More Poor Oppressed Christian Hypocrisy

I know, this is a subject that I keep bringing up. But you know what? There are apparently still people out there who think that the Poor Oppressed Christians are just asking to be left alone and trying to protect religious rights for everyone. However, as their actions and public statements show, this is not at all the case.

Alternet has an article up today about how stunts by groups like The Satanic Temple clearly demonstrate that the "religious freedom" these Christians are talking about is just for them. This "freedom" also apparently includes securing them the right to impose their beliefs on others, and asserts that even mild disagreement somehow constitutes persecution. Frankly, comparing that sort of "persecution" to what is faced by Christians in some parts of the world strikes me as pretty offensive.

Now from a spiritual perspective I will admit that I find "performance artist" Satanists kind of silly. But generally speaking, they are not theists and find the spiritual angle irrelevant. Furthermore, from the standpoint of politics they are clearly on the side of minority religions, particularly those that the Poor Oppressed Christians find offensive. They also happen to be quite funny, especially in terms of the reactions that they provoke.

For example, recently one of these groups in Oklahoma City (not The Satanic Temple, which is involved in the Oklahoma monument controversy, but which distanced itself from this event) planned a "black mass" that turned out to be a ridiculous mess that was only attended by about forty people. While I would have been embarrassed to be involved with such a poor ritual, the media response made it totally worthwhile.

Father Jonathan Morris went on Fox News Sunday to demand that Oklahoma City officials shut down the black mass. After paying lip service to the idea that Satanists have a “political right” to worship, the fact that some people in the community oppose it should be considered reason enough to shut it down.

“When you have a group that does this, not just because they want to do their own little worship, but they are provoking anger and hatred among the community, the city can step in and say, ‘That’s not worship, that’s not free speech, that’s mockery, and you’re inciting violence!’”, he added, as if it’s the fault of Satanists if people assault them and not the fault of people doing the assaulting.

“But what if I want to go and desecrate a Koran out in front of my church?” complained Morris. “What if I want to speak pro-Nazi stuff right in front of my church and get people all fired up on a public sidewalk?”

In fact, both of those would actually be completely allowed under the First Amendment. Christian conservatives are constantly floating the fear that Christian pastors will be thrown in jail for preaching hate against gay people, but in fact, this doesn’t happen precisely because of the same freedoms that allow a bunch of Satanists to stomp on some bread and say they are against Jesus.

By flailing around like this, Father Jonathan Morris showed how much the Christian right wants to have it both ways: Demand broad religious rights for themselves while demanding state oppression when others want the exact same rights.

This is the truth that needs to permeate popular culture. When Poor Oppressed Christians demand "religious freedom," what they really are calling for is a state religion for the United States, which they naturally want to be their own. In fact, a lot of these folks even consider mainstream Christian denominations to be made up of heretics and "devil-worshipers," sometimes on the basis of seemingly tiny theological points.

So I have no doubt that if they ever manage to obtain "official" status they won't stop at prohibiting minority faiths, but rather use the apparatus of the state to enforce orthodoxy - their orthodoxy, of course - by whatever means necessary. That's one more reason they need to be stopped.