Indiana: The South Carolina of the Midwest
Indiana has been displaying an inordinate amount of religious craziness given its latitude. I just read an article called “Puritan Politics” on nuvo.net. The Christian right is up to its elbows in the state government, and all heaven is breaking loose.
To put it briefly, if you’re gay, and you live in Indiana, move. If you want to have children, and you live in Indiana, and you didn’t find the society in Brave New World to be a utopia, move. If you worship Satan or ignorant Christians are likely to think you do (Wicca), and you live in Indiana, move. In fact, if you don’t have a poster of Pat Robertson over your bed and a photo of James Dobson on the night stand, and you live in Indiana, move.
This is a must read article. It’s long, but it’s important.
Sorry I don’t have more for you right now. I had a really bad day, so my heart just isn’t in it tonight.
If the above article isn’t enough to keep you busy, go check out Buridan’s Ass. That’s one of my new favorite sites and a future host of GOD or NOT.
~I AM~
October 20th, 2005 at at 12:03 am
I read that article yesterday, and you are right. It is fantastic, and definitely worth the read.
Sorry you had a bad day. In the girl online world we say things like (hugs) when someone has a bad day. But you’re male and married, so I’ll control myself.
Hope tomorrow is better.
October 20th, 2005 at at 12:14 am
I prefer to think of South Carolina as the Indiana of the South.
On the upside, Michigan looks stellar next to that psychohole.
October 20th, 2005 at at 1:12 am
I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is second only to Indianapolis in size. We have over four-hundred and twenty churches listed in our phone book. If religion and atheism is a war of ideas, then I am behind enemy lines. Other atheists should welcome the few veteran hard-nosed grunts that stand their ground here. I’ve even thought about running for a public office, but I’m nogt sure what psition would be best to start out at, and I fear it would be a hatefest with the locals;however, I do think running on the platforn of gay marriage rights, positive environmental agendas, and freedom from religion would definately get me some attention for having the balls to speak the truth. If I were to run, does anyone have any suggestions on how I should go about it and what I should focus on? I know I would need major support that I do not currently have.
October 20th, 2005 at at 1:31 am
BTW, if I ran for any office, it would probably be as an independent. I would consider running as a democrat, but I’m not really sold on any political position. I also fear the perceived unelectability of atheists.
October 20th, 2005 at at 2:40 am
I AM:
Frightening article. The Dark ages are almost upon us.
Two sentences struck me -
“Individuals may be free to pursue behaviors such as sodomy, but we will not and cannot tolerate these behaviors”
Then how can they be free to pursue these behaviors, if they’re not tolerated?
“We believe in ‘discrimination’ in the good sense: choosing between good and evil, right and wrong, the better and the best.”
Discrimination in the good sense? Better and the best? Do these people think before they put out this errant trash?
Purely rhetorical question: of course they don’t.
I hope Indiana secedes from the union: that state is a wart on this great nation.
No offense, AM.
October 20th, 2005 at at 2:54 am
None taken RA. Only a little under 65% of the people who voted here, voted for Bush in the last “election”. There is hope. And if I may, I would like to add the rusty cliche’ “You are only as strong as your weakest link”. Indiana does suck, but it is a good example of the basic problems this nation currently faces.
October 20th, 2005 at at 3:51 am
Wasn’t Indiana also crawling with Klansmen too? I seriously think the Fundy Christian Right are just White Priders without the hoods. Seriously. I really think the only difference is that the White Power folks have the balls to say what they feel.
I don’t really know how much better it is here in Ohio.
October 20th, 2005 at at 8:54 am
As I read that, I was sick to my stomach. To think that the religious right has such a strangle hold on one state is frightening.
Hope you feel better I AM.
WELCOME BACK DUB!!!!!!!
October 20th, 2005 at at 9:54 am
I may be able to comment more on this after I’ve had time to fully process the article. I grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University. Because it’s a university town, I was exposed to all kinds of ideas, religions, and views. It’s a great little liberal town. There are churches, a mosque, universalists, and even a nationally recognized buddhist…thing there (I don’t know what that stuff is about, but the Dali Lama thinks it’s the shit).
Anyway, I knew about the pockets of racism in Indiana (Martinsville comes to mind) and the sense of conservatism there, but the shit has hit the fan since I’ve been gone. From Texas I don’t follow the political climate of Indiana because the state is pretty screwed up as it is. I don’t have time to mess with the home guard.
I guess I need to. I’m heartbroken. I’m shocked. I’m terrified. I’m ready to perform a rescure mission and pull my parents out of there. I mean, come on:
Wife and mother Michelle Montgomery had additional concerns for children. Reminding legislators that laws can have unintended consequences, she pointed out the extermination of a generation of children as a result of abortion laws. The unintended consequence of gay marriage, Montgomery fears, is “the extinction of the human race because these people don’t reproduce.”
Hoosiers are a simple folk, but holy mother of christ, are they all this simple and narrow minded?
I have to go process this. Maybe vomiting will make me feel better.
October 20th, 2005 at at 9:59 am
God, this sounds like the beginning steps of a current day “Crusade”…
I think Dobson is one “Word of the Lord” short of killing someone in the name of god…
I love the christian speak in the article…
“Like their Puritan predecessors, evangelicals believe that government should legislate a moral and social code based on the teachings of the Old and New Testament.”
Which teachings? All the instructions or just the ones you deem worthy or will line your pockets?
“I know it says in one place to not eat pork, but Geezus died so I don’t have to faller them laws too… pass the sausage”
This really chaps my pagan ass.
October 20th, 2005 at at 11:23 am
Holy shit. That’s insane. I grew up in NW Indiana and always knew the Klan was there. Black folks didn’t dare show their face in the little town I lived in. I had no idea it’s gotten so overrun with these religious crusaders. Good thing I don’t live there anymore.
October 20th, 2005 at at 12:32 pm
To quote my father, “Bloomington is an island of blue in a sea of red.” That sea of red seems to be swarming with sharks…sharks that are spilling the blood of all who disagree with them.
October 20th, 2005 at at 5:50 pm
I grew up in the ‘Upstate’ of South Carolina and am very familiar with the attitudes and ignorance indigenous there and in Indiana. My fundie family swears by Dobson and his organization. It really is enough to make you sick.
October 21st, 2005 at at 1:23 am
I want to laugh and cry at the same time…
October 25th, 2005 at at 10:23 am
To Alpha Male:
Don’t cry for your home state – cry, if you must, for Texas, the state you live in now. This week early voting begins on several state constitutional amendments, one of which is Prop.#2, the Marriage and Family Amendment.
It is a mirror image of the state constitutional amendment detailed in the article “Puritan Politics.” It would limit the definition of marriage to an institution for one man and one woman only and would forbid the state from affording any rights inherent in marriage to any unmarried couple, gay or straight.
Election day is in about 2 weeks, although early voting began yesterday and runs for 10 days. How many people can you talk to before election day? How many have you already talked to?
Stop weeping and start working – albeit it’s a bit late in the game now. Who do you think is going to save the civil rights of everyone who’s not a born-again christian in this country? It’s sure as hell not going to be god.