Conservative Christians are some of the first people to claim they’re being persecuted any time they are blocked from forcing their beliefs on others. They are also the people most likely to persecute others if given the opportunity. The expectation of privilege here is off the chart.
And their behavior is perfectly in keeping with their Talibangelical Christianity and its handmaiden Christian Nationalism. I am just waiting for them to completely rewrite the Bible to fit in with their beliefs. It would be the antithesis of the Jefferson Bible - a tome of hatred and intolerance.
Many church leaders want to be persecuted, it's an adventure fantasy for them. They don't know what the real thing feels like in countries where Christianity is illegal. They've been so sheltered from the real world. By being horrible people, they could bring on actual persecution - supporting MAGA politicians comes to mind. But, some Christians are waking up to what MAGA and Rump is, and they're denouncing him.
Seems as though we got a real Ash-hole here. What we apparently have is yet another gender absolutist, who thinks that sex and gender are the same thing when they AREN'T, and pretty clearly cannot respect the identity of someone who actively exercises their right to gender self-identity. What's even worse is that Luke Ash would consider going so far as petitioning the government to defund the library to satisfy his desire to be the Ash-hole that he is.
He thinks that sex and gender are the same thing, and that they are a strict binary. He was working at a fucking library, he could have easily found out where he was wrong.
There's also a distinction between what I think and how I act. Most children learn this some time in primary school, eg we might think that this person is a complete twat and yet continue to be polite to him/her/them.
Coming back to this person, no-one disputed that he had the right to hold whatever opinions he holds about people who are not lilly-white, cisgendered, heterosexual, christian whatever. The dispute was about his actions!
I saw that, if briefly. I think maybe the bot didn't like the lack of a hyphen, but who knows. Hell of it is, we were getting along just fine WITHOUT the nannies for a fair while, and I'm more than a little surprised that Hemant is tolerating their presence.
While having some moderation is a good thing to prevent comment sections from devolving into the shitshow that is a Twitter/"X", there needs to be human involvement since nannybots cannot see nuance, hyperbole or sarcasm. Unfortunately, Hemant probably doesn't have the time for that.
The "Replies hidden" link was missing from my page. I refreshed, changed the order, left the page and came back, did not bring it back. Then I went to use the bathroom, came back and "Replies hidden" came back. IDFK.
I'm surprised Christianity has any followers left, considering it seems to be a much-maligned and persecuted bunch of people. To hear the church tell it, seems like people would be leaving the faith in droves.
People are actually leaving in droves because of the abusive pastors and leaders/ elders running everything. They are totally immersed in the Old World European Feudalism brought to America by the colonists. They never outgrew that custom, and I didn't realize this until I went to American churches. They actually want to be " persecuted" so they're obnoxious in various ways.
I can see it. We've also never truly shaken off the Puritan worldview so much of the developed world has abandoned. Can anyone believe that in 2026, we still have "decency laws" and won't permit certain four-letter-words on the airwaves?
To christians such as these appear to be, being persecuted for your beliefs (which is how they see this shit-headed approach) means you’re doing it right. They see it as a badge of office. So yes, they tend to go looking for it and give themselves a pat on the back when it happens.
Well it's worth remembering that most if not all the other library employees are probably Christian...and they probably have the same opinion of him that we do.
In other words, their argument is that far right white Christianity must be catered to, regardless of what anyone else believes. Let him have his job back, then tell him he cannot demand any of his coworkers be disciplined for referring to him as "bigot" instead of he/him or his actual name.
You don't get to create a hostile workplace and demand that your religious rights mandate the hostility.
Quote "demand that your religious rights mandate the hostility."
When it actually doesn't. There are umpteen examples of Jesus being nice to/about disfavoured people, such as customs inspectors, samaritans, prostitutes (I hesitate with the latter, because I am not certain that Mary Magdala is indeed a prostitute or is just a lady who is thought of as having loose morals)
And I don't like being addressed as 'guys', there must be other phrases people could use when they want to address a mixed group 'Good evening, guys, what can I get you to drink?' is toe-curling.
I was going to say… the “I can always tell” club is often wrong and they have been quite dangerous to all who cross them, transgender and cisgender alike. “Protect the girls” has always been a threat to girls and women, since the dawn of time. And it has never actually protected anyone. It is always just an excuse to be rude (at best) and violent towards those who don’t conform or those who have what the bigots want. The witch trials were about keeping women in their place and taking wealth and property from the widows. This is just more of that.
Worse than just being rude, it's an attempt to put the speaker in a position of control and authority. Luke Ash strikes me as just one more scared little boy who thinks he can use words to control his reality.
Luke Ash pronouns:
Fired/unemployable/loser
Is asshole a pronoun? I ask because this guy is a biological and chromosomal asshole.
Conservative Christians are some of the first people to claim they’re being persecuted any time they are blocked from forcing their beliefs on others. They are also the people most likely to persecute others if given the opportunity. The expectation of privilege here is off the chart.
We even made a bigger chart and the expectation of privilege 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 went past the end.
And their behavior is perfectly in keeping with their Talibangelical Christianity and its handmaiden Christian Nationalism. I am just waiting for them to completely rewrite the Bible to fit in with their beliefs. It would be the antithesis of the Jefferson Bible - a tome of hatred and intolerance.
They don't need to leave out much to get to that.
Just a big chunk of what their savior said.
They don't listen to that hippie.
Many church leaders want to be persecuted, it's an adventure fantasy for them. They don't know what the real thing feels like in countries where Christianity is illegal. They've been so sheltered from the real world. By being horrible people, they could bring on actual persecution - supporting MAGA politicians comes to mind. But, some Christians are waking up to what MAGA and Rump is, and they're denouncing him.
The library should put a picture of Ash on the wall: "Snowflake Of The Month"
That’s an insult to snowflakes.
Fifty years ago, these people would be throwing a tantrum for having to let Black people into the library.
He'll, privately, they probably still are.
Seems as though we got a real Ash-hole here. What we apparently have is yet another gender absolutist, who thinks that sex and gender are the same thing when they AREN'T, and pretty clearly cannot respect the identity of someone who actively exercises their right to gender self-identity. What's even worse is that Luke Ash would consider going so far as petitioning the government to defund the library to satisfy his desire to be the Ash-hole that he is.
I sincerely hope the courts hand Ash his ass.
He thinks that sex and gender are the same thing, and that they are a strict binary. He was working at a fucking library, he could have easily found out where he was wrong.
A librarian who is disinterested in LEARNING is in the wrong profession!
Books. What are they for?
😂
There's also a distinction between what I think and how I act. Most children learn this some time in primary school, eg we might think that this person is a complete twat and yet continue to be polite to him/her/them.
Coming back to this person, no-one disputed that he had the right to hold whatever opinions he holds about people who are not lilly-white, cisgendered, heterosexual, christian whatever. The dispute was about his actions!
I used Ash-hole and got sent to the principal’s office by the bot, so I deleted my comment.
(I also called him Lucy. Bot didn’t like that either)
I saw that, if briefly. I think maybe the bot didn't like the lack of a hyphen, but who knows. Hell of it is, we were getting along just fine WITHOUT the nannies for a fair while, and I'm more than a little surprised that Hemant is tolerating their presence.
I had to add the hyphen in my reply to you so I wouldn't get zapped again.
I think the bot is Substack's idea and that Hemant has no control over it.
While having some moderation is a good thing to prevent comment sections from devolving into the shitshow that is a Twitter/"X", there needs to be human involvement since nannybots cannot see nuance, hyperbole or sarcasm. Unfortunately, Hemant probably doesn't have the time for that.
Now I lost the ability to see banned comments. This place is getting as bad as Patheos.
Did you scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the little arrow next to "replies hidden"?
The "Replies hidden" link was missing from my page. I refreshed, changed the order, left the page and came back, did not bring it back. Then I went to use the bathroom, came back and "Replies hidden" came back. IDFK.
He can *think* whatever he likes about sex, gender, and his co-worker.
As Hemant says, this is really about an employee being fired for harassing another employee.
Ash: I have the right to disrespect people while on the job! But don't you dare disrespect me.
I'm surprised Christianity has any followers left, considering it seems to be a much-maligned and persecuted bunch of people. To hear the church tell it, seems like people would be leaving the faith in droves.
People are actually leaving in droves because of the abusive pastors and leaders/ elders running everything. They are totally immersed in the Old World European Feudalism brought to America by the colonists. They never outgrew that custom, and I didn't realize this until I went to American churches. They actually want to be " persecuted" so they're obnoxious in various ways.
I can see it. We've also never truly shaken off the Puritan worldview so much of the developed world has abandoned. Can anyone believe that in 2026, we still have "decency laws" and won't permit certain four-letter-words on the airwaves?
To christians such as these appear to be, being persecuted for your beliefs (which is how they see this shit-headed approach) means you’re doing it right. They see it as a badge of office. So yes, they tend to go looking for it and give themselves a pat on the back when it happens.
Yeah you don't hear these kinds of stories coming from Europe or Canada. At least not at this level or frequency.
Well it's worth remembering that most if not all the other library employees are probably Christian...and they probably have the same opinion of him that we do.
Seriously, have these bigots nothing better to do with their lives than making them miserable for everyone else around them?! Urgh!
No. No, they don't.
He complains about what he sees as discrimination and hires Liberty Counsel, a known hate group that discriminates against LGBTQs.
Of course he does. Because he knows they're they only legal outlet that's willing to go to the mat for hate and bigotry.
It isn’t discrimination when he does it.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑦 𝑎 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑦 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑛.
In other words, their argument is that far right white Christianity must be catered to, regardless of what anyone else believes. Let him have his job back, then tell him he cannot demand any of his coworkers be disciplined for referring to him as "bigot" instead of he/him or his actual name.
You don't get to create a hostile workplace and demand that your religious rights mandate the hostility.
Quote "demand that your religious rights mandate the hostility."
When it actually doesn't. There are umpteen examples of Jesus being nice to/about disfavoured people, such as customs inspectors, samaritans, prostitutes (I hesitate with the latter, because I am not certain that Mary Magdala is indeed a prostitute or is just a lady who is thought of as having loose morals)
And that's the thing. This is NOT Christ-like behavior in the LEAST.
Individuals should be allowed to determine the manner they are addressed. I am not a Mrs., I am a MS.
And I don't like being addressed as 'guys', there must be other phrases people could use when they want to address a mixed group 'Good evening, guys, what can I get you to drink?' is toe-curling.
I use “folks”.
People.
Y'all.
All y'all
Yous.
Yet another case of "I'M BEING SILENCED!" from a guy who belongs to a religion whose followers never shut up.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑, ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑐𝑜-𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝐽𝑢𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑒, 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑛 “𝑠ℎ𝑒.” 𝐴𝑠ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑦 “ℎ𝑒.”
𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐴𝑠ℎ, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑛 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 “𝑏𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑒.” (𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑖𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡? 𝑁𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠.)
Just how bigoted is Ash-hole? The individual he misgendered could very well have been a cisgender man with an androgynous style.
I was going to say… the “I can always tell” club is often wrong and they have been quite dangerous to all who cross them, transgender and cisgender alike. “Protect the girls” has always been a threat to girls and women, since the dawn of time. And it has never actually protected anyone. It is always just an excuse to be rude (at best) and violent towards those who don’t conform or those who have what the bigots want. The witch trials were about keeping women in their place and taking wealth and property from the widows. This is just more of that.
Worse than just being rude, it's an attempt to put the speaker in a position of control and authority. Luke Ash strikes me as just one more scared little boy who thinks he can use words to control his reality.
He is sadly and badly mistaken.
This person has to understand that he is begging people to refer to him as she, right?
Right?
I'd mention exactly HOW he should be addressed, but this comment would probably wind up in substack jail! 😝
Call him Lucy and I’ll wager he explodes and uses invective, the hypocrite.
Mid 90s today. Triple digits tomorrow. Off to mow the lawn.
Thank goodness that’s done.