PETA Piper & The Power Of Zealotry

So, get this, a Free Methodist church in Alaska advertised on its website and in the local paper that they had a living nativity for the “holiday” season.  Da-da-da-da—in jumps PETA to the rescue!  PETA, reading about this gross miscarriage of animal justice sent a scathing letter to Rev. Jason Armstrong, admonishing him for his sins.  Armstrong was quoted as saying, "We've never had live animals, so I just figured this was some spam thing," Armstrong said. "It's rough enough on us people standing out there in the cold. So we're definitely not using animals."  See, the congregant volunteers all dressed up as animals to put on the show.  A minor point PETA failed to notice.

Now, just a couple of points.  As I recall, lore retold throughout the millennia regarding the original manger scene, occurring pre-PETA, mentions that live animals, not human actors dressed in animal costumes, were used in the manager scene.  I believe, in fact, that a whole bunch of animals actually resided in the manger when Mary & Joseph purportedly became the human interlopers who stumbled in so Christ could make is first Earthly appearance. 

Next, let’s talk about fanaticism.  That point at which common sense and a broad world view departs and a scary kind of zealotry beings.  You know, that which allows folks to understand the difference between cruelty—you know, a drunk guy kicking a puppy in the head—and a normal and natural use of farm animals (and, no, I’m not talking about the lonely pioneer farmer who had only his animals to keep him company on those cold Winter nights).   

It’s not much of a stretch to compare the PETA Nazis with our current political climate where extremist zealots touting their “Christianity” threaten the very homogeneous nature of our country and its ability to enact laws that serve the majority of America, and not just those who hold their narrow, bigoted, and divisive worldview on how you and I should live. 

Eagerly, I await the day when the average “Joseph” and “Josephine” and even the transgendered “Jo” rise up and are heard against the tyranny of those who rend the very fabric of our American life.

At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols. ~ Aldous Huxley

Published on: Nov 27, 2006