Jesus Saves and his followers withdraw.

Coming out of evening mass this past Sunday, I was surprised to find a folded piece of paper sticking out of my car door. A quick glance around the parking lot indicates most of the cars have them stuck in the drivers-side doors. Some new Chinese Restaurant, trying to drum up business? If only. The following is a direct transcription, names redacted to protect the innocent:

"THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY = THE PARTY OF DEATH"

NOT ONE DEMOCRATIC MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM N.Y. CAST A VOTE FOR LIFE

THEY VOTED 100% FOR PRO DEATH BILLS!!!

---

And now in New York State they are also THE SAME SEX MARRIAGE PARTY, voting very heavily this year to pass this disastrous ANTI-FAMILY ungodly law.


How can church going, God fearing Americans vote for Democrats?

---

The following candidates running in Nassau County submitted questionnaires to the "Long Island Coalition for Life" indicating they agree 100% with those groups views [sic] which we to [sic] share...


[XXX] - (incumbent) republican, conservative --- [XXX] - (incumbent) republican, conservative --- [XXX] - (challenger) republican, conservative --- [XXX] - (incumbent) republican, conservative --- [XXX] - (challenger) republican, conservative.

---

KNIGHTS FOR LIFE

"CONFIRMED SOLDIERS OF AND FOR CHRIST"

PLEASE HELP US PROTECT THE UNBORN CHILDREN FROM ABORTION

MAIL DONATIONS TO [XXX]

My first reaction was ire. My second, amusement. You see, our pastor has a major beef against the politicization of religion. Every other year, when the national elections are held, he adds to the announcements a reminder that absolutely noone has the church's permission to campaign on behalf of any candidates, parties, or what-have-you on church grounds. The church is there for everyone, regardless of politics, and does not take sides in petty partisan squabbling. Since we have only local elections this year, I guess he didn't deem it important. By now I have no doubt he has heard how these Knights for Life snuck into the parking lot under cover of darkness to spam parishioners with these fliers while they were busy at Sunday services. I snicker at the thought of the telephone shouting match that awaits them.

And really, someone needs to give them a good talking-to if this is how they make their case. Even if you ignore the obvious lack of proofreading, they're WAY off-message, bringing in the same-sex marriage issue that bears no relation to abortion. The only way to connect them is to argue that they're both results of the sexual revolution, and that's an incredibly retarded tactic since no one -- left or right -- is going to vote against their right to orgasm. And the tone and the tactics these Knights are employing are not going to win them any votes they already have. Hell, they're likely to lose votes from shit like this. There's one guy on every block that disagrees with the rest of the neighborhood on everything. Sure, maybe you don't like the guy, but if some random schmo from out of town drops by and rails about how your neighbor is "pro-death", are you going to agree with the outsider? Or are you going to take a look at it and think about who the real asshole is here?

Knuckleheads.

You know, a while back I took a course on biblical literature. Fun class, very informative. One story that especially stayed with me is from the first book of Samuel, right at the beginning. There's a priest named Eli, a good priest, who is Samuel's mentor. Eli has two sons, who are also priests. But they're corrupt priests, embezzling the offerings and abusing their authority for personal gain. This is a problem for several reasons, but the big one is that it drives the people away from their religion. People aren't dumb, after all. They know bullshit when they see it. And they know wrong when they see it, too. God gave us conscience precisely so that we'd be able to see the path of righteousness even when there's no one around to hold up a torch. So when people claiming God's authority go around making asses of themselves, they make an ass out of God too. God's gotten a bad name thanks to imbeciles like this, and now I have to keep my religion secret because I don't want to be associated with screaming idiots.

I hope the pastor sorts them out right. Someone's got to make it clear that inflammatory rhetoric and judgmental attitudes aren't the Christian way.