Rep. John Shimkus, an IL representative, knows that global warming is a hoax because “God’s Word” says that God will be the one to destroy the earth, not man. There’s no need to worry about global flooding, because God promised he wouldn’t do that anymore:
The earth will end only when God declares it’s time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood…. We can get into the theological discourse of that position, but I do believe God’s word is infallible, unchanging, perfect.
I find it disturbing someone who thinks like this is leading our country.
Here’s the video:
A small part of me just died, his ability to bury his head in the sand is outstanding. Think we need a new phrase. “Everytime you quote the bible as factual, a kitten or a puppy steps on a landmine” Do you think that might make them stop.
One of the wonderful things about democracy is that everyone involved gets to cast their vote for who they want to represent them.
One of the terrifying things about democracy is that everyone involved gets to cast their vote for who they want to represent them.
Shimkus is an example of point 2 – he apparently represents a district where the Enlightenment never happened. Or at least the people living there wish it hadn’t.
I really wish somebody who was attending would just do a ROTFLMAO when someone like Shimkus spouts off like that. I mean a gut busting guffaw with pointing involved.
People also don’t suffer from epilepsy. They are possessed by demons. Just ask Jesus:
Matthew 17:15-18
“Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
“O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.
I’m pretty sure John Shimkus isn’t opposed to epilepsy medication. Why do people continue to insist on living like blind cave men? It’s like listening to a cult member when this crazy bastard speaks.
You know, I have my own reasons for reasonable doubt as to man being the cause of global warming, but I’d REALLY prefer not to have this guy arguing on my behalf.
Brainwashing. Pure and simple brainwashing. There is NO other possible explanation for this degree of stupidity.
(sobs silently)
You see this kind of thinking at all levels of government. It amazes me that people will elect them and then act as if they had no idea they were that way. Look at Dover,pa school broad after the trail. Most if not all of those trying to push the ID movement were voted out. I don’t think most people that do vote actually want people like this in office but most politicians of this type make sure they hide their true feelings until after getting elected. This is where the media needs to look more closely at them. I know as soon as someone starts looking into the religious beliefs of a christian they claim they are being persecuted, who comes to their defense? The same ones that regret voting for them after the election.
And here in Kentucky, state homeland security is required–legally required–to credit God with keeping the state safe from terrorists:
http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/608229.html
The state’s only Jewish legislator, Kathy Stein, was interrogated on the floor of the state legislature about her religious beliefs. (Do you believe Jesus rose from the dead? Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? etc.)
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3944/is_200004/ai_n8897201/
Urgh, and people believe that. When the Earth has nothing left to give the same Christians will be cursing because their god is not saving them. *head desk*
Wow, I am only recently aware of how often politicians cite the Bible to defend a certain stance. His personal faith should be left out of his political life. I understand that it may be a part of who he is, but the founding fathers advocated separation of church and state for a good reason. We should not have to worry about the minds of our politicians being clouded with their faith when making decisions concerning the fate our of nation.
Only one way to test this theory… we need to try and level the planet with nuclear missiles and see if God stops us. After all, He made it pretty clear that HE wants to be the one to wipe us off the face of the earth. I don’t think he’d let us take that privilege away from him.
Well, he seems reasonable. I agree with him, he makes a good point.
On a related note, we should launch all our nukes at Russia, Korea, Iran, and France. We destroy our enemies and the Earth will be absolutely fine because god doesn’t want it destroyed! It’s win-win!
When I moved from my home state of Texas to Illinois, I thought I was getting away from all this…(sigh)…I mean, really, I find corrupt Chicago politics preferable to an utter renunciation of the scientific method. At least the former will get roads resurfaced or your trash picked up once in awhile.
While complete and pure conjecture, I wonder of Shimkus has considered whether or not the destruction of the world “not by water, but by fire” actually could be due to global warming shifting weather patterns so severely that previously fertile areas become parched and fire-prone, thus leading to global devastation. Boy, wouldn’t *THAT* be an ironic hoot…!
It must be that bible inerrentists just tend toward black and white thinking period. Humans can obviously hurt the environment to the point we hurt ourselves and animal life. We can overfish to the point of no more fish, dump chemicals that destroy natural habitats and pollute our drinking water, overlog native populations out of existence. Those things are obvious cause and effect. Global warning doesn’t necessarily mean we wipe out every living thing on the planet in the same fashion that the Bible God likes to do it. Our behavior can still cause great damage to ourselves and our earth in smaller ways.
This is very astounding and creepy for me to see. I am from Germany and imagining any politician here would start quoting the bible in an official meeting of some kind as an argument for his position, is just plain ridiculous. Fortunately! But in the States this seems to be accepted now. Don’t you have some kind of law about the separation of church and state, too, what happened to that? How can this be allowed in your country?
Well, he’s sort of right about this one. A flood like Noah’s deluge is physically impossible. But I doubt he would want to hear that…
I find it disturbing someone who things like this gets elected.
Just to be clear:
Are all Christians unqualified to lead this country?
Or only Christians who have particular eschatologies?
Or all religious people in general?
I don’t mean to be inflammatory — the questions are genuine, and I think invited based on your comment, “It scares me people like this…”
I’m just trying to figure out what the “this” is.
@ bornatheist:
The separation of church and state means:
The government cannot sponsor or prefer one religion over another.
It does not prohibit religious people from holding elected positions, and it does not prevent them from expressing those religious views while in office.
The separation was created to prohibit the prosecution of religious minorities (or at least specific groups of religious minorities, anyway) not to exclude religious people from government.
The best part is, Shimkus doesn’t really believe any of that crap, he’s just pandering to the christians that elected him and will hopefully re-elect him, and he’s pandering to the people hurt by the mines that closed–certainly mostly christians, too.
I’m sure if you threw a few martinis down his throat, you’d have a great laugh together about his bible riff on the floor.
I agree with him, god will not distroy all of humanity, just a tiny bit, let’s say 3 billion or so?
I agree that the Earth won’t be destroyed by man but that doesn’t mean it can’t be rendered largely uninhabitable by us.
Also- I must have missed the part in the Bible that talks about dinosaurs.
The Bilderberg Group believes world population needs to be reduced by 50% in order for the planet to survive.
And who is in the Bilderberg Group?
Oh- just people like Paul Wolfowitz Donald Rumsfeld and Henry Kissinger.
Here’s a Wiki link;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group
Plato was right. Democracy is the worst form of government.
It would be great to have a philosopher-king, but then you get the (Marcus Aurelius), the bad (Hitler) and the ugly (Amin).
“All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.”
The biblical flood was real, just inaccurately recorded. With the melting of the polar ice and the rising of the oceans, we are facing the advent of the new flood, just as it happened before. Prepare yourselves as the Lord of Kobol have instructed.
(PS: Yes, I’m taking the piss.)
Why, oh why, do these people take the Bible as (pun intended) Holy Writ? The book was written by PEOPLE!
Now I’m going to have a nice lie down.
If a moral relativist believes that morality is largely based on what the popular cultural perception of it is, then there is nothing wrong or immoral about this guy being elected and taking office, I’m assuming the majority got him into office.
“One of the terrifying things about democracy is that everyone involved gets to cast their vote for who they want to represent them.”
– While this may be terrifying for some, by atheists standards – its the moral way to go.
Join me in prayer for the Days of the Rapture, when Shimkus and his ilk will rise to Heaven and leave us the Hell alone.
I know its a hoax because its cold in Texas in March. We need more global warming, not less.
And wow! Its actually April now and its colder today than it was last week when it was March! By now it ought to be 105 degrees outside! Stupid Al Gore and his stupid plans to freeze the world!
This guy reminds me of that politician in “Religulous” who made the statement, paraphrased, “You don’t need to take an IQ test to get into congress.” Yah, you don’t, but sometimes I wonder if you should…
This is why people of strong religious conviction should not be allowed to serve in government. Ever.
I particularly enjoy the part in the video where Mr. Shimkis begins to read from Genesis, and the girl behind him just smirks.
“WEIL, THE BIBLE DONT NO SAY WE SHURD WARSH OUR HANDS. AINT NO GERMS. BIBLE SAYS IT DEMONS. DEEEEEEMONS. AND ONLY PRAYER GONNA HELP DEMONS. SOAP JUST GETS THE DIRT OFF FER WHENYA NEED TA GO TO CHURCH AND LOOK ALL NICEY NICEY.”
Not to nitpick, but that’s representative democracy, which some people argue is outmoded and obsolete in the age of information. The system is poorly equipped to deal with television presence, viral advertising, identity politics, and a US that has been hijacked by political caricatures: ‘I vote for him because he looks like something out of a Coca-Cola ad.’
I remember when I was in like 2nd grade, and the teacher told us that we had a representative system only because a direct democracy would just be totally unfeasible — that you would have to phone in a vote on every issue. At the time she said that, it sounded ridiculous. Today, not so much.
Obvious counterpoint: what does Joe Blow know about international politics, do you really want a bunch of Wurzelbachers deciding who to nuke?
Rebuttal: as long as Joe Blow is voting in the ‘Just like me’ candidate (e.g. Sarah Palin), isn’t that the same thing?
I don’t know what to think, except that we need to get whack-jobs like Shimkus outta there!
Trial not trail. Also Pa not pa.
And which school broad? Was she a pushy broad?
LQTMS
Or even a ready placard that says “ROTFLMAO”, held up silently overhead, while staring stony-faced at him.
Or even a ready placard that says “ROTFLMAO”, held up silently overhead, while staring stony-faced at him.
This is a job for Steven Wright.
It’s difficult to do that when you’re terrified that he’s one of the men leading our country.
It appeared the young blonde behind him was smirking a bit….
This is an interesting point. I wonder what sane fundies say to this. Do they think Jesus really cast out a demon – or more likely – do they think the word demon was just literary license? Yet if this can be literary license, why can’t the same be true for Genesis?
Global warning, ha, nice slip!
But yes, it seems these people think in, uhm, biblical terms…
There are many theists who are perfectly capable leaders.
The bald fact is that this particular man is either a fool or he is pretending to be one. Either way, in a rational nation he would be laughed out of office.
This, alas, is not a rational nation.
The “this”, I think, is people who would substitute their eschatological beliefs for a more universally accessible method of revelation (like, the scientific method) when making policies for people who by and large do not share their beliefs.
When a person writes laws, they do so in the name of the entire people, including people who don’t believe as they do. Thus, the justification for those laws, if they are to be legitimate, must rest in a ground that is accessible to those who do not hold the same beliefs as their authors.
And for the record, the answer to all three of your questions is no. I see nothing about religiosity in general, Christianity in particular, or the individual vagaries of eschatological conviction that would by themselves disqualify a person from being a good secular leader. What *would* disqualify them from being such a leader would be to habitually forget that they are leading a modern state in policy-making and not a congregation in prayer.
Daniel, I bet’cha cleen up nice on Sun-dee dont’cha?
The only official standing we have of that kind is a sentance in the constitution saying “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .”
Unfortunately, this means that people are allowed to base all their decision-making on scripture, as long as no one religion directly benefits or loses from it.
Should have posted this here, sorry:
@ bornatheist:
The separation of church and state means:
The government cannot sponsor or prefer one religion over another.
It does not prohibit religious people from holding elected positions, and it does not prevent them from expressing those religious views while in office.
The separation was created to prohibit the prosecution of religious minorities (or at least specific groups of religious minorities, anyway) not to exclude religious people from government.
I’m not so sure. I mean, he obviously panders to his audience, but I think he probably actually believes this. I have no doubt in my mind that after a coupe of drinks, he’d probably say a lot of stuff he’d rather the congregation not here and I have a hard time believing he would “resist temptation” if a “friendly lobby” happened to hire a stripper for him. I just also believe he’d head to a confessional the next morning.
Yes, I like to look good for my weekly breakfast out.
yeah, I noticed that. As soon as he said “genesis” she whipped her head up
yeah, I noticed that. As soon as he said “genesis” she whipped her head up
i was going to say the exact thing! if i would have been that girl, i would have whipped my head up as soon as i heard genesis, and proceeded to make silly faces behind him into the camera, pointing and laughing. i kept waiting for her to do something, but no, just put her head down and took it.
Weil, yur Sun-dee best makes you presentabel for the Lo-urd, but usin’ sope is a waste of muney durin’ the week. Yur not rich, you know.
Hey, religious freedom is important for our country!
I say now go worship at the golf course or fishing stream of your choice.
The real problem, IMO, with direct democracy is two-fold, but connected. One, how do you set policy proposals, and second, how do you get the society to *deliberate* on those policy proposals. As you suggest, the third problem, getting people to actually vote on the proposals, has been solved for the most part by technology (by American Idol, of all things).
Miguel, most standards of non-theistic morality are not relativistic.
Will you please go and read the threads about morality again? I think you’ll find that a large number of people who identify as atheists who posted on those threads stated that they believe that there are some basic overall moral beliefs that transcend culture – they just disagree with Christians about the origins of these morals. And given that atheists are a minority, I don’t think that many atheists would really want a strict “majority rules” government.
To paraphrase Churchill, democracy is the worst form of government ever invented, except for all the others. I can’t think of a better one off the top of my head, but there’s some problems with democracy, demonstrated by the fact that a chump like this can get elected. His belief in God is not the issue, it’s the fact that his beliefs have led him to suspend logical thinking with possible dire consequences if he manages to win his case. I do find that a bit scary.
“Miguel, most standards of non-theistic morality are not relativistic.”
- Well ok, thats good to know.
“Will you please go and read the threads about morality again? I think you’ll find that a large number of people who identify as atheists who posted on those threads stated that they believe that there are some basic overall moral beliefs that transcend culture”
- Ok, Ill read more on it. Thanks.
nope
there will just be no puppies and kittens left
Correct. No serious scientist has ever claimed that climate change will destroy the earth. This is a straw man put about by climate change deniers. It will certainly (and already has) result in the loss of a lot of species, possibly including humans. Personally, I think this is a bad thing.
I cannot understand people who don’t care about diversity loss or think it doesn’t matter.
Could we vote who particularly needs to be “reduced”??
Really… why people? Why not just cutting on some comforts?
Oh, so you’re a Bilderberg Conspiracy groupie, are you?
Considering Phyllis Schlafly, mother of Conservapedia founding nutjob Andrew, made the whole thing up in about 1960, don’t you think there’s good reason to doubt the truthiness of this story?
Can you name me the head of this conspiracy?
What are their aims?
And most importantly, what changes do you expect to see in our daily lives as they carry out their plans? Be specific, and start with a timeframe of 18 months or so.
On second thought, don’t bother. I’ve had enough conspiracy crap this week to last three friggin’ lifetimes. Why don’t people ever think?
“And for the record, the answer to all three of your questions is no. I see nothing about religiosity in general, Christianity in particular, or the individual vagaries of eschatological conviction that would by themselves disqualify a person from being a good secular leader. What *would* disqualify them from being such a leader would be to habitually forget that they are leading a modern state in policy-making and not a congregation in prayer.”
That’s what I anticipated, I suppose. It just seemed vague in the opening post.
I knew it! Battlestar Galactica IS a documentary! Oh, hi there, invisible woman in red! Have you come to tell me that the One True Gawd is the Cylon God and that the DVDs are Holy Writ? Praises!
Now, if I can just get ahold of an actual battlestar…
Yeah. Cut your carbon footprint in half – while breeding another little carbon footprint to feed.
See how much good that does.
Why should I care about diversity loss? Give me a convincing reason why I should — one that includes a cohesive worldview that makes caring about diversity loss inherently important.
Nah, as the last mammal gasps its last they’ll be sitting quietly, tapping their toes and murmuring happily “He’s coming back now, any day … I can feel it. He’ll be here soon …”
Wow. Not exactly constitutional is it?
For the most part I agree with you, but I think you could work around the policy proposals issue. You could still have representatives who are legal professionals, and who are accountable to the people, and they would make proposals. They just wouldn’t give them the final vote.
As for deliberation, hell, you can’t get people to weigh the merits of a different toilet paper brand, let alone complex legislation.
Shh. We’re not supposed to know about the constitution here in Kentucky. The author of the homeland security provision requiring that God be recognized is a Democrat from the state’s largest city (Louisville). Now imagine what you’ll find if you stray too far from the big city. To be fair, not everyone in small town Kentucky is enthusiastic about organized religion:
http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9012873
Oops. The drunken defilement of the Virgin Mary took place in Tennessee, not Kentucky. A friend passed this news item along, and I didn’t pay close attention to the source.
It looked to me like she was texting, probably to a friend saying “You wont believe what this tool is saying right now”
Please tell me you’re joking! As a fellow Texan, please tell me you’re not a global warmer denier… cuz that would suck!
If you are demanding a purely utilitarian reason for preserving biodiversity, how about considering your own health?
Needless to say, agriculture depends heavily on insects to pollinate crops.
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Alarm_sounded_over_US_honey_bee_die-off
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126954.600-honeybees-under-attack-on-all-fronts.html
About 25% of prescription medicines is derived from plants. About half of all plant species reside in tropical rain forests. Every day, an estimated 80,000 acres of forest is lost, along with all the habitats of animals.
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/1007.htm
http://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity-important-who-cares
This isn’t just due to global warming. Even if it is a complete sham (unlikely), humans are already doing a great job of eviscerating the planet.
You don’t need to be a hardcore Greenpeace member to care about the facts.
I’m a firm believer in global cooling. We need more SUV’s on the road because apparently we aren’t putting enough carbon in the air to keep it hot enough. It actually snowed in Houston this year, and it stuck! IT STUCK! FOR A WHOLE DAY! That’s not right! It has never snowed more than a mm and even then it only stayed around for 10 minutes, and that was like 15 years ago!