Friday, September 26, 2008

Me and the Anti-Christs

There is an Internet site named "Fundies Say The Darndest Things" which is devoted to the mocking, belittling, and sometimes the spewing of hatred towards Fundamentalist Christians. My posts and comments have been featured on this site 10 times since December of 2006, garnering an average of 45 comments from the site's "regulars."

Now I can't say for sure who the "regulars" are, but based on the venom, I suspect that most of them are homosexuals. I can think of no other group that hates the Church enough to have a web site with the soul purpose of "sticking it" to Jesus.

I've read some of the comments aimed at me, and though they're insulting, I've never really felt insulted. When I shuffle through their attacks, it's like I'm at the aquarium and on the other side of the glass I see the "regulars" underwater and floundering... Hurling insults at me and flipping me off... And they're drowning. And I can't help them.

When they come to my blog and leave comments, I try to leave the comments up - if they're not profane - so that my readers can get a sense for the hatred that the Church increasingly faces.

I imagine the "regulars" are a tight-knit group, taking comfort in each other's company... Though when thumbing one's nose at our Holy God, the concept of "safety in numbers" is hardly applicable. They surely sense the coming tsunami, as they huddle together for warmth... On the beach.

Honestly, I wish them well. Their anger is no doubt the result of rejection, hurt feelings, frustration, and fear. And while circumstances may lead people to reject what they instinctively know in their hearts... Circumstances change.

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1 comment:

Jacob said...

I guess I would have to own up to submitting probably all of the quotes that feature you in FSTDT. I've submitted many quotes from various sources, often when I'm too appalled at what I'm reading to think of an adequate response. Sometimes it's just easier, and more satisfying, to put you guys on a pedestal at which we, the homosexuals you speak of, can throw abuse.

This is, I think, the appeal of FSTDT. We take the absolute worst of the absolute worst, and we collect them and put them all together in one place. Individually, it's easy to get short tempered when someone insists that Barack Obama is a Muslim, or that homosexuals are really paedophiles who are out to recruit your children, or any number of crazy, stupid and half-formed rubbish that fundies produce every single day. I'm not saying it's particularly dignified, but it is a sort of antidote to this constant barrage of stupidity, to laugh at it rather than get upset that there really are people this retarded in real life.

I think you're possibly half-right about many of the commenters being gays - but certainly not all, and certainly not because they hate the church. Nor do they have any interest in "sticking it" to Jesus. I have no problem at all with Jesus. I think he's a swell guy, and I don't think he'd have any real beef with Barack Obama, gays, women who choose abortion, or what have you. I think he'd acknowledge that nobody is perfect, and whoever we happen to fall in love with doesn't really have anything to do with our morality. Morality is about how you treat people and how you act, not about who you happen to find attractive. And Jesus, I think, would respect that a woman is in charge of her own body, and he would show forgiveness to women who opted to have an abortion.

But I wouldn't go so far as to say that he would agree with me on every point I make - I would hate to claim 'ownership' of Jesus and morality, which is what the right wing fundie "Christian" subset of Americans have precisely done. I'd imagine he'd have much more to say about people using his name to promote xenophobic policies, and to subjugate gays, than someone like me, who just simply doesn't believe that God exists, whose morality stems from a wide variety of sources, including the Bible. Yes, the Bible.

In my view, and I think in most atheists views, Jesus is a venerable figure whose message has become bastardised over time and hijacked by fundamentalists who represent more themselves and their self-righteousness than his word. When FSTDT comenters react hatefully to fundies, it's not about Jesus. We know that Jesus is just the smokescreen behind which the particular fundie is using to shield him/herself from criticism.

Anyway, I thought I'd just leave this comment because I don't want you to leave with this smug sense of self worth that you seem to derive from being the target of criticism from some tinpot website visited by a bunch of randoms over the internet. I am concerned sometimes that every comment I leave here is vindication for you, so I want to clear that up really quickly.

And again, to show you that I'm not about hating Jesus. I'm about hating those who hate, and then justify it by saying Jesus reckons you're right. When really, how do you know? You don't. Nobody does.

9/26/2008 10:34 PM

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