Just because I have had a couple drinks, I have chosen to share with you my favorite email of the evening:
You are not God. I will meet my maker in heaven and account to Him and only Him. I highly doubt you will make it even to the gates. But luckily for you, it is not up to me. God is the only judge of human actions. You, sir, blaspheme, and I truly feel sorry for you as you await your judgment from the Most High. Fear the Lord.
I am not God and I blaspheme. So much for only God judging.
A. Democrat
Where was the blasphemy? Sorry, I didn’t seem to recognize any.
John, you’re doing an awesome job, I may not always agree with your beliefs, but I’m glad to see you are using your voice to say what you believe instead of parroting what others tell you.
Congrats on using your own brain to think your own thoughts, even if it creates discord between you and some of your former true believer partymates.
I respect that in a person.
pfrets
Y’know what…in what will be remembered as ‘The Great Christian Hijacking’, this would be blaspheme. Hell…John’s whole website would be considered seditious by those he once considered comrades.
John…blaspheme be damned. I’m a centrist…one of those ‘socially liberal / fiscally conservative’ type of swing voters. I just recently started reading here, and its refreshing to read your blog because you are willing to call out bullshit when and where it occurs…on both sides of the political fence.
Enjoy your drink, sir. You deserve it. And, I’d be more than willing to buy you one if I’m ever in your neck of the woods.
Christie S.
Thanks for being a voice of reason in the hinterlands of hysteria.
I’ll continue to read your blog and enjoy the way your mind works even if I don’t always agree with your POV.
Hey, this is America, right? We’re all entitled to speak our minds.
You just keep speaking yours and others of like minds will be there to hear it.
they're.not.christians
I grew up among people like the one who sent you this email.
They use God and Jesus like Jacko (allegedly) used kids… for their own personal sicknesses.
Since when did Jesus align with a political party of any kind? Since when did Jesus say to hate the poor and blame them for their hardships? Since when did Jesus say to only care about life when it comes to the “unborn” and the “undead,” but in between, hate everyone else who is not like you?
What was the example of the apostles after the resurrection? They gave away ALL they owned and ministered to the poor and sick. They didn’t ask how they got sick, they didn’t ask why they were poor…as followers of Jesus, they followed an example of love for all humanity and self-sacrifice.
How do any of the teachings of Jesus translate into an endorsement of any political platform? Where did Jesus make the claim for an earthly kingdom and political power? He specifically claimed otherwise.
Who did Jesus throw out of the temple? It wasn’t the lepers or the prostitutes or the poor. It was the equivalent of the current politicians and their followers who use belief as manipulation for moneyed and powerful.
The current religious “right” braying and bullying in America today are of the same stripe as those who used to claim that slavery was okay because blacks were from the tribe of Dan. They’re of the same mindset that used to claim that Jews were damned because they were “christ killers.”
Now they’re the same ones calling for a recognition that “God is the source of all law” in America, an idea that is both historically wrong and spiritually dangerous…and they can look at how the Catholic church was corrupted in Europe until the Revolutionary era for an example.
As I said, they’re the people I grew up with. If they were the only example I had of Christianity, I’d think it was more godly to be an atheist.
RandyH
John-
I just found this blog and I am really impressed. As an aetheist who used to support republicans until the Christian Taliban pushed their way into leadership of the party, I have been waiting and waiting for other “real” conservatives to come around, for the Kool-Aid to finally wear off. 9/11 truly was a gift for that crowd, as it got average people to just stop thinking as individuals and blindly support ALL of their policies, security-related or not.
Now the so-called christians who are running this great country into the ground are blatantly trying to regulate our personal lives and thankfully some of their loyal followers are starting to say “Hey, wait a minute!”
Keep on helping people to start thinking for themselves again, John. It may take a while, but once we rid ourselves of this evil crowd who is hiding behind religion and turning all of us against each other, we’ll all be able to focus on the things that we have in common once again.
You’ve gained a new regular reader and I’ll be directing others who feel abandoned by the hypocrites here as well.
Keep it up!
PS – Maybe it’s just my vison, but the font size used in comments is painfully small.
ppgaz
I just got an email from God, and He said that whoever sent you that email, John, should STFU.
Baseballgirl
John-
I just wanted to let you know that I just added you to my favorites.
It is refreshing to see a self-described conservative finally calling these guys on their bullshit.
I am a loyal Democrat and Kossack, a veteran and a mother. The party in charge is turning the country I love into something almost unrecognizable.
It’s going to take people of conscience and character on both sides to stop these Christofascists in their tracks.
Keep up the good work. The “truth will set us free.”
aaron
I see you’re also sinning now, too.
Tsk. Tsk. What’s next?
Cheers.
p.s. IMHO, the GOP needs to keep the religious folk in line – yes, we’ll pay attention to your views when they make sense on a larger scale – but, no, we won’t be abandoning secular government.
Joe
Breaking News: John Cole is not God. Wow, I am shocked.
S Ty
The US and to greater or lesser extents most other {Western/1st World/developed -take your pick] countries have been hijacked off course since the 50’s at least. As soon as The Nations finished their huge passion play of defeating European fascism the uber-wealthy got right to work. As in most of the other countries, in the US both major parties are complicit; however in the US with its big lead in economy and military the Reps have been and are much the worse of the two and the worst nightmare the world has ever seen. They are on par with Hitler, Stalin, Mao – except with much more firepower. There is still hope to renovate the Dem house, but the Rep house has to be razed to the ground and rebuilt completely. It is beyond repair.
Suggest you get yourself a bitttorrent client and start googling around for documentaries you will never see primetime TV otherwise. Uknova for example has some very to the point ones; their policy is they list only productions that are not available commercially, so there is no DCMA bullshit, download away.
Look for “The Power of Nightmares,” “Chavez – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” “Stealing A Nation, A Special Report by John Pilger” to let you be informed of some of the ways the uber-wealthy have been employing their military-industrial complex in their arrogant and contemptuous pursuit of ALL the wealth and ALL the power.
Here’s another recent example:
http://maritimes.buffaloimc.org:8080/news/2005/03/10035.php
When I think of all the innocent people their bombs and missiles have blown apart, scarred and maimed, I just think that, well, maybe it’s time to be painting the names of gated estates on bunkerbusters and go tit-for-tat to the motherfuckers.
After that we can have Republicans and Democrats, probably not before.
Yes, it is that serious (imo, of course).
Ross Judson
I feel bad you, John, in the same way that I feel bad for my smart, REAL REPUBLICAN friends, whose diminishing support for the “new religious, new math, no deal” GOP makes their social lives pretty uncomfortable. The empiricist wing of the GOP is writhing in pain.
A party for small government, low taxes, states’ rights…and personal freedoms. A party that demands ethical behavior. It sounds like a dream, doesn’t it?
Don’t ever forget the constitution and its guarantee of personal liberty. It’s the only thing standing between us and the judgement of a bunch of fucking morons armed not with wit, but with certainty.
Ross Judson
By the way, all this religiosity is deadly serious effort to solidify the far right wing base of the party, fill their ranks with the newly-afeared, and move them completely off any issue involving economics or personal liberty. They want that end of the party focused strictly on getting into heaven, their way. Bad, bad shocks in the economy are highly likely over the next ten years (oil, declining dollar, assaults on the value of science within our culture). The “pull out the book and pray in the face of doom” crowd needs to stay in that box, and needs to be expanded.
Nobody ever said the people orchestrating this particular path of least resistance for the well-intentioned are stupid. They’re just not in it for the good of us all (prior to the afterlife, that is).
consumer whore
an aside to RandyH:
Thank you again for letting me know about this blog – i dig it!
…as for the small font in the comments, I have found an easy solution:
use Mozilla’s Firefox (free to download, better than IE) — with a simple “control-and-plus-sign” click, all too-small fonts are increased to comfortable size on the page. It works much better than adjusting the font size in the options in IE, as you can adjust for different pages.
S.W. Anderson
Well, so much for “judge not lest ye be judged” and “Judgment is mine, sayeth the Lord.”
S.W. Anderson
An aside to consumer whore and John Cole:
I am using Firefox and have Ctrl-++’d until the body type in posts is big enough for a freeway sign. The type size in the comments is still small enough for the fine print at the bottom of a cell phone plan advertisement.
This tiny type in comments has always been a PITA at Balloon Juice and some other worthwhile blogs, unfortunately.
over it
S.W.Andersonyou must first click within the comments window….THEN Ctrl+. Works fine for me. ;)
AlanDownunder
Here’s some real blasphemy from a guy called Jeff Gannon’s website (since scrubbed)
Most importantly, I’m a Christian. Not only by birth, but by rebirth through the blood of Jesus Christ.
And here’s a bit from http://www.gopusa.com/misc/christmas_2004.shtml about some people who don’t mind a bit of creative political blasphemy by making Gannon their White House correspondent.
I’d also like to send a special thank you to all those who personally provided me with their assistance, guidance, and friendship, including Kathleen Eberle, Bruce Eberle, Mike Hiban, Don Stewart, Paul Teller, Tim Goeglein, Stuart Richens, Matt Smith, Jen Ohman, Bob Johnson, Liz Sheld, Julie Cram, Phillip Stutts, Chuck Muth, Grover Norquist, Karl Rove, and G. Gordon Liddy.
From all of at GOPUSA, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
— Bobby Eberle, President and CEO
The aforesaid Tim Goeglein is the aforesaid Karl Rove’s religious liaison deputy at the White House. Maybe some Republican Christians should give him some feedback about real blasphemy.
Jay
Thank God (oops) religious fanatics always go too far.
Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, just different flavors of the same mutated nuts.
Watch them wither.