(MYFOX NATIONAL) – Members of the House of Representatives have introduced a resolution seeking to declare 2010 as “The Year of the Bible.”
The bill was introduced last week by Rep. Paul Broun , a Republican from Georgia, and co-sponsored by 13 other Republicans.
Paul Broun represents Athens, GA — where I used to live — and Augusta, which you know is just no place to be. He was elected in large part because his opponent (who is from Augusta) joked about bombing the University of Georgia at Athens.
SGEW
As has been said elsewhere, let ’em do it.
Then when people want to talk about the bible in 2011 (and beyond) we can say “But you already had a year for that: your time is up, and now you have to put that silly little book away.”
We can dream, right?
DougJ
Yeah, but you know, I’m one of those people who will still be writing “Year of the Bible” on his checks well into 2011.
Ruemara
When you set a low standard for an elected official, you get a low standard of governance. That being said, can a pagan get a year of free belief or non-belief? Or is that not RealMurika enough?
SGEW
@DougJ: That’s like talking about Booker T. Washington in March. So gauche.
JenJen
That’s me in the corner…
JGabriel
From the same article:
Convert or Die?
And just as a reminder, US Constitution, First Amendment:
.
SGEW
For what the moderation? For what?
osmond
Ga republicans are a breed of their own. i lived in augusta statesboro and now savannah. they are a unique group of people. they cut educational spending every year yet somehow would rather allow guns on campuses and in dinning places
jon
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
JGabriel
@JenJen: Kickass cover. Thanks for the link.
.
DougJ
Savannah seemed like a really great place when I visited.
Svensker
@osmond:
Go have some Leopold’s ice cream for me!
kommrade reproductive vigor
Not only did these dumb fuckers miss the Clue Bus, they boarded the Idiot Express. Now they’re insisting that’s the bus they meant to take all along.
4tehlulz
>>”The Year of the Bible”
Which Bible?
Sarcastro
Hey! 1546 called; They want their Council of Trent back.
Ed Drone
Indeed, which one? Make ’em be specific, and put all those who want a say onto the choose-the-official-bible-for-the-year committee, and the adults can then continue legislating about real issues.
Ed
sgwhiteinfla
You have to understand the mentality of this move. Those jackasses think they will get bunches of Republicans to co sponsor a bill then put it to the floor (I doubt it ever gets to the floor but we will see) Have democrats and a few sane Republicans vote it down then when election time comes up next year the say “See See X Democrat hates the Bible cuz he voted against it”.
Perfect come back. Some low level Democrats should offer a counter resolution calling next year to be the year of the Bible…..and 2011 to be the year of the Koran and 2012 to be the year of the Torah and keep going to all religious texts are accounted for including”Ode to the FSM” and just keep rotating that way forever. You know good and hell well they would NEVER vote to have a year of the Koran. But if they vote against it they are also voting against the year of the Bible AND they year of the Torah
Actually thats not something I really would want a Democrat to do however I am a spiteful bastard who dreams of destroying the GOP with their own games.
noncarborundum
I’m okay with this as long as they’re willing to declare 2011 the year of the Qur’an, 2012 the year of the Bhagavad Gita, and 2013 the year of Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian. And to call upon “citizens of all faiths to rediscover and apply” their “priceless, timeless message.”
ETA: curse thee, sgwhiteinfla, for getting in first with this idea.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
Which year do we make the Year of Dianetics?
sgwhiteinfla
@noncarborundum:
LOL gotcha
Michael D.
I think we should support it, then demand that 2011 be the Year of the Qu’ran.
Watch them have conniptions!
JGabriel
I think the Dems should offer a counter-proposal, naming 2010 “The Year of the Bill of Rights”.
Maybe if we can get everyone in the country to read them at least once, we can cut down on some of this bullshit.
.
lovethebomb
Bible? You mean that loose collection of scraps of manuscripts assembled by 40 catholic bishops at the order of a Roman emporer in the 4th century? They predetermined which ones to select based upon their own criteria. It did not matter that all had been heavily edited and copied dozens of times or that no original author was known. It would more accurately be called a collection of loosely translated and heavily redacted folk tales.
So, year of the ambiguous origin superstition book? Ok then.
JL
The Paul Broun who called Obama a Marxist or the Paul Broun who blamed the Swine Flu on illegal aliens or do you mean this Paul Broun
smiley
@DougJ: Savannah is a cool place. Three colleges and lots of military which makes the night life quite, um, robust. However, it’s also an extremely conservative area (Jack Kingston is the congressman for much of it. Blue dog Jim Barrow for the rest).
On a related note, Georgia is one of the states that has recently voted to stop accepting federal authority over state authority. Of course the people who voted for this are the same people who called anyone who objected to the Iraq war or didn’t support Bush unAmerican. Is it a coincidence that these votes happened right after a black man was elected president?
Cain
@noncarborundum:
We should expand that to “Year of the The Ghey” as well. I mean, why not?
cain
DougL
Won’t anyone take a stand for cthulthu?!
smiley
This was sent to me recently:
I hope the block quote formatted that correctly.
The silliest one is the one about guns. I’m pretty sure it’s always been legal to transport guns in vehicles.
WereBear
Confident and secure followers of a particular religion would not feel compelled to expunge the existence of any other religion from all avenues of public discourse and mandate forced lip service, if not conversion, from every living human in the world.
Well..
Whatever questions I might have had just got answered…
Krista
Which message would that be? The Deuteronomy one about how stubborn children should be stoned to death by their parents? That’s certainly a timeless message, innit?
Priceless, indeed. Just fucking priceless.
JL
@smiley: Are these the real Americans that Sarah was talking about?
JGabriel
Anon Emailer via smiley:
Eep.
.
booferama
They’re trying to counter the rise of evolution in things like The Year of the Monkey.
KG
Oklahoma where the wingnuts come sweeping off the planes!
Personally, I welcome the South trying to rise again. I’m guessing all those free black folk this time around will make it a tad bit easier to win a second civil war. Also, I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that south Florida won’t be joining the confederacy – what with all those crazy talking foreigners and what not.
Just goes to show, Reconstruction lasted about 5 decades too little.
JL
OT, Does anyone know what time Michelle is giving her commencement speech?
me
Anyone standing for Cthulthu simply gets eaten first.
Roger Moore
@DougL:
Are you suggesting that they designate 2011 as The Year of the Cryptonomicon?
Bob In Pacifica
Does this mean that usury will be outlawed in 2010?
Bubblegum Tate
Maybe this thing can be hacked apart in committee and reassembled as Year of the New Testament–Suck It, Jews!
Bootlegger
Isn’t 2010 the Year of the Rat?
garyb50
Good thing I’m not a congressman; I’d introduce a resolution seeking to declare 2010 as “The Year of Kiss my Ass.”
Roger Moore
@Krista:
I’m sure they must be talking about the timeless messages in Leviticus about what to do with people with skin diseases and houses with mildew. Or maybe it’s the stirring census passages from Numbers. Apparently, though, the wingnuts haven’t been doing a very good job on rereading Romans 13.
smiley
@JL: Didn’t know she was. Where?
Jack Roy
Cripes, maybe it’s only because I just now finished Infinite Jest, but I can’t help but think of the storyline in that book about the United States accepting corporate sponsorship for full years, calling the year 2010 the “Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment.” The story linked seems like the pranky work of sarcastic atheists more than that of anyone who actually treats the Bible reverently. But then, most of what modern conservative Christians do nowadays seems to strike me that way.
bago
If you want to split the vote, you make the year 2010 the year of abrahamic rememberance. Include Jews and Muslims in with the splitters of the splitters (protestants from the Catholics).
When the year of the bible includes observation of Catholics, Jews, and Muslins, you can be sure how this will turn out.
Dennis-SGMM
They always seem to forget that there’s something after “Do unto others…”
EarBucket
wasabi gasp
There they go nailin’ Messiah to the cross.
jon
@smiley: Nah. The silliest one are these sovereignty rants. If I was Obama, I’d say: “Fine, the federal government will be withdrawing every dime of financial support given to states then.” The resolutions to reverse these “proclaimations”(which aren’t binding) would be passed and signed within 90 minutes of Obama saying that lol.
LD50
That’s not the quote. THIS is it:
Mnemosyne
@lovethebomb:
Ah, but your post seems to imply, as this bill does, that there is now one definitive Bible. If you take a look at the Unbound Bible, there are 11 different versions in English alone, and those are just the ones they decided to include online.
So is this supposed to be the Year of the King James Bible, or the Year of the New American Standard Bible, or the Year of the Webster’s Bible, or the Year of the Douay-Rheims Bible? (Probably not that last one — sounds French.) They’re going to need to tell us which Bible is being honored this year, and no matter which one they choose, someone is going to be pissed off.
georgia pig
Somewhat OT but related, there’s a interesting take on the GOS discussing the Huntsman nomination being a brilliant play to undermine the Repubs with moderate Mormons. The post notes Steele’s remarks about Romney and troubles with the base due to his Mormonism, and how this contrasts with Obama picking a Mormon for one of the most important diplomatic positions (and don’t be surprised if Huntsman gets tapped for a bigger job in a second Obama admin) . From my recollection, most Mormons are also not particularly suited to free-market libertarianism, as their traditional political economy actually tends to the communitarian ( the old “beehive” symbology you used to see all over Utah). They’ve been a persecuted religious minority, so they also may have some discomfort with the Paul Brouns of the GOP. Then there’s that whole FLDS thing. Not that most Mormons are that cool with polygamy, but the reaction among non-Mormons may be perceived as more anti-Mormon hysteria. You wonder what might be going on in Utah if Huntsman could come out with favorable remarks re gay civil unions and not be subject to howling for a recall vote. Also, do you think that Obama may be savvy to this due to his Hawaiian connections? The LDS is pretty active in Hawaii among native Hawaiians.
Tonal Crow
I’m not buying the GOP’s bull.
eemom
Dude, you are RAWKIN’ with the song lyrics! And the fact that I get them all makes me feel SO much less like Methuselah than usual.
As for these First Amendment-bashing hypocrites, they can shove their Bibles up their sanctimonious assholes with a rusted crucifix. It’s people like them make me wish I was an atheist.
wasabi gasp
Rusty Crucifix sounds like a guitarist for a death metal band.
smiley
@jon: They don’t think about the consequences of their idiocy. As soon as the mail stopped, tens of thousands of federal workers were put out of work, federal student loans were suspended, farm subsidies ceased, research grants for universities revoked, and, apparently most importantly for them, all INS activity ended; along with all other federal government services, they might wake up. They just don’t know how much they benefit from all those federal taxes that they hate so much.
noncarborundum
@lovethebomb:
I think Tom Weller’s Science Made Stupid said it best:
@Roger Moore:
I think you mean Necronomicon, not Cryptonomicon.
reid
If you find this bill as moving as I do, you may want to join and donate to this group: http://au.org/ .
JGabriel
bago:
The Hindus get screwed?
.
SGEW
Reverend Lovejoy: … Be they Christian, Jew, or … miscellaneous.
Apu: Hindu! There are 700 million of us.
Reverend Lovejoy: Aw, that’s super.
TCushing
Which Bible are they celebrating? The shiny, clean one that looks so good on the Sunday School felt board, or the one with all these horrible things in it?
Bob In Pacifica
In the book “Don’t Know Much About The Bible” I recall the author writing that there are thousands of versions of the Bible. And, of course, there’s a different interpretation of what each passage means, depending on who’s reading it.
I suggest that they get an auditorium near The Hill where those who care to can go and argue the meaning of the various verses. It could run 24/7 on CSPAN.
Mike in NC
I’m willing to bet there’s been nonsense like this going on in Congress every year since maybe 1966. These folks need to get a life and stop collecting welfare courtesy of the taxpayer.
bago
@JGabriel: The goal isn’t equality. It’s to simply bind the hands of action under the rubric of Abraham. To those of the Judeo-christian ethic, it’s 2/3rds a fine idea, logically. To those opposed to the mahometan tradition it is anathema. There would be a schism within the christian tradition in and of itself between the catholic and the lutheran. Wild card protestants go!
In other words read the books of the people of the book and let them do what they have done for the past four thousand years. Be divided among themselves.
It’s not about religion, it’s about the parsing of religion. It gives you avenues to hoist any textualist upon their own petard. Each group of the schism will refuse to submit their own identity to that of another faction, and thus you reflect the “with us or against us” mentality against the members of the coalition that are proposing such a coalition, and cause it to fraction and partition to the point where they can never get a majority, thusly reflecting the spirit of divisiveness backwards upon the agents of intolerance and ideological purity to the point where the entire goal of this divisive exercise is rendered moot by the very same forces that power it.
Judah-Judo, yo.
Augustine
@Sarcastro:
Yo, Paul III, I see your 1546 AD and raise you 325 AD. You got nuthin’ we ain’t already canonized, beeyotch.
(p.s., Chums of Chance FTW)
Little Dreamer
Fix’t!
Does this mean I can spend that entire year pointing out the errors of that book?
Michael
And their weren’t nearly enough hangings. Davis, Lee, Stevens, Forrest and every Confederate governor should’ve swung.
oclib
I’m actually thinking these theocons are getting ahead of themselves. The heck with 2010, there’s no real marketing zeal there. These critters should know better, they’re the cream in the marketing arena. The landscape is testament to that. They should really go for 2012….maybe 2013, but the Mayan calendar ends on Sunday, December 23, 2012….it’s a no-friggin’-brainer for a theo-marketing-geek from say…Bob Jones…..can’t fathom how they’ll tie Christianity to the Mayan calendar, but hey….it’s all in the marketing…I hate to say it, but I think it’s truly doable, especially if the current economic situation bleeds into that time-frame………and they’ll be hoping it does…..sick fu*kers……
Comrade Darkness
How about declaring it “the year of culturally relevant historical documents” then we can all read Gilgamesh and Lysistrata and call it a day?
Andromache
That is obsurd! They really slipped and bumped their heads this time. You can’t name one religion, and not say something about other religions, everyone else will get offened, and it’s going to be riots, and hysteria over that. Everyone knows the bible is not accurate, shakespere’s name and his girlfriends name is in the bible. I could see if it was an accurate account or something original about it,but it’s not. And King James was gay and had his wife decapitated so he could freely be with his lover, his twelve scholars wrote it, so what does that say. And the bible’s that they have out now is actually saint pauls account, not jesus. Or do they know that one.
The Cat Who Would Be Tunch
@sgwhiteinfla:
Reminds me of a tactic by Congressman Howard Smith, a segregationist, who inserted “sex” into the Civil Rights Act of 1964 supposedly to reduce the chances of its passage. As we all know, it backfired badly since the bill passed anyways.
Lawrence Zinck
Someday, you stupid little punks, you will bend
your knees before Christ.