Idiot of the Week: pastor John Hagee advised atheists “leave the country”

To demonstrate just how intolerant and obnoxious some people can be, texas megachurch pastor John Hagee advised atheists and humanists to “take your Walkman and stuff it into your ears” or just “leave the country” if they don’t like hearing “Merry Christmas” or carols like “Joy to the World,”.

Really?

Yes really …

OK, a couple of points here.

He Claims: “this country was not built for atheists nor by atheists. It was built by Christian people who believed in the word of God.“. Er .. ever so slight flaw there, that claim is, to give it a complete and full description, is utter bollocks. The US was founded as a completely and totally secular state with a firm wall of separation between any and all beliefs and the state. As for being founded by “Christians”, nope also not factually true, many were at best deists, not theists.

To be frank, I think almost every atheist and humanist on the planet would hold no objection to any Christmas Carols, sing away folks, his entire argument is a complete straw man. What non-believers do object to is having beliefs inflicted upon them when they strive to take up residence within the domain of the state, but that is a conversation for another day.

I confess it is quite frankly astonishing just how utterly obnoxious, ignorant and intolerant belief can make some. There are many out there who hold beliefs that are not the same as his, and also many with no belief at all, and as far as he is concerned they need too leave the country. I am however grateful for one small mercy, he is not a politician, but is instead just a delusional pastor.

Oh and this is not a once-only slip of the tongue, he has not only said stuff like this before, but also in the past has said some truly daft stuff. “I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment, sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.”.

There exists a rather basic human right called “Freedom of Though”. It entitles people to believe whatever bullshit they wish to believe in, and so if he wishes to truly believe this stuff, I’ll not be inviting him to “leave”, but will instead throw a spotlight upon it all to illustrate that belief can indeed successfully transform individuals into complete and utter obnoxious plonkers. Rather sadly, he would not himself endorse such a basic human right, because unless you believe exactly what he believes, then you are (in his delusional eyes) encouraged to leave the country.

Luckily, most humans, even those that do hold beliefs, are not as utterly batty as this lunatic, and not only recognise rather basic things such as tolerance, but also openly practise it.