Live and Let Live

Why is it that others seem to think that whatever it is that they believe ... everyone should believe?

Jelly finds it interesting that even Americans find it hard to Live and Let Live. America - land of the free. America - home of the brave. America - the land of opportunity. (Almost makes Jelly's heart swell to say those words.)

Another thing Jelly finds fascinating is that it's the religious right that seems to be driving so much of the intolerance 'everyone should have the same belief mentality.' Jelly thinks that all human beings have agency and brains. Jelly thinks that no one should dictate their belief system on others. Jelly thinks - Live and Let Live. Jelly says to the religious right and zealots world-wide ... You are not your brother's keeper. You are not Jelly's keeper. Just try to tell Jelly what to think or believe - see what happens.

Since the religious right is becoming more and more forceful in its attempts to dictate to humanity at large what we may watch (see Case Study A); who we may marry (See Case Study B); and are intolerant of non-religious right Presidential Candidates (See Case Study C); Jelly thinks that we could be closer to a religious civil war than many Americans realize as the religious right and zealots attempt to restrict our freedoms. Jelly wonders how thin the veneer is that keeps chaos at bay. (Jelly will save Jelly's thoughts regarding all the blood shed throughout America's history to ensure those freedoms for another discussion.)

Here's the net-net:

• If Jelly wants to praise Allah - so what.
• If Jelly wants to worship God - big deal.
• If Jelly wants to follow the Pope - why not?
• If Jelly wants to worship pagan Gods or Goddesses - who are you to tell Jelly not in America?
• If Jelly wants to praise the almighty Chihuahua - why do you care?
• If Jelly wants to marry a Jelly-2 - how does that hurt you?
• If Jelly doesn't want to "Pledge Allegiance" or put the hand over the heart - that doesn't make Jelly unfit to be the Commander-in-Chief
• If Jelly doesn't want to stand for the National Anthem - cut Jelly a break - you have no idea what the rationale is behind that especially if the person singing ought not to be singing - watch the video below. You'll understand then ...
• If you keep shoving your beliefs on Jelly, Jelly will start pushing back ... trust Jelly ... you don't want to see that

Jelly wants to know - speak out ... what beliefs are being pushed on you or America that just irk the ever-loving hell outta ya? Come on ... share with the class. (you know you want to...)

In a later post - Jelly will tell you why Borat should be our next Commander-In-Chief. Seriously, is that any less ridiculous than many of the political jockeys attempting to secure that role?!

Case Study A:
Jelly has never heard of "The Golden Compass," that is, until the religious right came out against the movie. Jelly has never read any of the books. Now that there is so much controversy around the movie, Jelly is curious ... have you been following this? Checkout these reports:

• Michael Foust: The Baptist Press
• TheStar.com - has readers who advocate - sure ban the books but then you should ban The Bible too - if you read only one - read this one

Case Study B:
Jelly wonders why the religious right is so afraid of gay rights and gay marriage. The religious right is welcome to marry whomever they want and procreate until the cows come home. (Don't even get Jelly started on whether or not those procreating ought to be allowed to procreate ... there ought to be testing and licensing ... Jelly's just saying ...)

Jelly wonders why 'the church' thinks it can dictate to 'the state' ... hello, Constitutional rights ... perhaps the government should not give 'the church' the many breaks it enjoys today, Jelly thinks. Check out some of these beauties:

• Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas is trying to decide whether or not to include homosexual members as couples in church pictorial directory
  • Jelly tells these couples ... if the church is taking your tithes, hell yeah you should be included as couples. Jelly wonders though - if this is how the church feels about your marriage, then why do you worship here?
• Jelly loves this one: If a person can be born as the wrong sex, can a person be born of the wrong race. Nice ... not. (Note that the BaptistPress site is a bit unpredictable. It may error out when you try to access it.) This column also delves into why homosexuals are intolerant of bestiality and pedophilia when the sexuality is not anchored in The Bible.
  • Jelly can't help but wonder ... since The Bible has rape, incest, adultery, etc. why is this book the moral compass for the religious right? Any reader easily gleans the racy, bodice-ripping content of the Old Testament thinks Jelly.
• Jelly agrees with the RawFeed.com on this gem - Evangelical Preacher Plots to takeover Microsoft due to their "Homosexual Agenda" ... you just can't make this stuff up ... amazing!

Case Study C:
Jelly received an interesting e-mail from several acquaintances. Perhaps you've received at least one forward of this little beauty. The photo is a shot from Time.com showing several candidates standing during the National Anthem at Tom Harkin's Steak Fry with the following text:

Senator Barack Obama, Governor Bill Richardson, Senator Hillary Clinton and Ruth Harkin stand during the national anthem.

Barack Hussein Obama's photo (that's his real name)......the article said he REFUSED TO NOT ONLY PUT HIS HAND ON HIS HEART DURING THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, BUT REFUSED TO SAY THE PLEDGE.....how can a man like this expect to be our next Commander-in-Chief????

First thought Jelly had was - wow ... it sure did take a long time for this to start getting to Jelly. (Event and photo were shot on 9/16/2007).

For fun, Jelly says - take a look at:

• http://mediamatters.org/items/200710240006?f=h_latest
• http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2007/10/30/barack-obama-no-hand-over-heart-during-national-anthem.htm
• http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/anthem.asp

Jelly says - take a look at the video since a picture is only worth 1000 words and a video is worth at least 10,000 words! Here's the link. Jelly wants to know - who the hell is the poor woman caterwauling through that National Anthem? Jelly believes that Obama has his hands clasped in front of him to keep from putting his fingers in his ears. As Jelly watched the video, Jelly thought that the other candidates seemed oblivious to the off-key, over-the-top whacky rendition of our National Anthem. Jelly wonders why someone didn't pull the plug on that singer's microphone. Blimey - how the hell did she get the gig to sing the National Anthem?! Why hasn't her family clued her into the fact that her singing in public is an embarrassment to the whole family? Jelly is convinced that she was attempting to channel Marvin Gaye. Jelly says she failed. Jelly almost prefers the Roseanne Barr's version - ok, yes, Roseanne totally kicks this other singer's ass!

In a future post, Jelly will speculate as to how long it's gonna take for the religious right to come hard after Mitt Romney. That boy and his Mormonism has a big, old, flashy bulls-eye on his back. Jelly noticed that bpnews.net is already aligning anti-Mormonism rhetoric out on their website as they talk about what Mormons believe versus what a true Christian believes. Jelly says - perhaps some of the bpnews.net folks ought to remove the log from their eye before they cast stones on poor old Mitt Romney and his little Mormonism thing. For fun, Jelly suggests this as an interesting read.