work distraction; armageddon

The continuation of the State constitutional convention is going on today. I made calls to my representatives yesterday; I wanted to thank them for fighting on the side on lightness and good by opposing the attempts to write discrimination into our state constitution and to let them know that I preferred that they not accept any compromise resolutions. I even called the Senator from Milton whom I read about online in the Globe:

"We are charged with exercising our judgment," Joyce said. "It is our responsibility to cast votes, even when the matter is controversial. . . . I am unconvinced that civil rights should be decided at the ballot box when emotions are so inflamed. Had the ban on interracial marriage or the decision segregating schools been put on the ballot, each may have been overturned. That does not mean those decisions were wrong."

Anyway, I did what little I could do. Today I was going to let them do their jobs and I was going to try to do mine, and get some work done. And I did OK until about 15 minutes ago when I broke down and read an update on the debate, and now I'm pissed off again and I gotta get it out of my head.

What upset me was several quotes from people who were opposed to gay marriage. From the Globe article:

"No Hatred. Just loving biblical truth," read posters held by some of the opponents of gay marriage who gathered on the Statehouse steps. . . .

"Unfortunately, they believe we don't like them," said Maria Reyes, 51, an elementary school teacher who came to support a same-sex marriage ban with the Hispanic Baptist Church. "That's not the issue here. We need to obey God's will."

AARRGHH!!!

What can I say here? It makes me so angry to see people trying to impose their belief systems on others -- on me -- that I have a hard time formulating a rational response. In America, we have Freedom of Religion. You know, that whole First Amendment thing, along with the freedom of speech, press, the right to peacible assembly and all that...

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

That means that you are free to practice your religion; but it also means the government (and that includes you by way of the government) has NO right to tell me how to practice mine. The best I can do is pull a quote from one of the founding fathers of our country, Thomas Jefferson:

"Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights."

You go, Tom.

But I don't know if that's even enough. He talks a good talk, but it seems like a lot of people aren't listening.

I dunno. I think if I were to have taken Jesus as my personal savior, I'd probably think that W was bringing about Armageddon. And when the day of reckoning came (likely sooner than later), all those people who fanned the flames of hatred and bigotry in the name of the Big Guy, righteous, arrogant, holier-than-thou... all of them -- straight to Hell. And probably all the people who were only good so they could get into Heaven. And probably me too, for being so bitter and spiteful. But then I'd at least be able to say, "This sucks; but hey, at least it's fair."