The Right to be Offended

 The first amendment graces each individual American with the right to free speech.  Unstated but inherently part of this right is the right to be both inspired and offended by those who exercise this free speech right.  The Bill of Rights guarantees the United States government cannot stop an individual citizen from exercising their first amendment rights.  The first amendment does not guarantee the individual will avoid consequences by private industry or individual citizens.  A United States citizen can say anything they wish to say.  I am fully in favor of this right.  I want to hear your opinions and feelings.  It better allows me to judge you.  I can make a quicker assumption about you if you open your mouth and express your belief systems.  Of course I will reserve final judgment based on your actions.  It is your actions which concern me most.  You may hold any opinion or view you wish but when that opinion or view becomes actions which are harmful then I feel compelled to act.   Words are words.  They cannot injure or kill.  Actions injure and kill.  But make no mistake, words can help us identify those who may act in a potentially harmful way.  This is why I feel the push by society to suppress an individuals ability to speak freely is counterproductive.  I want to know how the individual feels as expressed by their speech.  It allows me to anticipate how they might act.  I know who to keep my eye on.  I don't want to suppress the potentially harmful individuals ability to foreshadow their actions.

We cannot live in a society absent dissenters and offenders.  Many of the great accomplishments of society have been triggered by such people.  We can also say many of the tragedies of society can be attributed to such individuals.  This is the price you pay in a free society.  We cannot develop a sanitized society which is absent the nonconformist nor should we want to.  So the Duck Dynasty guy doesn't support homosexuality.  Was someone surprised at this revelation?  Nonetheless it is not his view on homosexuality which I find nearly as offensive as his religion which teaches him such prejudices and bigotry.  I know there will be those Christians who argue their religion does not preach intolerance of homosexuality.  I am offended by these illiterate Christians who evidently have never read their Bible.  I nod my head and scoff at such people.  I do not start protests against Christians.  I don't stop shopping at Christian stores which I didn't shop at before.  Instead I make them the butt of a joke I perform on stage.  I try and show the audience how this belief system is counterproductive.  If I don't want to hear their views I simply avoid social contact with them.  I don't attend their churches, prayer meetings, revivals, vacation bible schools, etc.

I don't try and close down or bomb their churches.  I don't petition our government to take away their tax-free status.  I don't fail to recognize their civil unions which are endorsed by our government.  I don't refuse to allow the existence of their holidays because they are based on their religious choices.  If they want to marry the opposite sex what do I care?  It doesn't impact my choice.  If they want to go to church on Sunday what do I car?.  It doesn't force me to go.  If they want to pray what do I care?  It doesn't force me to pray.  If they want to say the pledge of allegiance.  Go ahead.  Maybe I don't want to recite it.  If they want to stand as the National Anthem fine.  Maybe I exercise my free speech by refusing to take off my cap and stand.  Who does it hurt?  Does a veteran die in combat every time I don't stand when they play the national anthem.  I believe it was the degenerate hippies of the sixties and a Muslim boxer who made the point maybe we shouldn't be in Vietnam well before the masses came to this realization.

Herein lies the problem.  We are a Christian nation.  I didn't vote for that.  In fact I believe our government specifically stated we should not have a national religion with the statement regarding separation of church and state.  I know the Christians are going to state you can choose any other religion you want.  Sure you can.  It's sort of like marking the "other" box on an application.  If you don't chose Christianity you are marginalized.  You are seen as a dissenter.  A potential problem.  If you tell someone you are not a Christian the immediate response is "then what are you?"  An independent thinker.  I'm not saying I don't follow the herd sometimes.  I do but usually after consciously deciding I agree with where the herd is headed.  I never follow the herd because they are the herd.  The herd is rarely headed anywhere I want to go and most often in a perpetual circle.  

This is the problem with our country.  We have laws and traditions based on a specific religion. This religion is no more credible than any other religion.  We were born into it and that makes it seem more real but it is no more real than Santa which we abandoned at ten but still continue to perpetuate for the younger generation.  Ironically much like religion.  

We have people in this country who are fighting for rights which they should not have to fight for.  All because of a national religion.  Women, minorities and gays are discriminated against because of our default Christian national religion.  I am not proposing eliminating Christianity as a religion but I think it is time as an intelligent people gave credence to the notion that the Christian religion has made its way into our country's laws.  This over extension of religion has historically led to the subjugation of races, sexes and subsequent rights for individuals.  

I was under the notion I was born in a country which believed in human rights.  Evidently we only believe in human rights when it's a foreign country.  It is time any thing which compromises human rights be purged from our laws.  If individuals wish to voice their opposition that is great but you should not be given influence because your oppositional view is based on your Christian belief system. 

I am horribly offended by your Christian belief system but I am not proposing it's elimination.  I am not proposing the government dissolve your marriages or deny you the right to adopt children or fail to require health insurance coverage for your family.  

I am simply asking that no American citizen have to defend their right to human rights because it does not fall in line with the default Christian belief system intertwined in the law.  

Please heed my plea because we, as a group, are becoming impatient with your intolerance.  Our numbers are growing.  And many, if not most, in your own religion are simple band wagoners who will make the jump to our side as soon as they are asked to get off the couch and fight for your bigoted cause.  Eventually we will be the majority.  And we will remember how you forced your beliefs on us.  It will not be pretty for you and your domestic partner and uninsured family.