The joke tells itself

The reason that atheists, agnostics and firm secularists mock fundamentalist religionists is that fundies are the jokes. Sure, there are a lot of very funny non-religious people who could write some damn good jokes, but why bother when the fundies do such a great job of being jokes?

An official project of the National Organization for Man-Lady Only Marriage has demanded that gay people stop using the rainbow as a symbol. The group’s leader declared:

"Proposition 8 was passed by a great grassroots coalition that included people from all across the religious traditions, and also people of every race and color. We are the real rainbow coalition. The gay lobby does not own the rainbow."

At the risk of taking a crazy person seriously, duh! No one “owns” a rainbow. If she wants to use one she’s perfectly free to do so. But she’ll probably be associated with being pro-gay if she does, but that’s her choice.

Right Wing Watch, part of People for the American Way, rightly pointed out that she was channelling NOM’s infamous—and massively parodied—“Gathering Storm” ad. Still, she thinks rainbows are all about her particular religious views: “Those are great Christian symbols, great Jewish symbols,” she said. Why? Well, silly, because “the rainbow is a sign of God's covenant with man."

Clearly she’s the very definition of a “rightwing nutjob”, and an example of why we even have that phrase. The rainbow was supposedly a symbol that the Old Testament god (who was one seriously angry and petty dude…) would never again destroy the world by flood. This will come as a surprise to NOM, but that actually has nothing whatsoever to do with same-sex marriage.

But to add burning irony on top of ignorant stupidity, the project is called the “Ruth Institute”. The website doesn’t explain the name anywhere, but since it’s main mission is attacking gay marriage, one can infer that the name comes from the Book of Ruth.

A particular quotation from that Old Testament book is widely used in Protestant and Catholic wedding ceremonies, and the character of Ruth worked hard to get her widowed daughters-in-law hitched. This is presumably what would attract NOM—the association with marriage (not necessarily that women were their husband’s property in those days).

The quote that’s so often used is a beautiful expression of selfless love:

“And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.” Ruth 1:16-17 (King James Version)

These words of love, so often included in heterosexual wedding ceremonies, were originally spoken by one woman to another. Irony in itself, but to have a rabidly anti-gay group choose this story and its protagonist to apparently name their project increases the irony level exponentially.

This incident—and the literal craziness of the religious right—are absolutely hilarious. Sadly, their money, power and influence are no joke, even if they are.

The photo accompanying this post is a photoshopped detail from one of my photos that I posted last year.