This book goes on my reading list. Titled The Sinner’s Guide to the Evangelical Right by Rob Lanham, the book claims to contain helpful hints for the rest of the reality and sensically-based community for debating hot topic issues with evanglicals who inevitably drop the veil of even trying to use any measure of sense or reason to validate their opinions and fall back on the the classics: “faith,” and “I’ll pray for you,” when they realize they’ve got nothing.
Supposedly a comical jab at the bible thumpers, the book contains quite a few excellent ideas though, especially with how to deal with evangelical Christians when they get huffy about everything from gay marriage to defending the environment to “intelligent” design. Allow me a few excerpts that were also published at the Alternet piece (where the excerpts were published with permission) linked below:
Key Verses Bible-Believin’ Evangelicals Pick and Choose to Ignore:
On slavery: “Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.” (1 Peter 2:18, NIV)
On rape: “If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver.” (Deuteronomy 22:28, NIV)
On women wearing veils: “And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head.” (Corinthians 11:5, NIV)
On illegitimate children being barred from church: “A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 23:2, KJV)
On Falwell’s apparent love of McNuggets: “…put a knife to thy throat, if thou [be] a man given to appetite.” (Proverbs 23:2, 3, KJV)
Oh wow. Funny which ones they choose to ignore, isn’t it? Lets move on to one of my favorite topics to discuss with evangelicals when I’m forced to linger in their presence, affirmative action:
Fundamentalists say: Minorities don’t know how good they’ve got it here. In fact, they just hired a couple of them coloreds down there at Roy’s Discount Muffler Shop. Roy even lets ‘em work the cash register when the cameras are turned on!
Sinners say: End affirmative action when equal opportunity actually exists.
Absolute GOLD. Be sure to take a look at the entries for the holidays (read: war on Christmas) and stem cells. Good reading. Link to the book itself and where you can purchase it are at the article below.
[ The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right ]
Source: Alternet