Praying away the AK-47s

Ya just can't make this stuff up.

From the Huffington Post:  Rick Perry, the GOVERNOR of Texas, and a serious 2012 candidate for PRESIDENT of the United States, has revealed his own plan for combating America's gun violence problem: prayer.  PRAYER!

Huffington reports that in the Houston Chronicle, Perry acknowledged the problem of violence in the U.S. but said enacting tougher gun laws was not the right way to solve it.  Perry said that there was "evil prowling" in the world that has appeared in television and movies, and then found its way into vulnerable minds.  Perry reportedly said, "As a free people, let us choose what kind of people we will be. Laws, the only redoubt of secularism, will not suffice. Let us all return to our places of worship and pray for help. Above all, let us pray for our children."

Perry also assailed the liberal media and politicians for attempting to use the Sandy Hook shooting for a political end "that would not have saved those children," according to the Chronicle.  This is not the first time the outspoken governor has launched rhetorical assaults on "secularism." In September, Perry unloaded a blistering attack against those who believe strongly in a separation of church and state:  "Satan runs across the world with his doubt and with his untruths and what have you, and one of the untruths out there that is driven -- is that people of faith should not be involved in the public arena," Perry said on a conference call.

Huffington concludes by noting, "This idea that prayer is the ultimate protection, even against guns, has been circulated among the conservative Christian community in the aftermath of the Newtown shooting.  Bryan Fischer, an executive with the American Family Association, said God did not protect the victims of one of the deadliest school shootings in American history because children and teachers were not allowed to pray for protection in the classroom."

What to say?  Gosh, I've ranted about the idiocy and toxicity of organized religion more than once.  When "religious" people sort of mind their own business, I guess I can mind mine.  But when religion collides with public policy--in this case, whether we need legislative answers to the problems of gun violence--then I have a lot of bones to pick with people like Perry.  And I have to continue to ask, why in the world do the Rick Perrys of the world even have a national platform in the first place?  Why should they get ANY attention?  It's disgusting.

But, not to worry--get ready to pray away the AK-47s!

The 2000-year-old myth

Well, another Christmas season has come and gone, and once again I let out a huge sigh of relief.  There is something about the "holidays" that is often more depressing than inspiring; theologically, the problem is that the entire Christmas story is largely mythological.  That makes celebrating difficult.  And this is not a good time to be reading, as I currently am, Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion!  Nor is it a time to read the December 17 issue of Newsweek, where the cover story is, "Who Was Jesus?"  Dancing rather carefully around its main point, the Newsweek article notes that "the birth narratives of the New Testament are historically problematic," and that "the accounts of Jesus' life in the New Testament have never been called 'histories'; instead, they have always been known as 'Gospels'--that is 'proclamations of the good news.'  These are books that meant to declare religious truths, not historical facts."  Translated into less polite prose: the Bible is a story at best, not to be taken as anything that really happened.

That the Bible is not literally "true" is such a no-brainer to me that I have to wonder about anyone who believes otherwise.  Indeed, any educated person ought to know better.  Dawkins cites evidence that virtually all studies on the subject find a negative correlation between religiosity and IQ--that is, more intelligent people are less religious.  He also cites a survey of scientists that tallied 12 "believers" and 213 "unbelievers."  Dawkins challenges atheists to "out" themselves, much like gay people, because he offers evidence that atheists are held in even lower regard than homosexuals.  In a nutshell: smart people know that Christmas and Easter are a lie, and those who think so ought to say so and not politely sing "Away in a Manger"; otherwise, ignorance, prejudice, and a form of discrimination will continue.

To have the courage of one's convictions: this is a sobering challenge, no matter what the issue.  But with religion specifically, we live in an environment where there's a world of hurt waiting for those who profess to be unfaithful.  Those who were willing to kill Matthew Shepard may also be willing to kill the unbelievers; that may sound outrageous, but I'm willing to bet that any outspoken atheist has received his or her share of death threats.  Things are just that crazy.  If you don't believe me, consider the case of 16-year-old Jessica Ahlquist  [http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/atheist-teen-in-rhode-island-receives-death-threat]; recently, she successfully sued to have a prayer removed from her high school cafeteria, making her the target of online attacks and death threats which are being investigated by authorities. She now needs a police escort just to go to school.

Onward Christian soldiers!