AreYouSaying also wrote:

This baggage goes along now with all Christians because of your majority's failure to denounce it just as Muslims fail to denounce their murderous terrorists.
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Lots and lots of Christians have denounced Phelps, birthers, and many of the other things you are so outraged at. And last time I checked, liberals thought that it was wrong to stereotype all Muslims as terrorists, in the way that you are holding all Christians responsible for the lunacy of a few. Or do you think all Muslims are terrorists, too?

As for your white, blond, blue-eyed Jesus, you comments regarding me, like your denial of His historical racial reality, make no sense. Where did this come from anyway?
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Your, your your. Do you know me? Do I anywhere in my comments say that Jesus was white, blond, or blue-eyed? Do I deny His "racial reality" (i.e., that He was a Middle Eastern Jew)? Are you capable of making an argument that addresses your interlocuter, or are you just talking to yourself?

AreYouSaying said: "Could my "bigotry" be a backlash based on the stated political agenda of these theocons via Fox News and the pulpit?

I don't know why I'm pursuing this, but I told you to give specifics, so let's look at them:

OK, to be more specific:

- another pre-emptive war in Iran to appease Israel, bring on the "rapture" and to prop up right-wing entitlement programs for Halliburton and Lockheed Martin

This makes no sense. If war in Iran (which has nothing to do with the "rapture") brings on said event, how will that help Halliburton and Lockheed Martin? And which "theocons" (not just political conservatives) are advocating said war?

- a return to back-ally, coat-hanger abortions

"Coat hanger" abortions are largely a myth (see Bernard Nathanson, the [now former] abortionist who started this canard and later revealed it to be essentially made up)

- denying gay, Muslim and Mexican citizens their Constitutional rights

Got anyone other than fringe characters no one listens to who want to deny ANY citizens their constitutional rights (gay marriage doesn't count--it hasn't been established as such a right yet)?

- health care and education are "socialism"

Citations, please. No one--and I mean absolutely NO ONE--thinks that "health care" (you perhaps mean Obama's health insurance reform?) or "education" (you perhaps mean federal funding and control of local education) are "socialism."

- denying certain religions the right to build houses of worship

Please. All houses of worship have to go through zoning processes. If some localities have given Muslims a hard time building mosques, the same is true of Christians wanting to build churches in some localities. That has a lot more to do with government red tape than anything else.

- hiding and abetting pedophile priests

Please name one "theocon" who has done this. Just mentioning random Catholic bishops (many of whom are political liberals) doesn't count.

- demonizing liberals and "non-believers"

Like it doesn't go the other way, as your own posts demonstrate.

- hijacking the GoP and poor old Jesus for hateful political agendas

Meaninglessly vague.

- lying about Obama being a Muslim and bashing him at every turn while "Christian" preachers pray for his death and a plague upon his family

Yes, there are conservative Christians who have done this. There are political liberals who have done the same regarding Bush, Cheney, etc. Does that mean that all political liberals should be condemned?

- allowing Fred Phelps to spew his homophobic filth without denying him the use of the name Westboro Baptist Church.

Name a legal authority under which this could be done. Conservative Christians are among the who would most like to silence Phelps, given that people like you use him to slander the rest of us. But we can't, because the law won't let us, nor would we want it to. Nor can we deny him the use of the name.

Could my "bigotry" be a backlash based on the stated political agenda of these theocons via Fox News and the pulpit?
--------------------------------

You'd have to be more specific there, otherwise it's just spittle on a computer screen.

Could it have anything to do with the fact that you whitened Jesus' skin, changed his eye color to blue and dyed his hair blond?

What kind of "bigotry" is that all about?
-------------------------------

The kind that says "you" without having any idea who you're talking to, based on nothing more than stereotyping, assumptions, and prejudices, as well as the kind that takes one thing you don't like and generalizes it to an entire group. That's the very definition of bigotry.

Posted by: Palamas

OK, to be more specific:

- another pre-emptive war in Iran to appease Israel, bring on the "rapture" and to prop up right-wing entitlement programs for Halliburton and Lockheed Martin

- a return to back-ally, coat-hanger abortions

- denying gay, Muslim and Mexican citizens their Constitutional rights

- health care and education are "socialism"

- denying certain religions the right to build houses of worship

- hiding and abetting pedophile priests

- demonizing liberals and "non-believers"

- hijacking the GoP and poor old Jesus for hateful political agendas

- lying about Obama being a Muslim and bashing him at every turn while "Christian" preachers pray for his death and a plague upon his family

- allowing Fred Phelps to spew his homophobic filth without denying him the use of the name Westboro Baptist Church.

This baggage goes along now with all Christians because of your majority's failure to denounce it just as Muslims fail to denounce their murderous terrorists.

As for your white, blond, blue-eyed Jesus, you comments regarding me, like your denial of His historical racial reality, make no sense. Where did this come from anyway?

don't mess with Palamas! (that kid is on fire!)

Could my "bigotry" be a backlash based on the stated political agenda of these theocons via Fox News and the pulpit?
--------------------------------

You'd have to be more specific there, otherwise it's just spittle on a computer screen.

Could it have anything to do with the fact that you whitened Jesus' skin, changed his eye color to blue and dyed his hair blond?

What kind of "bigotry" is that all about?
-------------------------------

The kind that says "you" without having any idea who you're talking to, based on nothing more than stereotyping, assumptions, and prejudices, as well as the kind that takes one thing you don't like and generalizes it to an entire group. That's the very definition of bigotry.

AreYouSaying: I smell a nasty case of bigotry. Maybe you should talk to Karl about it.

Posted by: Palamas
----------------------------

Could my "bigotry" be a backlash based on the stated political agenda of these theocons via Fox News and the pulpit?

Could it have anything to do with the fact that you whitened Jesus' skin, changed his eye color to blue and dyed his hair blond?

What kind of "bigotry" is that all about?

Karl: I smell a nasty case of projection. You should get that looked at.

AreYouSaying: I smell a nasty case of bigotry. Maybe you should talk to Karl about it.

How about visions of sugar plums and a white, evangelical Jesuslandia Christmas (and I don't mean with snow) where there are no people with different skin color, religion, language, political beliefs or sexual orientation - a theocon Yuletide wet dream. Maybe they could make it into a Disney movie for their thug offspring.

What do young christians need for Christmas? Therapy and plenty of it. Scratch any young xian and you'll find a mother lode of guilt, anxiety, depression and fear right under the surface. And it goes all the way to the core.

I just think I've come to realize that "good things" doesn't always have to mean "Christian things," and that there is a lot of art and culture and goodness out there that is just as truthful and soul enriching as something with a Jesus fish on it.

That's an admirable realization. The marketing of the products that McCracken mentions seems very exploitative, pandering to the fears and prejudices of many fundamentalist parents. I wasn't surprised when Thomas Kinkaide's operation was accused of using retailers' beliefs to pressure them into carrying his paintings.

These materials embody a very insular attitude, and Left Behind is merely the worst example. While the mentality appears to treat everything non-Christian or secular as anti-Christian, it's really about endorsing certain publishers or recording labels that cater to the fundamentalist community. Try going into a "family bookstore" and asking if they carry Dostoevsky, whose works have many Christian themes. Or go into the CD section and look in vain for Handel's "Messiah" or any of Bach's sacred works.

Brett, its good that you have started enjoying non-christian secular stuff. Now I ask you to leave JC behind altogether and you will finally be free.