American Family Association blogger and radio "personality" Bryan Fischer has declared that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was only meant to protect the religious liberties of Christians.
On previous occasions, when I have tried to point out the insane things the religious right say, many people who support freedom and democracy have told me that I shouldn't take it seriously. They will tell me that the rantings of one lunatic are nothing to be concerned about, but I think a closer look is needed. I think Mr. Fischer is just the tip of a larger iceberg.
Having grown up in the worst of the bible belt, I can attest from personal experience that many Christians say such things in private. I think that it is significant that Mr. Fischer makes his living spouting such crazy things. This can only mean that there are a large number of people who will pay to hear it or who will listen in such significant numbers that advertisers will pay for commercial air time during his broadcasts. If Mr. Fischer were truly by himself, or almost so, on some lunatic fringe, none of this would be true.
Non-believers need to wake up to this threat. It has not been that long since the believers burned us at the stake. There are still entire countries where atheism is punishable by death--in the 21st century. The practice of burning people at the stake for things such as heresy and witchcraft continued in "Christian" countries up until little more than 200 years ago. In some places, it continues to this day--though the stake appears to be optional. (Click on the link in the previous sentence and you will find video of a very recent incident in Kenya, which is 78% Christian.)
As I have pointed out before, the Civil War in Spain as well as the coups in Argentina and Chile were motivated by religion, specifically the Catholic Church persecuting secularists who tried to make those countries secular. Hundreds of thousands of secularists were killed--though on those occasions the Christians did it in private so as to avoid the bad publicity.
There are a large number of people in the U.S. who want to do the same sort of thing. The career of Mr. Fischer and other such wingnuts proves this. They can't do it right now, but they are perfectly willing to do as much as they can without suffering punishment. Non-believers need to take this threat seriously and exercise constant vigilance in both the public and private spheres of their lives.
On previous occasions, when I have tried to point out the insane things the religious right say, many people who support freedom and democracy have told me that I shouldn't take it seriously. They will tell me that the rantings of one lunatic are nothing to be concerned about, but I think a closer look is needed. I think Mr. Fischer is just the tip of a larger iceberg.
Having grown up in the worst of the bible belt, I can attest from personal experience that many Christians say such things in private. I think that it is significant that Mr. Fischer makes his living spouting such crazy things. This can only mean that there are a large number of people who will pay to hear it or who will listen in such significant numbers that advertisers will pay for commercial air time during his broadcasts. If Mr. Fischer were truly by himself, or almost so, on some lunatic fringe, none of this would be true.
Non-believers need to wake up to this threat. It has not been that long since the believers burned us at the stake. There are still entire countries where atheism is punishable by death--in the 21st century. The practice of burning people at the stake for things such as heresy and witchcraft continued in "Christian" countries up until little more than 200 years ago. In some places, it continues to this day--though the stake appears to be optional. (Click on the link in the previous sentence and you will find video of a very recent incident in Kenya, which is 78% Christian.)
As I have pointed out before, the Civil War in Spain as well as the coups in Argentina and Chile were motivated by religion, specifically the Catholic Church persecuting secularists who tried to make those countries secular. Hundreds of thousands of secularists were killed--though on those occasions the Christians did it in private so as to avoid the bad publicity.
There are a large number of people in the U.S. who want to do the same sort of thing. The career of Mr. Fischer and other such wingnuts proves this. They can't do it right now, but they are perfectly willing to do as much as they can without suffering punishment. Non-believers need to take this threat seriously and exercise constant vigilance in both the public and private spheres of their lives.
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