Religious Beliefs Vs. Rights Of Kids To Not Be Told They’re Defective

There’s an article on Voice Online (UK) “Are Christians facing a modern form of persecution?” regarding the foster parenting case of Eunice and Owen Johns and the “growing concern over ‘religions discrimination.'” Um, no, Christians, you’re not being persecuted — not in Western nations.  Talk to a Christian in Pakistan and then get back with us on this “persecution” thing you think you’re going through.  Idiots.

Lord Justice Munby and Mr Justice Beatson ruled that laws protecting people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation “should take precedence” over the right not to be discriminated against on religious grounds.

They’re damn right!  It is very clear what the Abrahamic religions dictate as punishments for human sexuality and what their rules are for disciplining children, women and unbelievers.  Therefore, it is crystal clear why these “religious grounds” cannot take precedence over rational thought and basic human rights in a court of law.  Sorry ’bout that, Abrahamists, but sane members of society are on to you.  Most unbelievers have already been where you are, subscribing to a delusion.

The Pentecostal Christian couple, who have fostered children in the past, said more people of faith need to stand firm against laws that infringe their right to follow their religious beliefs.

Nobody has stopped these people from following their religious beliefs.  They are practicing their beliefs right now, believing that certain people are ‘sinful’.  Absolutely nobody has stopped them from doing this.  Nobody has stopped them from going to church or praying to Jesus or any other lawful thing they wish to do with their religion.  As nice as these folks probably are — but fuck, who knows? they could be a couple of Stephen Greens — like all religionists, they’re full of shit.

Anyway, I left a comment after the Voice Online article:

The Ingratitude Of American Theocrats

Read the whole post on Daylight Atheism, “The Ingratitude of American Theocrats“.  A snip:

[ … ]

But for members of the modern Christian right, it isn’t enough. It’s not enough for them that they have the right to practice their beliefs as they see fit, free of government interference. It’s not enough for them that they have the unlimited freedom to fundraise, pray and preach as much as they like, in whatever media outlets they choose to publish. It’s not even enough for them that they can stud the landscape with churches and staff and maintain them tax-free.

No, these dominionist believers want more than freedom: they want a special, privileged place in the laws of our country. They want the government to obey them, to issue official proclamations reminding everyone of their superiority, and to underwrite their evangelism with tax money from nonbelievers. They want their dogmas and only their dogmas to be taught in public school science classes, enshrined on courthouse lawns, and used as the basis to decide who should be allowed to marry, divorce, be born and die. In short, they want to be what our founders specifically sought to prevent: a state-established church, an arm of the government, with special rights and privileges granted to members and nonbelievers relegated to second-class citizens.

[ … ]

What American Christians May Take For Granted

American Christians do not live in fear of living their faith openly

The points made are undeniable, and they’re things that I’ve pointed out to Christians when they pull out the “persecution card”.  I’ve pointed out that American Christianity has become unquestionable and above reproach and that American Christians know nothing of persecution.  I’ve pointed out stories of Christians in Muslim countries who are targeted for on-the-spot execution for their beliefs.  None of it registers.

Most of the religious persecution victims in the U.S. are Jews and Muslims according to 2008 Hate Crime statistics.  Anti-Christian biased hate crimes amount to a total of 8.4%.  Anti-Jewish bias, 65.7%.  Anti-Islamic bias, 7.7%.  Religions are very intolerant of each other, that can’t be denied.  I wonder how many offenders of Islamic and Jewish bias hate crimes were Christian?  Just sayin’;  I don’t think the tables break down religion-biased crimes by the faith of the offender.  Just guessing, as us folks without religion mostly just don’t give a goddamn what invisible sky-fairies someone believes in — except when they’re passing legislation to strip rights away from others.

Christians are not being denied expression of what they believe, even though the opposite claim is made.  Here’s an excellent post, “What American Christians May Take For Granted”, by Mark at Proud Atheists ←(click to read the whole post)

“Belonging to a religious majority in the United States has its privileges, while persons of other monotheistic (like Jews and Muslims) and the polytheistic religions are disregarded. The non-religious are just plain ignored.”