From Altars to Outrage: The Strange South African Devotion to Bigotry and Moral Panic

It really has me beat why so many South African Christians worship at the altar of Charlie Kirk. Yes, I know it's been two months, and he's been the most well-behaved he's ever been - but still it seems some people can't help but bring him up in conversations with me, for some weird reason. Perhaps they know it will result in some sort of confrontation, as it inevitably did.

And so I just had an interesting "debate" with one such individual who denied insistently that the guy was "so full of love" and wasn't a racist transphobic scumbag who wanted people like me - for all intents and purposes, dead.

Seems that even when you can show verbatim quotes of his own words, they say you're "mistaken" and "taking that out of context". You just didn't understand him, apparently, even when he was saying the most incredibly offensive racist, misogynistic, homophobic and transphobic things - the fault was yours, not his. Sound familiar?

The Christian War On Everything

Family, right? Love them or hate them. At the time of the winter solstace, the Chrispies among them - who've ignored you for the rest of the year, tend to suddenly remember you exist and around midnight send you "Merry Christmas" messages via text, or on WhatsApp or Facebook. Bearing in mind that they either know you're not a Christian, or that they just casually assume that you are, this speaks to a sort of detachment from reality, lack of empathy, and entitlement that flows from what I would describe as an expression of the narcissism inherent to the religion itself.

I mean, who - what sort of person, and in what sort of mental state would send someone they barely know (and face it, some relatives really are that distant) this sort of message AND tack on a "thank God for sending Jesus" at the end?!

No, everyone is not a Christian - and just because you are, and just because you believe in these fairytales doesn't mean everyone else does too - or should - or should pander to your shortsighted, selfish and wilful imposition of your beliefs onto them.

What message does all this actually deliver? Ah, let me count the ways!