Bunny, jesus, I am so, so with you on this, holy fuck. I am in absolute, exact aggreement with every single thing you say on this shit, yes it IS a fucking fascist theocracy we live in, to HELL with these self-righteous pig-faced prick christians and their unbearably hypocritical bullshit.

I love you. I've never in my life had someone say so many things that I have thought and been unable to put into words.

Man. You DO get really pissy during your PMS. More like the bunny from Monty Python and the Holy Grail then usual. I'd applaud, but, you know, internet.

I, for one, am so embarrassed. I hate that I get grouped with those people and that they are the reason we are being divided as a nation. I had to stop telling people that I was a Christian because I know of the disdain I would get once those words were said. I'm sorry that those people make you hate the rest of us. Sorry that they actually are by far the most two-faced bastards out there. And worse, I'm sorry that they run the country.

I do love that you actually say this. More people need to hear this.

I have to say, I agree with you on this whole "hating hypocrisy" idea. I'm a practicing Christian, and I fucking loathe the self-righteous pricks I run into that call themselves Christians. For all the Bible-quoting and gay-bashing, they are totally unable to remamber that oh-so-tiny verse from Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, lest ye be judged." Now, I don't give a fuck how you want to interpret that verse, but it seems that hypocrisy is a big issue tackled by the Bible and every single Christian likes to interpret it in a manner that excludes them from this list. I honestly want to, and sometimes do, punch these hypocritical fuckers in the jaw as I explain to them the stupidity of their argument. I say, if you want to tackle something or judge it or whatever, look at yourself first. I'm not saying that I love gays or hate them or that I'm cheauvanistic or whatever, I am merely indifferent. As long as you dont push your beliefs and ideas in my face, I won't shove mine in yours.
I think if more people lived like I do the world would be a much better place to live and we wouldn't have issues like this.
Bunny, thanks for being so vocal on this subject and sparking some controversy on a subject that needs some attention.

You know, I'm having these damn discussions all over.

you'll enjoy this (not really for the vid but for the comment discussion after...):
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2007/04/the_good_book_s.html

I didn't even know you felt this way about Christians, and now I love you all the more.
Sorry I cannot be more articulate in explaining why right now, I need sleep. *mwah*

What many of the extremist Christians fail to understand is this: the only reaction to extremism is extremism in the opposite direction. I was speaking of this to one of my best friends, who is the type of Christian you'd like-believes in God and Jesus, practices to herself, never preaches, never tries to convert anyone or evangelises, frequently drinks and has fun. And she feels that it's hard for her to talk to anyone about the fact she's Christian because people then have preconceived ideas that she hates gays and evolution etc. etc.

I explained to her that it's an unfortunate, but natural reaction to the Christian right, especially the highly-visible Christian right in the US (we both live in the UK). When there is a group of people who visibly and voraciously espouse such an extremist doctrine, there is no choice but to react with an equally-extremist view to the contrary (i.e. being pissed off at Christians in a broader context). Because when dealing with extremism, any compromise is nigh impossible, because the extremists by definition aren't rational. Further, if you take a moderate stance and compromise with an extremist, you end up with a "middle" far closer to their end of the spectrum. A compromise between two extremists of different polarity has a fighting chance of actually being near the centre.

The irony of this, of course, is that it's the exact same situation modern Muslims face. Every moderate, modern, open-minded, science-loving, gender-equality-believing, and other tolerant and non-terrorist Muslim ultimately gets painted with the same brush as the crazy Al-Queda. And I know it bothers my (highly modern and rational) Muslim friends, because they fit none of the stereotypes. But when one subset of your own speaks such insanity with so loud a microphone, it's hard for them to not drown out your own sense of moderation and reason.

My mouth was hanging open by the time I'd finished that... It was totally amazing - everything every atheist and decent christian has wanted to say for so long. Anyway, even if I didn't think what you'd said was right, I'd still have to admire that little piece, purely because it was such an articulate and damning argument :)

Bunny, what you've written here about Christianity is,IMHO, second only to Frank Zappa's views on religion. Second only because, well, he was Frank Zappa.
Yours is one of the best posts I've seen on ANY Blog for quite some time.

The whole foundation of Christianity is based on the idea that intellectualism is the work of the Devil. Remember the apple on the tree? Okay, it was the Tree of Knowledge. "You eat this apple, you're going to be as smart as God. We can't have that."
-- Frank Zappa

The essence of Christianity is told to us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the Tree of Knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just kept your fucking mouth shut and hadn't asked any questions.
-- Frank Zappa, interview, Playboy, May 2, 1993

So, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, if you go for all these fairy tales, that "evil" woman convinced the man to eat the apple, but the apple came from the Tree of Knowledge. And the punishment that was then handed down, the woman gets to bleed and the guy's got to go to work, is the result of a man desiring, because his woman suggested that it would be a good idea, that he get all the knowledge that was supposedly the property and domain of God. So, that right away sets up Christianity as an anti-intellectual religion. You never want to be that smart. If you're a woman, it's going to be running down your leg, and if you're a guy, you're going to be in the salt mines for the rest of your life. So, just be a dumb fuck and you'll all go to heaven. That's the subtext of Christianity.
-- Frank Zappa

I love you. I love you so much I died for your sins... but listen my child. If you don't do what I say you're going to burn in a lake of fire for eternity.

P.S. I LOVE YOU!

I can completely understand where Bunny is coming from here. I was raised in a ridiculously Christian home and promptly converted to Buddhism at the age of 15 and have stuck with it since.

However, I confess that I am rather saddened by the blanket statements Bunny is throwing out here.

I believe that all major religions are fundamentally good, truthful and loving. Yet it is the human institutions that fuck up the ideals and end up pissing everyone off. This is one of the reasons Buddhism appeals to me. It's followers have a very good "track record" in comparison to most.

To put it simply; I think one shouldn't discard the validity of an entire religion that has helped a lot of people. Just because it's institution has seriously fucked shit up.

Werd
-Tim

"Religion is an insult to human dignity. Without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

Steven Weinberg in a speach in 1999 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Weinberg

For an amusing look at the creation you should check out http://www.mrdeity.com/

A fan from Norway

See, this is why I'm a Pagan. I went to Christian churches until I was about 20, and always felt judged when I was there. No matter how much I lived by their rules, I never felt good enough.

But lo and behold, the very first time I went to a Drum Circle, I felt like I belonged, like I was loved. And not in the "love thy neighbor" sense, but in the "you are a fellow human being who deserves love" sense. I was welcomed with open arms and accepted just the way I was.

For a long time, I wore a cross and a pentacle on the same chain around my neck, but that earned me far too many lectures from assbag Christians. Guess which piece I took off the chain? I still believe in Christ, alongside Cuchualain, Moraghan, Thor, Zeus, et. al. I still have a good many Christian friends, all of the cool, non-judgmental mold, who hate the religious bigots just as much as I do.