Look, who doesn't love a ridiculous op-ed from a lefty every now and again? Sometimes, a nice bit of fiction helps take the edge off the brutal world we occupy.
Usually it's enough to scan it as the pseudo-intellectual nonsense it is, chuckle, and get on with your day. But this one deserves a bit more attention.
Yep, you heard it right. Louisiana's democratic decision to display the Ten Commandments in schools is the "tip of a Christian nationalist iceberg."
Because democracy is all that matters ... unless people vote for the wrong thing?
This op-ed is written by Svante Myrick, the president of a "progressive advocacy group," People For the American Way. After serving as Ithaca's youngest-ever mayor, an ethics violation was initiated by Alderperson Cynthia Brock for complaints including "his overlapping time as both the mayor and a paid employee of his current organization, People for the American Way," with the group employing lobbyists in support of a city project.
The op-ed is everything you'd expect from a "progressive": a word-heavy declaration of victimhood with accusations of racism.
... faith was important in my family. It's still important to me. So is religious freedom.
That's why I'm so concerned about the aggressive advance of white Christian nationalism, a movement whose goals violate a basic American ideal: that we're all equally American no matter whether or how we worship.
Our constitutional separation of church and state upholds this ideal. But some people aren't willing to live by that principle. They have spent decades promoting the idea that this country was created by and for Christians — and they really mean Christians who share their religious and political worldview.
They have built power in our legislatures and courts. And they are using that power to undermine the pluralism that is a defining characteristic of our country.
Myrick even links to the First Amendment as a source!
Yes, the country was created by Christians, and no, it wasn't created "for Christians." George Washington's famous letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, in 1790 is a good example.
Discussing the importance of religious freedom, the majority of the op-ed is dedicated to complaining about Christians exercising their religious freedom to - gasp! - advocate for Christianity.
Here's my favorite part, though:
What this means for Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, Hindu Americans, Sikh Americans, Buddhist Americans, people of other faiths, the growing number who claim no religious affiliation — and even Christians who don't share the Christian nationalists' agenda — is chilling.
It all comes down to this: Who gets to be a full-fledged, fully respected member of American society? Whose rights get protected, and whose do not? The clear message from some quarters is this: Conservative, white, Christian males get preferred status, and everyone else will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
That backward-looking vision stands in stark contrast to the promise of a multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious society in which everyone's rights are protected. That's the future worth building together.
Voters, it's up to us.
First off, the Ten Commandments is in checks notes ... the Old Testament. So, as one of Not The Bee's diversity hires, let me tell you: Jewish Americans probably won't be all that offended by the Ten Commandments given that it's kind of our thing.
Second, we can only assume that Myrick has no problem whatsoever with the proud display of other religious images, such as the ever-expanding LGBTQ+ flag? But, of course, the religion of progressivism is ... different?
Third, and most importantly, the idea that displaying the Ten Commandments sends a message that "conservative, white, Christian males get preferred status" is absurd, given that the Ten Commandments forms the foundation of our entire civilization, and therefore the basis of equality and freedom that spread through Christianity across the world.
Try finding equality in countries that historically rejected the Ten Commandments ...
Then again, maybe his objection is rooted in the fact that murder, adultery, theft, false witness and taking what isn't yours is central to the Democratic Party agenda?
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