Larry Duncan and Randy Shepherd getting married in Washington, which is awesome whether you approve or not.
Earlier I
wrote about how pathetic conservatives are for whining about growing intolerance for their bigotry. There were lots of great comments, so I want to share some of them here.
Nobody cares what they believe. Seriously, they might be ostracized if they're all over the place about it publicly, but that would probably be the case for being over-the-top about any belief system or philosophy.
The problem comes in when you VOTE and ACTIVELY TRY to mess with other people's lives, per your beliefs.
Would any of them empathize with the Amish if they voted and constantly complained in the media that they were 'ostracized' because they continuously voted against electricity and combustion engines?
Great analogy. Freedom of religion means just that—people are free to believe what they want. But there's no right to act on those beliefs, or to be protected from others having dissimilar beliefs. So if your religion has a problem with birth control, good for you! Don't use it. But don't try to impose that belief on others.
More comments about the conservative whiners below the fold.
In most workplaces, at least most large ones, your religious and political views are not a topic anyone wants to discuss, from any direction.
And I can only imagine how someone who is pro-choice, for instance, feels when they work for a small business in Mississippi that is owned by an evangelical Christian. "In the closet" probably doesn't begin to describe it.
This is a normal aspect of the world of work. It's not a special hardship endured by Evangelicals.
Unless you work at a church, religion shouldn't play any overt role in your workplace.
Oh, please. They're afraid to express their Christianity in the workplace?
Try being an atheist elected office-holder sometime and we will talk.
Christians are not persecuted anywhere in the US except in their own minds. The fact that only now, in the 21st Century, are the more extreme believers being asked to rein in their persecution of others is not persecution in return.
There is no more "persecuted" religious group than the non-religious.
Objectively. A total of 43 percent of Americans wouldn't even "consider" voting for an Atheist for electoral office. Even
Muslims, at 40 percent, fare better. Mormons are at 18 percent. Which reminds me, there is exactly one atheist in Congress, Rep. Peter Stark.
But atheists aren't "persecuted" any more than any Christian is. We're annoyed from time to time, sure. But that's not persecution. Just like it isn't persecution that a bigot Christians might have to sell a cake to a gay couple. In fact, those formerly mainstream bigots are learning what everyone else holding controversial views learns: Just keep your mouth shut. I don't talk about my atheism at family functions. I don't talk about politics when hanging out with my wife's conservative family members. And I'm a vegetarian in a meat-eater's world. That's lots of fun, let me tell you.
In the end, feel free to believe what you want, but there's a time and place for sharing those beliefs on others. No one has a guaranteed right to have their beliefs respected or imposed on anyone else. I would never advocate a law outlawing meat eating, though the benefits would be tangible and incalculable. The bigots think that such discretion doesn't apply to them. But they should get used to people responding with contempt. And no, that contempt isn't the same as getting thrown to the lions.