The words "smoking crack" come to mind, but I don't think they're allowed to do that either

[omorka]

So, when a Presidential candidate says "Freedom requires religion"? The sound of the pandering is just deafening. (Link goes to the Slacktivist's commentary rather than the text of the speech, because I wanted to make sure all the Christians weren't with Romney on that one, and Fred has some interesting points about the "priesthood of all believers" doctrine.)

I mean, really, now. He totally dismissed every atheist, agnostic, apatheist, nontheist, humanist, freethinker, etc., etc., out there. Come on, they're at least 10% of the electorate! Surely from a purely political-calculation perspective, that was a bad move. It's not as if there aren't atheist right-wingers, and he just pissed them all off enough to vote for Rudy.

I have no idea where I would fall in his ideal world. I'm religious, true; as it happens, I'd say "I have more gods than he does," but him being Mormon, that might not be strictly true. I probably worship more gods than he does, though. So do I fall into his protected little bubble, as a religious person, or do I fall outside of it, as someone from the great morass of un-Abrahamic religions that don't really 'count'? I mean, I'm literally a Baal-worshipper, at least on occasion. His worldview seems to be the Abrahamic religions and the vast abyss, nothing in between. Surely he at least knows of the Dharmic faiths?

(The other half of the formulation is even worse, as it's directly disprovable. "Religion requires freedom?" Dude? During Hannukah? I mean, okay, that could have been worse, it could have happened during Pesach or Purim, but come on!)

Comments

[awbryan.livejournal.com]

Don't despair.

1) Mitt figures there are fewer evangelicals than freethinkers that vote in the Republican primaries. He didn't do this to stop Rudy, but the Baptist reverend and former governor, Mike Huckabee, who is garnering the Christian-bigot vote. (Before that, he was trying NOT to give this speech.)

2) Two hundred years ago, it was a victory for our Founding Fathers to say publicly that one type of Christian shouldn't kill another type of Christian. (There were plenty of Founders who had wider views than that, but the population as a whole didn't.) A hundred years ago, we were doing well to be the least anti-Semitic country on earth. Today the majority of Americans accept all three Abrahamic faiths (even if a lot recognize derangement in our pseudo-Islamic enemies), and a large section recognize Buddhism as well. Progress takes time.

3) Mitt's whole generation was raised believing that atheism = Communism = tyranny, and that religion was a bulwark against that danger. I'm not excusing him at all, just saying where it's probably coming from.

4) One of the things I like most about neopaganism is that, unlike many of the Calvinists, they really believe and put into practice the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. And yes, please be assured that not all Christians agree with Mitt that "freedom requires religion". Freedom requires ethics. There can be ethics without religion (though it's rare), and there can most certainly be religion without ethics.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Huckabee's qualifications seem to be:

1) Looks decent on TV.
2) Lost over 100 pounds, thus demonstrating that he has amazing willpower and lots of free time.
3) Loves Jesus, and will tell you all about it. Also, doesn't fall for that "evolution" crap.

Um . . . that's about it. Seems like a thin resume to run for President on.

Something tells me the mud is about to start flying on their side of the isle for the primaries . . .

Oh, and --

[awbryan.livejournal.com]

4) Was born "in a little town called Hope."
5) Became governor of Arkansas.
6) Became the dark-horse candidate in a presidential election.

"Governor, I knew Bill Clinton. I was a friend of Bill Clinton. And Governor -- you're no Bill Clinton."

I have this image of Lil' Clinton and Lil' Huckabee on a playground at Hope Elementary, arguing over tax policy and a bouncy ball. It wouldn't really, work, Clinton and Huckabee were born nine years apart, but still...

Oh, the mud's already flowing, no fear. They're already handing out fliers implying that, just like Clinton, Huckabee is a no-good tax-raiser. John McCain was offering his sympathies to a fellow victim of dirty politics. Yet the Baptists have cultivated (or cult-ivated?) the idea of religious persecution; mud has a way of splashing back when thrown at a self-proclaimed Anointed One. (I'll keep checking for seven horns or any other prominent Signs, just in case.)

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

I personally believe (without evidence) that the number of American atheists who will vote Republican could be counted on my fingers without use of the thumbs, except possibly for some Ron Paul supporters.

More to the point, in polling atheists are more distrusted and, yes, hated by Americans than any racial group, any nationality, and any religion except Islam- and that includes Mormonism and paganism! Atheists are easy targets, just as Jews were in Europe once upon a time; that's why Romney's using them as his strawman for the war on secularism.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Huckabee has just indicated that Divine Providence is behind his rise in the polls. (I think the actual phrase was, "the same force that made it possible for a little boy with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to feed a multitude".) I don't have the link at hand, but it's on YouTube and should be searchable.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

I saw that on the news yesterday.

But what do you expect? He's a Baptist preacher turned governor. Southern Baptist preachers never, EVER give anybody BUT Jesus credit for anything good that ever happens. If Bill Gates handed over his entire fortune to the Southern Baptist Congress, the preachers would say that, "Jesus laid it on his heart."