"Tolerance!? More Like BULLSHIT."

"...we are not a Muslim nation."

Question: Are we a nation of assholes? Because

only assholes would elect assholes to a represent them in office.

In a strong and unfortunately successful attempt to embarrass my home state of Maine, Representative Amy Volk of the state house lit up Facebook a few weeks ago with an extremely well-placed and ignorant status update.

It followed the morning prayer which, I guess, both the House and the Senate have, (probably following a middle-finger salute to the First Amendment) by Reverend Donna Lee Muise.  While I'm personally no fan of prayers, there are some that truly are like poetry.  As an English major, I both respect and love them.  And as a tolerant human being, I have to say that Reverend Muise's prayer struck me as one to be celebrated, not shunned.

The contents of it, while important, are not what Representative Volk had an issue with.  It was how Muise ended it that caused Volk to flip her shit and passive-aggressively bitch out the reverend on Facebook.

"And so in all Your many names - Yahweh, Allah, God - we pray that Your will be done.  Amen and Shalom."



Okay, great!  A statement/conclusion that respects the major religions of the U.S. and those that practice them.  Although "Yahweh" and "Allah" are just two different words that also mean "God" (and all three religions follow the same God just in different ways making the reverend's specificity a bit redundant)... but that's just me being nit-picky.  The take-away from this is that people can be tolerant and kind to others, and even (dare I say it!?) respectful of other religions.

Oh, shit.  I forgot to mention Volk's status update.  "We just had a Christian clergy woman invoke the name of Allah in the prayer.  That's a first.  Someone needs to let her know we are not a Muslim nation."

Yeah... these three religions are far more similar

than they are different.  So complaining

about one is a bit misguided.

Here's how I can tell that these three sentences are bloated with outrage and intolerance: she specifically targeted Muslims.  Why wasn't she equally upset that the "Christian clergy woman" mentioned Yahweh?

In terms of numbers, her statement is correct (although her contempt is disgustingly palpable).  There are more Christians (and by that I mean Catholics, Christians, and all the denominations) in this nation than any other religious body.  But that number is quickly decreasing.  What's the second largest religion in the U.S.?  None.  More people are unaffiliated with religion than ever before, and the number of Christians has dropped by 11% in one generation.  Religion in the U.S. is now ranked from most to least as Christian, Nonaffiliated (agnostic, atheist, etc), Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc.  But this is all neither here nor there.

The fact of the matter is, while America isn't a Muslim nation, it's not just a Christian nation either.  It is, and always has been, a melting pot of ethnicities and beliefs.  And, by the way Volk, as a representative of Scarborough, you should be aware that there are Muslims that live in your district.  Quite possibly ones that voted for you too.  Way to alienate your constituents.

This country is extremely diverse.  As a politician, you need to accept the fact that you are going to be the voice of many that are not like yourself.  Just because you are a Christian doesn't mean you can only listen to your Christian base.  And you shouldn't be voting like one either.  You should vote how your district wants you to vote, as you are their voice.  If your district happens to mostly be Christian then sure, you'll probably cast a vote that favors them.  But at least you let them make the decision instead of taking it on yourself.

Again, I digress.  I guess my overall point is this: Representative Volk, you are an intolerant dumbshit whose actions did nothing but spark more anger and harm than good.  Stop putting beliefs and politics before actual issues that fucking matter.  How about you get someone to "filter" your updates for you?  I would be happy to accept that job.  Here's how I would've filtered your May 24th Facebook update:

"We just had a Christian clergy woman invoke the name of Allah in the prayer.  That's a first.  I want to tell her that we are not a Muslim nation, but then I remembered that my New Year's goal was to not be such an intolerant bitch."

Hey, Volk.  On behalf of all the people that are being alienated for their beliefs in this country...

I'm going to have to educate people on how similar Christianity is to Islam, aren't I?  Shit.

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