Meme Madness Monday - Learning is Bad Edition

Welcome to another meme madness, where we look at horrible memes made by various conservative Christians and pull them apart. Today, instead of a meme, I have found a cartoon called "After Eden" from Answers in Genesis. There are tons of these, and they usually aren't funny.

The cartoon above features a whole slew of culture wars wrapped up in the notion that children are being indoctrinated into a secular religion. Never mind that school buses wouldn't have any of these bumper stickers, the comic isn't meant literally. Those stickers are there to tell us what the public school system is proposing: godless evolution (or atheistic evolution, take your pick), environmentalism, pro-LGBTQ, pro-abortion stances (twice! since Planned Parenthood only performs abortions and does nothing else), and some good old Christian persecution. To top it off, "Atheist" Lawrence Krauss is quoted as talking about planing seeds of doubt so that religion can disappear. BTW, Krauss is a university professor, so don't worry that he will actually have any contact with your precious children.

Looking up the quote from Colossians 2: 8-10, we see a command to make sure we are not taken "captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy" (oh, the irony!) We are told that Christ "is the head over every power and authority." Whatever. Believe what you want. I do just want to point out that verse 11 talks about being circumcised by Christ. Why didn't they reference that one I wonder? Also, verse 18 discusses how people who delight in "the worship of angels" should not disqualify you. Gosh, Saul/Paul was weird. And, if we move further into Colossians, notably 3:18 and 3:22, we get all the "wives, submit yourselves to your husbands" and "slaves, obey your earthly masters" business.

As for Deuteronomy 6:6-9, there is advice to impress Yahweh's commandments on your children. It's buried in one of the tedious reiterations of the ten commandments. Perfect book, my ass. This book needed an editor. Yahweh really liked to remind people to obey the Sabbath, not worship other gods, and that he brought them out of slavery. This chapter also tells you to fear the lord because he's jealous and he will "destroy you from the face of the land." In Deuteronomy 7, he commands his people to wipe a bunch of other nations off the face of the earth, "destroy them completely". I guess that's not so inspirational.

It needs to be said though that these culture war stances are misplaced. Public schools are not really promoting abortion or Planned Parenthood. There may indeed be some environmentalism because there is evidence of problems that need to be dealt with. Evolution is just plain science, no matter how much they want to pretend otherwise. As for the pro-LGBT issues, schools are actually just trying to make sure everyone is treated with respect. You don't need to think that they are right, but you should give them the same basic level of respect as others. These students shouldn't feel bullied or afraid so that they can learn. AiG seems to want these students to be shamed and shunned so that they stop being who they are. Finally, students can pray in school, quietly, on their own time, without disrupting others. Teachers cannot lead everyone in a school-sponsored prayer. AiG should approve of this because other denominations definitely do not share their ideology.

I hope that child does learn something because being with AiG they surely won't.

AiG cartoon number two connects to the above in that there seems to be a misunderstanding of reality. Like I said above, AiG must want people actively bullied, shunned, thrown back in their closets.

Christians are trying to impose their beliefs on others, encoding them in law: abortion outlawed because it makes the baby Jesus cry; LGBTQ people stripped of any rights with exemptions for Christians to bully because their religion says we should stone them. Why should other people be forced to make decisions based on what a subset of Christians think is right?

Do we even need to say that evolution is a fact again? I know AiG denies it, but there actually is a lot of evidence. Creationists like to ignore mountains of it, but whatever.

Is it really imposing a belief on you to allow a trans person to use the bathroom of their gender? How does that impede you from saying a prayer, talking to your "friend" Jesus or going to your Bible reading?

If you're asked to perform a service for a gay wedding (flowers, cake, photography), how does that stop you from putting a manger scene on your lawn or slapping a bumper magnet that says "Keep Christ in Christmas"?

I have no idea why feminists marching is imposing beliefs on you. Maybe just asking for equality is bad.

Here's the deal, none of this forces beliefs on Christians. You don't have to agree with these laws. You  also don't have to think that the tax brackets are fair, that we should fund the Pentagon, that the border between NJ and PA is the Delaware. Basically, even when something is law, no one is forcing you to think it should be the case. That's why people can lobby the government to change policy.

The thing is, your defense is your Bible, the quote from Luke about whoever is not with me is against me, and this is against our Constitution. If your only reason for wanting something is legal is that it's in the Bible, you can't force others to accept it. You need to find some non-religious reason why this is wrong, why it's impinging on your rights, why we should change it. I know AiG pretends to be all sciency and whatnot, but if you listen, they will always go to the Bible.

Here's a hint: if something contrary to your beliefs exists that doesn't mean someone is trying to force their beliefs on you. I know it feels like real persecution that you have to acknowledge others existing, but that is life.