10 Ironies of Christians

I came across a blog link posted by an acquaintance I thought I'd share. In my recent exposures to the religious right agenda, I've noticed several ironic/hypocritical factors that are highly prevalent in religious (particularly Christian --- even more so in LDS) cultures.

Take note, these are not blanket statements. These are simply observations with various cases that often represent a large population of religious people. I'm not personally targeting anyone, nor saying that all religious people fit these traits. I will highlight two of the blog's points.

1. Religious people often pin non-believers as selfish. Atheists are in it for themselves and only care for their own needs. Not believing or adhering to religious teachings is an excuse to indulge in sex and otherwise "immoral" behavior.

But non-believers are often humbled with their open-mindedness to how small they are in the universe. They are constantly changing their views with science, research, and learning. They are meeting and building relationships with new people of all backgrounds. Church communities are usually in-bred social lives, cutting out the rest of the world. They forget there are more people NOT like them. LDS communities especially are known to cut out non-members. I used to do it myself. In Utah, the non-mormon kid sometimes have no friends because the mormon parents won't let their kids play with the non-mormon. Outside of Utah, members cling so closely (being a minority) that their only friends reside within their Sunday school and priesthood/relief society classes. Only associating with people just like you is kind of... selfish.

I've heard before a tune similar to: "He/she just wants to indulge in sin. That's why they don't want to go to church. How selfish." But sexual activity is one of many "sins" that is healthy human behavior. Confining it to one person after marriage in many cases is not possible (or at least not soon enough) before its lack starts affecting a person's health (physical and emotional). For some reason, there is a huge taboo on sex in religion, and in the US in general (mostly influenced by religion). Projection of guilt is often spewed by the religious restraining from the very desire they can't fulfill. Healthy, regular sexual activity is just as selfish as a balanced breakfast.

2. Religious folks are often exclaiming that their religious freedom is being squashed by the agenda of non-believers. "Freedom of Religion trumps all!" they declare.

Except it doesn't. Freedom of religion is just as important as freedom from religion. The US, according to the constitution, may not enact any laws establishing, endorsing, or favoring any religion.

Here's the catch... a group of religious legislators can decide to enact a law that enforces policies that originated from a religious belief OR a majority of citizens can vote in a law that resembles a religious belief. That is part of the democracy. Whatever the majority believes to be the best for the whole can become law. However, these laws can only be established within the US Constitution. When the judicial system challenges these laws for unconstitutionality, the religious right cries foul--their rights have been trampled by a small set of "liberal activist judges." This is more recently seen in all of the cases against same-sex marriage bans. "The will of the people is being denied. Democracy has died."

Most of these people don't understand that democracy is not a majority rules government. The majority can never overrule the rights and protections of a minority.  That is unconstitutional. That is what all of these judges are saying. You can't vote in laws that only benefit white, religious, male, heterosexuals. That violates the 14th Amendment: equal protection and due process.

But when the religious (a protected class, mind you) is so used to having all of the privileges, and equality creeps up on them, it appears to them that they are losing rights. It's their right to get to marry and not anyone else. It's their right to deny products and services to 'infidels' that are sinning and not following their 'one true God'. The quote from the blog I liked:

The problem with being privileged your whole life is that because you have had that privilege for so long, equality starts to look like oppression. - Mark Caddo

The religious are already EXTRA protected above all others. They can evade taxes legally, perform strange (non-violent/abusive/sex-offending) rituals, and discriminate within their church houses to their heart's content. Now they want to do it in public and in government? Who's foul now?

You can read the other eight ironies at the original blog post:


http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godlessindixie/2015/03/06/ten-things-christians-accidentally-tell-me-about-themselves/