Bryan Fischer, a spokesman for a hate group that Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked to help organize his prayer extravaganza in Houston last August, is blaming the horrific Colorado theater shootings last week on teaching students about evolution.
Raw Story reports what Fischer, the director of issues analysis for the American Family Association, said on his Monday radio program:
“…Fischer pondered whether Pastor Rick Warren was talking about suspected Aurora shooter James Holmes or homosexuals when he tweeted, ‘When students are taught they are no different from animals, they act like it.’
“If this tweet was connected to the shooting, to this James Holmes, to the one that killed the 12 and wounded the 58 in this theater, it would be appropriate,” Fischer noted. “Because what does evolution teach? What does evolution teach? Evolution teaches that nature is a struggle, it is a battle, that only the fittest survive, that the way you get to increasingly complex forms of life is the strongest species survives.”
“So, this James Holmes, he’s one of the stronger ones,” he added. “He sees himself as evolutionarily advanced just like he was taught in school about Darwin, that this is how natural selection works.”
Fischer goes on to argue that liberals also caused the shooting by “telling God to get lost” and getting rid of prayer and the Ten Commandments in public schools.
These arguments aren’t original. David Barton, head of the Texas-based group WallBuilders, has argued that the Supreme Court’s decision banning state-mandated prayer in schools has led to a variety of social evils. (Read more about this here.) And during the Texas State Board of Education’s debate over new science curriculum standards in 2009, religious-righters argued that serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer murdered and ate his victims because he “believed in evolution.”
When you read stuff like this it makes your head swell like it’s going to explode from the asinine stupidity.
Soooo, should any rational, observant and aware person be surprised????
There are no guns in the Bible, so that means all good Christians should give up their guns.
And yet these so-called christians support capital punishment and the military. Both examples of state sponsored killing.
I always remind people that the commandment is “Thou shall not kill.” not “Thou shall not murder.” As a group they have ignored this.
The Catholic Church has spoken out against all forms of killing at the national level. But at the local level has mostly wimped out. In the South they preach against abortion. It is rare to hear capital punishment or the military and our unjust wars mentioned.
Jesus said, “lay down thy sword” and “love thy neighbor” and the commandments say “thou shalt not kill”. Doesn’t get clearer than that.
Idiots.
Every time I read something like this, it makes me happy. Every word the rightwingnuts write, another Democrat gets another vote. There will always be some people who are clueless enough that they just eat up every insane word that Fischer and others of his ilk write. Those are people who don’t read the bible, but claim they do. They fall for every charlatan that comes along thumping on the bible, without ever checking to see if God really needs the help of a mentally disturbed, gun-wielding idiot. Just guessing, but I’d say that the bible doesn’t speak about it at all, and, like another commenter posted, there’s nowhere that the bible advocates for assault weapons and mass murder in His name. Instead, it commands “Thou shalt not kill.”
I don’t think either side has the answer. One must delve into the human heart and whether or not man in general is basically good or evil. And the answer to that depends on a human being’s particular worldview.
Barton and Fisher would have been right at home in Puritan New England, 1630 through 1690. Although most Puritans were decent, humble, hard working people their problem was they subsribed to the theology of that horrible awful terrible excuse for a human being John Calvin.
Fisher, Barton and company are frustrated though, frustated because they can’t act against those they blame for natural events -hurricanes, floods, draughts and so forth. The Puritans blamed these events on witches and everyone knows what happened next. Again they were simply following the teachings of the demented John Calvin, who believed such catastrophes were evil events that had to be called into the world. Barton, Fisher and company would like nothing better than to conduct a national witch hunt and hang from flagpoles anyone who doesn’t share their retarded beliefs. Hell Michele Bachmann and that dipchit from east Texas are leading the way.
Do Barton and the dominion crowd believe in predestination, another pile of Calvin garbage? Probably so. Of course in 17th century New England if you were somebody like Anne Hutchinson and said “hey wait a minute, I think you go to heaven based on good works you do during your lifetime” then you simply got evicted, kicked out of New England.
The thing that makes my blood boil is when the jackasses of the religious right, especially Tony Perkins, get on their bandwagon about religious freedom. The only freedom they want is to jam their fundamentalist idiocy down the throats of all Americans.
“Fischer noted. “Because what does evolution teach? What does evolution teach? Evolution teaches that nature is a struggle, it is a battle, that only the fittest survive, that the way you get to increasingly complex forms of life is the strongest species survives.”
Actually, that is not what evolution teaches. Evolution teaches that the genetically lucky individual may survive and pass on their genes if they happen to live in a tough environmental circumstance that makes their mutation favorable and contributes to better survival in that tough environment.
Fischer’s comment refers to a later skid row concept known as Social Darwinism that has nothing to do with Charles Darwin or real evolution. The tabloid-reader nuts, racists, and fascists that came after Darwin misunderstood Darwin and created this perversion that has nothing to do with real evolution. The hypocritical thing here is that the current Religious Right and extreme right wing in this country today have personally, totally, and completely bought into Social Darwinism. It is one of their key operative philosophies, and they put it to work every day. Only the business that is strong should survive. It is wrong to help other people because, only those who can make it totally on their own should survive. I should not have to pay for a poor man’s health insurance because only the wealthy man who can afford his own health insurance should survive. Take a look at them and listen closely. They are totally sold out to this perversion. Fischer is just the pot calling the kettle negro.
“Fischer is just the pot calling the kettle negro”
Or, as I like to put it . . .
Thus sayth the cauldron:
Oh kettle! Thou art black!
The shooting in Colorado was caused by severe mental illness that went untreated. By the way, you would no doubt be happy to know that Christian fundamentalists do not believe in clinical psychology or psychiatrists. They believe that they are agents of the Devil and that psychology is an alternative religion in competition with real Christianity, which of course is their brand only. Even conservative evangelicals believe that you should only see a Christian psycholgist because a secular psychologist might “tell you” to run away from the husban that is going to kill you tomorrow night. No my friend. Oh, no my friend. The moment you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, all mental illness instantly disappears. This is why no religious nut living out on the far rim of faith will ever need a psychologist—except for the fact that most of them could really use time on a couch—like maybe Fischer.
All the giant billboards here in Tennessee say it. Elevator door close on your hand? Jesus is the answer. By corn flakes instead of the Cheerios you really wanted? Jesus is the answer. Water pump went out in your car? Jesus is the answer. Accidentally wrote 2 X 2=5 on your math quiz? Jesus is the answer. Wore one red sock and one blue sock today? Jesus is the answer. Blow away 70 people in a theater? Jesus is the answer.
What would Jesus do? Jesus says: “Hey man!!! I know a really great psychiatrist in Denver. He is my provision for you. Go see him, and I will tough it out with you.”
If you are interested, because we are on the subject of “evilution,” you would no doubt be interested to know that one public school system in Tennessee has an already laid plan for how to screw the state’s new anti-evolution Monkey Law. Extra!!! Extra!!! Read all about it!!! at
http://contextintn.wordpress.com/
You TFN folks might be interested in this too. It is pretty doggone original.
“Jesus is the answer. Water pump went out in your car? Jesus is the answer.”
That actually has some truth behind it. He was a pretty dang good mechanic even back in high school, and he charges less than the Chevy house.
Thanks for the link Charles.
The error Fischer makes is equating religiousness with morality. That is a false premise. There are plenty of very good, moral people that have no interest in religion. And there are plenty of bad people who market themselves as being very religious.
Based on his statements over the past several years I consider Fischer a bad but purportedly religious person.
If we had cars that ran on stupidity, we would never need gasoline.
The so call founder of the Christian Faith, taught no to pray in public. I think that includes State sponsor player.
Riddle me this, Bat Debbie!!!