As a liberal Democrat in a conservative country, I can find something infuriating to write about every day.
Today, I am writing about three things holding this nation back. They are ignorance, racism and hyper-religiosity.
Three stories in the news smacked me in the face like a scorned lover this past weekend.
They were the Michael Dunn verdict in Florida, the new science survey results just released and the snake bitten preacher who apparently was not holy enough.
All three were terrific examples of the intellectual demise of many in America and I, for one, am not surprised.
Dunn emptied a whole clip of bullets into a minivan in Jacksonville, Fla., killing 17 year old Jordan Davis.
Dunn did not like the loud hip-hop coming from the minivan and said it was a “threat.”
I guess murder is the penalty for loud music in Florida now.
A jury hung on the murder charge while convicting Dunn of other charges.
This was not a Stand Your Ground case; this was murder.
It was also racism, pure and simple.
A young, minority male is now open season. This is outrageous but it simply keeps happening. I weep for an America where this is the norm.
A National Science Foundation survey result became public this past week.
It found that one out of four polled do not know that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
This is not a failure of the American educational system. This is wanton, willful ignorance. It is ignorance like this that believes global warming is a myth.
It is thought like this that believes Jesus walked with dinosaurs.
Stupidity can be fixed if someone is willing to learn; willful ignorance is inexcusable.
The third story is one of hyper-religiosity. As a Christian, I cringe when I read about Biblical literalists. These people give Christianity a bad name and much harm has been done by them.
Their intolerance for the LGBT community has caused incalculable pain.
Their abhorrence of science has held this nation back as well. The Bible was also used to justify slavery and Jim Crow by these types. This is not what the Bible teaches us.
This brings us to Jamie Coots: Snake Bite Preacher.
He is one of the simpleton, backwoods preachers who “take up with serpents” to prove their faith. Another parlor trick they use is drinking strychnine.
The preacher was bitten by a rattlesnake this past weekend.
Being sanctified, he refused medical treatment. In beautiful irony only God could create, Preacher Jamie died from the bite.
As a Christian and thinking human being, I am appalled by these people; as one who can be snide, I find it amusing. What is Preacher Jamie going to say to God? I am no theologian, but I know this guy did more harm than good with his position, just as the hyper-religious do with theirs.
Once again, our society is the real loser.
Whether it is being a Christian, an American, or just a human being, we were given a fantastic gift – our brain.
All of these cases proved that some of us in this nation are completely wasting our gift.
Is this what our God, country, and fellow citizens want?
I think not.
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