204 Comments
User's avatar
oraxx's avatar
18hEdited

It is all but impossible to exaggerate the sense of Christian privilege in this country. The people signing off on this unconstitutional violation of church-state separation would go out of their tiny little minds should any religion other than their own be involved, yet are perfectly confident it's okay if they do it. Rights are not matters of majority rule. Rights exist to protect the individual from the tyranny of the majority.

Expand full comment
Troublesh00ter's avatar

The sad fact is that they think throwing Christianity into EVERYTHING they do is the norm. Not having Jebus in every last action they take is beyond anathema.

One doubts they could even cite the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. HELL, one doubts they give a ripe dump about the First Amendment!

Expand full comment
oraxx's avatar

They just cannot seem to get their heads around the idea other people have religious freedom as well, and that includes the right to practice no religion.

Expand full comment
Linda Bower's avatar

They definitely understand, but just don’t give AF because they are self-righteous psychopaths hellbent on forcing their beliefs onto the population

Expand full comment
Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

👆🎯

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Next, you won't be able to go on a bus, a train or a plane without listening to babble verses.

Expand full comment
Len Koz's avatar

I do miss the days I used to see the "Jews For Jesus" crowd preaching in the NYC subway. It gave me the giggles every time.

Expand full comment
Donrox's avatar

I used to pass their headquarters on the first block of Haight St. in San Francisco all the time. Those were the days "The Gay Blade" Chick tract was often left in the Castro Street subway station. In the 80's, no one was free from their babble even in Indigo blue San Francisco.

Expand full comment
Nevoustrumpezpas's avatar

I guess their efforts to convert us ran out of steam.

Expand full comment
Len Koz's avatar

Maybe they finally understood they are Christians.

Expand full comment
E2's avatar

Well, there are Christians who, by their own understanding, have Christianity/Jesus in everything they do, without feeling the need to talk about it (unless specifically asked). A similar dynamic exists for some non-Christians who are driven by a deep religious or other moral code. Not everyone needs to proselytize.

Expand full comment
avis piscivorus's avatar

The establishment clause was added to the constitution to block possible efforts by future governments to replace the then existing state religion with catholicism.

Expand full comment
Joe King's avatar

There was no existing state religion then. Several individual States had them, but quickly moved to disestablish them.

Expand full comment
avis piscivorus's avatar

Spoiling their little fantasies with facts again. Next they will start crying persecution.

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Next ?

Expand full comment
avis piscivorus's avatar

"go out of their tiny little minds should any religion other than their own be involved, yet are perfectly confident it's okay if they do it"

Other religions are either false religions or parodies.

Expand full comment
Larry Desmond's avatar

Are you serious?

Expand full comment
Maltnothops's avatar

As someone who is reasonably familiar with avis’s commenting history, I’d guess the answer is absolutely not.

Expand full comment
Tinker's avatar

Police dogs have become another arrow in the quiver of bad policing. Many traffic stops were extended so a "drug sniffing dog" could walk around a car that they had no right to search. The dog then 'alerts' on the car where the officer indicates, and viola! Probable cause. Now I hear that they are also training to be 'better' Christians? Training to be better liars is more likely.

Expand full comment
Joe King's avatar

The only use of dogs where there is law enforcement involvement I could get behind is search and rescue. Every other use they are put to by cops is open to abuse.

Expand full comment
cdbunch's avatar

Policing is open to abuse. Especially since the profession attracts and may actively recruit bullies.

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Viola (French) is the right word. It's a violation of civil rights.

Expand full comment
Donrox's avatar

It is also a stringed instrument and a flower as well as a woman's name in English

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Violon/viole*, violette, Violette.

Yes, we have a music instrument literally named "rape" 😅

Expand full comment
Len Koz's avatar

Well, depending on how you play it is how I feel about what you are doing to my ears.

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

From my experience, dogs steal food when they are not properly fed. And the "one meal a day rule" worked so well for Aria that she looked more like a greyhound than a sharpei when I adopted her.

* Rhapsodie had one main meal and 4 light snacks (a few bites of cheese or fruit) to follow Aria's schedule. Fidèle had 3 meals a day (plus what she could con from the ports' employees), but she spent her days running along the canals.

Expand full comment
Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

““We always joke that we’re probably the only missionaries that have Bibles and bullets in our budget, but it’s true,” Rought said in the video.”

Oh so funny, convert or die is hilarious. And no, you’re not the only missionaries to bring bullets with your bibles, it’s a tradition as old as guns. The fact that they cannot see what is wrong with bringing the gospel at the end of a gun, is far more dangerous than just taxpayer money going to religious nonsense.

The taxpayer money going to religious training is wrong. But there’s more. Sending all their K9 police people to a religious is a violation of their constitutional rights protected by the first amendment. But then to expect the police to spread the gospel in their official capacity, remember these people are armed and have dogs trained for violence, is an infringement of the citizens’ constitutional rights.

But that is exactly what Answers in Genesis and Ark Encounter are trying to do. They are no less Christian nationalist than the heritage foundation or the fucking KKK.

Expand full comment
Joe King's avatar

The tradition is older than guns. Before guns, they used swords.

Expand full comment
Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

Yes, but my point was bringing guns on a mission is only as old as guns, but using violent force on a mission is as old as missionary work itself. Violence is as old as time.

Expand full comment
Len's avatar

“… convert or die …”

Someone page Riddick.

Expand full comment
dammitbarry's avatar

KKKatlik Inquisitions used convert or die. The difference being that kkkatliks usually later murdered the new converts for not being "devout" enough. Paulkovich in"Beyond the Crusades." His "No Meek Messiah" fleshes out the backstory behind all the religious cruelty.

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

First thing I thought of was: "I hope those dogs are all lifting their legs against that "boat" and causing further water damage."

Hey, xtians, here's a hint: Dogs are atheists.

Expand full comment
Straw's avatar

Can you prove that dogs are atheists?

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

Can you prove they aren't? :)

Dogs have empathy and love unconditionally. They've never read the bible.

Expand full comment
Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

If dog is god backwards, would they be stsiehta?

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

If a dog think herself as a Doggess, is she an Atheist ?

Expand full comment
Straw's avatar

A valid point.

Expand full comment
Psittacus Ebrius's avatar

I think more importantly is whether these dogs, after hearing the sermons will also get to spend eternity in heaven. IMO they are certainly more deserving than many of the religious zealots.

Expand full comment
cdbunch's avatar

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.”

― Will Rogers

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

Here's what Mark Twain (a lover of dogs) had to say:

"The higher animals have no religion. And we are told that they are going to be left out in the Hereafter. I wonder why? It seems questionable taste."

-- from Twain's essay "The Lowest Animal," 1897 (or 1905)

Expand full comment
Troublesh00ter's avatar

𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛, 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑡.

-- Robert A. Heinlein

Expand full comment
Len's avatar

They can think better than Christians.

Expand full comment
Joe King's avatar

𝐸𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡.

The answer is yes.

“𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝑆𝑃 𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠/𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦.”

Wow! Here's a lie! Hemant pointed out the impossibility of "during breaks" at a facility so infused with one very specific type of Christianity. "Entirely voluntary" is also a lie. Cop culture is very far right, and very authoritarian. Any officer there would feel enormous pressure to conform and obey. The parallels with school prayer pushers are obvious.

Expand full comment
Troublesh00ter's avatar

The very fact that this training was held at the Ark Encounter colors ANYTHING that might happen there. Might be a hoot to see what bible verses were shoved down the trainers' throats, apropos of bringing their K9 companions up to speed.

It'd be even BETTER to know how this landed in Ham's lap!

Expand full comment
Donrox's avatar

I thought about Proverbs 26:11 (KJV) "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly"

Sounds like practicing religion to me.

Expand full comment
Joe King's avatar

Psalm 22:16 comes to mind: "Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet."

Expand full comment
Troublesh00ter's avatar

Hmph. Almost all the dogs I've ever known have been good and friendly animals. The bible has my permission to fuck the hell off!

Expand full comment
Joe King's avatar

I think the villains in this verse are the assholes who trained the poor doggos to attack humans.

Expand full comment
Troublesh00ter's avatar

Yer damned skippy! Anyone who trains a dog like that deserves to be hung up by their soft and fleshy parts!

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

With rusted razor wire !

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Voluntary peer pressure.

Expand full comment
Kay-El's avatar

So the training is a very small piece of the pie but preaching nonsense is the whole enchilada. Lettuce prey.

Expand full comment
SPW's avatar

Xtian word salad.

Expand full comment
Linda Bower's avatar

Is it me, or do more Americans need to get out and maybe travel the world a little bit? Oh I forgot, we are conveniently kept too poor to travel much. There’s a great naivety to all the power grabs happening right now and it’s extremely alarming to say the least. Are we even going to talk about the new surprise American Pope? As if 6 out of 9 Supreme Court justices being Catholic wasn’t enough already.

Expand full comment
Troublesh00ter's avatar

A great number of these people live (I think purposefully) in their own self-manufactured bubbles, where everyone around them is more or less the same, they share the same beliefs, go to the same churches, and NOTHING DIFFERENT disturbs their calm.

Going elsewhere runs the risk of running into something different, and oh, would THAT upset their applecart!

Expand full comment
Linda Bower's avatar

Right, it’s much easier to bury your head in the sand.

Expand full comment
Troublesh00ter's avatar

Which is SUCH A LOSS! I've been lucky enough to have traveled the world on business, meeting amazing people from all over. I count myself as being DAMNED LUCKY to have had that opportunity, and yet there are those out there who would be scared shitless to do such a thing.

Expand full comment
Linda Bower's avatar

Same. In all honesty, it wasn’t really until I traveled quite a bit that I could fully appreciate what we have here as in our Constitution, Separation of Church and State, etc.

Expand full comment
Straw's avatar

And it might be gone during the next 3,6 years.

Expand full comment
Linda Bower's avatar

Indeed

Expand full comment
Karola Spring's avatar

All the more reason to fight for our rights now.

Expand full comment
Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

The first time I traveled to Europe, I asked my best friend if she wanted to go with me. (I was going to Paris) Her answer was "why?" I replied the history, the museums, art, architecture, the cuisine?"

Expand full comment
Troublesh00ter's avatar

I've been to the Louvre once, in 1969, and we had a BRIEF tour of the place. Honestly, I could spend HOURS and likely DAYS there, never mind enjoying excellent French cuisine!

Expand full comment
Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

I can never get enough of Paris! I went with the biggest goal of seeing Versailles, and ended up opting for one more day in Paris, instead.

Expand full comment
Maltnothops's avatar

This is an old joke but I love it:

Poor Canada! Canada could have been one of the greatest countries on earth. It could have had the majestic history of Great Britain! The culture and cuisine of France! The drive of the Americans! But no, Canada made all the wrong choices. It wound up with culture and cuisine of the English, the drive of the French, and the majestic history of the US. Poor Canada!

Expand full comment
Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

Shit, some of these people haven’t travelled beyond fifty miles from where they were born. Never left the state, let alone the country. And if they do travel, it’s to places where they are intentionally not exposed to the people who live there, campgrounds and wilderness destinations. But mostly it’s just the family lake house that’s belonged to them for generations.

Some folks I’ve been exposed to fight having to go into town at all.

Expand full comment
Linda Bower's avatar

As they say, ignorance is bliss.

Expand full comment
dammitbarry's avatar

"Bubble sweet bubble."

Expand full comment
Old Man Shadow's avatar

Last thing anyone needs is a bunch of cops convinced of their own righteousness and

Rightness.

Expand full comment
Joe King's avatar

Cops are already convinced of that. This event was to reinforce that, as well as try to convert the rare cop that wasn't already in the fold.

Expand full comment
Stephen Brady's avatar

I suspect that no cop who wasn't already a christian would ask to go there. It is pretty widely known in KY that this place is spouting Creationism 101.

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

The solution is simple. Let K9 teams train with other religious organisations (wahabi muslims, jains, santeria...).

I am more worried about the credentials and experience of these "trainers." A badly trained dog* is a liability, whether for police operations or S&R missions. If their main point is proselytising, how can we be sure they have trained in a legitimate facility ?

* Aria and her "phobia" of parked bikes (all kinds) 🙄

Expand full comment
Troublesh00ter's avatar

Good point. Just WHAT were the qualifications of the trainers for this course?

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

DM and me tried with Aria. We quickly understood we were way over our head, so we found a professional. Initial cost 250 €, then a shit ton of vegetarian food.

Expand full comment
Len's avatar

The whole idea is that the dogs get used to christians. Everyone else is the enemy.

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

I don't think their nose snd brains can provess that much information

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

Funny, but dogs are conspicuously absent from the flood story. Anyone ever notice that?

Ham and AIG sure didn't. They put dinos on the ark, but no dogs.

Expand full comment
Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

There were probably wolves, which suddenly became every different breed of dog over a few thousand years. But they didn't evolve because that would just be silly.

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

Evilution? Perish forbid!

(No mention of wolves in the flood story, either. Oops!)

Expand full comment
dammitbarry's avatar

Dingoes? Coyotes? Foxes? ALL wiped out in the flood. OOPS! We still have covfeffes!!!

Expand full comment
nmgirl's avatar

I'm sure the dogs converted. do they have to wear crosses on their vests now?

Expand full comment
dammitbarry's avatar

Which cross? Almost as many crosses as there are gods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_cross_variants

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

Funny how they left out the Crooked Cross (better known as the Swastika).

Expand full comment
Karola Spring's avatar

Tattoos perhaps?

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

TACTICA. Teaching Authorities, Christian Truth in Central America.

Oh yes, the natives of what would become Central America could attest to those xtian authorities and that truth as meted out by the Conquistadors. Good Christians who engaged in gruesome mistreatment of the indigenous populations through slavery, forced labor, violence and spreading deadly diseases. Praise the Lord! Let's teach these savages of our God's love!

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

Boy, where's a rabid St. Bernard when you need one?

Expand full comment
ericc's avatar

I didn't think anyone would have the cujones to make that joke.

Expand full comment
Troublesh00ter's avatar

Because that joke is a real DOG.

Expand full comment
Troublesh00ter's avatar

Cujo! Here, boy! 🐶

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

And then there was Chopper from "The Body" ("Stand By Me"):

"Chopper, sic balls."

Expand full comment
Maltnothops's avatar

And the dog in the Tarantino movie that was kinda sorta about the Manson family.

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

You mean Brandy? Played by a Pit Bull named Sayuri in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." :)

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

C'est dépassé. Leonbergs* are trending.

* Owners need two cars, one for the dog snd one for the rest of the family.

Expand full comment
Joe King's avatar

If the dogs were being trained for drug sniffing, where did Ham get the drugs for them to sniff?

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

Religion’s one helluva drug.

Expand full comment
Joe King's avatar

They don't need to train dogs to find that. I'm pretty sure that just about every dog can detect shit.

Expand full comment
Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Out of his personal stash, of course.

Expand full comment
Jarred's avatar

So, AIG's Ark Encounter was the only facility of its size and scope in the ENTIRE state of Kentucky that was capable of having these K-9 police training events? Why not the Univesity of Kentucky or the Waverly Hills Sanatorioum? At least public tax money would have been recycled back into public facilities instead of going to a private organization such as AIG.

Expand full comment
cdbunch's avatar

I think the KSP quote said the officer was invited for free. It would be interesting to see if they'd go to a Jewish run proselytizing training if it were also free? Are they cheapskates or are they just interested in pushing Christianity (YEC, extreme regressive) on their officers of other sects, faiths, or none?

Expand full comment
Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

"the Waverly Hills Sanatorioum"

Oh que non ! How will I survive without my dose of bullshitters jumping at shadows or normal noises, or being excited over pareidolia !

Expand full comment
Matri's avatar

And now the claim is that it was OBAMA who received the BribeJet.

I can’t even with these people.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-jet-from-qatar/

Expand full comment
NOGODZ20's avatar

It's Trumpistas who suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Expand full comment
Guerillasurgeon's avatar

All Bill Clinton got during his presidency at least, was a blow job. Cheap at the price.

Expand full comment
Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

$25, same as in town?

Expand full comment
Matri's avatar

I’d buy that for a dollar.

Expand full comment
Guerillasurgeon's avatar

Well it was a long time ago so I guess what with inflation and all it's a bit more expensive now.

Expand full comment
Maltnothops's avatar

Sadly, my bride one day told me that she didn’t really like giving BJs. As I wouldn’t ask her to do something she doesn’t want to do……. Every so far she will do me a bit of a favor but ….

I sometimes miss the old days.

Expand full comment
Daniel Rotter's avatar

Trump gets a jet and Obama only got free tickets for him and Michelle from England to see a production of The Mousetrap in The West End./s...well, /s on the second part of that sentence, anyway.

Expand full comment