Bits'n'Pieces-- Guns And Religion

How Far Will McConnell Step Over The Line?

You know with all the hubbub over the surreptitiously taped McConnell staff meeting where they were planning a strategy for smearing Ashley Judd and other potential opponents, one thing that seems to have gotten by our watchdog media is the transcript itself. The McConnell camp used "3rd party" to submit an open records request for Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. So who, exactly, was that "3rd party" referred to by the McConnell mob? Was it a shady right-wing SuperPac McConnell was illegally coordinating with? Or was it a certain journalist who is a secret McConnell surrogate? Curious minds need to know.

Which Religious Beliefs Are Too Crazy For Gun Ownership?

Human sacrifice... in fact animal sacrifice is probably enough so that practitioners should get a pretty thorough psychological examination before buying any weapons. Republican propagandist Erick Erickson is winding up his crazed followers with tweets like the one above and another one claiming they should thank Pat Toomey "in 5 years when you can't buy a gun b/c a doctor says ur crazy for believing in a resurrected Jesus." I don't detect any anti-Christian sentiment in America, at least not in the hands of anywhere remotely close to wielding any kind of power. This is more right-wing exploitation of their cult of victimology. In this case, using it in an attempt to rile up the rabble against a pretty tepid bill requiring background checks, one tepid-- and sensible-- enough that the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms endorsed it. As far as Christians... well, I might worry about the ones who focus on snake handling and who get hung up on the ranting and raving of John of Patmos... but that's just me.

Drugged Up Religionist Nuts

And while we're on the subject of crackpot religionists, I'm sure we don't have to tell you where most of them live, right? The most religious regions of the country are located in southern states, and a recent poll revealed that, indeed, except for Utah (56%), well over 50% of the population in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Oklahoma consider themselves to be very religious, and they are very depressed.

In a study conducted between 2000 and 2006 by a large pharmaceutical manufacturer, they discovered that the most religious states have the highest percentage of the population using some kind of anti-depressant drug. The comprehensive study focused on the implications and numerous challenges of managing prescription drug costs, and they focused on the “sociodemographic forces influencing the use of prescription drugs,” but they did not examine the role religion plays in the higher-than-average use of anti-depressants. It is quite possible, and likely, that “very religious” Christians are having difficulty reconciling their Christ-centered beliefs with the direction American Christianity is going, and the conflicts inherent with adhering to archaic knowledge and understanding of the world while living in the 21st century where science and empirical data contradicts the superstitious and antiquated “facts” contained in the Christian bible.

Faith in Christ is supposed to be succor to the afflicted, and give hope to his followers that living a life of charity and love for all human kind is the path to happiness now and earns the reward of life eternal in Christ’s presence in Heaven. However, the trend among many Christians is rejecting the tenets of Christ’s message for harsh Old Testament edicts meant to instill fear and guilt endemic to disobeying god’s laws instead of love of neighbor, and it must affect the mental state of adherents struggling to reconcile Christ’s love with the Old Testament message of an angry and wrathful “god of love.” It is no wonder the “very religious” are depressed when they read in their bible that Christ commanded the rich to give away all their belongings to the poor to enter into Heaven, and yet their clergy preach support of politicians who take from the poor to give to the rich. Are they compensating for their religious dilemma by resorting to chemicals to assuage the misery of disobeying their lord and savior, Jesus Christ, or dulling the guilt from causing suffering on their fellow Americans?

Most of the political and cultural positions of highly religious states give the appearance that unless Christians force their Old Testament sensibilities featuring intolerance, hatred, and retribution for non-compliance with god’s laws on the rest of America, they are doomed to burn in everlasting fire.  And yet, they read in scripture that Jesus commanded them to treat their enemies and non-believers with peace and love, and lacking fortitude to challenge the clergy’s contradictions, it is just as easy to stay sedate to mask their internal conflict as they support the proliferation of guns, treating women as slaves, and punishing gays; many of them fellow Christians.

I'd rather we keep people who are on anti-depressants and other heavy drugs away from guns than people who believe in Jesus' resurrection.