True to the stereotype of a crazy person,^* I sometimes hear little voices in my head. I had such an experience a few months back reading an article at Alternet by someone named Derek Penwell, who identifies himself as a Christian pastor. Penwell was taking to task Franklin Graham, scion of the noted evangelist Billy Graham. Graham the Younger (Penwell refers to him as “Franklin”) has taken his hostility meta, insisting that we need the “courage” not just to bash LGBT folks and people involved in abortion, but also those who will not themselves bash LGBT folks and people who’ve been involved in abortions and gays. Penwell thinks that Franklin really ought to cut that shit out; it makes Christians look bad. That’s a perfectly fair point, I think, but some comments of Penwell’s near the end of his article bring out a little voice.

[T]hose people who are already disposed to seeing faith as a bludgeon (or who are at least wary about the possibility) hear “God hates certain kinds of people” and find themselves justified in rejecting faith as a medieval form of crowd control.^**

The little voice in my head is that of the plain-spoken honest Tommy, Private S. Baldrick, “That’s because they are.”

Pastor Penwell goes on:

In a culture increasingly filled with people who believe religion is a problem, Franklin affirms every stereotype of religion as filled with a bunch of slack-jawed goons who can’t wait to rid the world of heresy.

Private Baldrick again, “Again…”

Update: For those among you not familiar with Blackadder Goes Forth, the whole thing might more sense if you watch. The relevant scene begins at about 04:00.

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^*I would not want to disappoint after all, dear reader. Back to main text.

^**In a 2001 interview, “Disillusionment Can Be Glamorous,” Thomas Wagner asked Thomas Ligotti “What does religion mean to you.” Ligotti’s answer was “Crowd control.” It was not Ligotti’s voice I heard, however. I am not that disturbed. Not yet, anyway. Back to main text.