Bob Jones III, the heir to and president of the loathsome Bob Jones University, has written a letter to President Bush congratulating him on his victory. And this letter, folks, is a real gem:
In your re-election, God has graciously granted America--though she doesn't deserve it--a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we who know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly...It is easy to rejoice today, because Christ has allowed you to be His servant in this nation for another presidential term. Undoubtedly, you will have opportunity to appoint many conservative judges and exercise forceful leadership with the Congress in passing legislation that is defined by biblical norm regarding the family, sexuality, sanctity of life, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and limited government. You have four years--a brief time only--to leave an imprint for righteousness upon this nation that brings with it the blessings of Almighty God.
And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, a frank admission that what these cretins have in mind is in fact making the bible the law of the land. And forget about gay marriage, folks, Bob Jones University only managed to lift their ban on interracial dating four years ago, and only then because of media attention brought on by then-candidate Bush's speech there. And forget religious ecumenicalism, BJU still teaches that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon, a satanic version of Christianity. This is the same guy who criticizes Billy Graham as too liberal, for crying out loud. And the same guy who called Bush's father a devil for agreeing with the IRS taking away BJU's tax exempt status due to its discriminatory practices. Exactly the sort of people you want on your side, eh? While we're concerned, as we certainly should be, with defeating the theocratic authoritarians abroad, let's not forget that we have our own to deal with, and that they are engaged in a full scale assault for control of our government.
Hat tip to Liz Ditz for pointing out my grammatical error in the title.
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A reprieve from the agenda of paganism! And we don't even deserve it, harr.
Really it's a sad state of affairs. Just imagine how much it would suck living only a few miles from BJU campus, or even worse having to deal with employees who went there.
Again, probably goes a long way towards explaining my bitterness towards christianity that has developed in the last few years, :)
Mr. Jones wrote: ". . . passing legislation that is defined by biblical norm . . ."
The Bible calls for killing adulterers and homosexuals. I want the fundies to come clean on whether or not they want this "Biblical norm" to become the law of the land, and if not I want to know why this Biblical norm gets thrown out, but others do not? What's the criteria?
I've asked both conservative and liberal Christians this questions and I get the blank out from both. But the question needs to be posed again and again and again.
I got about halfway through this letter over on Josh Marshall's blog before I realized it wasn't just some guy poking fun at the religious right. My cynicism does not, apparently, run as deep as it ought.
I was talking to someone today about recurrent nonsense in Cobb Co., Georgia over the evolution disclaimer. When I repeated the "Jesus horses" line from SNL, another guy asked me why I felt it was OK to mock someone's religious beliefs.
On Monday, I'm going to hand him a copy of Bob's letter.
E
On Monday, I'm going to hand him a copy of Bob's letter.
Make sure you highlight this line in bright yellow for him:
If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them.
This is of course raw unabashed fascism, folks.
Bill Moyers is talking about the Bob Jones letter right now on PBS "Now."
RBH
Does anyone else find it strange that the presidency of a "university" is apparently something to be passed--literally--from father to son?
BTW, is this institution accredited by anything other than a purported deity?
That abomination named Red Lobster better watch out! God hates shrimp! Leviticus 11:9-12
As distasteful as Bob Jones III letter is, the accusations of "fascism!" and "theocracy!" must wait until we see how the President reacts to the letter and his 51% "mandate". I mean, c'mon. . . Is it really a surprise to anyone that Bob Jones III is a theocratic, irrational, Christian lunatic?
That abomination named Red Lobster better watch out! God hates shrimp! Leviticus 11:9-12
God must be allergic to shell fish.
I went to the Bob Jones University website to see what their philosophy department was like; mainly i was wondering if they acknowledged the existence of Nietzsche and like-minded thinkers. They clunk philosophy in with the "Division of English Language and Literature" because obviously philosophy is just literature, you know. Here are some of my favorite courses they offer:
Ph 402- Ethics
The meaning and purpose of ethics, with emphasis on Christian principles of action. Historical and practical approach to the problem of right conduct. Both semesters, OEE, three hours. Prerequisite: junior standing.
Ph 414- Philosophy of History
Introduction to interpretation of history from the early Greek era to the 20th century with special emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Formation of a biblically consistent worldview. Second semester, three hours.
Ph 504- Philosophy of Science
Nature, method, and the limitations of science. How to distinguish between science and scientism. Practical philosophy and introduction to prevailing theories related to science. Discussion of beginnings. First semester, three hours.
Someone care to explain "scientism" to me?
The Bible calls for killing adulterers and homosexuals. I want the fundies to come clean on whether or not they want this "Biblical norm" to become the law of the land, and if not I want to know why this Biblical norm gets thrown out, but others do not? What's the criteria?
Some of them do want that norm to stay. I don't even want to know how they plan to deal with the slavery bit.
Oh but I can't wait for the bats to finally achieve their rightful place as birds in the taxonomic annals =D
Oh, Lor.
The stories i could tell -- some of them, which i won't tell where funny mentalists and lawyers could read them, which i had second-hand about Bob Jones III and his "preacher's kid" days -- about having grown up more or less in the shadow of BJU.
In their more-or-less defense (praising with faint damns, perhaps) they have a very good (religious) art musuem, and, as of the last i lived in Greenville full-time (which was about thirty years ago, though i still have family ties there) a technically-excellent campus radio station and a highly-respected film school(!).
Back in the early Seventies, my family had a small advertising firm in Greenville. At the same time, my (younger) sister was going through a "hippie" phase, with the granny glasses and the old-fashioned dresses and the flowers in the hair and the whole bit. I came home from the Navy in October '71 and began letting my hair and beard grow. I don't remember how brother David was managing to be Odd, but i'm sure he was.
Weber Associates was getting a lot of radio production work done at WMUU, the BJU station. Dad confided to me, years later, just how much he enjoyed sending us to courier stuff back and forth, knowing that the mere act of letting anyone who looked like us (and did i mention that Patrick the St. Bernard loved to ride in the car and we often had him with us to startle people who bent down to peer in the windows?) in the front gate must have truly, in a Biblical phrase, "wring the withers" of the Security types.
Some years later, i worked for six months at a gas station that was literally set into a notch in one corner of the BJU campus.
I tried to keep evangelical tracts from the Church of the Great Spider on hand to exchange with the BJU students who came around every Sunday to try to save my soul...