Praise Be...

I write about this a lot. I know that. But it's because it's one of my biggest frustrations. 

I am not religious. I used to be religious. I used to be really fluent in that language but I've forgotten a lot of it now. Which is good. The more I forget the more it shows I don't have to deal with it. 

But I haven't forgotten all of it because I am still dealing with it. 

All the time. 

Especially around this time of year with Pride celebrations and posts. People want to quote bible verses like that means something. I used to say I'd quote Harry Potter back to them and we'd both be talking fantasy but I need to pick a new book. 

I also get really frustrated with the assumption that if I'm not respectful of your religion that's hateful, but you not being respectful of my beliefs is just fine...because that's your religion. So...

It's a fucking trap. 

Pat Robertson is dead. The strongest emotion I have about it is that it's about fucking time. (quick aside, Wil Wheaton just posted a bit of what he called fanfic about it on his Facebook page, and it's brilliant)

Pat Robertson was hateful. Hate filled. Hate fueling. 

He was sitting at the table Jesus would have flipped. Selling prayers and miracle healings and nonsense. 

He made false predictions (SO many false prophecies came out of his mouth).

He was vile.

And yet...

Now that he has died we are somehow supposed to be reverent when we speak of him. To talk about differences in opinions. To worry that someone who cared for him might be further hurt by hearing something bad about him. And doesn't it make us just a bad as he was if we say something hateful about him?

No, no it doesn't. 

When someone lives their lives making things worse for others. Clearing a path of righteous persecution. Spouting hateful rhetoric toward groups of people. Talking about god's wrath on them. Well...when that's how they lived you get to say that when they died. 

Don't live your life in a hateful manner if you don't want people to be hate filled toward you. 

And don't quote your book of convenient cherry picking to validate or justify what he said and did. He was vile. He was horrible. He was a blight on society. The fact that people have followed him and listened to him and believed him has been to the detriment of us all. He is part of why we are in such terrible shape as a country. Why we are so divided. Because he sowed that divide. He othered and less thaned his way through entire groups. 

The god he worshiped was the god of money and power. He had both in his life. And it was a crying shame. 

It was about fucking time.