Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Titus Presler on Rising Religious Thuggery: Cynical Governments Exploit Bigotry As Resources Grow Scarce (and on Kim Davis As a Homegrown U.S. Religious Thug)




Titus Presler, an Episcopal priest and principal of an Episcopal college in Pakistan who was beaten by government thugs because of his religion, explains why such religious thuggery is on the rise in many places in the world: 


Another factor is the global revival of religious chauvinism across many religions, including both Christianity and Islam but also in Hindu nationalism in India and Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. As populations increase and governments fail their constituents, religious majorities prey on minorities in competition for resources, especially as local identities have resurfaced since the end of the Cold War.

Christians like to point the finger at Muslims as they compare Christian forbearance and love with Islamic violence and prejudice. But people like Kim Davis are Christian thugs, beating up on LGBT folks psychologically, sending deadly messages to LGBT youth that sometimes result in the suicide of those youth.

We who live in the U.S. don't have to leave our own nation to examples of religious thuggery. We proudly and defiantly grow our own large crop of right-wing Christian thuggery on an everyday basis.

The photo of Rev. Titus Presler is from his Twitter page.

No comments: