Holy Crap: Kissing Cousins Edition
I have to stop for a minute to tell y’all something. Pat Robertson needs to be taken to the rest home and allowed to graze.
Here’s his latest. It’s okay for cousins to marry if God tells them to – just so long they don’t have “mongoloid” children.
Oh Sweet Jesus, please go have a chat with that man. Answering a letter from a viewer who said that a friend of hers felt that God wanted her to marry her cousin, Robertson answered …
“There’s nothing in the Bible that says you can’t marry your first cousin. Here you say everybody’s in favor of it. Alright, go for it.”
But the TV preacher added a final warning to “check the genetics.”
“You don’t want to have some mongoloid child,” Robertson noted, but immediately admitted that he shouldn’t use the term.
You know, I can’t call the scripture, but I am pretty damn certain that there’s something in the Bible that says you should not be an idiot.
I’m pretty sure being an idiot in public is one of the many freedumbs listed in the bible. Why else would the fundamentalists try so hard to be idiots?
1I think the verse you’re talking about, Juanita Jean, is the one right after the verse Robertson is talking about. I think it’s in the second chapter of Jude.
2It says you should not be unkind, to anyone. I’ve known plenty of Down’s Syndrome people that had more kindness in their little fingers than Robertson has ever seen in his life. Oh well, Jesus pretty much called it when he said “Many will come in my name.” And somewhere else he said “Woe to him who leads astray one of these little ones.” I’d be a little worried if I were Preacher Robertson, myself.
3In Texas one can legally marry a first cousin. Which brings to mind the the story of the east Texas redneck who ended his engagement when he discovered his intended was a virgin because, “If she ain’t good’nuff for her on family she ain’t good’nuff for ours!”
4“Check the Genetics”
When in the hell did these thumpers start believing in science? It seems to me that Abe and Sarah were half brother/sister and that worked out ok. Nobody made fun of issac…..right?
Anytime something starts out “God told a friend of a friend of mine……..”. RUN !!!
5“There’s nothing in the Bible that says you can’t. . .”
That’s an odd basis for a religious belief. It covers a multitude of sins.
6If Pat Robertson has ever spent 10 minutes with a gentle soul with Downs, he’s missed an opportunity to learn. Shame on him.
From “The Clowns of God” by Morris West
I know what you are thinking – you need a sign.
7What better one could I give than to make this little one whole and new?
I could do it, but I will not! I am the Lord and not a conjurer.
I gave this mite a gift I denied to all of you – eternal innocence.
To you, he looks imperfect but to me he is flawless,
Like the bud that dies unopened or the fledgling that falls from the nest
to be devoured by the ants.
He will never offend me, as all of you have done.
He will never pervert or destroy the work of my Father’s hands.
He is necessary to you.
He will evoke the kindness that will keep you human.
His infirmity will prompt you to gratitude for your own good fortune.
More! He will remind you every day that I am who I am,
That my ways are not yours, and that the smallest dust mite,
While in darkest space, does not fall out of my hand.
I have chosen you. You have not chosen me.
This little one is my sign to you. Treasure him!
“You know, I can’t call the scripture, but I am pretty damn certain that there’s something in the Bible that says you should not be an idiot.”
I tend to build my expectations from my experience rather than from what I read in books. My experience with bible pushers tells me that being an idiot is pretty much a requirement for belief in The Book.
8Dear Lorraine that was lovely, and I think Pat Robertson is very accurately described as a “clown of God” -and I’m thinking God may not be much amused!
9Even his “co-host” gasped at Son of Robert’s latest stumble into dementia. And that slimy smirk when he said it. Shame on anyone who still contributes to this fossil.
10Just beautiful Lorraine. I knew a dear man who had downs who should have been dead many years ago. He was an Uncle to a friend of mine who was born in Germany and there during the war. He was also trilingual in that he spoke both English and German and was active on the internet. A purely sweet and gentle man.
11The bible also doesn’t say anything–at all–about abortion, but Robertson wouldn’t even allow it in the case that the fetus was destined to be horribly damaged (see: recent case in Texas…), although he wouldn’t want couples to marry if that were a likely scenario.
I just think we should run with “the bible doesn’t say it’s wrong, and Pat Robertson says that makes it okay.”
12@Aggieland liz Actually, the term Clowns of God was about the innocent Downs children.
I read the book years ago & it’s description of the children touched me.
13Sigh, @Lorraine,I knew that, was just reflecting on the “clown car” of the GOP that we frequently talk about here and Robertson surely belongs on that particular wacky wagon. I’m sure that Preacher Robertson didn’t INTEND to be offensive-they never do!- it’s just that his foot has an unalterable attraction to his mouth, that’s all!
14This may be one case where I wouldn’t mind having Sarah Palin go all Mama Grizzly at Robertson.
15Aggieland liz. Oops. My mistake. Yep, when talking about Repubs, that’s one big clown car to fill.
16Funny thing is, Down syndrome is caused by a chromosomal abnormality. It’s akin to a mutation that occurs when the sperm or egg developes. It’s not related to inbreeding at all.
Robertson is an idiot.
17Tom Oakes, I think saying “being an idiot is pretty much a requirement for belief in The Book” is an awfully broad statement. There are a lot of us here who believe in the good Book and the teachings of Jesus. We just don’t use that belief to hurt, denigrate, or ostracize those who don’t believe the same way we do.
18So let me get this straight – it’s OK to marry your first cousin, engage in the activities required to “be fruitful and multiply” – but they were wrong to do so if, after birth, the child has chromosomal defects?
So, how does Pat Robertson suggest this happen? The Second Amendment solution of having so many poorly-secured, loaded guns around the house that the kids will shoot themselves? Wait until their dad takes them to a BassPro shop (as per the previous “fun with guns” blog entry)?
19It’s amazing that Robertson is only 83 years old, considering that he started displaying signs of senility more than 20 years ago.
20You know, they just don’t don’t make fundamentalist idiots like Pat Robertson anymore! But just to be on the safe side, he should be castrated anyway.
21So now Robertson is pro birth control?
22Mebbe the Good Book didn’t say anything about close blood relations getting married, but the culture they lived in sure did, especially when the product of such relationship very often never went full term and if so, turned out brutally deformed and unable to draw breath. It was the women (of course!) in the tribe who figured this all out and started up a list of who should or shouldn’t marry who. Still holds true today in desert tribes. In sum, in-breeding just didn’t work.
23Were his parents cousins? Inquiring minds want to know!
24Ol’ Pat very recently came out on the side of Bill Nye, the Science Guy, rather than the creationist who runs that museum full of displays of dinosaurs being ridden by cave men. Ol’ Pat thought the creationist should certainly pull everything back a bit, especially the dinosaurs with cave men for chauffeurs as it was just way toooo much and it made everybody else like Ol’ Pat and his posse look silly!!! I kid you not. I actually heard the broadcast! I think Ol’ Pat has “wandering dementia” in that it shows up now and then and almost makes him come across as normal!
25Used to be legal in iowa. Farmers and such would marry cousins to keep all the money in the family.
26@Tom Oakes … then I’m an idiot because I totally believe in the Bible and all it presents and stands for!
27To paraphrase what the great but not yet late Tom Lehrer once wrote in his lead in to the song “We Will All Go Together When We Go”, Robertson needs to be led off to the nearest “home for the terminally bewildered”. ;-}
28@Marcia: You’re allowed to believe anything that you should care to believe according to the 1st phrase of the 1st amendment to the COTUS. However, you CANNOT force others to believe as you believe. This is not a “Christian” country, it’s a secular country. As stated by the COTUS. Those “wise old dead white guys” who wrote the document were men of the men of the Enlightenment and not at all necessarily “Christians”.
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2007/02/the-us-founding-fathers-their-religious-beliefs/
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