She's a good candidate... for the year 1814. Susanne Atanus, Who Blames Gay Rights For Tornadoes, Wins GOP Nomination For Congress http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/...ess-_n_4993555.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592 A Republican candidate who believes that God dictates weather patterns and that tornadoes, autism and dementia are God's punishments for marriage equality and abortion access won the GOP nomination to challenge Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) in the Chicago-area 9th Congressional District. Susanne Atanus, of Niles, Ill., garnered 54 percent of the vote in her Tuesday win over David Earl Williams III. "I am not in favor of abortions, I am not in favor of gay rights," Atanus told the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper, in January. She blamed natural disasters and mental disorders on recent advances in LGBT equality and legal abortions. "God is angry. We are provoking him with abortions and same-sex marriage and civil unions," she said. "Same-sex activity is going to increase AIDS. If it's in our military, it will weaken our military. We need to respect God." Atanus also reached out to the Windy City Times, an LGBT publication, in an attempt to explain her views. "Everybody knows that God controls weather," she told the news site in January. "God is super angry," she added. "Gay marriage is not appropriate, and it doesn't look right, and it breeds AIDS." Jack Dorgan, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, and Adam Robinson, chairman of the Chicago Republican Party, both condemned Atanus' comments and distanced the party from her candidacy.
Who keeps on trusting you, when you've been cheating And spending your nights on the town And who keeps on saying that he still wants you When you're through running around And who keeps on loving you, when you've been lying Saying things ain't what they seem God does, but I don't God will, but I won't And that's the difference,between God and me.
Well, you know, being an "apostate Christian" myself... ...I find I have to concur with the OP's synopsis of this particular potential elected official. Except I'd be inclined to warp the time frame back a wee bit further...for the sake of accuracy and all. ..Say, maybe around, I don't know...A.D. 14? Just so there's a round number? The sentiment that the spiritual comments on the natural and not the other way around, which Jesus himself espoused, has been a long-running record in most of civilized history. And for the constitutional purists who consistently argue that the Founding Fathers intended for America to be a "Christian" nation with their references to a "Creator", it is even more amazing that they saw far enough ahead of themselves to not tie the fortunes of their society to the whims of people who wouldn't know "God's" hand if it slapped them in the face. Which I hear God is inclined to do anyway, just on general principle most of the time... I won't spoil the search for anybody interested, but there is a narrative in the New Testament Gospels of Jesus making a startling statement about sickness and infirmity, as it relates to whether or not God is a capricious or malevolent sort of fellow, who gets his jollies or his vengeance on us mortals depending on what he may have had for lunch. Jesus and his buddies came across a blind man begging in the street, and one of his people asked him whose fault it was, that this man was born blind. Jesus told them that nobody was to blame for the man's infirmed condition. He was that way so that people could see the power of God, as Jesus gave him back his sight. The one thing about much of historical antiquities in writing is the powerful use of allegory and/or metaphor as method to reveal or convey a deeper understanding of people's relationships with (and ultimately, responsibility to) one another. It's become embarrassingly commonplace in our time of so much intellectual and technological advancement, to take a story so literally as to make its meaning ineffectual, when the people who wrote and told them, for all their superstitions, often recognized a story as just that. So, if you don't believe that Jesus really gave this poor guy his sight back, or if you do, don't let that take away from the moral of the lesson. There are things we'll encounter in this life, I believe, that are categorically out of our control, no matter how much we prepare or conjecture or "pray". And if we're to believe that our fates on this planet are tied inexorably to the will of a "God" of any kind (and particularly the vindictive and mercurial sort as often proffered in our time), we should never have bothered to learn about the stars in the sky, or what really causes a sunset, or why grass is green and fire is hot and water is wet. We could either spend a lot of time pointing out what's wrong with things we have no hand in or no control over or don't even fully understand, or we could do what we are called upon to do, in the moment in time that we have, with whatever ability and resource we have at our disposal. All with an eye toward compassion and mercy towards one another. Unless, of course, I read that whole thing wrong... ....in which case I'll be seeing some of you in youknowhere here any time now...
Serious question: how much longer till "God politics" cease to be effective for a large portion of US voters? Seems to be reducing in all other developed nations, but increasing in the United States - how/why is that?
At least one more generation.. so 20 years. As privileged kids you might not understand that this life is hard to handle emotionally. People face horror, disease, pain, grief for dying loved ones, mysteries beyond their capacity for reason, and religion has provided a coping mechanism and has since cavemen could think. People fairly naturally tend toward it and there is no real science based or humanistic based alternative. Pain is a big motivator, the desire for a higher power to promote civilized interaction between men is a big motivator. Otherwise, up to this point we would be free floating in a pointless existence of animalistic behaviors. That can change with information, communication and good governance but it won't be quick, it will require a whole new paradigm.
Notice how prosperous large population centers are less religious than less developed areas. This is pretty much true anywhere in the world.
Let's not knock people who believe in God just because of one article, unless you have a better explanation on how the universe formed and all came into being.
Do I believe there is a God(s)? Yes, but do I believe the Gods as they exist in current religions? No.
so out of the billion other possibilities for the causality of the big bang, the religious explanation that a god created the universe somehow has to be taken seriously? IMHO, it is better to say.. I don't know than believe in something that is just as unprovable.
I do have a better explanation. I don't know and I ain't creating a fairy tail story to answer the question.
I'm all for people believing in a God of love, tolerance, acceptance and non-violence. Jesus is just alright with me.
Not sure why you're all shocked. This is what happens when your state party infrastructure falls apart (as is the case with the Illinois Republican Party). The same thing happens in Texas with the Democratic Party. Kesha freaking Rogers (who is a LaRouchite) has won multiple US congressional primaries and is in a runoff for the US Senate nomination right now. Go read up on how insane she is. When your party falls into disarray, it becomes possible for lunatics to win primaries. When you have a functioning party infrastructure, you tend to attract good candidates to run instead of attracting no one (which opens the door to any weirdo winning the primary)
