CoL #??: Casting Out the Jews

And, on this day in 1348, Pope Clement VI issued a decree protecting Jews during the Black Death. Popular opinion blamed the Jews for the plague, and massacres erupted throughout Europe. Pope Clement condemned the violence and said those who blamed the plague on the Jews had been "seduced by that liar, the Devil." He urged clergy to take action to protect the innocent.

And it was called clemency. A medieval act of religious tolerance and human respect. That day in history is for July 6, the day I read this response by Lioness (see entry: "I Didn't Sign Up for a 'Christian Nation'") on the plight of a Jewish family who felt it best to move away from their town in order to avoid retribution by Christians for a lawsuit they filed when their daughter was singled out for a "blessing" that she find the true path of Christ at her graduation ceremony. Another family, listed as Doe for fear of reprisal from the community, also signed onto the suit now being brought against their school board by the ACLU. Lioness tracked the article from Bitch PhD, and here it is, along with the post Bitch tracked to.

Having just read Goldberg's Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, I have enough context to know that this incident is not some freakish abberation in the always boiling moil of the American political landscape. This is the result of a context -- historical, poilitical, ideological -- in which bigoted Christians (which I know is not all Christians, cool out, I know lots and lots of you are not Fascists for Christ Hell Bent on Dominion of Earth, lots you are groovy) now feel comfortable and federally funded enough "bless" the rest of us with their creed.

Be Advised, this is not the last of such incidents. This is not an abberation. This is a desiteratum of the Christain Nationalists. Check the list of cases around religion at ACLU link above. There is a pattern there.

The late '60s, the cultural revolution these folks so abhor, was a party. It was a giant LSD-laced kegger by comparison. The Christain Nationalists, on the other hand, are a real counter culture: federally funded faith based social services, homeschooling, Christain colleges for homeschooled kids that prep them for a life in the law and in politics organizing the world according their version of God's will and with an eye to the Rapture, and a seriously fast political response network deeply tied to megachurches.

Secular Humanists -- heirs of the Very Enlightenment Culture that created the very idea of religious tolerance and a separation of church and state that protected these people from each other (at one point in Massachussets, a Baptist could be HANGED for proclaiming her/his faith, and was banned from holding any public office, the Founding Fathers wanted to stop Americans Killing Each Other Over Religion, kids) -- we need to get as organized and focused as they are, and right now.

What exactly to do about this, I am not sure, but I will be looking into it. Ideas, and suggestions, welcome.