Unholier Than Thou

The closer we get to the 2012 general election in the United States, the more that the arrogant, the ignorant, and the unintelligent groups of people in the United States appear to be crawling out of the social woodwork. Sadly, there are some who match all three categories.

What caught our attention today were two different stories in the news, that both had a similar theme. Both involve some stunningly poor judgement.

The first news story is about former Romney spokesman Richard Grenell. Grenell appears to have been run out of the Romney campaign this week, in large part due to the response of the bigots in the GOP.

In case you didn't know - and obviously, many in the Republican Party didn't - Richard Grenell is an uncloseted gay Republican. He is what is and he makes no apologies for his sexual orientation. Frankly, we agree with Grenell on that part of his attitude. Unless you're intimately involved with someone else, what their sexual orientation is really shouldn't be your business. Obviously, those in Mr. Romney's campaign who advise the candidate on hiring also didn't think Mr. Grenell's sexual orientation should be a big deal.

On this, we completely agree with the Romney campaign's initial decision.

We frankly thought Grenell's misogynistic tendencies, and history of poor teamwork was a much greater problem than his being gay. The bigoted extremists on the far right, however, made it VERY clear that - to them - Mr Grenell's sexual orientation was the dealbreaker. From the sound of what happened at the Romney campaign, after the teabaggers screamed, Grenell was shut out of some important meetings - so he left, knowing he wasn't wanted.

In North Carolina, there wasn't nearly as much subterfuge.

The wife of a Republican state Senator made it known publicly that her husband authored North Carolina's controversial anti-gay law, Amendment One - which is on the ballot this year - because he wanted to "protect the Caucasian race" and save the U.S. Constitution from "activist judges".

In other words, her husband, North Carolina state legislator Peter Brunstetter, is attempting to put into law racial and sexual discrimination. In the South. In 2012. In America.

What angers and frustrates us so much about ignorant, arrogant, fools like the Brunstetters and those who ran off Mr. Grenell isn't the fact of their stupidity. This is, after all, America. If someone wants to be a racist, or a bigot - or both - they can certainly do that. In fact, we'll be more than happy to endorse the rights of groups like the KKK and the Westboro "Church" mutants to publicly display their biases. At least they have the REAL courage of their convictions.

The problem we have with the twits in these two stories is their false piety. They, and those like them, almost always attempt to claim that whatever version of religion they believe, allows - or even commands - them to act abusively to their fellow human beings.

Even if we were to agree with any of their skewed and faulty arguments, where in their religions does it say they get to be the ones that hand out the punishment? Further, where does it say that their religion gets to override the laws of mankind?

Since most of these folks claim to be Christian, and most of us are acquiainted with at least the basic tenets of Christianity, we can tell you - quite clearly - that there is nowhere in the average Christian Bible that says Christians can ignore the laws of man, and become judge, jury, and enforcer of punishments they judge others to deserve.

If a person wishes to judge others in a secular way, using logic and secular rules of debate, they may certainly do so in America - and we hope they do.

But using a false version of piety to defend bigotry and racism doesn't fly in America, or Christianity - no matter how big your megachurch's piggy bank might be.