message that his/her actions will not be tolerated. When bystanders do nothing, they in effect condone the bully’s actions, even if the bystander personally disagrees with the bully.

The key to ending bullying is to make sure that the bystanders – the witnesses to the actions of the bully – know that the bully is wrong, and feel comfortable taking action either against the bully, or to support the victim. In the case of the Christian Right, the bullies and victims are less clear. This is certainly not to say that there are no bullies and no victims – but because everyone defines this differently, I will not try to defend a particular point of view, since it is not necessary to my argument. (My personal opinion – some of the Christian Right are clearly bullies, and I think others act like the bullies but don’t really mean to… and everyone is a victim, even if they refuse to claim that status.) What is clear is that a vast majority of the American populace are bystanders.

Now – why did I title this piece “Ignorant Bystanders”? Because I feel that the reason that the vast majority of our population are bystanders is because the majority are ignorant. Please, please, please, do not equate ignorance with stupid! I think that, generally speaking, people are intelligent. Ignorant, however, means unaware or uninformed, lacking information on a subject. I believe that a majority of people in our country have never been exposed to study of comparative religion. I believe that some have not studied civics, or how our country came into being and how it is run, and many more have had poor general instruction in History. I believe that many have never found themselves being in a minority position, and therefore find it hard to empathize with someone struggling to have their voice heard.

Ignorance I have personally witnessed:
-College graduates who have never heard of the Holocaust, or McCarthyism
-A college student who made the claim that it was okay if women were paid less than men, because they will just quit their jobs to go have children. I questioned this young man about why he believed this, and found that he believed it was a fact that an infant would die if it was not breastfed by its own mother – and therefore he held the belief that it was a necessity for all women to quit their jobs to care for their infants – for the simple reason of keeping the child alive.
-A group of adults who believed that all religions (except pagan religions and native cultures) worshipped Jesus Christ, regardless of the details of the religion. For example, Jews call Jesus “Adonai” and Hanukkah is the name of the Jewish holiday to celebrate Jesus’ birth, Ganesh, or Shiva, are two of many ways Hindus say Jesus, Allah is the same as Jesus, same with Confucius and Buddha (though some argued that Confucius and Buddha were images of the Holy Ghost seen among the lands after Christ’s resurrection)…

This ignorance allows people to take on the assumption that the “majority rules” is okay in every situation, mostly because they cannot conceive of any situation where someone would logically disagree with them. Taking the example from above, if everyone believes in Jesus, then why would someone ever get upset with public acknowledgement of god? Is it because they want to hear the minority name of Jesus that their tradition uses? Why can’t they just be happy that it’s all the same, and we use Jesus instead of whatever name they use?

The lack of knowledge of religious diversity, coupled with the lack of experience of being a minority allows people to be comfortable with “majority rules”. Lack of knowledge of historical events where minorities were persecuted also means that people do not know the danger of “difference”. I believe that because of ignorance, people are comfortable with the Christian Right. They do not see a difference between their worldview and the dominionist worldview. Because the superficial values are the same, people who have not deeply examined the iceberg that is the Religious Right come to believe that everything else the Right believes they happen to agree too. They also do not see how the dominionist worldview could possibly harm anyone, because they themselves are not upset by what they have seen of it.

The way to combat the Religious Right is through awareness and education.

I have found that talking with others about why I believe, or don’t believe, in an issue is a great education for others (and of course, the same is true in reverse). The neighbor who doesn’t see a problem with sectarian prayer in school may in fact not understand that your child would be uncomfortable, and if they found that out, might change their position. In one of my comments to a previous diary entry by dogemperor, I stated that I had met someone who did not know that birth control pills could be used for the treatment of a medical condition. “That changes everything,” was the response when I explained that prescriptions can often be used for treating more than what they were invented to treat.

We must make sure that Americans all understand the existence of difference; different cultures, religions, and that ultimately, every religion is a minority, because there are so many that no one is really a majority.

Educate people about how and why our country was started – first by debunking the “Christian Nation” myth, second by making sure people understand the rights of minority voices to be heard and respected, and how those rights were codified in our country’s legislation.

Empathy for minority groups must be taught – yes, in a democracy often majority rules, but the majority has a responsibility to respect the minorities in their midst. Tolerance and respect must be our highest values.

And ultimately, we must energize the bystanders to notice the danger and to stand up against it.

We do this by not being afraid to stand up for ourselves. We do this by standing up for others when we get the chance. We do this by challenging the assumptions and beliefs of others when faced with those who “don’t get it”.

The Religious Right started out small – effecting change in small corners of the world – until the movement grew and kept growing to what we know today. We need to do the same thing. Start small. Talk to your neighbors. Create tolerance and respect in your own community. Just as the dominionists said – it might take a generation raised in our culture and with our beliefs to rise up and change the world… We can do the same thing – and I believe we won’t have to wait a generation. Our beliefs don’t need to be indoctrinated into children to have them survive. Thinking, rational adults can come to understand if they are given all the information.

Let’s fight the ignorance and beat the bullies!

Cross-posted at www.Talk2Action.org

Delawareliberal - a local soap box

All about my backyard - politically speaking:

http://delawareliberal.blogspot.com/

Jason knows what he likes and what he doesn't, and isn't afraid to take the flak...

I Deserve It?

A response to:
Onward Christian Soldiers: How minority faiths are treated in the US Military
By Lorie Johnson
Posted at www.Talk2Action.org

What strikes me about Lorie’s experience, as well as the experiences of those that replied to her article, is that the people persecuting those of a minority religion somehow feel that the target of their harassment deserves that kind of treatment. (It is very much like talking to bullies – they sometimes justify their actions by saying that their victims are “asking for it” by their behavior/attitudes/looks/mode of dress/etc.)

Growing up, I had a similar situation happen to my classmates and myself. We attended a Jewish Day School that was situated nearby a Christian school (don’t remember the denomination). We had co-existed well for many years, and did not have any problems until suddenly in the middle of the year a group of older students from the Christian school kept using their free periods to come over and harass some of the Jewish students during our recess…So as not to spend a lot of time detailing the harassment itself, I’ll just summarize by saying it was bad and got progressively worse, even though staff from both schools were working on the problem.

One day, the group of students from the Christian school got a hold of a first-grader from my school, and beat him. Teachers from my school responded to the incident by taking the Christian students in to our office and calling their school, and evidently their parents to come get them. One set of parents came in and told our staff that they saw nothing wrong with their child’s actions. They claimed that we deserved this treatment because we were children of Satan. They said that the only way we would learn that we needed to accept Jesus and be saved was if we were mistreated – because it gave us a taste of what our lives would be like as adults - because we would be hated world over for not being Christians – and because it would show us what Hell was like, because that was where we were headed without Christ.

I just don’t get this attitude, on so many different levels. Generally speaking, it is considered a bad thing to mistreat another person. So why is it okay for these so-called Christians to hurt people? They say that they feel we deserve punishment… But I suspect that they also feel that non-Christians are “non-persons” and therefore do not need to be treated equally.

Consider the concept that they are trying to show us what Hell is like, so that we don’t want to end up there. (ignoring the whole “if your religion doesn’t believe in Hell how does an argument saying you’ll end up there work on you” issue) If Satan is the tormentor of souls in Hell… what does that say about these Christians being the tormentors of souls on Earth?

And then of course, why in the world would any non-Christian find Christianity appealing if the way that you go about teaching people about needing a personal relationship with Jesus is by hurting them?

Sounds a lot to me like fraternity/sorority hazing… we’re going to treat you pledges horribly, and then when you get to be a real brother/sister you can have fun terrorizing the next group of recruits…

-Emily