Not-so-glad tidings

There is something slightly unsettling about receiving a hand addressed letter, without a return address, posted from your own city. It generally means someone has something to say, and they do not want you to know who they are. Moreover, they know where your home is. (That doesn’t bother me much–it’s listed in the phone book, after all, but it adds to the slightly disquieting nature of an anonymous letter.) Anonymous posts on my blog are to be expected, but given recent use of the mails to deliver death in the form of germs and bombs, opening such a letter is a source of some small degree of apprehension.

Luckily, it was but a poor soul who thinks (perhaps) that he is fighting evil. It comes from “Shepherd and Teacher Cosime” of the “Church of Judgement (sic) Mercy and Faith (Matthew 23 verse 23).” It is titled “THE DEVIL’S UNHOLY TRINITY: DEMOCRAT’S (sic), LIBERALS & FEMMINISTS (sic),” and goes on for 7 pages–all caps. When I opened it up, Jamie said “looks like the News published your letter.” They did. And the same day, “Cosime” sent out his response.

I was somehow surprised that no part of the pamphlet is “googleable.” It apparently exists as completely separate from the web. The sentiment, however, is real, and though I would love to attribute it to a single unenlightened person, I suspect the ideas are shared by a large number of my fellow Americans.

THEY SUPPORT THE HOMOSEXUAL & LESBIAN AGENDAS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ABUSE OF MILLIONS OF YOUNG CHILDREN IN THIS NATION… IT IS WRITTEN, “BUT WHO WHALL OFFEND ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES WHICH BELIEVE IN ME, IT WERE BETTER FOR HIM THAT A MILLSTONE WERE HANGED ABOUT HIS NECK, AND THAT HE WERE DROWNED IN THE DEPTH OF THE SEA.” DROWNING SOMEONE, PUTTING THEM IN THE GAS CHAMBER OR ELECTRIC CHAIR ARE ALL THE SAME, IT’S A FORM OF DEATH… SO, TO BELIEVE THAT WE ARE ALL CHILDREN OF GOD IS A LIE AND A JOKE! TO BELIEVE WE ARE ALL NEIGHBORS IS A BIGGER LIE & JOKE!… ALL WHO SUPPORT HOMOSEXUALITY WILL FALL INTO THIS JUDGEMENT.

It’s hard not to read this as a threat. The letter goes on to relate the attempts by a small number of radical gay activists to taint the blood supply with AIDS and briefly discusses the existence of NAMBLA. It has other things to note about women (“WOMEN ARE THE DEVILS FAVORITE WEAPON TO USE AGAINST MAN,” “WOMEN ARE MAKING LAWS TO BIND UP MEN AND TAKE THEIR LEADERSHIP ROLES, AND GOD WILL DESTROY THAT NATION,” “THEN THESE WOMEN COMPLAIN THAT THEY ARE NOT TREATED EQUAL, AND AGAIN ITS BECAUSE GOD SAYS THAT THEY ARE NOT EQUAL“). We learn that

SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT (75%) OF TEACHERS OF FEDERAL FUNDED GRAMMAR SCHOOLS, HIGH SCHOOLS, AND COLLEGES ARE DEMOCRATS OR LIBERALS [ed: only 75%!?], WHICH IS THE MAIN REASON THESE SCHOOLS ARE GOING TO HELL IN A BREAD BASKET. UNLESS THESE CHILDREN DESTROYERS ARE REMOVED ALONG WITH THE N.E.A. LEADERS, CHILDREN WILL MURDER, FIGHT AGAINST TEACHERS, INCREASE SEXUAL DISEASES, HAVE SCHOOL ORGIES, AND HAVE MARCHES & PROTESTS TO ADVANCE THE DEVILS AGENDA IN THESE SCHOOLS AND WILL INCREASE LIKE NEVER BEFORE.

Finally, we learn why Bush became president and who his biggest backer was…

THESE GROUPS HOLLERED AND SCREAMED IN THE LAST ELECTION WHEN GEORGE BUSH WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT AND THEIR MAN AL GORE WAS DEFEATED, BUT GOT OVER 2 MILLION MORE VOTES THAN BUSH. THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE, GOD WAS NOT ON THEIR SIDE, EVEN THOUGH IN THE 1940’S HE WAS, THEIR SINS HAVE SEPERATED THEM FROM GOD… THE LORD WILL BE WATCHING BUSH CLOSELY NOW TO SEE WHAT HE WILL DO WITH THE POWER HE GAVE HIM… SINCE JESUS SAID THAT WE WILL HAVE WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS TILL THE VERY END OF TIME… THE LORD WILL INSTRUCT GEORGE BUSH HOW TO HANDLE THE WARS, AND ALSO CONDUCT HIS (NOT THE WORLDS) GREAT PEACE.

On the whole, the thing is as foreign to my understanding as the diatribes against the US by some radical Islamic clerics. And this leads me to question how in our country we allow such benighted views. It seems to me that it is our responsibility, as democrats, liberals, and feminists, to preach not to the choir, but to find ways of rescuing such people from their ignorance. That such utter backwardness exists in this country assails my own libertarian/anarchist ideals, and makes me want to return to the necessity of a universal, progressive education. Democracy is a mechanism that reflects the thoughts and views of a population–a democratic nation can only be as just as the majority of its people.

I am not an evangelical atheist, and generally do not proselytize. Nonetheless, it is difficult not to ascribe such idiocy to a stressing of faith over thought.

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5 Comments

  1. Posted 3/7/2004 at 4:35 am | Permalink

    Of course Jeebus loves us…

  2. Posted 3/7/2004 at 7:05 pm | Permalink

    That letter reminded me of this article, which deals with the hypocrisy of allegedly Bible-fearing Christians.

  3. Posted 3/7/2004 at 7:07 pm | Permalink

    The URL I meant to post was:

    http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=16534

    I don’t know why it was changed to MT’s URL.

  4. Tim
    Posted 3/8/2004 at 6:35 am | Permalink

    “HAVE SCHOOL ORGIES”
    Damn, I’ve missed them when I was still in high school. Why didn’t anybody tell me?

  5. Barbara
    Posted 3/13/2004 at 12:40 pm | Permalink

    Isn’t that supposed to be “Hell in a handbasket?”

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