Obnoxiousness Not Limited to Religious Fundamentalists

The only thing as obnoxious as a judgmental religious fundamentalist is an obnoxious, judgmental atheist.

I'm not talking about those with sincerely held beliefs who make a personal choice to live a certain way.  I'm talking about people who think their way is the only way and that those who are different are evil. Crusades to change everyone else run the continuum from Bible-thumping Christian to evangelical vegan. If you don't conform, you are wrong.

While we're at it, let's include self-righteous vegetarians in this list.

Not all atheists and vegans are obnoxious, of course. And some of my best friends are vegetarian. But they accept the fact that I eat meat and I respect their right not to.

I, in fact, am strongly Christian, but I do everything I can to not be confused with the self-righteous evangelical fundamentalists which so dominate the media these days. I just hate it when the "Christian perspective" is represented by individuals who's values contrast so sharply with mine.

Case in point: the media coverage of Caitlyn Jenner, which has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive of her gender transition, often goes to "Christians" for the alternative point of view. Naturally, twits like Mike Huckabee are quoted with their idiotic references to Jenner's sinful motives (as if one would become a trans woman just to see naked girls in the shower) and so on, with the underlying assumption that all other Christians share that point of view.

I couldn't disagree more. In my mind, and in the faith communities with whom I associate, the only acceptable Christian response to gender transition is compassion and acceptance. If the Christian gospels were set in the 21st century, I'm quite sure that Jesus would be hanging out with transgendered individuals as well as others who are estranged from the current religious establishment.

My vegan, atheist, and spiritual  friends and I share common values of justice, tolerance, and global awareness. We share a belief in science and the scientific method. There are more similarities than differences between us.

Food Fundies Ferment Frustration

I was once told that I shouldn't eat a certain prepackaged frozen microwavable dinner because no part of it had ever been touched by human hands. The person scolding me was your typical organic, all natural, vegetarian, self-righteous food fundamentalist who loves to judge other people for their inferior culinary habits. I dated a bunch like him when I was young. It occurred to me much later that if my dinner had been touched by human hands, it would have been the hands of exploited underpaid migrant workers. I couldn't possibly win that conversation.

I'll never forget the argument I had with the woman who would only buy brown eggs. Because they are brown, she opined, they are inherently better than white eggs. I insisted there was no difference except the brown ones cost more. I will concede that in many cases, brown is better than white. Rice and bread, for example. But after consulting with a doctor, a farmer, and a software engineer, we decided that the color of the egg is determined by the breed of the chicken and otherwise is no different.

Like other fundamentalists, food fundies think their's is the only right way and they will endlessly harass everyone else until we are just like them.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for ethical and environmentally sustainable food production. I just happen to think that awareness raising can be done without clobbering people over the head with righteousness. I'm not saying all vegetarians, for example, are guilty of such extreme obnoxiousness. But those who are give all the rest a bad name.

Food righteousness is one thing. Food pretentiousness is another.

My family recently gathered for dinner at a very expensive Denver restaurant which simply dripped with self-importance. I won't say what restaurant, but it was in LoDo on Market just off 16th Street. This place's specialty is "molecular gastronomy." The concept is that the food would be prepared scientifically, frozen or heated to extreme temperatures and processed in such a way that our taste buds would squirt with ecstasy. I didn't think it was that good. Some of it was just weird. Why would I want a piece of fruit that had been pulverized into a ribbon swooping the length of my place setting? Just give me the original piece of delicious fresh fruit!

My grandmother mastered cooking the old-fashioned way: with her traditional electric oven and smooth glass stove top. Her cooking was an art form, not science, done by feel with the benefit of decades' experience.

I'm hungry. Maybe there's a mass produced prepackaged dinner in the freezer.