ellen@ucla-cs.UUCP (04/04/85)
[always use a leash and remember to curb your god] just as someone else pointed out (sorry, whoever you are), i, too did not jump into the Black/Identity Christian/Nazi debate because i knew that there was going to be a rousing debate on just the issues he raises. however, with the current fur flying (accusations, et al.), i will stand up to be counted. my sex, my religious beliefs, and my racial heritage have all been subject to persecution and mass murder. (i am female, pagan, & of jewish "extraction"). i cannot fight false biblical references with refutation, because the bible is not my holy book and i have only read parts of it, never having given over to deep study of it because it does not speak to me (stimulate, interest me in a more than merely historical/intellectual way). therefore, i cannot enter into the debate on a "christian" level. the other abominable things which the IC's apparently believe in DO offend and upset me. while demanding his "right to be heard," Black denies the experiences of millions, who did not have a right to continue living, because of others rights, apparently, to eliminate them from the face of the earth. my family had no members, to the best of my knowledge, in Germany, Poland, etc., who lost their lives in the Nazis race to exterminate Jews (not to mention other "undesirables" like Gypsies & homosexuals, who, though fewer in number, were rounded up and exterminated along with the "lice") America was NOT founded as a Christian nation. it was a collection of separate colonies, each with its own reason for being. lest we forget, America, like Australia after it, was in part a human waste dump - where "undesirables" from England fled or were sent - Georgia was a penal colony; the Puritans fled religious persecution in their own Christian homeland, and became persecutors in their new home. (nobody has mentioned the penal colonies - not quite Devil's Island, but still not intended to be a nice place.) i vote, i have been in protest marches & demonstrations, i sign petitions. i do not want to be a victim, in the sense that others have used it, to mean someone who does not stand up for her rights, but, unfortunately, as individuals we do not have power, only if we work together, and even then it is not always enough to protect ourselves. fundmentalists of whatever differents flavors, because of their beliefs, do not give credence to the religious beliefs of others (as has been stated, it is their job to convert the world to a homogeneous relgious belief). if America were to become a Christian nation, even Christians would be in trouble - WHICH FLAVOR OF CHRISTIANITY WOULD BE CHOSEN TO BE THE OFFICIAL VERSION? and of course those of us who are not Christian would suffer, Baha'i, pagan, jew, gnostic, buddhist, hindu, and all the rest. i doubt if it would get to convert or die (but then, so did the Jews in Europe doubt that the Nazis would even begin to exterminate them), but blacklisting such as occurred in America in the '50's would certainly take place. our children would be indoctrinated or shamed... Black may have his right to say whatever he wants, but when those beliefs are acted upon, to the infringement of the rights of others, we are all in deeeeeeeep trouble.