What is a Bigot?

A Bigot:

Justice Dakota

03/13/2012

1) A person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially: one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance.

2) A person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.

I have a Republican friend who is educated who thinks President Obama is a Muslim Communist. He has indicated that this particular view is shared by many in his Baptist Church Congregation. Whoa!

Oh, and my Republican friend thinks Mormons are cult members -- Wow!? What will he do in November 2012? Muslim Communist versus Cultist? His delimna got me thinking, "It must really suck to be a bigot!" Or, does being a bigot somehow make life more organized?

So I did a little research:

45-percent of voters in Mississippi and Alabama believe Obama is a Muslim, while only 14 percent correctly identified Obama as a Christian (President Obama attends Evergreen Chapel at Camp David, the same church former president George W. Bush attended during his time at the White House).

While researching Religious Social Conservatives, I read a bigoted comment made by the Evangelical pastor Robert Jeffres, a Governor Rick Perry supporter: Pastor Jeffres strongly implied in his introduction at the 2012 Values Voters Conference that Evangelicals would have a choice between a non-Christian ‘good man’ (Romney) and a ‘born-again Christian (Perry).’

In later comments, Jeffres explicitly called Mitt Romney a “non-Christian” and termed Mormonism “a cult.” Nice!

Even though my posts are intended to be political in nature, it occurred to me that we may have a presidential election where a sizable percentage of religious bigots will "infect" the political process.

What happens in the mind of a religious bigot when they perceive the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election a battle between The Boogy-Man and the Demon hiding under their bed?   

I discovered something not-so-interesting: Christians can be divided into two groups when it comes to the age of the Universe:

One group is the young-earth creationists, who take a literal interpretation of Genesis and believe the Earth is around 6,000 years old based on Biblical genealogies.

The other group is the old-earth creationists, who accept the scientific evidence that points to the Earth being approximately 4.5 billion years old because they don't interpret Genesis literally.

Question: If one or the other group of Christians noted above is intolerant toward the other group, then are Christians bigoted against themselves? Mind-Freak Alert! Mind-Freak Alert!

Then, throw into that anti-intellectual spiritual mess: anti-Mormonism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Amish (yes, even the Amish are hated by some), anti-Lutheran, anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish, anti-Buddhism, anti-Hinduism, anti-ME, anti-YOU, anti-secularism, anti-Auntie, anti-Freaking Everything ... Please, bigots, just stop! For the love of God -- just stop being bigots!! 

Not that science matters to religious bigots, but I feel it only responsible to offer the following:

"The scientific consensus, supported by a 2006 statement by 68 national and international science academies, is that it is evidence-based fact derived from observations and experiments in multiple scientific disciplines that the universe has existed for around 13 billion years, that the Earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago with life first appearing at least 2.5 billion years ago."

Romney is Mormon! It's okay. President Obama is what he says he is -- a Christian, Very, Very Liberal, Democrat. It's okay.

Lets do politics and avoid religious bigotry. There was a reason our Founders feared the combination of religion and politics. It makes everyone HATE!