What's with Fundamentalists?!?
by The Alienist (Member) - published: October 31, 2004
Word Count: 445 Word Bytes: 2952 Viewed: 588 times
Category - Rants
© Copyright by The Alienist

(5 votes)

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5	Capulet

10	Dareva

10	gomarsoap

10	ivordavies

10	LilMystic

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Self-righteousness certainly must get tiresome at some point. Otherwise, how do these people ever manage to draw another breath with all the effort they spend keeping their sphincters so TIGHT!?!?

So, Halloween falls on October 31st SUNDAY this year. I have already seen news stories on Bible Belt communities cancelling Halloween because fundamentalist parents insisting that it's a demonic holiday, owing to its paganic roots. "Children dressing up as witches and goblins is SATANIC and will draw their souls away from GOD."

Even the Wiccans have occasionally gotten in on the act, saying that a public school shouldn't have a Halloween celebration because they don't like the typical Halloween depiction of witches. This I must say was disappointing, because in general they're pretty progressive, intelligent folks.

For myself, I've always loved Halloween and I've never known it to turn anyone to satan. To tell the truth I don't believe satan gets much mileage out of Halloween in any form, considering that very, very few people take it seriously unless they're practicing the old-fashion paganic kind of Halloween, in which case satan has nothing to do with the celebration. (satan and the Horned God/Earth Mother simply aren't the same people, whatever the hyperreligionists say/think/insist.)

Fundamentalists believe they're the experts on everyone else's religion. What they really are is 24/7 apologists for their own twisted doctrines, and the heavy practice of dogmatism is fatally poisonous to any religion. Dogmatism caused separations many times in Christianity, like it never has in any other religion. There are several different sects of Islam, but not thousands. There are several sects of Judaism, but not thousands. There are several sects of Buddhism, paganism, everything else but not thousands. There are thousands of sects of Christianity because everyone in the institutional Christian paradigm is paranoid about heresy, doctrinal inaccuracy and FEAR.

They have poisoned America from the beginning, with the Puritans, and they're poisoning America right now. They cannot perceive anything intelligently because they allow themselves to be led by very old doctrines in very old books that have seen multiple translations, and they vote for the most inhuman and horrid people that anyone has put into office since Adolf Hitler, who was very popular with German protestants, by the way.

I don't know what solution to apply to diminute the influence of these sick, degenerate and mentally poisoned people. They're anything but spiritual and they're making the rest of us sick.

Go out and trick-or-treat tomorrow night with your kids. They'll thank you for it and as long as you watch their candy for sick mischief, they should be perfectly okay. Just don't let your daughter dress like a crackwhore.

------
The Alienist
jhfurnish@yahoo.com

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Comments

The following comments are for "What's with Fundamentalists?!?"
by The Alienist

Hollow ween
Well said! The fear that an evening of costumes and candy will turn their children into Satanists (or even worse, secularists) demonstrates a lack of faith.

( Posted by: drsoos [Member] On: October 31, 2004 )

Hitler??? Come on!
I'm not sure your dropping Hitler's name really works here. It's such an insane stretch of the imagination to try and link Hitler (in general?) with specific religions disagreeing with a holiday they perceive contrary to their views that you damage your overall position by linking yourself to it.

And pretty much EVERYONE in Germany supported Hitler in the 30s; not just the Lutherans, but the intellectuals, the common worker, and everyone in between.

While I agree banning Halloween is silly, I think this piece could benefit from a little more research.

( Posted by: Capulet [Member] On: October 31, 2004 )

Ugh, these peope...
... it's a RANT.

RANT. R... A... N... T. RANT.

It's a piece of SENTIMENT.

And giving it a score of 5 out of 10 is the mark of childishness; why score it at all? 5?

The score is about writing quality, not whether you agree with it.

This is something I've criticized rightwingers about before. No objectivity...

I'm glad you're not a teacher.

Can someone score this thing again so it can have a fairer rating.

( Posted by: the alienist [Member] On: November 1, 2004 )

Halloween
I love Halloween!! The scarier the better. My kids were scared and exhilarated by the fun displays of ghoulishness put on by our neighbors.
As a parent , I am perfectly capable of explaining the concept of imagination and fun!!!
Fundies should turn off their porch lights and go to the church "corny"val. Alien...once again you bring up a great discussion.
Love, Amy

( Posted by: arc [Member] On: November 1, 2004 )

John...
I really liked what you said, over here we tend to treat it as light hearted and certainly if the religious institutions start piping in we all in one voice say 'shut up'.

What most people don't remember about the puritans finding 'freedom' in the New World, is that the along with other memebers of the 'clergy' tried to rule England through their own law, it was not only the government or royal family that did not like them it was the population of England as a whole.

It makes me laugh when I hear about them finding somewhere for their own faith, when they were persecuting so many people in England!!!

Some things never do change.

Alex :-)

( Posted by: londongrey [Member] On: November 1, 2004 )

Ranting for candy
I'll give your rant a 10. Very well written, concise and funny, too. Clean job.

I bought some "inside-out" Reeses Peanut Butter Cups to hand out this year. Yummy! Those suckers is good!

( Posted by: gomarsoap [Member] On: November 1, 2004 )

Thank you
First off, thank you for taking it personal, and rebutting my commentary with personal attacks. I think the rant is supposed to stop at the top, and not carry into your commentary.

I gave you a five because part of writing is to accomplish your task. If your task was to illustrate the "tightness of Fundie sphincters" then you have failed, because you come off just as loony with your drawn comparisons.

So while your grammar is fine, and your sentences are very pretty in shape and size, this piece fails, and received the objective mark from me it deserves.

( Posted by: Capulet [Member] On: November 1, 2004 )

Huh?
Pretty much EVERYONE in Germany supported Hitler?
Apart from Jews, Gypsies, Trade Unionists, Communists and other minority groups. It might be more accurate to say a majority and once he'd legalized Nazi dictatorship it made no difference anyway. As to Halloween, well little satanists came around yesterday to demand treats or else and there wasn't a whiff of brimstone. Ye gods - whatever next? Santa Claus banned because his first name's an anagram of satan?
Good rant as usual, Alienist.
Take care
Paul the Ogg

( Posted by: Ogg [Member] On: November 1, 2004 )

Alienist..Halloween
Good Rant,

You have taken the liberty to express you views as you see them and over emphasised a point in your comparasons... is this not what a rant is about?

The subject... I agree entirely, not long ago a church here in the UK banned Yoga on it's premises because it said "It was a way to find God without going through Jesus Christ", which picks up my possibly only problem with christianity... the claim that there is only one path.

I love Halloween, then again, I love ghosts and witches and monsters and anything that is fun!

I can not say I agree with everything you write about, but on this you have my vote.

Lets all have fun,

Ivor

( Posted by: ivordavies [Member] On: November 1, 2004 )

I'm a Halloweenie
Nice writing as always, Alienist. I thought it was structurally and intellectually interesting.

As for the Halloween stuff, I would rather it didn't exist..., but not for religious purposes, I'm not a big fan of kids banging on my door looking for a handout like a wealthy, white, republican. (tee-hee, had to work that in.)

The thing that really burns my brisket is when fifteen kids drive up in the back of pick-up and flood the neighborhood with their parents pointing out which houses they should approach.

If you're trick or treating, stay in your own damn neighborhood...stop the greed, it ruins the holiday.

And that's why my wife and I go out to the movies and dinner. :)

Pythagoras

( Posted by: Pythagoras [Member] On: November 2, 2004 )

Hitler and the Church
I would like to point out that the father of German protestantism, Martin Luther, was virulently anti-Semitic (see http://www.outreachjudaism.org/luther1543new.html ). Luther's influence on the Nazis is fairly overt - Kristallnacht (when the Nazis went out and burned Jewish homes and business) fell on Luther's birthday ( http://www.outreachjudaism.org/kristal.html ).

The term fundamentalist has many meanings. For many in current times, it means "Pushy Right-Wing Middle-Class White Male". Such people infuriate me no end.

I am a Christian, but not a fundamentalist by the definition above.

And I have no problem with Halloween :-P.

Jonathan.

( Posted by: JonnyT [Member] On: November 2, 2004 )

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