Posted by Hemant Mehta in Mayor Larry Langford was worried about the “skyrocketing” murder rates in his city of Birmingham, Alabama.
He was also being criticized for not doing enough to stop the crime.
So he came up with a solution:
“I’m gonna give you something far better than a gun to protect yourself with. I’m gonna give you the word of God,” Langford said. “He is the only source of protection you’ve got. I make no apologies for it. I serve a good God and I’m glad He found me.”
He then passed out 5,000 English and Spanish Bibles to attendees of a family summit.
Here’s video about the story (WMV file).
As ylooshi writes:
Actually, the move is politically brilliant. He’s a failure at crime prevention and protecting his constituency and clueless of how to accomplish realistic and rational goals in this endeavor. By invoking God and playing to the superstitions of the voters, he makes himself appealing and difficult to criticize by anyone that runs against him. After all, he has God on his side, right?
Unless those Bibles are large enough that throwing them at someone could thwart an attack, Langford has done absolutely nothing to help the situation.
According to the Christian Broadcasting Network:
He said that if the people of Birmingham and the nation would put Christ first, there wouldn’t be all the troubled families and crime-ridden cities across America.
Man… Langford *really* hates Jews.
(via Breaking Spells)
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]
Well, Bibles could cut down on the murder rate, at least if you keep it between you and the bullet.
That strategy will backfire if the crime rate continues to rise because he will appear to not have The Bearded One on his side after all.
Blaming the victims for not being faithful enough will also blow up in his face. Any opponent with a strong law and order background will win the next election by a landslide.
Many people may believe in naive things but few are genuinely stupid, and when misfortune strikes home they tend to get very practical.
“Man… Langford *really* hates Jews.”
It’s things like that that make the title of this site a joke. To believe in the deity of Christ means someone must hate Jews? That’s a red herring, a non sequitor, and probably three or four other logical fallacies. If a Christian said something like that you’d have it posted in three seconds as an example of how hypocritical and intolerant religious people are.
Langford must think those Alabamans have NEVER heard of jebus before. That’s what they’ve been missing all these years.
Jesus…who is this Jesus you speak of? And how will he ever stop me from my life of crime? Is he like Monk?
Wow, the stupid burns. *sigh* Hemant is saying that because the mayor says if people put CHRIST first, things will be better. Jews don’t worship Christ; that’s why they’re not called Christians. In effect, the mayor is saying Jews don’t have morals because they’re not following Christ.
the guys at the Non-Prophets podcast said they are looking forward to hearing the rise in bible-related crimes, such as old ladies being beaten with bibles etc.
What could possibly go wrong? ™
There’s a site devoted to the goings-on in Birmingham that reserves a special place in hell for Langford. (heh). Check out Birmingham Blues.
Funny… Alabama is well known for it’s dense religious population… and yet they have this problem with violence. Weird. Maybe It’s the 1% of the population that are atheists causing all the ruckus. Huh?
sabrina,
Huh! How does your logic come up with that thinking? There are Jews that are Christians and Jesus was a jew in his human nature.
As long as you carry a handgun and quote Ezekiel before shooting somebody, I can see that working.
It’s a joke. Let me explain and kill it into the ground.
Langford probably doesn’t hate Jews. He probably doesn’t hate atheists, either. But he’s wrong in thinking that putting Christ first would lead to a decrease in crime and it was wrong for him to say that. In effect, it cast blame for the crime problem on everyone who doesn’t believe in Christ.
Hence, the sarcasm.
Get it…?
I don’t suppose anybody would like to show this article to Mayor Langford. Here’s an exerpt:
*head/desk*. Okay, follow me on this one.
1. The mayor said everything would be better if people followed Christ
2, Jews don’t follow Christ..hence they are not called Christians. Jews that follow Christ are called Messianic Jews. Jews that don’t are called Jewish.
3. If you are (regular?) Jewish, you obviously don’t follow the teachings of Christ. If this is blowing your mind, seriously, you need to read a book. I’m sorry, I’m not being snarky, but come on.
4. If the mayor believes morals comes from following Christ’s teachings, ergo, people who don’t follow the teachings of Christ are immoral, i.e. the Jews.
5. It’s called sarcasm, as well as following the logical conclusion.
Whew.
Umm, Buffy, that study obviously is not showing True Christians ™. So, there.
Sabrina,
From reading your explanation and other explanations I believe I do get it now. Sarcasm is something that is common in this thread to those of us who cling to religion and probably our guns as well.
your comment about hate may well be great sarcasm, but it is far from being a logical conclusion. As a matter of fact it is so illogical that I missed the fact that it was great sarcasm. Good sarcastic humor should be based on at least a little truth. Christianity hating jews is absurd since Christianity was started by jews and Jesus was jewish in his human nature.
Jazzy Cat said,
Apparently you missed the part where christians spent a couple thousand years blaming the Jews for Jesus’ death and persecuting them for it. You are right that it’s absurd, but that hasn’t stopped them from doing it.
…since when has absurdity stopped people from hatred?
Also,
Is that why I was unable to find this to be humorous in a sarcastic manner?
Oh! Oh! Can I say it?
“They weren’t True Christians ™.”
Cipher:
Apparently True Christians(tm) are only those Christians that troll on other blogs and insult the host. I think Jesus may have mentioned that in the sermon on the mount.
***To all reading, that was sarcasm; learn it, use it, love it.***