This Week in God - 27 Feb

[RussBLib]

Yep, somehow we have to slow down or stop this slew of "religious liberty" bills coming out of state legislatures. They are effectively instilling the "freedom" to discriminate. As I get older, I am getting less and less patient with "believers." The whole god idea is just primitive, simplistic thinking which makes no fucking sense whatsoever. I see so-called educated people espousing complicated systems of belief and I just shake my head at the irrelevance and stupidity of it all.

This Week in God, 2.27.16
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a fresh look at a stale problem: so-called “religious liberty” proposals at the state level intended to accommodate anti-gay discrimination. Last year, following the Supreme Court’s ruling bringing marriage equality to the entire country, several states took up measures to allow businesses and public agencies to deny services to same-sex couples on the basis of religious belief. Indiana had one of the highest profile fights, which generated international attention.

This year, as BuzzFeed reported yesterday, the number of states taking up the issue has actually gone up, not down. At least 105 bills were filed so far this year, more than double the number in 2015, according to data from the American Civil Liberties Union. Eunice Rho, advocacy and policy counsel for the ACLU, was quoted as saying, “The pattern is crystal clear. These bills are all aimed at chipping away at the rights of LGBT people under the false guises of freedom and safety.”

Also from the God Machine this week:

* I’m sure it seemed like a good idea to the AFA at the time: “The American Family Association (AFA) has quietly removed from its website a map that attempted to document organizations that supposedly persecuted Christians. One year ago, the Tupelo, Miss.,-based group that is best known for obsessively tracking the non-existent ‘war on Christmas’ and for being anti-gay, launched a map that purported to illustrate the locations of a myriad of organizations that are anti-Christian; in reality, they were mostly groups that simply disagreed with AFA.”

* Quite a sight: “Hundreds of Buddhist monks gathered together in Thailand on Monday, in honor of one of the most important Buddhist festivals of the year: Makha Bucha….. In Thailand, Makha Bucha is marked with a massive lamp lighting ceremony at the Wat Phra Dhammakaya Temple, the world’s largest Buddhist temple, located in a province north of Bangkok. Participants form long, straight rows around the golden dome of the temple and participate in meditations.”

* I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry: “(Friday), on ‘The 700 Club,’ Pat Robertson said that viewers can be healed by his television program even when they aren’t watching it live. During his show, Robertson typically dedicates a segment to calling out different healings or financial rewards that must be claimed by faithful viewers in order to work.”

original.

[Major Nikon]

1. This is why sexual orientation and gender identity need to be included in the Civil Rights Act

It's a fucked up world we live in when you can't be fired for superstitious beliefs, but you can be fired for being gay or not identifying with the plumbing you were born with.

Until those things get at least equal status as the other, the bigots will continue to discriminate by turning civil rights laws on their head.