NBC's Religious Bigotry

The spouse and I have been big Law & Order fans for years. We TiVo every new episode and watch it when we have time. Most episodes are common cop/lawyer fair, with occasionally excellent writing and surprising plot twists. There's a reason the show has been on for 18 years -- it is outstanding by network TV standards, low though they may be.

But, after viewing Wednesday night's episode, I may never watch Law & Order again. Here are the particulars of this episode, the most offensive piece of bigotry I've ever seen on TV.

• Woman is found stoned to death.


• Murdered woman is involved with Muslim artist (Ha! It must be him, you know what zealots those people are).


• Murdered woman's co-worker says that she argued with Muslim artist the day she was killed (Ha! We knew it!).


• But...artist was just trying to protect the woman from Albanian immigrants who had threatened to kill him if he went forward with his exhibit at her gallery. He's a pro-woman Muslim (he must be the only one), and his paintings portray the sufferings of Muslim women at the hands of men (MEN ARE EVIL!).


• Artist checks out - he's not the perp.


• Cops check out the Albanians (Ha! It must be THOSE religious bigots!).


• But the Albanians have an FBI tail on them 24/7, and they were nowhere near the crime scene at the time of the murder.


• Of course, the FBI has also been taping phone conversations of the murdered woman because she had used the words "Muslim", "jihad", and "Fatima" in the course of a phone conversation with the Muslim artist. The cops inform the OBVIOUSLY inept FBI agent that those words are from the name of a painting by the artist. FBI agent sheepishly retreats.


• But cops listen to one of the taped conversations (yeah, it's okay for THEM to do it, they're on the side of the angels, unlike the fascist FBI).


• Turns out the murdered woman was getting horizontal with the artist.


• Time to harass the husband (Ha! It's ALWAYS the husband) and confront him with this information.


• Husband shrugs off the accusation. Cops eventually buy it.


• Cops try to check out the college age son at the University he's supposed to be attending, and find out he dropped out some time ago.


• They find out that he's living with crack addicts - he's "ministering to them". They haul him in.


• Eventually, he's about to confess to the murder when his "counselor" interrupts. But, when the cops look through the two-way mirror, what they see is not an attorney-client meeting, but the two men PRAYING (OH THE HORROR!), The "counselor" is confronted, "Are you a lawyer, or not?" He replies, "I didn't say I was his lawyer, I said I was his counselor." Horrors! A Christian Minister!

Okay...you with me so far. To this point, all offensiveness has been pretty de rigeur. Nothing too out-of-the-ordinary. But it's apparent they're setting up something. Why else would they have all of the false leads pointing to stereotypes?

Now the whole episode narrative changes. From this point on the entire episode becomes a soapbox for "the message", which is:

• Christians are fanatics


• Christians are bigots


• Christians are feeble minded and easily controlled


• Christian leaders are brain washing control freaks


• Christians hate those who are different


• Christians want to kill those who are "sinners" in their Christian eyes


• Christians call these "sinners" infidels


• Children left by their feeble minded parents to attend "camps" lead by the fanatical, brain-washing Christian ministers are glassy-eyed robotic zealots


• These children spout insipid crap when prompted by their evil brain-washer, who is teaching them to kill


• And, ultimately, this final "message": Christian fanatics are no different from Muslim fanatics

You really had to see it to believe it. The "Chosen Prophet" son of the murdered woman, who stoned her to death to cleanse her of her sin. Do these asshats know the first thing about Christianity?

• Christians have NEVER believed in stoning sinners. Stoning is from the law of Moses and all Christians believe that the Law was fulfilled (or superseded, if you will) by Jesus Christ.


• Christians do not now nor have they EVER believed that a sinner must die in order to be forgiven for their sin. Individual asshats have practiced this reprehensible doctrine in the past (see: witches, Salem), but it has never been nor shall it ever be a part of Christianity. Christians believe in blood atonement; but it's not the blood of the sinner that atones, but rather the shed blood of the Savior, Jesus Christ.


• Christians (with the exception of those asshats in Kansas who believe that "God hates fags") are taught to "love the sinner but hate the sin". We believe in ministering to and loving sinners, not in killing them. The fact is WE'RE ALL SINNERS. Just because I'm not a homosexual or an adulterer doesn't make me better than them. I've got my own "thorns in the flesh" to overcome, thank you.


• Christians don't go around blowing themselves up, nor killing people who aren't Christian, nor foisting the Christian equivalent of Sharia on our countrymen and women. We all know who's doing that, don't we?


• I'll put the members of my church up against any 100 atheists you chose at random, and I wager we'll come out WAAAAAAAAY ahead of THAT group in the areas of independence, intelligence, and open mindedness and tolerance (like, how many atheists will tolerate OUR viewpoint, or even allow us to speak it?).


• Show me ONE Christian who has EVER used the word 'infidel' to describe an unbeliever. Just ONE! You can't do it. Because WE DON'T DO IT!!!! We don't use that word. It's not a part of our "orthodoxy", if you will. We don't say it because we don't believe it.

What we have here is typical liberal-atheist projection. They project upon Christians all of the most evil attributes imaginable so that they can feel better about the amoral lives they themselves live. There's also a healthy dose of "equivalence" here -- our Christian fanatics, their Muslim fanatics, it's all the same. Uh, no...it's not. We're not the one's trying to remake society in "our" image. That would be the Muslims. And the Liberals. See what I mean about "projection"?

Note also that there is no outcry in the media about this horrendous steaming turd of bigotry. Switch it around: make it "Jews" or "Muslims" brainwashing their children and murdering "infidels" instead of Christian wackos. You wouldn't be able to swing a dead cat without hitting someone decrying the bigotry. Shoot, if it was Muslims, you would have riots and fatwas. Someone would be dead. Fast.

Welcome to America, where bigotry is not tolerated...except when it's against white men, Asians, and Christians.

The writers, director, and producers of this episode can all kiss my lily-white Christian ass.