Former Minnesota Vikings player Chris Kluwe takes on the Religious Right.

Courtesy of Americans Against the Tea Party:  

Kluwe made the comments during an interview with atheist activist David Viviano. When asked if religion was behind Vikings special teams coach Mike Priefer’s anti-gay comments, Kluwe said that a special brand of extreme Christianity was most likely the source. 

“I think that might have been a factor in it because I know that especially with Christianity there is very much, you know, a lot of stuff in the Old Testament about, you know, stone the gays, don’t allow it, homosexuality is a sin, stuff like that,” Kluwe replied. “And it is really unfortunate because there is a lot of very nice people who are Christians who don’t believe that, but there are also a lot of very not nice people who are Christians who do believe that, and they give the other Christians a very bad name.” 

“They’re very vocal, they’re very active, and they’re treating people really badly,” Kluwe went on to say. 

He pointed out that if the “tables where flipped,” fundamentalist Christians would be the first ones to complain about being “persecuted.” 

“Fundamentalism is never a good thing in history,” he continued. “Fundamentalism leads to really terrible things, and so my position has always been, I don’t have any problem whatsoever with religion, I have no problem whatsoever with whatever your beliefs are, all I care about are your actions. What do your actions say about you as a person? Because that is the only way any of us can ever judge each other.” 

Hard to argue with that.

I know that a lot of my Christian visitors get a little testy with me always going after religion, but much like Chris Kluwe my main problem is with those who wish to impose their religion on others.

If there were no Christians trying to insert Creationism into public classrooms, or telling women what to do with their bodies, or imposing their Biblical morality on our LGBT friends and relatives, I would never say a peep.

But as we know that is NOT what is going on in America these days. But hopefully by speaking out, educating others about the origin of religion, and standing up for our rights, there may soon come a time when people of a religious persuasion can live in harmony with the non-religious, and feel no sense of discomfort or need to inflict their point of view on their neighbors.