I enjoy debating others about religion and the existence of god. At a pub, just place an ice-cold beer in front of me, an open-minded Christian on the bar stool beside me and watch the light-hearted sparks fly! At the end of the evening, two things will be certain: I'll have made a new friend and will be in desperate need of a taxi-cab!
Since he's not open-minded, I suppose it goes without saying, but, were Glenn Beck the Christian on the bar stool beside me, at the end of the evening two things will be certain: I'll have a new enemy and will be in desperate need of an adroit defense attorney!
Of course I'm kidding about the lawyer.
I've never said to anyone, "You're not an atheist!? You actually believe in a deity!? Well then, your mind is obviously warped and I harshly judge you." Because the Bible instructs everyone to discriminate against the sinless, if I were speaking to a Christian, such judgment would be largely justified.
But the only people I harshly judge are ones that harshly judge others!
Does that make me a hypocrite? Since I don't judge until I gauge whether or not someone else is judging, I don't think so, because to me "gauging" is different than "judging". But, since Encarta's Thesaurus disagrees, please let me expand before you come to a definitive conclusion...
According to Mr. Beck, if you don't follow the rules of his religion, you are immoral. If you open a bottle of wine (or two) with your spouse and become intoxicated while watching a steamy movie on Cinemax with the express purpose of adding a little spice to your marriage, you are a horrific sinner. You're not harming anyone, you're not putting anyone in danger, yet, in his eyes, you're a doer of evil.
With much vigor, Mr. Beck can verbally attack Barack Obama, Van Jones, Nancy Pelosi and Valerie Jarrett all he wants over decisions they've made as officials of the United States government. As an atheist, I encourage the questioning of authority figures; even if you're questioning authority figures with whom I oft agree.
Harshly judging people who have harmed nary a soul, simply because you have been forbidden from partaking in their activity of choice by your church elders, however, is a completely different story.
Mr. Beck constantly berates individuals intent on stifling his freedom to eat specific foods for which he has a hankering, yet himself wishes to stifle freedom of people who wish to take in a late night cabaret show, sit down with an erotic movie made by consenting adults, smoke a bit of reefer, marry the person of their choice, or find solace in the company of a streetwalker.
Eating fatty foods, Glenn Beck's religion deems sinless. Consuming adult beverages and watching movies clearly labeled for those eighteen and over, his faith deems sinful. Even though the Pilgrims boarded America-bound ships hoping to escape religious persecution, everyone must follow the faith of Glenn Beck.
Yet, if you instruct Glenn Beck to follow the teachings of a religion with regulations differing from his own, he will use the above Pilgrim argument to justify his demand that he be allowed to worship freely. "Gazillions of Pilgrims died so I'd have the freedom to spend four hours each day convincing you that my religion is your only chance at salvation!" he'll cry.
Mr. Beck, if you want to tell everybody to fight for freedom, tell everybody to fight for freedom. If you want to tell everybody to fight for freedom to live by the teachings of your religion, please excuse the violent imagery, but stick a sock in it.
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