But if it is a boy cross, is is a crucifor?
1 Like
I remember being surprised to learn about this from a German-born executive who worked under me back in the 1990s. One of the reasons he came to work in the States was because he didn’t want any portion of his taxes going toward the support of what he called (and what I agreed was) “superstitious nonsense.”
This move by the Bavarian government takes things a step further, though. It’s right-wing populists once again pandering to the bigotry of Germany’s equivalent of the U.S.'s Know-Nothing 25%.*
[*do Germans have a rough estimate of their own of this percentage of their electorate?]
2 Likes
What ? You mean… St Peter was the first satanist ?
I don’t know about Germany, but I do remember this from the Shrub years.
John: Hey, Bush is now at 37% approval. I feel much less like Kevin McCarthy screaming in traffic. But I wonder what his base is --Tyrone: 27%.
John: … you said that immmediately, and with some authority.
Tyrone: Obama vs. Alan Keyes. Keyes was from out of state, so you can eliminate any established political base; both candidates were black, so you can factor out racism; and Keyes was plainly, obviously, completely crazy. Batshit crazy. Head-trauma crazy. But 27% of the population of Illinois voted for him. They put party identification, personal prejudice, whatever ahead of rational judgement. Hell, even like 5% of Democrats voted for him. That’s crazy behaviour. I think you have to assume a 27% Crazification Factor in any population.
John: Objectively crazy or crazy vis-a-vis my own inertial reference frame for rational behaviour? I mean, are you creating the Theory of Special Crazification or General Crazification?
Tyrone: Hadn’t thought about it. Let’s split the difference. Half just have worldviews which lead them to disagree with what you consider rationality even though they arrive at their positions through rational means, and the other half are the core of the Crazification – either genuinely crazy; or so woefully misinformed about how the world works, the bases for their decision making is so flawed they may as well be crazy.
John: You realize this leads to there being over 30 million crazy people in the US?
Tyrone: Does that seem wrong?
John: … a bit low, actually.
Tyrone: (shrugs) Probably right, then.
12 Likes
Per the mythology, both used to be on the same team. Free agency can be a bitch.
4 Likes
I came to that 27% figure independently at about the same time and used to use it regularly, but I eventually rounded it down in part to show more kindness. Probably an error on my part considering the crowd it describes.
2 Likes
Yeah, I hang out at Balloon Juice, and they noticed that posting. And then started keeping track, and it was eerie how many times 27% came up as a Republican base. Like Cheney’s approval on exiting office, or the percentage that immediately believed that Obama was a Muslim, or some such. It felt like when you buy a car, and then see that damn model everywhere.
2 Likes
At least it wasn’t 23.
4 Likes
Who knows. I can barely tell the difference between those Abrahamic religions like Satanism and Christianity. It’s all the same silly myth as far as I can tell.
2 Likes
Seems a bit extreme given he could as I understand it simply have left the church and not had to pay Kirchensteuer.
Or was he just superstitious enough to want to say he was a Christian but not superstitious enough to tithe?
At least 12.6% it would appear…
Add to that a large portion of those who voted CDU/CSU and 25% sounds about right 
2 Likes
It was more that he didn’t like the general idea of any tax funding being allocated to the churches. He was an atheist and felt the Kirchensteuer was an embarrassment to any society that strived to be secular. He wasn’t thrilled about the tax breaks American churches get, either.
3 Likes
IDK, but this whole law is a crap-filled cruci-bull for civil society.
@BethanyAnne - It’s kind of a political lizardman constant
Yes, leaving Germany for the US in order to avoid “superstitious nonsense” seems a bit like leaving Norway for Iceland to escape the cold.
8 Likes
I’d guess that a higher percentage of people in the US strongly believe “superstitious nonsense,” but we have a constitution which pushes most public officials to pretend to believe in the separation of church and state.
4 Likes
GP: Is Eris true?
M2: Everything is true.
GP: Even false things?
M2: Even false things are true.
GP: How can that be?
M2: I don’t know man, I didn’t do it.
6 Likes
You’re joking, right? Your politicians invoke God and religion all the time, to levels that sound totally crazy from most western European countries. The ridiculous custom of swearing on the Bible is so prevalent that apparently most people believe it is prescribed by law. How’s that for pretending to care about separation of church and state?
6 Likes
Again, I’m late to the party and really need some sleep half a day ago, but this thread. Oh my. Would it need my rants, but I don’t have the energy.
I’m currently working on a project in the protestant part of Bavaria. This directly affects me.
Also, I grew up in another Catholic region, and I personally can accommodate the thought that the cross is a cultural symbol with my atheism. No problem, until someone orders someone to put this thing in all public places. Fuck this shit.
But please don’t be distracted by this Symbolpolitik. @doctorow, if you really want to cover batshit crazy, cover the Polizeiaufgabengesetz of Bavaria. 30k people already protested against this on a rally in Munich, and the PAG is still on.
Also, cover the Abschiebungsflüge Söder is planning for Bavaria.
This person is fishing at the far right corner even by Bavarian standards.
6 Likes
