365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 138 : I Like God But His Fan Club Annoy The Hell Out of Me

I grew up as a good Baptist boy, son of a Baptist minister, and continued to attend church till well into my 30s, when exhaustion with a hierarchical religious system, the continued need to display false outward images (that didn't square with the reality behind the scenes), and my inability to reconcile a hostile homophobic belief system with my sexuality took their toll and I slipped quietly away to be myself for the first time in my life, leaving the happiest I have ever been.

One thing that also rankled me was the extremism and conservatism of most churchgoers, who seemed to delight in pursuing agendas based on their apple pie view of the world, and not the reality that surrounded them, and the constant need then to meld reality to fit that sugar-dusted take on life. In order to keep the happy clappy life is fabulous model on the road, and driving smoothly, no matter how pot-holed the road, they would disavow things that were known to be wrong, purely to keep the drive smooth and trouble free.

It's this disregard for reality, and inability too to see great gaping holes between what Christians professed, and what the Bible actually mandated, that has always disturbed me, and no where was it on better display that today when it was announced that a coalition of social conservatives and Christian evangelists had taken over the Texas Boad of Education, one of the largest in the USA, and set out to reshape what is taught in the world to reflect their twisted, and dark behind the pretty facade, view of the world. For instance, the slave trade (surely a grave injustice and blight against humanity no matter how you slice it) was to be underplayed as the Atlantic triangular trade while the Civil Rights movement was to be downplayed. This was among a slew of other initiatives, but what troubles me most, is that these are people, purporting to be followers of God, who are besmirching God's good name (and remember my issue is not with God) in pursuit of an agenda that wouldn't know a Christian principle if it tripped over them. The fact that these people, the same people who tell me I am a pervert when they don't even know me, or any gay people for that matter, think that their cause is a Godly one is frightening, even more so when you realise they are acting just like the theocrats in Iran.

Believe what you want to believe, but when it starts to abrogate basic human rights, or the very belief system you claim to adhere to, I will fight you and fight back hard, and make sure your twisted world view does not triumph over basic human rights, logic or decency.