Okla. GOP- Kill Gays Because the Bible Says To

[FreeThinker]

Scott Esk, a Republican running for the State House of Representatives from Moore, previously known for having been destroyed twice by tornadoes, has declared on Facebook that Oklahoma should institute Biblical law, should arrest Federal officials who seek to implement the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), refuse to comply with regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration because he believes the agencies are unconstitutional, and that God decreed that gay people should be put to death by stoning. There's even more and he seems quite pleased to tell you all about it. And, this guy will probably be nominated, which in Oklahoma now is tantamount to election here as the Democratic Party is almost extinct.

Is there a point at which normal, sane, rational Republicans decide that their candidates are just too damned crazy to vote for? Is there nothing these nutjobs can say that would convince moderate or regular conservatives that their party has been taken over by the insane?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/11/scott-esk-stoning-gays_n_5486678.html

[DesDownunder]

Then we have Rep. Louie Gohmert (Texas) doing what I regard as his impersonation of the Grand Inquisitor in a House Judiciary Committee hearing about religious freedom on Tuesday.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/11/louie-gohmert-tells-congress-the-good-news-that-non-christians-are-going-to-hell/

If the November elections see a Tea Party/Republican Congress majority, we will, in my opinion, have officially entered 2014 as the year that the new Dark Ages began.

Real and concerted effort must be made to see that these people do not get control of Congress in November. The rest of the world is watching and we stopped laughing at these ignorant religious nuts sometime ago.

[FreeThinker]

Well, I'm not sure about that. There is no way I would defend the radical right, but Freedom of Speech in the United States has always been one of our fundamental laws. I hate what the right wing are saying, but I don't want to use the force of law or the government to stop them from saying it. What I want is reason and sanity to prevail, even in the Republican Party. What I want is for those more moderate and intelligent voices in the Republican Party, if there are any left, to stand up to the insanity. Perhaps that's asking too much, but I can't agree with using the government to censor things I don't agree with.

I can respect people I disagree with. There are some reasonably sane Republicans on Awesome Dude (no, really! There are!) and I have no problem disagreeing with them. However, this new wave of crazy that's sweeping across the South in the US is frightening. I want conservatives to turn off Fox News for a while and look at the Frankenstein's monster that Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh, and Glen Beck have created. I want reason and sanity to prevail before the Tea Partiers and their brothers and sisters in the misnamed "Patriot" movement start their armed insurrection against the rest of us and start throwing rocks at me--or shooting me.

[Cole Parker]

We sing the praises of democracy. It separates us from other forms of government in that it allows the voice of the people to be heard. We extol it, and so we must then abide by it. A solid democracy depends upon an educated and rational electorate.

It is our own fault if the Tea Party, or any other group of radicals, takes control of the government. The vast majority of Americans see the folly of this group who'd like nothing better than to bring the government to its knees. They'd like to see the government shut down because they don't approve of much of the spending it does.

If we do get a Tea Party controlled Congress, heaven help us, but it will be our own fault.

C

[Camy]

I can't believe anyone will vote for him once they realise what he's like.

[The Pecman]

Well, I'm not sure about that. There is no way I would defend the radical right, but Freedom of Speech in the United States has always been one of our fundamental laws. I hate what the right wing are saying, but I don't want to use the force of law or the government to stop them from saying it.

I agree with you to a point, F.T., but what about hate speech? Since when do we defend someone calling for another group of people to be put to death? I seem to recall some mad German painter saying this in the 1930s, too, and not many people moved to stop him until it was too late.

At some point, freedom of expression crosses the line and becomes hate speech, and I think one of the conditions is violence. The moment somebody brings death or killing into it, including inciting hatred in others, I'm out.

[Merkin]

Scott Esk says if elected he looks forward to applying biblical principles to Oklahoma law. Although he focusses on killing homosexuals and 'severely punishing' abortionists, here are a some of the other admonitions he will no doubt take up with his fellow legislators:

1. Death penalty for using the Lord’s name in vain

“He who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him; the sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.” (Lev. 24:16)

2. Prohibition against eating pork

“And the swine, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you.” (Lev. 11:7–8)

3. Mandating of animal sacrifices

“If anyone sins unwittingly in any of the things which commanded not to be done, and does any one of them, if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer the sin which he has committed a young bull without blemish to the Lord as a sin offering. He shall bring the bull to the door of the tent of meeting before the Lord, and lay his hand on the head of the bull, and kill the bull before the Lord. … And all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall take from it, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the appendage of the liver which he shall take away with the kidneys … and the priest shall burn them upon the altar…. (Lev. 4:1–10)

[NOTE: The first several chapters of Leviticus are devoted to mandatory animal sacrifices, such as the wringing of turtledoves’ necks, the cutting open of goats and bulls, and the vivisection of female lambs, for various sins.]

4. Death penalty for spiritualists

“A man or woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned with stones, their blood shall be upon them.” (Lev. 20:27)

5. Human slavery sanctioned

“As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are round about you. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their families that are with you, who have been born in your land; and they may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons after you, to inherit as a Possession for ever.” (Lev. 25:44–46)

6. Prohibition against eating fat

“It shall be a perpetual statute throughout Your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.” (Lev. 3:17)

7. Forbidding of hair and beard trimming

“You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.” (Lev. 19:27)

8. Prohibition against eating crab, clams, oysters

“Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. But anything in the rivers that has not fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is an abomination to you. They shall remain an abomination to you; of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall have in abomination. Everything in the waters that has not fins and scales is an abomination to you.” (Lev. 11:9–12)

9. Death penalty for adultery

“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” (Lev. 20:10)

[Leviticus lists four other kinds of adultery for which the death penalty is also mandatory.]

10. The profanity of disabled individuals

“For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a defect in his sights or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles; no man of the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God…He shall not come near the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries…” (Lev. 21:18–23)

11. Other prohibitions

“Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.” (Lev. 19:19)

from The New Gay Book of Lists by Leigh W. Rutledge.

You'd better keep an eye on those cows, Scott.

[Chris James]

I still think the biggest issue with zealots of all kinds, Tea Party and otherwise, is the cost. I don't imagine for a minute that any laws passed by a state that contradict the US Constitution will long stand. Applying Biblical laws just makes the case more divisive and takes it to court.

Lawyers, lawyers, lawyers...they would cheer on a fool if it made them money. The recent SCOTUS decision (Hobby Lobby) is going to start an avalanche of litigation as religious organizations try to associate that decision with every little bit of nonsense they can find...it has already begun.

[Addym Kehris]

I agree with you to a point, F.T., but what about hate speech? Since when do we defend someone calling for another group of people to be put to death? I seem to recall some mad German painter saying this in the 1930s, too, and not many people moved to stop him until it was too late.

At some point, freedom of expression crosses the line and becomes hate speech, and I think one of the conditions is violence. The moment somebody brings death or killing into it, including inciting hatred in others, I'm out.

Okay, I AM happy. I finally get to agree with Pecman on something. You've hit the nail on the head here. And I'm willing to admit that Free Thinker has a point. At what point, however, did this country lose the concept of separation of church and state. Religion has NO PLACE in government. I don't care if you're Christian, Muslim, Orthodox Jew, Pagan. The minute someone starts quoting the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, the Druid gospels, they need to be banned from holding any political office...anywhere.