Force Fed After Taste

This kind of crossed my mind in responding to current events blogs on the interwebs.

When workmates raise the spectre of sexual inuendo in an unwelcome or unwanted way in the work place, it's appropriately deemed sexual harrassment. Similarly, when religionists begin pushing their religion on anybody outside their protected sanctuaries, whether proseletyzing, recruiting, pontificating, protesting others' protected rights or choices, discriminationg against or denying others' rights with religious apologies and justifications, or legislating, that's religiious harrassment. Nothing in the First Amendment guarntees freem to harrass and intimidate innocents who just happen to think differently. The prevention of religious freedoms abuse is not an attack on religion, but merely defense against religious harrassment. Claims that protecting ones self from religious harrassment is declaring war on religion is absurdly false, however well it fits into the convenient persecution complexes among the religious.

In other words, you can't just make stuff up, claim it's divine, and expect everybody else to play along as if  wishful thinking was based in reality. There's nothing in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment that obliges anybody else to behave as if they agree with whatever hairbrained divine revelation another may claim. And, ostensibly well meaning people, right along with manipulative sociopaths, not to mention bona fide psychopaths, have been conflating mild hallucinations to severe psychotic episodes with seeing gaud for ages. There's nothing in the First Amendment that requires another to enable religionist delusions. And, relistionists make those demands that all the time, too. And, how the sociopathic ones do so love to make up doublespeak euphemisms to hide their contempt of others' free choices, even guaranteed ones.

Like requiring employers, who provide services to and hire among the general population without reference to creed or religion, to offer the healthcare choice of contraception to women, thereby ensuring their guaranteed right of control over their own bodies, promoting womens' autonomy in society, and provide women's uninterrupted ability to mind their own business -- without meddling by patriarchic, buttinsky, angry old white men -- as somehow an affront to religious liberty. Nah, they just don't like not being able to control women and are threatened by not being able to make all the decisions. I mean, that's what religion has always been about, hasn't it? Protection of male domination, heredity, subjugation of women and the rest of "the Other" tainted by original sin or other accident of birth. Lacking moral (or any other flavor of) authority to do so, there's always the mystical, bigger than we are, mysterious workings of a supreme being who loves you so much he'll punish you forever if you don't just love him back, no matter what he does to you to prove how hard you're trying while you survive. Fear, guilt, hell. That's the ticket.

Or, how 'bout the idea that men marrying men or women marrying women so thoroughly upsets the stability of heterosexuals marrying each other that society will completely break down and cease to function, if for no other reason than it pisses gaud off? Women must only concern themselves with making house and babies. Having fun is diabolical, so women having sex with women is just too much. [Voyeurism humor deleted.] And, men wasting their potential to build and protect wealth with scads and boat loads of male heirs... That's what's society's for, isn't it? Gaud put that particular king on the throne for a reason, you know. There is no such thing as accident of birth. And, sexual orientation is a choice. Otherwise, people would be born gay, not choose to be gay at puberty. Yeah, right.

The aftertaste of relgion shoved down one's throat is enough to make you sick.

Look: Keep your anachronisms to yourself. Praise anybody's name you wish, singing  (or not), dancing (or not), fasting, lighting candles, making burnt offerings, whatever the hell you want. But, keep it behind closed doors, in the privacy of your homes or the fellowship of your sanctuary. And, if you bring it up in polite company, expect to be called out on the blatant harrassment. It's unwanted and unwelcomed.

(c)Nathan Garcia 2012. All Rights Reserved.