HATE BASED CHRISTIAN GROUPS

How ironic, there is a typo in this cartoon. Well, I'm too tired and cranky to replace it with one that doesn't.

It has been a great 32 hours, I was looking forward to coming in here and having some fun. Then I checked my emails.

There were two racist jokes (from an unhappy McCain suporter) and one right wing rant about some Muslim stamp.

I told the McCain supporter he's just going to have to try to make under a quarter million next year. In his case I ignored the jokes, he was trying to bait me and I chose not to bite.

As for the Muslim rant ... that was just too much. I "replied all" and said PLEASE take me off these hate based Christian emails; Jesus didn't attack people who weren't like him. What gives you the right?" (I know my Bible! Don't they?)

The ignorance in this country is MIND BOGGLING. To say all Muslims are bad is the same as saying all Christians are bad. There are zealots in both groups.

Zealots come from factions that break into cults. I know, I was in one. I was raised Jehovah's Witness from the tender age of TWO. I can remember being too little to reach doorbells, so I had to knock. Yes, I went door to door. No holidays, no birthdays, no standing to salute the flag, no standing for the national anthem, no "worldly" (non-JW) friends.

It's hard enough being a kid, imagine being raised to be like that. When you're a kid you don't have a choice.

When you grow towards adulthood you start noticing things. Like they said "the true religion doesn't contradict itself." They said Armageddon was coming but "no man knows the day or the hour". Then they said it would come by 1975 and all who were not Witnesses would be destroyed.

Note to self ... this all contradicts.

As a teenager, dating was discouraged. Girls were encouraged to hook up with honorable JW guys. I was only 15 when I met mine. His father and grandfather were elders. We were married three years later, both virgins on our wedding night.

When I got pregnant his family was upset because "the end was coming". Their exact words were, "Well, suppose there's nothing you can do about it, is there?" (Note subtle reference to abortion??)

I was terrified to be pregnant because blood transfusions were against our religion."The life is in the blood" they said. (Well, then, what good is the blood without the life??)

I knew one woman who bled out and died during delivery. I knew JW mothers who were willing to let their children die.

I knew one personally - her son was burned severely in a fire and she was ready to let him go. This is so weird, I can picture her face. It was bony and pinched and she wore wigs. She was a tragic figure.

Hospital officials had to get a court order to save the child's life. I was just a kid when that went down. 19 in 1970 was a lot younger than 20 today; especially when you grow up in a cult. You are naive beyond belief. ("Big Love" gives me shudders and flashbacks.)

When I got pregnant my husband's family was dismayed that we were so stupid. "The end was coming."

I found one of the few doctors in the area who specialized in JWs. He respected our wishes. When I was on the operating table having my son by c-section I heard him say "she has rH negative blood." Drugged as I was, I knew there was no question I would do anything he recommended for my baby if there was a problem. Anything else was insanity.

That was my epiphany.

I won't even go into what came after that. Let me just say I have survived many horrible times in my life, but that took the cake. At 24 I bailed, quit the religion and quit the marriage. Today my son is grown and happily married with two children of his own.

A cult is a cult. If you suspect there is something wrong with your religion, LOOK CLOSELY.

There is SOMETHING WRONG when you are discouraged from having friends outside of the group.

There is SOMETHING WRONG when women are treated like second class citizens.

There is SOMETHING WRONG when people are measured by the color of their skin.

There is SOMETHING HORRIBLY WRONG when your pastor preaches hate from the podium.

Now I have gone all ape-shit angry on Christine for her zealotry and hatred of Barack, but it grieves me because I know there is good in her. I apologize for my rage, but I will no longer sit silent in the face of bigotry. I will not be part of the hate.

I try to be a good Buddhist and part of that is to SPEAK MY TRUTH.

I WILL call people on their despicable, divisive behaviors.

If we quietly accept the racial slur or joke, we are condoning. If we remain silent when we get hate emails, we are guilty. Like they say, if we're not part of the solution, WE ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.

Please speak out.

If more good people speak out, maybe we can force some change.