Taking advantage of a tragedy instead of actually trying to solve it effectively

Originally Posted by SuperDevastation

Liberals love taking advantage of tragedies to make themselves look good (and to try and make government bigger).

Good point, really made me think.

Can't see the vid and what it's about, but it's not just Westboro (the fundies) saying this, I've seen the evangelicals (like James Dobson, Mike Huckabee, and others) blaming our country for this tragedy and our "turning away from God" (because we allow limited abortion rights + same-sex marriage in some states, and because we took prayer out of school decades ago, and because we believe in "evolution"). Joel Rosenberg, an evangelical fiction writer, blamed Jon Stewart and what he represents, as part of the decline of America's morality.

And it's not even the religious conservatives who are hijacking the shooting for their own purposes to lament the decline of Christianity in the USA, last night I saw an article where a female writer was blaming the "feminization of the school system" in our country and saying that if more men were employed at the school and the boys were more aggressive and tougher, the shooter would have been stopped.

I just wish the noise would stop. Let's just focus on the tragedy and get rid of all these tangents, where factions are piggybacking off the main problem to promote their own agendas.

Has the church forgotten the atrocities they have committed through the ages. Oh wait it was done in Gods name so it can't be wrong. Fucking hypocrites! Promoting the love of god whilst condemning the Jews, Muslims and gays. And then there's the 'holy fathers' committing adultery with adolescent boys. I despise the church so very much.

Originally Posted by Fallen Nocturne

Ah yes, the all-powerful God's infamous inability to get past legislation...

I find this kind of thing truly sickening, almost disproportionately so! I've probably been more enraged by the people who take advantage of these situations that the tragedies themselves. Their arguments certainly put forward a very jealous and cruel version of God. I don't know what part of "Our God lets people die because people are gay/atheist/secular/vegetarians" they find to be particularly convincing.

Oh it's even more sickening when you realize that they can't even get their religion-in-school facts right. For example, people often make the argument that "God" isn't allowed in schools. However, this isn't even true. Religion is allowed in school, it's just not allowed to be forced onto other people, or taught in schools for the purpose of indoctrination. I prayed every morning during high school. And I've said "grace" throughout my entire school cafeteria career since I was 4 years old. And no one stopped me from doing this.

So basically the gist of the argument by these individuals amounts to little more than, "God allowed these children to be murdered because America refuses to allow forced mandatory *Christian* prayer, and *Christian* indoctrination into the school system. It's just an attempt to scare people back into the clutches of religious control. Of course, none of this explains why God allowed two women to get murdered in two separate churches in Pennsylvania within the last few weeks? Surely God is allowed in Church, no?

Interesting read about the dimwittedness of this kind of mentality: Fukkenuckabee

Originally Posted by Roland787

Well of course anybody who actually believes this kind of cruelty is due to the ''lack of god in our schools'' is an idiot, at least when it comes to this.

I just have a hard time understanding how people buy into this bullshit way of thinking (actually I don't, I know exactly what causes it) and to actually vote these people into office on a regular basis or to watch their shows daily....it's baffling.

in general, it's because these people represent their values in a world that is quickly changing, giving them a sense of stability and support and familiarity.

EDIT: Hey, look, I already responded to this thread. *doh* But this was a new point I wanted to make.

In my opinion, religious organisations (and this is as opposed to religious/spiritual faith) exist primarily to propogate themselves and grow, by any means possible (that doesn't entail a publically viewable direct contradiction to their espoused faith).

To them, this is an opportunity to score political points, so they'll take it. The sad thing is, some people will believe it.

There is, I suppose, also the issue of they kinda have to address things like this. When you're shilling the notion of an omni-God like they are, you have to justify why such things occurred. And if you can score some political points while you're at it, then so much the better.

This is par for the course for any group or groups with a political agenda. Pretty old tactic, though I don't think they're stupid enough to believe that they'll be convincing anyone new with this rhetoric. Most likely, they're using this as an opportunity to keep those already in their camp more dedicated and thus, politically useful in future (the more problems they can transform into a religious issue, the more religious people they can polarize and rile up enough to form a highly motivated political base).

And they wonder why atheists/non-theists are getting so vehement....it's sickening to watch what the religious do to our culture/politics.

Luckily god only watches America... Lol.