The Christian War on Paganism Continues

It’s an old war. The Jews fought it first, back in the 7^th century B.C.E. The Christians then picked up the stick and spent a half-dozen centuries clubbing Pagans in the Roman Empire and turned their attention to Northern and Eastern Europe to murder Pagans there well into the Late Middle Ages. Fundamentalist Christians absolutely cannot abide Paganism or Pagans. People who have other ideas about God are dangerous.

Through its long history, Christianity, dominated by fundamentalist popes and patriarchs, has not suffered other religions to exist. It has ruthlessly exterminated every alternative to itself, and would continue to do so if it could. Witness the conversation between Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) on Washington Watch Weekly. They’re both unhappy that the Air Force Academy makes it possible for people other than Christians to worship their gods.

It’s entirely permissible for the Air Force Academy to spend  $3.5 million on the cadet chapel, but how dare they shell out a measly $80K on a circle of stones for Pagans attending the academy? Right Wing Watch captures their conversation:

Perkins: Do you see this as a part of a growing trend that we see that there is really kind of a marginalization of Christianity and almost a promotion of other forms of, I would have to say, fringe religions?

Hartzler: I agree, I think so. Christianity is the main religion in our country and as a policy for the Department of Defense we need to defend the practice of religion but we do not have to obligate taxpayer funds to facilitate or accommodate it or pay for it.

Perkins: Is it the government’s role to try to put all religions on the same plane?

Hartzler: No, it’s not their role at all. Their role is to facilitate basic policy for our country and to not to try to lift up one religion over the other, they should be defending the basic rights that we have, that freedom of religion here, and certainly not facilitating or accommodating fringe religions, it’s crazy.

Here is more of the fundamentalist meme that the First Amendment, far from rejecting state-sponsored religion, actually establishes state-sponsored religion in the form of Christianity. Pretending that providing equal opportunities for worship makes some sort of judgment on the relative “value” of religions is absurd.  But this was inevitable. As I have said before, if Islam, the world’s second largest religion, isn’t considered a religion by Christian fundamentalists, what chance do small religions, like Paganism, have?

The answer, obviously, is none at all.