Moral Retards

Not sure how I missed this May 2005 story. Timothy Shortell, a Brooklyn College professor, called religious people "moral retards." Shortell, a sociology professor, wrote on a non University funded web site, on his own time, that the devout "are an ugly, violent lot. In the name of their faith, these moral retards are running around pointing fingers." Here's a link to Shortell's website although I don't see the rant in question posted there. "He's intolerant," fumed Alex Selsky of the school's Hillel chapter, a Jewish campus organization. "With this kind of unreasonable thinking, I don't know how he can be elected to head of a department."

Someone asked me the usual, "But what if he had written this way about Blacks or Hispanics or women?" God, I hate that argument. For the simple reason that one is born Black, Hispanic, female. An adult opts to join a cult of their choice, be it Christian, Jewish, Islamic, or my chosen cult, the BeachSun & Rum Last Resort, with open air worship services located on the Pacific around Masachapa. And, books have been written regarding Blacks, females, etc. as morally and intellectually inferior. Beginning with the Bible.

There were many "great whores" and harlots, and menstruous women tempting righteous men of the Bible. God consistently warned men about women, especially after Eve caused the fall by taking the serpent's advice about a little knowledge. Woman brought all this evil by tempting Adam, who being but a man in God's image, couldn't keep his fig leaf up.

Ham, father of Canaan, saw his daddy Noah naked in a drunken wine stupor (Genesis 9:18, 25, 10:6). Noah cursed his own son and grandsons, because as some experts claim Ham enjoyed his father's nakedness which indicated a weak character, or a dozen other parabolic interpretations, some gay related. Daddy Noah being weak with the grape seemed to go unpunished. Ham and Caanan are just one of the Biblical curses used to justify the pro-slavery mentality and racism. Black nations are rarely described in the Bible and when they are it's usually negative (even though Moses was married to a Black woman, redemption by husband I guess).

The Old Testament reads red with sacrifice and blood, animal sacrifice, cutting foreskin, or Abraham’s willingness to put a cap (or blade) in his son Isaac. Sure, these days the Bible is intellectualized, rationalized, allegorically explained as acts that acknowledge and reflect love of God, obedience. Animal slaughter, bloodletting, weird rituals, genital mutilation, and holding a blade over a son, is just old time religious loving. Mary and Joseph later in the story sacrifice two doves when they presented Jesus in the temple (Luke 2:22-29). Gutting the bird of peace proved they adhered to cult ritual. Don't Christians often say God so loved the world He sacrificed His only son? Not with a blade, gun, or anything merciful either. If you love me like I love the world, suffer, original tough love.

Modern warp has given us groups like Moonie, the Unification Church Father, who claims to be the second coming (insufficient number of white folks will believe that). He received a crown last year in a ceremony at the Senate Dirksen Building, and our embarrassed political leaders scurried claiming they had been misled about the events. Moon, a billionaire Christian freak, also puts on stadium weddings, is friendly in conservative circles, and supportive of other men who God speaks to, i.e. Bush the Boy who believes he was called by God to lead the nation in this time of "us" v. "them." But I would ask, was this call from Reverend Moon or is it the lithium overload voice Bush Boy has tuned in? Or is there some other heavenly mode of communication, such as space aliens? That's right, UFO deities.

The Nation of Islam, Joseph Farrakhan, is a man who believes Black people are of the tribe Shabazz, which came from outer space 66 trillion years ago. (This is Elijah Muhammad’s myth). White people were "devils" created by an evil Black scientist, called Yakub, in a 600-year crossbreeding experiment. Do bad NOI members hear Darth Yakub's voice? Are interracial followers called YakShabs? Farrakhan believes in space Gods and Frankenbreeds, just as Jews believe they are God's only chosen people minus the foreskin, and Christians believe they found the Jewish messiah with an improved version, who promises to rapturously suck righteous folk skyward. Watch out for Shabazzaucers and space debris.

Are religious people "moral retards" who are an "ugly, violent lot" as Shortell claims? Well, if the sacrifice and myth fit...