You might have said something like this to conservative Christians before:

So what if you don’t like gay couples? Nobody is forcing you to approve of their relationships, support gay marriage, or pay any attention to them at all.

But if you said that, they would whine and cry about how that’s ridiculous and how a gay couple’s love will (somehow) ruin all of society… they’re protecting the institution of marriage, dammit!

So you have to laugh at how Bryan Fischer (Director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy at the American Family Association) uses virtually the same argument against Jessica Ahlquist — while tossing around some ad hominem remarks of his own:

This small-minded and vengeful brat has managed to override the Constitution’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion and free speech just by being noisy and mean. She is the newest religious bigot in America. … Hey Jessica: if you don’t like the banner, don’t look at it. Nobody is forcing you to notice it, read it, agree with it, or pay any attention to it at all.

He also called her a “little atheist bully,” which I suggest Jessica take as a badge of honor. If you’re making someone from the Religious Right that angry, you must be doing something right.

Meanwhile, just imagine how Fischer would be reacting if the Prayer Banner didn’t begin “Our Heavenly Father,” but “Allahu Akbar” instead. He’d be flipping out, revising every argument he makes in this article — basically, doing everything but ignoring it.

Jessica is a young atheist hero. Fischer can’t handle that. The fact that she riles him up this much is just beautiful to watch. Why Christians approve of his comments is amazing. (What? You’re a Christian and you don’t support what Fischer says? Then say so on your blogs or in the comments on this page.)

(Thanks to Chas for the link!)



