Shock of Shocks, I Agree with Kennie Ham . . . sort of!

Little kennie ham, owner and operator of several ministries (The Creation pseudo-museum, The Ark Park, and Answers in Genesis) is on his horse again.  Here's the article if you care to get your shoes all muddy:

"Ken Ham Warns America is on 'Precipice of Catastrophic Change', 'God is Judging Us' (Exclusive)" (The Gospel Herald, 22 June 2017)

You don't actually have to read it if I say one word:  "homosexuality".  Yes, kennie is running around like Chicken Little:

"Answers in Genesis President Ken Ham has warned that America is on the "precipice of catastrophic change" and said that one sign God is "turning people over to their depraved minds" is the increase in homosexual behavior seen across the country."

OK, if you want to read his rant, please be my guest, but if you have a single open-minded thought, it might turn your stomach.

So how can I possibly be in any sort of agreement with this bigoted pseudo-Christian?  It's in the wording, yes, I think we do stand on a precipice of catastrophic change, but not for the same reason.  I think the hate, bigotry, and intolerance spouted by people like kennie are the cause.  One of the reasons I think kennie is being so vocal about his bigotry is the huge shot in the arm such attitudes received when that hamster-haired serial liar and misogynist was elected.  Suddenly being a bigot might be socially-acceptable in some groups.

One of my friends, who is against gay marriage, actually asked me how I could be for it, since I wasn't gay.  I told him that I'm not a woman either, so how come I don't think women should be barefoot and pregnant?  I'm not a minority, so how come I don't think minorities and immigrants are second class citizens? Discrimination is discrimination regardless of whether the target is wearing a dress, has a different ethnic background, believes a different religion, or has a different idea of 'family' than you!  You might wonder how I can call him a 'friend', but I believe in the right to believe as you wish, I just refuse to allow him to force his beliefs on me.  If you think I am trying to force my beliefs onto him, you are in error . . . remember, he asked.

Discrimination should not be tolerated in any form.  People, like little kennie, who make their living being hateful, intolerant, and discriminatory are the ones that should be convicted of aiding and abetting the incivility, and often violence, that is the result.  As I have said before, you have the right to live your life, but you do not have the right to force others to live as you do.  For example, a couple of years ago Campbell's Soup featured an ad with two men feeding soup to a boy using hilarious imitations of Darth Vader and Chewbacca.  It was funny, touching, and cute.  But since it featured two men, homophobic bigots assumed the two men were the boy's gay parents and tried to make a tempest over it.

Don't buy Campbell's Soup if you dislike they commercial, but you do not get to decide no one should buy Campbells!  But something similar happened recently when Cherrios aired a commercial featured an interracial family.  Again, a minor news flap because of racist bigots.  The Today article raised an interesting point:

"“I’m not surprised at the reaction, because social media is kind of the new Ku Klux Klan white hood,’’ TODAY’s Star Jones said Monday. “It allows you to be anonymous and to say the kinds of things that you would never say to a person to their face. "

Personally, I thought the ad was terrific!  I'm not sure what it says about me, but I hadn't noticed the family was interracial until reading one of the bigoted comments on Facebook which pointed it out.  What was even better was that Cherrios brought the family back for a Super Bowl ad!  Now that's an appropriate response to bigotry.

As you can see, I do have to agree with little kennie's phrase, just not his cause, we are facing a potential catastrophe, but kennie is one of the ones pushing us closer and closer to that disaster.  His use of religion to push an environment of fear, mistrust, division, and intolerance is driving us toward that catastrophe.  Of course if/when a catastrophe occurs, he'll be standing on the sidelines blaming it on everything but his own personal hatred and intolerance.  Yes, kennie will be one of the causes, but one he will never admit -- after all he thinks god is on his side.  Certainly not the god I was taught about in parochial school, but a version even few Christians seem to recognize.

There are times, like when I read posts like this I do hope there really is a god and one that lives up to all of the ideals so many religions claim.  That way bigots like kennie will get their just reward, and a real hot one at that.  But in the meantime, kennie will keep making a living preaching intolerance and pushing hatred, incapable of recognizing the damage he does.

Little Kennie Ham Tolerant or Intolerant?

Little kennie has a fun post, but I think he confuses the idea of 'intolerance'.  Before getting into that, let me remind you that in my opinion kennie's idea of religious freedom is that he is free to believe as he wishes and he is also free to force you to believe as he wishes as well.  As I have said before, I disagree with kennie on that idea -- so it should come as no surprise that I disagree with him on this one as well.

Here is his 'Tolerance' post.  You can read it for yourself, but the bottom line is that, according to kennie, he's not intolerant when he argues against something like gay marriage, it's gay marriage proponents who are intolerant of his pseudo-bible-based opinions.  So . . . kennie wanting to take rights away from other people isn't intolerance, but anyone who wants to remove kennie's right to force other people to follow his narrow sort-of-religious viewpoint are guilty of not being tolerant?  See my point?  I think kennie's trying to play the victim card again.  "Oh woe is me because people don't want to follow what I say the Bible says!"

Seriously, look at this quote:

"Ultimately there are only two religions—that of God's Word and of man’s word."

Let us never forget that there are actually hundreds, if not thousands, of religions in the world and they do not agree on what constitutes 'God's Word', so what makes kennie's ramblings the ultimate authority . . . yea, I know, he has a book . . . but then don't most religions have a book?  Also don't some religions use the same book as kennie and yet come up with widely divergent proclamations about 'God's Word'?  I do love how he capitalized the 'G' and 'W', but left 'man's word' all lowercase. To kennie, everything is a binary set, either you agree with kennie or you are the enemy.

So, as you can see I disagree with little kennie.  Let me spell it out more clearly so even he might understand.  I am perfectly tolerant of your views, kennie, and by that I mean I have no issue with you holding those views.  However, that doesn't give you the right to force everyone else to follow your views as well.  If you oppose gay marriage, then don't marry someone of the same gender!  But you aren't happy leaving your belief set as a personal responsibility, you want to have the right to demand everyone follow your belief set.  I have said it before and I will continue saying it, you do not have the right to tell other people who they can and cannot marry!  That's not intolerance of your views, kennie, that what real tolerance is!  I tolerate your narrow religious viewpoint because the Constitution allows actual religious freedom, not just your definition of it.  But I refuse to allow you rights greater than everyone else just because you practice one particular strain of religion.

I see that going far beyond gay marriage.  If you don't support pro-choice then instead of telling people what they are 'supposed' to do, put it in personal practice and never take any actions that would require a woman to make such a choice.  You don't agree with using condoms to prevent disease and pregnancy, then don't use them, but do not dictate their use for other people . . ..  The list is endless!  I don't really care what your belief set is, but whatever it is, you do not have the right to impose it on others.  Waving a book in people's faces and telling them you are the only authority because only you know what the book says just . . . well makes you more laughable than anything else.  Little kennie ham, entertainer!

Yes, that's how I see it.  You [kennie] do not have the right to force your viewpoint onto other people!  That's not intolerance, as you like the claim.  You aren't the victim when I do my best to prevent you from forcing others to toe your particular line, the real victims are the other people that you are trying to attack.  They are your victims, they are the victims of your rhetoric of hate and intolerance . . . yes, intolerance.

It's not 'intolerance' to not allow a religious exemption from vaccinations since the un-vaccinated pose a health threat to us all.  It is not 'intolerance' to require a Kentucky county clerk to do her job.  It is not 'intolerance' to do everything in our power to not allow any form of religious discrimination to flourish in our society.  You, little kennie ham, support many things I disagree with -- but you have the right to support them.  But, once again, you do not have the right to force me to support them!

Yes, you might think I am the one being intolerant as you wave your highly self-edited version of the Bible around, but the reality is you are the one spreading hate and intolerance.  Freedom of Religion also means freedom from your particular brand of religion.  Intolerance would be not allowing you to belief as you wish.  It is not intolerance to prevent you from forcing it upon other people!