Recently, due to Memorial Day Support Our Troops hype, I have had an increased influx of Republican propaganda emails. As much as I love mass emailing, I think using this method to convey animosity about our current president is getting out of control. At first, I was really worried about the staggering number of people some of these emails are sent to, seeing how much negativity is being cultivated. Truer to the fact is that the people involved in these terrible emails are either willing to be on the list or perhaps, like me, accept these emails to maintain friendly relationships with certain relatives. Those who willing involved themselves with this close-minded banter are not to be feared, but pitied. Their reach extends no further than their bible circles.
My stance is one of solitude in my family. As someone who believes in the separation of church and state, I don't see how Christianity has creep so far into our governments framework and, people argue, foundation. I understand that our constitution has religious reference and our money inscribes "In God We Trust". But does God bless a country at war? a country that tortures? a country that discriminates? President Obama has not referred to America as a "Christian nation" and this has got all the bible thumpers in a major tizzy. We fortunately live in a country with religious freedom but with an unfortunate shadow of Christian bias.
So this is where all this pro-war Memorial Day hoopla left a bad taste in my mouth. The variety of emails I received had there usual ratio of anti Obama and go go Jesus topics but with a new intriguing category: war-on-terror zealous. This formed an overall image, kinda like the one above, in my head. Jesus in front-line, with the power of the American Christian Republic behind him (maybe thats what they can rename Texas when they secede!)
I dont get it! It makes no fucking sense to me! I understand Support Our Troops, but why does religion have to join the batter? I do not support the war, and, I'm gonna say it, Jesus doesn't either. He doesn't support the NRA, the war in Iraq, or, to make things simple, violence. He was a peace-maker, a dissolver of hatreds. Maybe this is why so many conservative republican leaders have him strap on an AK-47 and join the holy war. Pansy peace-makers aren't worried about power and privilege. No where in their inititive is there a spot discussing profit. The only profit of peace is peace, and that might not fuel our cars but it does our hearts.
Overall, I will keep receiving these emails, not because I want to , but they are useful, as tainting as their potential is. It is a good reminder what the rights smoking.
Please let us give Rambo Jesus a break.
America proved to the world that we know how to change our image, no matter how bad it gets. We were shown we still have the compacity to change for the better. So where are those GObama! emails? huh? thats what I want to see
So this is where all this pro-war Memorial Day hoopla left a bad taste in my mouth. The variety of emails I received had there usual ratio of anti Obama and go go Jesus topics but with a new intriguing category: war-on-terror zealous. This formed an overall image, kinda like the one above, in my head. Jesus in front-line, with the power of the American Christian Republic behind him (maybe thats what they can rename Texas when they secede!)
I dont get it! It makes no fucking sense to me! I understand Support Our Troops, but why does religion have to join the batter? I do not support the war, and, I'm gonna say it, Jesus doesn't either. He doesn't support the NRA, the war in Iraq, or, to make things simple, violence. He was a peace-maker, a dissolver of hatreds. Maybe this is why so many conservative republican leaders have him strap on an AK-47 and join the holy war. Pansy peace-makers aren't worried about power and privilege. No where in their inititive is there a spot discussing profit. The only profit of peace is peace, and that might not fuel our cars but it does our hearts.
Overall, I will keep receiving these emails, not because I want to , but they are useful, as tainting as their potential is. It is a good reminder what the rights smoking.
Please let us give Rambo Jesus a break.
America proved to the world that we know how to change our image, no matter how bad it gets. We were shown we still have the compacity to change for the better. So where are those GObama! emails? huh? thats what I want to see
I don't know, I thought there was a secret Baptist gospel in which Jesus shot a gay in the face with an uzi... or maybe people just make it sound like that for their own advantage... oooh I see...
ReplyDelete:P
That poster is creepy.
As counterintuitive as religion is, in general, the only really logical time to turn to it is, in fact, a time of need (probably the evolutionary reason for its existence.) Religion can provide answers and comfort that we don't quite understand (maybe because most of them aren't real). While the Jesus with an AK-47 is not exactly what we typically think as an ideal, or traditional, religious icon, it's really just a slightly modern slant on an image that is not all that realistic anyway.
ReplyDeleteReligion is malleable, ductile, if you will. (Neither are actually true, religion can niether be made into sheets or wires.) Religion is conformable. It's like a Mr. Potato Head for life. When people have money problems, they recall the humble life Jesus is portrayed to have lived. When they suffer, they think of his 40 days in the desert or hanging from the cross, as described in the B-I-B-L-E. The Bible is just a list of examples for application to your life-problems. These gun-toting Jesus cartoons are like appendices or updated versions the good book. They are additional chapters to match our modern lives.
On the other hand, I definitely do not support disrespect of our President. He is the best thing that has happened to this country since John F. Kennedy. I only hope that people can see, appreciate, and embrace what he is trying to do for our nation because, while "In God We Trust" is debatable, "Divided We Fall" is cold, hard fact.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But, I think John McCain said it best when he said that we must put our differences aside and unite as a nation and move forward. Also, I think Thumper from Bambi said it best when he said "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all." Thumper was a boy, right?
It is not religion that is only necessary in time of need, and it is not religion that gives us answers; I think it is spirituality that you are referring to. Spirituality is a very necessary thing for people but sometimes confining themselves with the restrictions of a certain religion can be counter intuitive definitely.
ReplyDeleteThe concern I have is not about religion as a whole, but the insistence of members of the Christian church that God be a central figure in our government, our courts, and our schools. Any religion is welcome in our homes and as Americans we can practice any we choose without persecution. Why is it then okay for Christian activists to persecute those who want Christian prayer out of schools? This is where I instinctively feel the need to assert my religious allegiance but what I believe, along with anyone else involved in the argument, does not matter.
In the wise words of Rachel, "I didn't think God was that weak" that he relies on us to keep him involved. I didn't know he was that easy to 'get rid of.'