In June 1999, then-Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) appeared on the House floor to reflect on the Columbine massacre, and he proceeded to blame science textbooks for the murders. These tragedies happen, DeLay said, "because our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who are evolutionized [sic] out of some primordial soup."
I remember thinking at the time that this was among the most offensive things I'd ever heard from a public figure. Here was a prominent congressman -- a member of the House GOP leadership at the time -- blaming lessons on modern biology for madmen killing 13 people.
DeLay's comments came to mind over the weekend after I saw this tweet from megachurch pastor Rick Warren (via Jamelle Bouie).
In fairness, I should note that Warren didn't specifically say he was referring to the tragic violence in Aurora, and he later deleted the message altogether. But the prominent evangelical leader did publish the tweet on early Friday afternoon, just hours after the public learned about the shootings. If his message was unrelated to the massacre, the timing was quite a coincidence. (Update: Warren insists the two are unrelated, and that he was talking about sex-ed. I have no evidence to the contrary, though given what most Americans were thinking about on Friday afternoon, it seems odd someone in his position could be so tone-deaf.)
Indeed, Warren's tweet seems to suggest public school science classes necessarily lead young people to act like "animals," which is offensive on its own, but is especially outrageous given the events of Friday morning.
Perhaps Warren's political influence should be reevaluated given comments like these?
Jamelle added Warren's "reactionary moralism -- and willingness to pander to the prejudices of well-off suburbanites -- is emblematic of what's wrong with American evangelicalism." That seems more than fair.
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When Megachristians are taught the values of the hypocritical Pharisees, then they behave exactly like them.
Yes because LYING to our children is MUCH better than standing up and speaking back to the NRA...I think our education dollars are better spent teaching critical thinking skills so they KNOW when fools are fools.
Well, all I can say to Rick is that animals do not behave as James Holmes has behaved.
Well said.
Yes, animals have greater virtues than that monster.
A few generations back "pastor" Rick Warren's predecessors were teaching their flock "Spare the rod, and spoil the child".
And, "Put the fear of God" in them was the go-to threat.
Is it wrong of me to make the assertion that organized religion is what's wrong with America?
The real problem is these supposed religious leaders who want to dictate how someone should live their life and they are the biggest hypocrites around. But we do have some religious leaders who really do good for the people and those people definitely deserve respect. The problem isn't organized religion, it is the religious extremists of hatred that is the problem.
I think that the central issues in that argument are specific to any organization that promotes hate, isolation from non-members, and a we vs. them mentality. I think that there are organized religions or sects thereof that don't promote those things... you just don't hear about them because they're not in the news. I think a good way to gauge how harmful an organization is is to note how fiercely it tries to hold on to its members. For fundamentalist religions and/or cults, the most common intimidation tactic is that anyone who doesn't toe the party line is going to hell to suffer for eternity. I think that the emotional manipulation involved there is given short shrift.
If you were to ask, would or could this happen again at a place like Penn State or some other place? That answer would be Yes. This type of abuse happens everywhere it is not limited to just our educational systems. But other forms of abuse to people do continue to happen all the time. One of the main places is right in the work place, where you have people like Romney export our Companies and jobs overseas to places that do not really support a safe work environment. People like Romney had no concern to the welfare of others and in the end contributed to the outright abuse of people. You can see the proof of the low wages, harsh work conditions, long hours, unsafe work conditions and living in substandard conditions that the people were subjected to that resulted in desperation where people eventually killed themselves. If you actually think something is going to change with these rich people and republicans, not quite since you have these same people who want to continue to control your very lives and deceive you into believing they have a new plan for you. But in the end, if you fall for these rich peoples and Republican tricks, you will get what you always have gotten serving them and making sure you know your place attitude.
I know that using logic against someone like Warren is pointless, and I think it's probably best to just ignore him, let him be the idiot who says idiotic things in the woods with no one around to hear him. Still, I feel compelled.
Most of human history has occurred pre-Darwin. Yet those were our most barbaric years. I'm not suggesting causality, but if teaching evolution was the issue, you'd think that we would have gone downhill. Instead, look at all of the social institutions aimed at reducing barbarianism. Rape and most forms of violence are illegal. We have governments and courts to facilitate peaceful co-habitation. We have massive NGOs aimed at the prevention of the myriad ways that we have of harming one another and assisting the victims when prevention fails. The term "human rights" or "war crimes" would have been unheard of several hundred years ago. In the States, it hasn't even been 200 years since women and blacks stopped being treated like property and started being treated like people.
If teaching evolution encouraged everyone to act like apes, wouldn't there be a lot less peace-building and a lot more @!$%#-flinging (literally)?
Sometimes the Theocrats can't help themselves. They come out of their echo chambers with sounds of victory ringing in their ears leading them to believe they are on the cusp of taking back control of this country for their master. They tweet their premature ejaculation at the prospect and damned if the unwashed heathens haven't infiltrated their group-thing sphere percipating yet another flacid retreat.
Oh, there's already a list of religiofascists saying the tragedy in Aurora was due to "Lack of God" and that only the Christian victims went to heaven.
It's interesting to compare the reactions of those religiofascists with Anders Breivik's line of thinking. I was inspired by the general reaction of the Norwegian people, which was to join together and embrace multiculturalism even more enthusiastically.
Warren needs a new purpose in life.
We should be alarmed at how "public school science class" seems to be almost a knee-jerk reaction. As a catch-all scapegoat, science explains to fundamentalists all that is wrong with this world they believe will be destroyed any day now. Why study biology or physics if all those principles are turned on their head during "Rapture?" Our very survival as a species depends on science. Teaching learned helplessness and willful ignorance cannot be part of our national curriculum. Warren may not know that he is lying when he blames science for evils in society. We need to urge a louder majority of free-thinking, educated Americans to correct him. Superstitious, unfounded, idiotic comments like Warren's need to be shown for what they are--but it is necessary to maintain a showing of respect for the man's faith. This isn't going to be easy.
It is ever an amazement that so many of the same people who abhor Darwin (in their vulgarized version) in the classroom idolize him in the marketplace.
Gad told Adam and Eve that if they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge they would surely die the death (one of many lies) and the bibble teaches that only through Cheesus will you reach heaven (immoral).... So if we teach our children a bogus immoral philosophy they will be better people...?
That and they should be armed,,, and wearing bullet proof armour...
It was only a few centuries ago when believing that the world was round was considered heresy. And the Catholic Church stated that Protestants were going to hell because they were outside the "mother church." The fundamentalist holy rollers get sillier by the day.
he wouldn't have deleted it if it wasn't obvious that he had gone over a cliff
These people aren't Christians, they're just petite fascists. Little monsters, trolls under the bridge, to pop out at a time of tragedy and point the finger squarely at whoever they dislike.
They conveniently seem to forget that violence in the world is on a decline, as well as religious belief. They seem to forget that good Christian men spent centuries killing, maiming, raping and torturing their way to Heaven. They seem to forget that high ranking members of every Christian denomination have been accused of child sexual abuse, and of covering up said abuse. Guilty of telling women to stay with abusive husbands who rape, beat, and abuse them psychologically.
That's not Christianity. Jesus said nothing, absolutely nothing, that actually reflects what these people believe. They've cobbled together random pieces of Old Testament writings, out of context, to put together a worldview where they are saved and righteous, and everyone else is damned and fallen.
The word Gospel means "good news." The good news that God views us as equals. The good news that God isn't a tyrant, He wants us to work through love, to save the oppressed from the oppressor and to break the bondage of people who are wrongly bonded. These tiny, little men? They don't want that. They have what they want, and what they want is power and influence. And they've gotten their reward, in full.
And, if you believe in God, if you believe in what the Bible has to say about people like that? Well, I don't believe in Hell, and it's not my place to say what God will deem them worthy of. But, from my perspective, I don't think I'd want to be in their shoes. If someone puts you in charge of a flock of sheep, and you lead them astray? The sheep don't get blamed.
The saddest thing of all is that Jesus Christ warned us -- <em>explicitly</em> -- about people like Rick Warren and his ilk. "Whited sepulchers" he called them because they pretended to be pure and pristine but were really dead and rotting on the inside. Jesus also said that one could not serve both God and Mammon. You can tell who Warren serves by looking at what kind of car he drives (assuming his cult doesn't pay for him to have a driver).
Want to bet that crazy Baptist preacher will be at the funerals saying it is because of gays? I can't believe that guy hasn't been assassinated yet. The ones that deserve it never are.
Not a chance anyone would take that bet! http://www.examiner.com/article/westboro-baptist-church-stunt-exploits-the-vigil-for-the-aurora-shooting-victims
While Warren may wish to attribute these incidences of extreme violence to animalistic behavior, it doesn't seem fair to the animals. Perhaps biologists have documented more/any cases, but I haven't heard of a lot of examples of animals attacking their own species. I would be even more surprised to hear that animals could plan that far in advance in putting forth such premeditated attacks. Furthermore, I think many animals have been shown to exhibit a higher degree of empathy towards defenseless members of their species.
and I understand our President is going on his show again this election season. Unbelievable how this madman has been elevated to a place of importance. Why in the world do they pander to this fool? Especially when Warren will not ask ONE question of Romney about his cult. I guarantee it. Not one. I'm taking bets, though, on whether he asks President Obama something about Muslims (his opinion on why some think he is one, or some other such nonsense.) But for some god forsaken reason, no one questions Romney about his completely absurd belief system. If christianist only knew . . .
Rick Warren is a slimy, phony profit oops I mean prophet! Anything he says should be flushed from the anals oops I mean annals of history! He's an embarrassment.
Seriously? I have gotten the chance to meet him personally. He is one of the wisest men ever. Also I don't think you realize how caring of a man he is. He could be considered a millionaire with the salary he should be making from his ginormous church... yet he refuses to accept the money from the church. He he could be making thousands from his award winning book. Yet he gives 90% to charity. He decides to live a normal life in a normal sized home. And he lives his life completely for God. Frankly, you are the embarasment.