{"id":2568,"date":"2014-06-12T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2014-06-12T17:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/?p=2568"},"modified":"2014-06-12T10:41:21","modified_gmt":"2014-06-12T15:41:21","slug":"esk-not-what-your-country-can-do-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/2014\/06\/12\/esk-not-what-your-country-can-do-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Esk: Not what your country can do for you"},"content":{"rendered":"

By now you may have already heard of Scott Reid Esk, a local (to me) Tea Party activist now\u00a0widely known<\/a> for his support of stoning gays (and possibly lesbians) to death, not as part of a Klan-style lynch mob\u00a0but after due process as a matter of routine legal procedure.<\/p>\n

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Screen grab by Joe.My.God<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don’t find it particularly surprising that someone who reads the Bible could come away with the idea that God approves of legally sanctioned killings for gays<\/a>, witches<\/a>, blasphemers<\/a>, and rape victims<\/a>, it is all in there. For me the more pressing question is how devout Biblical literalists can manage NOT to think like this. The list of Biblical death penalties is lengthy and disturbing<\/a>; only stoning for adultery appears to have been explicitly overturned<\/a> by Jesus himself but the authorship<\/a> and authenticity of that particular passage is in some doubt.<\/p>\n

While the reinstatement of harsh Biblical punishments would be a huge new lift for State governments, Esk has a different plan for the federal government, and that is to put civil servants in prison for trying to implement federal laws which he considers unconstitutional:<\/p>\n