Christian Bigot, Kevin Swanson Wants You To Buy Girl Scout Cookies

Right Wing Watch has posted clips of Christian Radio hosts Kevin Swanson & Dave Buehner saying some stupid shit^[1] about the Girl Scouts, "lesbianism" [sic], and singer Sara Bareilles^[2].  In the clips, Kevin Swanson begs their listeners to not buy Girl Scout cookies.

The individualism of feminism has been devastating to this country. I’d say you ought to say no the Girl Scout cookies too. I don’t want to support lesbianism, I don’t want to support Planned Parenthood and I don’t want to support abortion, and if that be the case I’m not buying Girl Scout cookies.

He hates women being equal to men (feminism), lesbians, Planned Parenthood, and women having control over their own bodies (abortion).  So he's not buying the cookies.  But I love all those things.  So I'll be buying plenty of them this year.

He's also got a problem with the Girl Scout's stated vision:

It does and I don’t want to promote a wicked organization that according to its own website doesn’t promote godly womanhood, it just doesn’t, I don’t see anything that promotes godly womanhood. The vision of the Girl Scouts of America is antithetical to a biblical vision for womanhood, it’s antithetical to it.

Let's take a look at their website to see what it says.  From their Advocacy page^[3]:

Girl Scouts of the USA's advocacy efforts help demonstrate to lawmakers that Girl Scouts is a resource and an authority on issues affecting girls. Based on almost 100 years of experience and developed from extensive research, the Girl Scout Public Policy and Advocacy Office:

• Encourages girls' healthy living through combating Relational Aggression and promoting girl-positive media images;
• Ensures girls feel emotionally and physically safe;
• Promotes girls' involvement in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM);
• Develops financial literacy skills; and
• Gives a voice to girls in underserved communities.

I wonder if it's anything from in that getting Swanson all upset.

Or maybe it's something from their page on Diversity^[4]:

Diversity has been a core value of Girl Scouts since its founding in 1912. At a time of segregation and before laws promoting civil rights were passed, our founder, Juliette Gordon Low, ensured that African-American, American Indian and Hispanic girls were able to become Girl Scouts. She led efforts to make Girl Scouting available to girls who lived in rural and urban areas, to girls who were rich, middle class and poor, and to girls who were born in this country as well as immigrants.

Since his complaint is a lack of Biblical womanhood, let's take a look at womanhood in the Bible.

1 Timothy 2:11-12^[5]

11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.

There's also Ephesians 5^[6], which I recently wrote about in more detail^[7].

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Kevin Swanson is a sexist who has a problem with women being independent, without a man in charge of them.  What else could he mean by "Biblical Womanhood"?^[8]  He's an asshole for that and probably many more reasons.

I hope you'll join me in buying Girl Scout Cookies this year, and then tweeting pictures of the purchase to Kevin Swanson^[9].  I want him to know just how much his hate has backfired.  I want this asshole to know he's helped the Girl Scouts, not hurt.

Personally, I'll be sending him pictures^[10] of my future Sara Bareilles purchases as well.

If you can't support any of them financially, following them on social media supports them in its way.

Girl Scouts^[11]: Twitter^[12] & Facebook^[13].

Sara Bareilles^[14]:  Twitter^[15] & Facebook^[16].

National Planned Parenthood^[17]: Twitter^[18] & Facebook^[19]

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland^[20], where I send donations directly:  Twitter^[21] & Facebook^[22]

However you choose to support any of these, please let Kevin Swanson know you've done so.  Maybe even thank him pointing you toward them to let him know how much he's helped them.

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1.  http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kevin-swanson-begs-you-not-buy-communist-lesbian-girl-scout-cookies
2.  href="http://www.amazon.com/Sara-Bareilles/e/B0017PAUAM/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&qid=1382410558&sr=8-1&tag=omahathe-20
3.  http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/advocacy/
4.  http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/diversity/
5.  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Timothy+2%3A11-12&version=NIV
6.  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+5&version=NIV
7.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2013/09/gender-equality-in-bible.html
8.  http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/eccl/women.htm
9.  https://twitter.com/kevinpswanson
10.  https://twitter.com/aparticularA/status/392495018772271104
11.  http://www.girlscouts.org/
12.  https://twitter.com/girlscouts
13.  http://www.facebook.com/GirlScoutsUSA
14.  http://www.sarabmusic.com/
15.  https://twitter.com/SaraBareilles
16.  https://www.facebook.com/sarabareilles
17.  http://www.plannedparenthood.org/
18.  https://twitter.com/PPact
19.  https://www.facebook.com/PlannedParenthood
20.  http://www.plannedparenthood.org/heartland/
21.  https://twitter.com/PPHeartland
22.  https://www.facebook.com/PPHeartland

Gender Equality In The Bible

I often see silly claims made about the Bible.  We all do.  It's a silly book.  Today's silliness was on the issue of equality between men & women^[1].

@RedScareBot @Vodkaninja @Braxxet the new testament Of Christ gave woman equal right .. it just took us guys 2000 years to listen
— Tal USAF VET (@talmadgewilliam) September 29, 2013

When I asked him about it, the answer I got was Ephesians 5, specifically verse 21 to the end of the chapter^[2].  Of course, I looked up the part he referenced.  Here's what it says^[3].

Instructions for Christian Households

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

The first sentence says to submit to each other.  But that's the extent of the equality expressed.  It tells wives to submit to husbands as they would to Jesus/God.  It tells husbands to love their wives, as Jesus loves his worshipers.  Note the different words it uses when instructing each.  Women are to respect men as their superiors, and men are to love women as their inferiors.  This isn't equality, it's a hierarchy with women below men and men below Jesus.

But he thinks this is where the Bible states men & women are equal^[4].

@aparticularA @Vodkaninja @Braxxet wife as Christ loves us.. he never said our wife is our property but our equal basically
— Tal USAF VET (@talmadgewilliam) September 29, 2013

I'm not writing this to accuse him of misogyny.  He didn't say anything blatantly misogynist and did express the opinion that men & women are equals.  However, he is ignorant of what it says in the book he reveres.  But's it's not just that.

He's ignorant of what it says, even after actually reading it.  He simply doesn't see the problem with the Bible here.  Probably because he doesn't want to see any problems with the Bible at all.  And that's the problem.

Too many are unable/unwilling to view the Bible critically.  No matter how vile its contents are, it's beyond reproach.  They've given up their ability to reason when it comes to the Bible, so they end up defending it.

Fundamentalists use the book to justify their bigotry, because the bigotry matches what is in the book.  So-called moderates, while actually trying to condemn the bigotry, end up defending it by revering the book the bigotry is based on.

So, which is worse?  Those who are blatantly bigoted, giving people good reason to not trust the Bible, or the otherwise good people who defend a bigoted book because of their own ignorance?  And how do we get the latter to see what the book really says when they've already read the part they should be offended by?

Sadly, none of this is new.  Just like most other problems related to religion, it keeps coming back up.  Maybe that's why so many atheists are so frustrated when dealing with the religious.  It's aggravating to keep dealing with the same errors, that should be easily solvable, over and over again.

Skepticism isn't just about not believing in things that don't have evidence.  It's about persistence in the face of so many people who do.  Maybe it's a never ending battle to fight against belief in the unreal.  But that's certainly better than the alternative.

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1.  https://twitter.com/talmadgewilliam/statuses/384369306164674561
2.  https://twitter.com/talmadgewilliam/status/384390705776304128
3.  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+5&version=NIV
4.  https://twitter.com/talmadgewilliam/statuses/384392259946283008