Religious Bigotry

Ugly Nativism Rears Its Head Once Again With Donald Trump!

Nativism–anti immigrant rhetoric—has reared its ugly head, with Donald Trump attacking immigration once again, pandering to the most ignorant and despicable elements of American society.

America is a land of immigrants, with only native Americans having a claim to being otherwise, but we all know how native Americans have been treated throughout American history for four plus centuries!

Generation after generation, hatemongers have exploited the disease of nativism to divide Americans and gain or retain political power.

They have used hateful rhetoric to attack Catholics, Jews, Asian Americans, Hispanic-Latino Americans, African Americans, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and every other minority sect that goes against their white Christian supremacy advocacy!

America has been strengthened and prospered by immigration over and over again, and the nation has been renewed by the contributions of people who come to our shores, and those who are born here of immigrant parents.

Demagogues, including Donald Trump, and a multitude of MAGA Republicans, have picked up where others pursued an equivalent agenda in past generations.

But the idea of setting up massive detention camps and reviving the separation of children from their parents is horrifying, and reminds us of the Nazi concentration camps, and similar mistreatment of minorities in China, and innumerable other dictatorships in nations around the world, which do not gain much publicity in news media.

Every effort and motivation must be made to stop the promotion of hate and division, as it only promotes authoritarianism within America and internationally!

The Mormon Factor In The Electoral College Prognostications

The Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) is an important factor in the American West.

Usually, Mormons as a group are conservative Republicans, but the odds are growing that states that would usually vote Republican might not vote for Donald Trump, due to his religious bigotry displayed toward Muslims, as Mormons suffered persecution in the 19th century on their trek to Salt Lake City, Utah, and Mitt Romney, himself a Mormon, is vehemently against Trump.

60 percent in Utah, 24 percent in Idaho, and 9 percent in Wyoming are Mormons,with 4-5 percent in Nevada, Arizona, and Montana. Only about 2 percent in America are Mormon, similar to Jews in population and percentage.

The most Mormon states are Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, with a total of 13 electoral votes. Nevada, Arizona, and Montana follow, with a total of 20 electoral votes. All of these six states, except Nevada, have been reliably Republican.

So we are talking about a possible loss of 27 electoral votes, not counting Nevada’s six electoral votes.

Donald Trump cannot afford to lose these states, but he could, indeed, some or all of them going to Democrat Hillary Clinton over the religious issue!

Message To Homophobes, Racists, Sexists, Nativists: This Is NOT The 1950s, It Is The 21st Century, So Get Used To It!

We have come a long way as a society since the 1950s, the height of the Baby Boom generation!

But we see that it is many Baby Boomers, mostly white and supposedly ‘Devout” Christians, who are unable to accept that society has changed, and that it is time for them to adapt!

Yes, gay and lesbian Americans have gained their rights, including marriage, in many states, and by federal law announced by Attorney General Eric Holder over the weekend. And yes, now we have an openly gay football prospect, Michael Sam, and we have people in all walks of life in the public sphere coming out as gay. The answer is “so what?” It is no longer acceptable to be advocating homophobia in the name of God, as it has always been in the past, but conveniently forgotten, on the issue of racism and sexism and nativism, which the history of religion in America has been trying to push under the rug, so that we are not aware of the long discrimination against other groups, and including anti Semitism as well, along with the advocacy of slaughtering native Americans!

It is time for professional football to make it clear to its employees that it will no longer tolerate an atmosphere of homophobia in its locker rooms, and if so, then such players, no matter how prominent or outstanding they are on the football field, shall be kicked off the team, and no other team should employ such a bigot!

And the same goes for other organized sports, including baseball, hockey, and basketball! Behave and be tolerant, or else you are not welcome to play professional sports!

It is time to make it clear that homophobia, racism, sexism, and nativism will no longer be tolerated in American society, and that religious bigots, when revealed, shall be fought tooth and nail until it is eliminated!

This is not the 1950s, but instead it is the 21st century, so get used to it!

Two Gay Marriage Decisions Of Supreme Court Are Landmark Path Breaking Decisions, Among Greatest In American History!

The two gay marriage decisions of the Supreme Court today will be seen as landmark, path breaking decisions, among the greatest in all of American history!

It has been a long time coming for gay and lesbian Americans, to achieve legal equality under the law and Constitution of the United States. It is a fantastic victory for civil rights and human rights, and will make it a lot easier for young Americans, and really all Americans, who recognize they have a different sexual orientation, which should not be discriminated against by others who refuse to accept change!

The decisions declare the key provision of the Defense Of Marriage Act unconstitutional, and also allow California to follow the circuit court decision, negating Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state, after it has already been allowed.

So California will join twelve other states over the next few months that allow gay marriage—Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island in New England; New York, Maryland and Delaware in the Middle Atlantic; Iowa and Minnesota in the Midwest; and Washington State on the Pacific Coast.

It seems likely that other states, mostly “Blue” Democratic states in the last Presidential election, will soon join those 13 states, while the likelihood of “Red” or Republican states legalizing it seems far off, if not impossible to imagine.

But the fight to have the Supreme Court overturn the entire Defense of Marriage Act, allowing the Court to declare gay marriage legal in all states, following the tradition of Loving V. Virginia on interracial marriage in 1967, is the next battle, as the right to marry should be national in scope, not based on the states denying equal protection under the law!

It will take some time, but the day is not far off before gay marriage is legal everywhere in America, and if the right wing and the religious bigots have a problem, so be it, as they will have to accept it, as much as they opposed interracial marriage fifty years ago, but ultimately had to accept, at least publicly, although one can be certain there are many such people as these, who still are opposed to interracial marriage!

The point is that the right to marry is a civil right, and no public opinion poll, referendum, or utterance of a talk show host or some preacher should stand in the way of this basic human right, and the right to pursuit of happiness!