Gary Hart's Continued Monkey Business
Have you been following the sad case of Youcef Nadarkhani? He converted from Islam to Christianity, a crime punishable by death in Iran. Various human rights groups have gotten involved and even the Obama administration has condemned the death sentence.
Former Sen. Gary Hart, of my home state of Colorado, has written an extraordinary op-ed piece: "The Plight of Youcef Nadarkhani." starts off great but then takes a strange turn.
There are reports that an Iranian Christian pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani, is under threat of execution by the Iranian authorities for blasphemy for his refusal to renounce his Christian faith. Though there are reports of persecution of Christians in many countries, China included, it usually takes the plight of a single identifiable individual to make an otherwise generalized problem -- in this case religious intolerance -- take concrete rather than abstract dimensions.
The re-emergence of the religious right in America during this current presidential campaign, though mild by comparison to threatened executions by radical clerics, should give us cause for concern. Though well over two centuries ago, "witches" were burned in this country and a recent book documents the struggles of Roger Williams against fundamentalist intolerance. The persistent thread of intolerance springs from a narrow fundamentalist insistence on orthodoxy in an age in which strict religious doctrine in some quarters quickly emerged to fill the vacuum of failed 20th century political ideologies. And religious orthodoxy exhibits an almost demented insistence on conformity and intolerance toward political dissent.
And it continues in that vein. Religious conservatives in America are the worst! Not quite so bad as the Iranian mullahs but close.
I get that Gary Hart is still upset about Monkey Business (and losing Donna Rice, the woman he was cheating on his wife with, to Christianity). But now it looks like he's had a complete break with reality.
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May '11
Re: Gary Hart's Continued Monkey Business
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
thelonious
If you throw in not providing contraception for women I'd say you're pretty close to being as oppressive as the atheist regimes. If we elect Santorum the Catholic Church will once again take the title as most oppressive. · 5 minutes ago
Edited 4 minutes ago
I don't understand this. So fighting to retain one's doctrine against government threat is the same as widespread killing of believers? And if someone who is Catholic is elected, the *church* will become oppressive?
Are we joking or am I missing something? Or a lot of things? · 10 minutes ago
Mollie
If you read my post in context with what K T Cat wrote I think it's obvious what I wrote was in jest. Perhaps I should have added => to the end of my post.
Mar '11
Re: Gary Hart's Continued Monkey Business
I was hoping you'd say that, thelonious. I didn't want to say "it's a joke" just because I thought it was.
One of the problems with the Internet is that nobody can see the tongue in your cheek.
Re: Gary Hart's Continued Monkey Business
thelonious
Mollie
If you read my post in context with what K T Cat wrote I think it's obvious what I wrote was in jest. Perhaps I should have added => to the end of my post. · 7 minutes ago
Well, at least now I'm laughing. The problem is that I work with people who say exactly the same thing and are not joking. Sorry for the misinterpretation!
Sep '10
Re: Gary Hart's Continued Monkey Business
An odd power, indeed, Mollie. As you will soon discover. Muuhahahaha!
Dang, did I type that? I only meant to think it.
Sep '10
Re: Gary Hart's Continued Monkey Business
thelonious
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
thelonious
If you throw in not providing contraception for women I'd say you're pretty close to being as oppressive as the atheist regimes. If we elect Santorum the Catholic Church will once again take the title as most oppressive. · 5 minutes ago
Edited 4 minutes ago
I don't understand this. So fighting to retain one's doctrine against government threat is the same as widespread killing of believers? And if someone who is Catholic is elected, the *church* will become oppressive?
Are we joking or am I missing something? Or a lot of things? · 10 minutes ago
Mollie
If you read my post in context with what K T Cat wrote I think it's obvious what I wrote was in jest. Perhaps I should have added => to the end of my post. · 10 minutes ago
Thelonius, I certainly took it that way. I laughed when I read it.
:-)
May '11
Re: Gary Hart's Continued Monkey Business
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
thelonious
Mollie
If you read my post in context with what K T Cat wrote I think it's obvious what I wrote was in jest. Perhaps I should have added => to the end of my post. · 7 minutes ago
Well, at least now I'm laughing. The problem is that I work with people who say exactly the same thing and are not joking. Sorry for the misinterpretation! · 1 minute ago
Sarcasm can be difficult to convey with the written word. My apologies for the confusion.
Dec '10
Re: Gary Hart's Continued Monkey Business
There is substantial evidence that the Catholic Church has out-sourced the conquest and direct control of the American polity to the Lutherans. Which means we will have to keep an eye on all of you Lutherans, a most wild and scary bunch of hombres. Any nefarious activities will be reported directly to Gary Hart.
May '10
Re: Gary Hart's Continued Monkey Business
"The re-emergence of the religious right in America during this current presidential campaign, though mild by comparison to threatened executions by radical clerics, should give us cause for concern. "
Where is this "re-emergence of the religious right" that causes Hart so much "concern"? I frankly have never seen it, not during this current campaign or any other campaign.
Feb '12
Re: Gary Hart's Continued Monkey Business