Spit'in on Mom's Apple Pie, The Flag & Cowboys

By Summerbreeze --

We were in South Western Missouri (the buckle on the Bible Belt) for a wedding in mid-May, and stayed on for 10 days to 'kill 2 birds with one stone' and call it a vacation also.

Image by misterbisson via Flickr

We were in this area five years ago, but this time I paid more attention.

First came the billboards.

Covering the entire face of several billboards, one huge word, "JESUS." Then, "JESUS SAVES." (Saves what? S&H Green Stamps?)

Then came the hilarious bumper stickers, too numerous to list them all:

• "Find The REAL truth about Man & Dinosaurs" (with the website URL and a large cross)
• "The Lord Loves Cowboys"
• "This Country was founded on God, if you don't like it then SCRAM"
• "Creation Museum -- Prepare to Believe"...( actually prepare to laugh your A$$ off )
• "This Country belongs to Jesus"

and my favorite:

• "Jim Bob Duggar for President, Seed Sower" with some logo below it (Quiverfull? After all, we WERE less than 20 miles from Arkansas!)

Our first morning before hitting the road, at a northern Missouri motel, had me witnessing a Christian man yelling at a very nice, and attentive Indian man who worked in the breakfast room there. "I TOLD YOU I DON'T WANT A WAFFLE, I'M WAITING FOR MY WIFE!" he shouted. ( I imagine that he figured the man was a Hindu, therefore had no feelings )

How did I know that he was a Christian? Look where I was! Plus, his large gold cross hanging from his neck and his Church's logo on his car bumper.

A lot of the shows there in Branson Missouri. are patriotic. In fact, I think I recall someone saying that it is the most patriotic city in America.

A large percentage of the people who live in that area, and who visit there, are Veterans. They show their patriotism and their faith by the baseball caps they wear.

My Husband, who believes in God but does not go to Church, is very social and loves to talk with everyone. Actually I'm more of a loner type, minus the stereotypical serial-killer tendencies (so far). He would start talking with these Vets, being a Vet himself, and everything would be hunky-dory until the inevitable question: "Where do you Church?" My Husband would explain that he doesn't go to Church, and then he would suddenly be viewed as a Leper.

Imagine! Someone who spent one and a half years in Vietnam and received three Bronze Stars is suddenly persona non grata because he doesn't belong to a Church?!

Maybe one of these days he will understand why I'm a free-thinker, and will choose to join me.

The welding together of religious belief and Country by Christians has got to be one of their greatest wrong-doings.

How can any thinking person not be offended by these words:

"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one Nation under God" .....George Bush

I guess a dim-witted-believer-son, who hid behind his daddy's power to avoid seeing military action, has a firm place in what it means to be an American. Meanwhile, Pat Tillman, Hero, and Atheist, turned down millions with the NFL to join the US Army Rangers after 9/11 only to be killed in Afghanistan. I know that his legacy is felt by free-thinkers, however, believers have been known to dismiss him.

I love my country, and I deeply appreciate the fact that I'm an American. I think that I could say that my husband loves it even more than I do, since he has seen the conditions in Third World countries. However I resent the fact that it's considered akin to spitting on Mom's apple pie, etc., just because I choose to be free of a mind-robbing cult.

Mriana,  a contributor here, encouraged me to post this to support her in her rants on what life is like "on the buckle, " since she lives there.

I have to say that the South is beautiful, and the people are good people and very friendly. However, that friendliness comes with a price.

"Ya'll better love the Lawrd, or you're not a True American!"