Category: Religion

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It’s My Christianity, and You Can’t Have Any

So, this football player, Demar Hamilton, got really banged up during a game and had to be taken off the field in an ambulance, and people were praying that he would be okay, because he coded, like, seventeen times (that’s not true, but it was a grave situation), and although Demar ended up being okay, and was gracious in his recovery in thanking all the right people (but unfortunately, wore a jacket to the Super Bowl a few weeks later that stirred up controversy, although I can’t recall why), and although the whole incident brought much-deserved attention to the often-overlooked heroism of EMT workers, you just KNEW some Bible-thumper was going to have to get her pussy all wet over something.

In this case, it was Laura Baker-Cain Wright, who posted a photograph of Tim Tebow, formerly of college football and well-know for praying a lot. I don’t really know anything else about him except that he prays a lot and didn’t do much in the NFL except pray.  As for what he’s doing now (except for, presumably, praying), who knows.  Anyway, Ms. Baker-Cain, who is more saved and loved by God than you, said this:

Now that Demar Hamlin is breathing on his own and talking to his family and doctors, I’m going to finally say what’s been on my mind….

ESPN, NFL and the Sportswriters owe Tim Tebow an apology.  Don’t shun and mock Tebow for kneeling to pray, and then find yourself or one of your own in a crisis and it suddenly become acceptable.  Suddenly God and prayer is allowed in your arena? 

Rev 3:16 “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue [?] thee out of my mouth.”

Be for Him or against Him.  You can’t pick and choose when you want God in your life.  I appreciate Tim Tebow for always being a Christian man and leading with love and Christ in the forefront of everything he does.  I am thankful Hamlin is alive and maybe this scary situation led others to find prayer and Christ.  Accept faith and prayer and don’t ridicule those who do it.

Well, I have to say, Laura Baker-Cain, your post is among the stupidest, and most mean-spirited things I have ever read.

First, I’m not familiar with the comments ESPN, the NFL, or the unnamed “Sportswriters” made about Tim Tebow praying before, during or after a game (although I am very well-acquainted with what was said about NFL players who took a knee to protest institutionalized racism – are they owed an apology?) As I recall, if anyone had a problem with Tebow, it was that he wasn’t a very good player – at least, not good enough for the NFL.

More to the point, this post seems to drag out that old Fox News trope that there is some kind of war on Christianity in this country, but let’s face it: When 64% of the population of the US identify as practicing Christians, when every president of our country has been a Christian, and when 88% of the new Congress is Christian, when 92% of the Supreme Court Justices since its inception have been Christian; well, it’s hard to say you live in a country where the people who make the rules have a problem with Christianity.

I also have to ask if the point of this post is to argue that if you aren’t a devout Christian, you don’t get to share in any expression of gratitude that Demar Hamlin isn’t dead, or any offering of hope – religious or not – that he continues to get better? Is it now the rule that if your aren’t a church-going Christian, you don’t get to care about what happens when an NFL player gets hurt on the field? That’s messed up.

I am not a perfect person, and I am not a religious person, and I get pretty tired of people who aren’t Jesus telling me what he does and does not approve of.

For one, it’s pretty presumptuous for those people to assume I care. For another, if I want to know what Jesus wants me to, I’ll pick up the Gospel and read it for myself. You know. Like an educated person.

And since I’ve read it before, I can tell you one thing it DOESN’T say, which is, “If thou hast mocked Tim Tebow for his prayer (assuming for the moment that Tim Tebow prayeth not like a Pharisee but with a servant’s humility), then thou shouldst not then pray for Demar Hamlin lest ye contract a nasty genital rash.”

This post is further idiotic in that the only person to whom it could ever appropriately apply would be Demar Hamlin himself, IF he had mocked Tim Tebow, and IF he then appeared on television yesterday to pray for himself – which he didn’t. Also, that would be HARSH, dude.

Also, I doubt there is anyone out there aside from Hamlin’s family who considered his cardiac arrest and hospitalization a personal crisis (unless it’s a gambling addict that bet his mortgage on the game), so, once again, to whom is this post even directed?

Oh, right. People like me. People who don’t go to church. People who don’t pray and fall into line like good church-going Christians. People who lack the certitude of their rightness – about Jesus, about God, about sin, and about who is most definitely going straight to hell, with no bathroom breaks.

In addition to pointing out that this is most certainly NOT the first time prayer has been allowed in an NFL arena, I’d like to ask that the woman who wrote this post show the same respect for people who aren’t religious as she reserves for those who are. I have no complaint with those who wish to worship – but I don’t want to be forced to do it with you, or else be condemned as “bad” because I don’t.

Finally, a true Christian who rejoices in the love of God and all mankind and should delight in ANY opportunity to reach new souls. This woman should be thrilled out of her mind at the idea that prayer of any kind – even a moment of silence – is being televised!

But is she? NO! And damn you if you come to Jesus in a CRISIS – which is exactly the time many people do. According to Ms. Baker-Cain, Jesus doesn’t want you then! He only wants you if you’ve been coming to church every week, not just on Christmas and Easter, and god help you if you don’t use your envelopes! Jesus only wants the non-sinners, and don’t you forget it when you are on your knees with nothing left to hold on to, sitting in the hotel room holding Gideon’s Bible and a gun and trying to decide which one you’re going to put into your brain. That’s Jesus for you.

Instead of clutching Jesus and God to her chest like a bag of candy no one else gets to have (because they’re not worthy!) the writer should be rejoicing at the chance for millions of Americans to experience the potential to feel God’s great healing presence and love for his people, as manifested in the goodwill demonstrated by so many that expressed their concern for Demar yesterday. That concern was truly the best of us – call it Christ, or karma, or whatever – in action.

Anytime someone uses religion as a way to keep people out, one has to ask oneself – is this what my spiritual higher power teaches me?

I don’t believe Jesus asks us to exclude people because of their past deeds. I mean, Mary Magdalene already.

Laura Baker-Cain Wright, may you be filled with the joy of Jesus’ love for his people, and moved to tears with gratitude for the life He has given you. Go out and be nice to people. Buy someone a coffee. Be kind. Life is hard enough.

Peace.

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Twelve Things I Learned from Pope Benedict XIV (Or, Benny Fourteen Explains it All)

Pope Benedict XIV recently published an essay https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/…/full-text-of-benedict-… in which he attempts to explain the child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Here’s what he came up with:

1. Teaching kids about sex education in the 1960’s lead to widespread violent porn that led to “mental collapse” which turned everyone into crazy sex perverts and also resulted in pedophilia being considered “allowable and appropriate.” (Hmmm…I must have missed that day in Criminal Law when they talked about how pedophilia is legal and all).

2. Vatican II did away with the concept of good versus bad and said that any assessment of behavior should be based upon “relative value judgments.” (Really?! Geez, most of the priests I ever heard sermonize were pretty clear about what they thought was good and bad, and pretty much EVERYTHING was bad).

3. Pope John Paul II (whom Michael likes to refer to as “J2P2”) tried to reverse that concept by coming out solidly in support of the idea that some shit is just evil, but no one listened, especially in the United States (sorry, Americans!)

4. The Church is the only entity capable of determining what is good and what is evil (sorry, Jews and Muslims!).

5. Since some people just won’t accept that FACT, however, the Church had to keep quiet about STUFF THAT’S EVIL, and this why they didn’t do anything WHEN THEY FOUND OUT THAT THEIR PRIESTS WERE RAPING CHILDREN (thanks for harshing our buzz, all you non-Catholics!)

6. Also, martyrdom is necessary and important. (Think of how all those pedophile priests have helped advance this cause!)

7. Allowing young men who are training to be priests to have regular contact with married couples and families with kids makes it hard for them to be committed to a celibate life and turns them gay. Showing them porn in an effort to desensitize their sexuality also turns them gay. Not letting them read the books Pope Benedict XIV wrote during his career? Also made otherwise heterosexual priests-in-training gay.

8. Pedophilia among the priesthood wasn’t really a problem until the 1980’s. (Note to PBXIV: You might want to read the Pennsylvania AG report, which showed widespread abuse within Commonwealth dioceses dating as far back as the 1930’s – and that’s just ONE state in ONE country. I’ll send you a copy. Trust me – it’s a hoot!)

9. Making sure accused priests were guaranteed some degree of due process under Canon Law made it impossible to convict them of any crimes. (Just like guaranteeing those accused under American law has made it impossible to convict anyone of any crime, which is why our prisons are empty).

10. When people aren’t religious, children get molested (ergo, if everyone were religious, there would be no pedophilia).

11. The only way you can understand the difference between good and evil is if you are a Christian. If you’re not, you have no standards of good or evil, you have no truth, and your life is meaningless. (That may explain why I shoot everyone who doesn’t agree with me, steal whatever I can get my hands on, and am addicted to opioids – oh, wait, not the last bit).

12. Back before World War II, Germany was a good Christian country, but now it isn’t. (Imagine what a non-Christian World War II Germany might have done to the Jewish population?)

So, to summarize:

Germany was a God-fearing, Christian country that enabled their leader to slaughter six million Jews and six million gays, disabled people, Poles, Gypsies, professors, socialists, and other undesirables. Then in the 1960’s, they showed kids porn and said nothing was evil, which turned priests gay, and, necessarily, pedophiles. Also, the United States.

And here I thought it was because the opportunity to exercise ultimate moral authority over those who, for centuries, have been inculcated to be mindless sheep might be especially appealing to someone who wanted ready access to children whose parents would trust them implicitly.

So, in order to stop abuse by the Catholic clergy, all of us have to turn Catholic, and do whatever the priests tell us.

That seems reasonable.

Thank you, Pope Benedict XIV. We are forever in your debt.

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Keep Your Deeply Held Religious Beliefs Off My Body

June 25, 2018

After giving birth to her first child, Nicole Mone Arteaga suffered a number of miscarriages. When she recently became pregnant again, her doctor monitored her carefully on a weekly basis; at 9 weeks, however, she learned that, tragically, the baby was not developing, that there was no heartbeat, and that the pregnancy would not result in a live birth. She was offered the option of an invasive surgical procedure or a prescription medication that would allow her to resolve the pregnancy at home, and which was likely less expensive and less medically risky. She discussed the matter with her physician, who ultimately issued an prescription for an “abortion drug.”

Ms. Arteaga did not want an “abortion,” and this pregnancy was no longer viable – no beating heart, no living fetus. She was heartbroken, because she had wanted this baby very much. But since there was nothing else to be done, she went to Walgreen’s to fill the prescription, aware that it would induce painful uterine contractions that would cause her body to expel a pregnancy she desperately wished to keep.

When she went to collect her prescription from Walgreen’s, the pharmacist on duty refused to fill it because of his “deeply held religious beliefs.” He expressed those “deeply held religious beliefs” to Ms. Arteaga, in front of other store customers and Ms. Arteaga’s 7 year old son. Ms. Aretaga attempted to explain her situation to him, but the pharmacist refused to budge.

Eventually, Ms. Arteaga was able to fill her prescription at another Walgreen’s store and then went home to complete her miscarriage. Walgreen’s has commented that, under Arizona law (and that of five other states), a pharmacist may refuse to fill a prescription when doing so would violate “deeply held religious beliefs,” but that the pharmacist must then step away and allow the prescription to be filled by another employee. That did not happen in this case, and Walgreen’s was appropriately apologetic to Ms. Arteaga for the conduct of its employee.

Everything I just wrote is a fact.

Here’s my take:

The pharmacist in this story thought his right to live his “deeply held religious beliefs” was more important than Ms. Arteaga’s right to fill a legal prescription ordered by a medical doctor.

He believed that his “deeply held religious beliefs” entitled him to violate Walgreen’s policy and Arizona law.

He believed that he had a right to impose his “deeply held religious beliefs” upon a customer who, through no fault of her own, was in need of a prescription medication.

He believed that his refusal to serve a customer who was understandably distraught over losing a pregnancy was consistent with his “deeply held religious beliefs,” none of which, it would seem, include the value of compassion.

He believed that HIS interpretation of his “deeply held religious beliefs” required Ms. Arteaga to, oh, I don’t know, continue the pregnancy until it ultimately terminated itself, with whatever medical risk that may have involved.

It is bad enough that this moron determined that his “deeply held religious beliefs” trumped Ms. Arteaga’s own motives, ethics and values – about which he made unfounded and inaccurate assumptions; what’s equally atrocious is that he also attempted to override the professional judgment of her physician.

Last time I checked, pharmacists don’t hold medical degrees. They don’t examine their customers, take medical histories, lay hands on them, or have discussions with them about treatment options.

Do they have to know something aboue medicine and physiology? Of course. But they aren’t physicians, and this particular pharmacist did not know whether or not there may have been extenuating circumstances which would have ruled out a D & C or a natural conculsion to the pregnancy because, guess what?

HE’S NOT A FUCKING DOCTOR.

I find it outrageous that this pharmacist thought his “deeply held religious beliefs” entitled him to override not only the judgment of someone who had ACTUALLY BEEN TO MEDICAL SCHOOL, but also to determine that it was his right to decide for Ms. Arteaga how she should deal with her dead fetus. That she, too, may have had “deeply held religious beliefs” about abortion was something he apparently never considered, nor, apparently, did it trouble him that shis prescription was not being filled for the purpose of terminating a viable pregnancy (thought it was none of his business in the first place whether it was or not) but, rather, to bring to a final conclusion what had already happened.

It is outrageous that some in this country believe that their “deeply held religious beliefs” are morally superior to the “deeply held beliefs” of those who may not agree with them.

It is outrageous that those same people believe that their “deeply held religious beliefs” entitle them make decisions for the rest of the world, including by refusing them access to healthcare.

This country was founded upon the principals of religious freedom, including the freedom to espouse viewpoints different from those purportedly held by some asshole pharmacist working at Walgreen’s.

And guess what else? Just because you call them “deeply held religious beliefs” doesn’t mean that I have to bow to them, or that they’re “right.” It just means that they’re yours.

I’ve never had a miscarriage, but I know plenty of women who have. Most of them were extremely excited to learn that they were pregnant, did everything they could to maximize the chances for a healthy pregnancy, and were heartbroken when they learned that the pregnancy had terminated. Those who miscarried spontaneously have described the pain and the emotional trauma of their experiences, which for many required them to retrieve the “products of conception” and deliver them to their doctors in order to make sure the miscarriage was complete.

Others learned that their pregnancy was over on the ultrasound table, and were sent home to await the miscarriage or undergo a painful medical procedure which has risks of its own. I don’t know which would be worse. What I do know is that each and every woman who has ever told me about a miscarriage – whether she has gone on to have more or other children – was deeply traumatized to lose a baby she very much wanted to parent, and the pain is still there even years later.

Bottom line, Mr. Walgreen’s Pharmacist? Ms. Arteaga came to you for a prescription she never wanted to have to fill, knowing from past experience that the process awaiting her after she took said medication would be painful and traumatic. Your response was to get up on your deeply held religious high horse, buttressed by the smug self-satisfaction of someone who has exactly ZERO understanding of what is like to be pregnant, or to lose a child to miscarriage.

Because I was curious, I looked up whether or not pharmacists take an oath with regard to the discharging of their duties; turns out, they do, and it includes, as the very first item, way at the tippy top of the list, the following:

“I will consider the welfare of humanity and relief of suffering my primary concerns.” https://www.pharmacist.com/oath-pharmacist

Looks like, in addition to Walgreen’s policy and Arizona law, this guy also violated his oath as a pharmacist. I guess the “welfare of humanity” and the “relief of suffering” are irrelevant in the face of one’s “deeply held religious beliefs.”

I also guess that those “deeply held religious beliefs” do not include the basic concept of “don’t be a fucking asshole.”