On June 26, 2015 Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a policy directive to “All State Agency Heads” regarding “Preserving Religious Liberty for all Texans”, which followed the Supreme Court's ruling that “states cannot ban same-sex marriage”.
Governor's Abbott's directive didn't just cover county clerks issuing marriage licenses,
“This order applies to any agency decision, including but not limited to granting or denying benefits, managing agency employees, entering or enforcing agency contracts, licensing and permitting decisions, or enforcing state laws and regulations.”
Governor Abbott's reasoning...
As government officials, we have a constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the religious liberty of every Texan. With these obligations in mind, I expect all agencies under my direction to prioritize compliance with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Article I of the Texas Constitution, and the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. All state agency heads should ensure that no one acting on behalf of their agency takes any adverse action against any person, as defined in Chapter 311 of the Texas Government Code, on account of the person’s act or refusal to act that is substantially motivated by sincere religious belief.
But in reality, his reasoning is based on cherry picking bible verses, state law, and that of our state constitution. (eye roll, facepalm, self inflicted aneurism)
Follow me below squiggly thingy, into hell!
While rational people, such as myself and many others, understand the meaning of both Governor Abbott's directive and the Supreme Court's ruling, many religious people might get a little carried away, because they are “substantially motivated by sincere religious belief”. Let's face it, some religious people are just fanatics and take things, such as their religion, a bit to literally, and that's the can of worms Governor Abbott has opened with his new policy directive and bible verse cherry picking.
Let's also face the fact that religion, and we're talking about the “Christian” religion, is not based on logic, critical thinking nor critical reasoning. The bible is full of circular and false logic, as well as a whole host of illogical dichotomies.
As Governor Abbott reasons, “As leaders of this State, we have an obligation to secure the right of all Texans to live their lives according to the principles of their religious faith.“ This is where things get really interesting because according to the Christian religious faith, God has a lot of laws that require his followers to kill a lot of people, simply because they don't believe in the Christian God (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB).
While many will obviously lament that I'm cherry picking bible verses from the old testament, like Leviticus 20:13 NASB, which say's...
- If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.
Which is the basis of “Christian” justification to discriminate against LGBT people, while not forgetting about Romans 1:24-32 NLT to further their case to discriminate.
Or how about this verse here, Leviticus 20:10 NLT, which say's...
"If a man commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, both the man and the woman who have committed adultery must be put to death.
Good heavens, if we killed all those that have committed adultery in this country (and there are quite a few elected politicians, from both sides of the isle, who have committed adultery), we would have a serious population problem. Gee, how many people get divorced every year in America as a result of adultery? In some cherry picked bible verses, divorce is adultery, and therefore, punishable by death. (holy cow!)
Then of course there's this verse, Deuteronomy 13:13-17 NLT, which it appears as though this is what ISIS is doing in the Middle East...
13 that scoundrels among you are leading their fellow citizens astray by saying, ‘Let us go worship other gods’—gods you have not known before. 14 In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find that the report is true and such a detestable act has been committed among you, 15 you must attack that town and completely destroy[a] all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. 16 Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the open square and burn it. Burn the entire town as a burnt offering to the Lord your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. 17 Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a large nation, just as he swore to your ancestors.
I could go on for days with this type of cherry picking, but it is this cherry picking of bible verses, especially those nasty ones from the old testament, that is exactly what people like Governor Abbott, and former Governor Rick Perry are doing. They are the ones that are cherry picking bible verses to preach hate, bigotry, and racism. This directive from Governor Abbott is infusing his religiosity in our state government. This religiosity is incompatible with a modern day Democracy.
All these “cherry” picked bible verses amount to nothing short of God sponsored murder and genocide. That's certainly not a religion I want to have anything to do with. Also, least we not forget, that it was in fact this cherry picking of bible verses that lead to the enslavement of African-Americans and the genocide of native Americans that this country was built upon.
And it is this religiosity (cherry picking bible verses) that is eating away at our population here in Texas. It is all bigoted, racist, religious non-sense. Everything is infused with religion now days. But, what really is bad about this infusion of idiotic religious ideology (cherry picking bible verses), is that it is all based on old testament crap, which according to Matthew 5:18-19 RSV, the old testament still applies, so don't tell me Jesus was the lamb of the new covenant.
As example of this religiosity, I live in Texas District 115 (part Dallas / Farmers Branch) and my Texas house rep is Matt Rinaldi. This man believes "our God-given Second Amendment right to bear arms cannot be infringed." Where in the bible did God give us the second amendment to our bill of rights or a right to bear arms?
What happens when one of these open carry nut cases walks into a restaurant and unloads their 100 round magazine, because they were "substantially motivated by their sincere religious beliefs"? Governor Abbott, with his policy directive, effectively indicates that “substantially motivated by sincere religious beliefs” is an excuse to ignore the laws of the state Texas, as well as that of our federal government.
You might say I'm cherry picking bible verses to make the Christian faith look bad, but Governor Abbott, and many religiously motivated politicians” are cherry picking what laws they will obey and which ones can be ignored, simply because they are “substantially motivated by sincere religious beliefs”. If effect, they are forcing their religious beliefs upon every Texan, whether we like it or not, and against our will.
Further Governor Abbott, with his new policy directive, “cherry picks” a portion of the the Texas Constitution to bolster his claim that it's okay to discriminate against LGBT people, just like it has been used against African Americans and indigenous American Indians through the entire history of our country.
Sec. 6. FREEDOM OF WORSHIP. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences. No man shall be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent. No human authority ought, in any case whatever, to control or interfere with the rights of conscience in matters of religion, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious society or mode of worship. But it shall be the duty of the Legislature to pass such laws as may be necessary to protect equally every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship.
(emphasis mine)
If you look at part two of this section...
No man shall be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent.
Governor Abbott's policy directive would seem to me to be in violation of this portion of our constitution, because it seeks to
“maintain a ministry (the Christian ministry) against his consent”. Governor Abbott's policy directive is based on the Christian religion and not a mixture of all religions or based on secular ideals. In effect, Governor Abbott is advocating that Christian beliefs are superior to Texas and Federal law.
And if you look at the last part of this section But it shall be the duty of the Legislature to pass such laws as may be necessary to protect equally every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship.
Well according to Matthew 6:5-6:
"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men....when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret...."
We shouldn't be praying in public in the first place. According to Matthew, these are the words of Jesus. Christians like to down play this verse, that is to say they like cherry pick it right out of existence. As they cherry pick other verses that do not conform to their (twisted) idea's of hate, racism, discrimination, and bigotry.
Another example of government infused religiosity is of course, that it is in our state constitution that one must believe in a supreme being or one can not hold public office...
Sec. 4. RELIGIOUS TESTS. No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being.
(emphasis mine)
I am denied the ability to run for public office in the state of Texas because I will not acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being. To do so would be to lie, which I will not do. This in effect means that religion, is a in fact, a test for public office in the State of Texas, which is in violation of our Federal constitution, Article IV, Paragraph 3
but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
Nowhere in our federal constitution does it state that one has to believe or acknowledge a Supreme Being. It would appear that the Texas Constitution, is therefore unconstitutional.
Cherry picking bible verses (only the Christian ones) and our laws, which ones we should obey and others we can ignore, based on our “substantially motivated by sincere religious beliefs”, is destroying the very fabric of our society.
And it's only getting worse.
Our children are being indoctrinated by people that don't believe in our constitution nor the rule of law. For example, Gov. Abbott just appointed a new chair of the TBE whose children were home schooled and never attended public schools? How's that for qualifications!?
Have you seen the new social studies text approved by the Texas Board of Education (TBE)? (OMG, Moses helped shape democracy, shows sympathy with Joseph McCarthy, and argue country music is culturally relevant but hip-hop is not.) (PS: I'm not that into Hip Hop but it is culturally relevant. Heck, who knew Dallas has a thriving Hip Hop community.)
With Governor Abbott, as well as a bunch of other politicians, we don't know how to separate church and state, because they themselves are mixing them to where it's hard to tell where one (Religion) begins and the other (State/ Federal Law) ends.
I will not live in a theocracy. America is not a theocracy. I do not consent to be governed by religious nut cases who preach hate and racism, as Governor Abbott is doing with his new policy directive.
As a result of Texas falling off the cliff into religiosity over the last several decades, the Texas Miracle, as many religious (Tea Bag Taliban) politicians like to say, has become a nightmare. (It certainly isn't a secular democracy.)
Let's just look at a few results of the "Texas Miracle" many Texas politicians like, like former Governor Rick Perry, Senator Ted Cruz, and Governor Abbott like to talk about;
- We are 1st in largest population of uninsured
- We are 1st in largest population of non-elderly uninsured
- We are 47th in low income population covered by medicaid
- We are 42nd in population covered by employer-based health insurance
- we are 45th in health care expenditures per capita
- We are 49th in state spending on mental health
- We are 50th in Percent of pregnant women receiving prenatal care in first trimester
- We are 46th in women's voter registration
- We are 50th in women's voter turnout
- We are 2nd with consumers with subprime credit
- We are 1st in carbon dioxide emissions
- We are 1st in amount of volatile organic compounds released into air
- We are 1st in amount of toxic chemicals released in our water
- We are 1st in amount of recognized cancer-causing carcinogens released into our air
- We are 48th in percentage of voting age population register to vote
- We are 50th in percentage of voting age population that actually votes
These results, to me, are all ungodly! With these kinds of stats, its no wonder Texans, as well as Americans in general, are so fucked up.
Cherry picking our (Christian) bible verses is the basis of racism, bigotry and hate. This bible verse, Leviticus 20:13 NAB, is the basis for Governor Abbott's policy directive, and the entire Christian right's case against gay marriage. It's time we (as Texan's, and Americans) woke up and followed the advice of Matthew 6:5-6 and not that of Leviticus 20:13 NAB.
And most importantly, maybe we should all embrace a little Ephesians 4:32.
Have a safe 4th of July.
The RR
Fri Jul 03, 2015 at 7:30 PM PT: I'm having some issues with a couple of links and trying desperately to fix them. Hold on while I do my best to fix it.
Let's see if it works here. Abbott's Policy Directive
Fri Jul 03, 2015 at 7:36 PM PT: Here's the link to Donna Bahorich, Governor Abbott's selection as the new chair for the Texas Board of Education.