Brickbat: Bible Belt

Bertram Dahl says city officials in Beebe, Arkansas, originally supported his plans to open a church in a building behind his home. Then they found out it was a pagan church, not a Christian one, and he got a cease-and-desist letter from the city code officer. The town's mayor refused to talk to a local TV station about Dahl's plans, and when a reporter tried to talk to Dahl's alderman, the alderman responded, "That man's God isn't my God."

Comments

[invisible furry hand]

"That man's God isn't my God."

ALL WORSHIP THE JACKET!!

[Zombie Jimbo]

But that pagan god made Woody Harrelson look 10-20 years younger!

[AlmightyJB]

Ah, the best kind of enforcement. Arbitrary.

[Acosmist]

Good. Freedom from religion, amirite?

[mr lizard]

That's why you build it first. Call it "Non-denominational Church of the Shepard" (of doom)

[invisible furry hand]

Call it "Non-denominational Church of the Shepard" (of Doomcock)

FIFY

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is that Buster at the Milford Academy?

[Slammer]

"That man's God isn't my God."

Capital letters might become an issue here.

[AlmightyJB]

His god makes me feel uncomfortable.

[Bean Counter]

He kept touching me in my private place!

[Rod Flash]

OMG!

[Swamp Think]

OMg

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

OMMMMMMMMMM....

[Ted S.]

What does magnesium oxide have to do with this?

[Suthenboy]

When I was young I thought Louisiana was an overly religious, backward place. Then I visited Arkansas. And Alabama.

[Doctor Whom]

when a reporter tried to talk to Dahl's alderman, the alderman responded, "That man's God isn't my God."

You misspelled "ayatollah."

[sarcasmic]

That Christians named their god God shows an utter lack of imagination. Do they name their dog Dog and their cat Cat? What if they have more than one dog or cat?

[AlmightyJB]

"more than one dog or cat"

What are you, a heathen?

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

Careful...if you say "Jehovah" then...

*ducks as rocks come hurtling out of crowd*

[WTF]

"There aren't any women here, are there?"

[Rasilio]

How about if you say Yaweh or Elohim? Are those acceptable?

[Scarecrow Repair]

What do you call a Vietnamese walking a dog?

A vegetarian.

What do you call a Vietnamese walking two dogs?

A rancher.

[Sevo]

What do you call your dog?
Lunch.

[sarcasmic]

Walk the dog or wok the dog?

[Scarecrow Repair]

If you wokked a walking dog, it might stir-fry itself.

[Slammer]

What are you, a heathen hoarder?

[Rich]

"That man's God isn't my God."

"Indeed, that 'man' isn't really a man."

[Tonio]

Although I'm not overly familiar with modern paganism, my understanding is that they have many gods so the Alderman gets bonus points for being spectacularly uninformed.

[Rasilio]

Most do, others only recognize "Gaia" and some see all gods as just being different aspects of a singular or sometimes dual divine entity.

It really is kind of all over the place to the point where it is basically impossible to classify modern paganism as any specific type of beliefs.

One thing I will note, if you are going to hang out with neopagans, I recommend finding a nice group of Druids or if you can avoid the white supremicists Aasatru. They tend to be much more fun and have less of the newage (rhymes with sewage) ocutard/feminist outlook

[Robert]

I've noticed that too. Here's one perspective on the nuances distinguishing pagans, written by Robert Blumetti:

http://www.vrilology.org/place_in_move.html

Going beyond this, I think there's too much emphasis on Norse-stuff among Odinists. It just happens to have that cast because the old time religion survived long enough to get written of by Icelanders & Danes. I've noticed that trend in other fields, wherein something that there's renewed interest in comes to be associated with the last places they were much heard of, rather than where they might've been invented or practiced the most or most widely or deeply.

[Robert]

Jehovist religions are so woman-suppressing that all pagans seem feminist by contrast. Wicca in rxn (and to a lesser extent other Celtic & druidic strains) takes it too far in the feminine direction, while the Odinists/heathen/Asatru get the balance right if you can avoid the Budweiser Vikings.

[Seamus]

Sounds like a job for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

[Rozwell]

My God could beat up your God.

[Sevo]

Gott mit Uns!

[On The Road To Mandalay]

Sevo,

"God Is With Us" The inscription on the belt buckles of German Soldiers in World War I, as I recall.

[Eric Bana]

The next time somebody bemoans attacks on poor, innocent, noble, Christians I hope they realize it's really a two-way street.

[Bean Counter]

Revoking of privilege is persecution.
Given that the msm and Hollywood have an antichristian bias (when was the last time you saw a movie or tv show where a dogmatic Christian was the good guy and a Muslim was the bad guy?), it's still a mostly Christian country. One dabbles with oddball, minority religions at one's peril.

[Stormy Dragon]

when was the last time you saw a movie or tv show where a dogmatic Christian was the good guy and a Muslim was the bad guy?

Monday on 24?

[Stormy Dragon]

And yesterday on a Big Bang Theory rerun for the dogmatic Christian good guy.

[Eric Bana]

In Hollywood and American cinema, there are many movies with positive affirmations of Judeo-Christian messages--The Prince of Egypt (1998), The Passion (2004), The Nativity Story (2006), Heaven is for Real (2014) to name a few.

But that's beside the point. Do you think it's A-OK for Christians to use the force of the state to suppress minority religions? That's despicable; I sincerely hope you don't accept that. I'm sorry if I misunderstood what you were trying to say.

[Bean Counter]

"Do you think it's A-OK for Christians to use the force of the state to suppress minority religions?"
Well...NO! Duh!
Acknowledgement of reality is not endorsement of reality. My point is that America is still mostly Christian in one form or another. Most public officials are at least nominally Christian. And most public officials seem to think they have the right enforce their personal philosophy. They're wrong, but they're still in power. Maybe things will be better after the Revolution.

[ace_m82]

Yup, guy is a jerk who needs to be fired.

And there are attacks on poor, innocent, noble Christians. I wasn't aware that NAP allows the kind of team thinking that you supposedly condemn.

[Eric Bana]

I wrote my OP because I've recently come across Christians who claimed with a broad brush that Christians in the U.S. simply wanted to mind their own business and that it's precisely non-Christians who threaten other people's liberty. As I pointed out, it's a two-way street (there are non-Christians--pagans, Muslims, atheists, whatever-- and Christians who threaten other's liberty). I'm glad you agree he needs to be fired and that the man should be able to establish a pagan church.

[On The Road To Mandalay]

One of my favorite bumper stickers is "Paganism, That Old Time Religion". We live in a "pagan" society anyway, although as one poster has it, the U.S. is still a "Christian Country" but only on paper in my opinion.

In any event, and like it or not, the main contest in the U.S. of the future will probably be between Christianity and Islam.

I'm willing to bet that a lot of Americans just might convert to Islam in the coming decades.

I could be very wrong about that, since many Muslims in the U.S. might convert to Christianity, and will be free to do so, unlike Muslim controlled countries where this is difficult.

[Stormy Dragon]

In any event, and like it or not, the main contest in the U.S. of the future will probably be between Christianity and Islam.

Perhaps in the sense that people who don't bother going to church will convert to people who don't bother going to mosque.

[craiginmass]

I know exactly one person who converted to Islam - while I know many many who went for stuff like Hari-Krisna, Buddhism, Jews for Jesus, etc.....

I don't think Islam is gaining too many converts. More like, Muslims will moderate here and - as with other religions - tend to more toward secularism.

That's big picture, of course.

People are drawn to the "village and tribal" aspects of any religion, and Islam has many of these. Most long to be part of a group and will join any which will have them.

[On The Road To Mandalay]

Stormy Dragon and craiginmass,

Both of you have good points. I recall that during the 1960s a lot of hippies went in for Hari-Krishna and Buddhism.

I suspect that the Latter-day Saints (The Mormons) will pick up many more converts in the future. People will get tired of all the b s going on in the various brands of Christianity and go to the LDS. LDS are clean living, believe in the family, help each other, and have a powerful central organization, among other things.

[craiginmass]

Ask Rand Paul if this would be OK with him....

Judging by his performance bowing at the feet of the Christian Right at the confab last week, he'd say this is not the kind of "faith" he stated we all need and which a lack of is destroying America.

Rand Paul - the newest televangelist...but with a political slant? Yep, I'd say so.

[ace_m82]

So, you hate (dislike) him because he's a different religion than you are.

Fortunately for those of us who have eyes to see, being a libertarian and a Evangelical (even Fundamentalist) Christians are not mutually-exclusive. I am a libertarian BECAUSE I'm a Christian (and I actually read the Bible).

[On The Road To Mandalay]

So quote me all those passages in the Bible that support the libertarian cause. And while you are at it, show me where the term Trinity is used and explained. In fact, just use anything in the Bible to support whatever you believe in at any given time.

[On The Road To Mandalay]

Paul (if he runs for President) will do whatever he has to do to pick up the votes whenever he can. He is a professional, career politician and he knows what to do. A lot of libertarians are going to very disappointed in this man if they think he is going to champion their cause. He is not running on a libertarian ticket, but on a republican on. That's obvious.