Some things are not done in the better places...

James 1:26 New International Version (NIV)

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.

I started out as a Baptist, as I've said before, and I was a conservative. Oh yes, I was. Not on every issue of course, as a teenager I was not allowed to leave the house without condoms. But then that was part and parcel of constantly having it hammered into my brain that I needed a thousand dollars a month just to live as an adult, and I shouldn't have any kids until I could afford to support them, and I should pay my bills, etc. etc. etc. So, conservatism in my family wasn't all about politics or rama rama ding ding religious crap. It was about paying your bills and eating your vegetables and gun safety and making damned well sure you knew what you were doing before you did something because that's what conservatives DO. It was also about history and science and theology, it was about seeking after the answer to “What is truth?” Not just knowing what you believed, but why you believed it...and then acting in accordance with those beliefs.

Honestly, I was taught that God would not accept anything less. It is not enough to Believe because one is told to believe in God, in Jesus, or in one's Church community. One has to know what they're doing and do it because they want to.

By the time I was old enough to start school my family attended a (Northern) Baptist church, and when I started school it was the Church school associated with that church, Highland Hills Baptist church in Highland, Michigan...and of course, Highland Hills Baptist School. The school itself was located within sight of the mobile home park I lived in with my parents, down the hill and across a field.

In moving several times after my Dad died, I attended several different churches, also switched denominations a couple of times (first Lutheran, then Catholic, then an independent Baptist church.) All the churches I attended, every single one, frowned upon if not outright forbade the use of profanity. To this day, I do not associate the excessive use of foul language with a person being an observant Christian. It simply does not compute. Oh, Christians swear of course...even occasionally in an official capacity I have heard such. But...usually when a person who is a devout Christian (of any denomination, by the way) swears it's either damned well been fired for effect, an indicator of great distress, or a show of anger which (in my experience anyway) is rarely misdirected. Life has since shown me that observant Buddhists, Jews and Muslims are much the same. Profanity is not something I associate with Believers. Now, of course, there's also those cultural Christians and the nominally-religious of other faiths who might swear all the time, or there are those (whatever level of their devoutness) who serve in the military or work in occupations that are conducive to foul language and there is nothing wrong with that. As long as it's for a purpose, I don't have a problem with whatever someone does. (Most of the time) It's not for me to say.

I've been known to swear like a Sailor myself on occasion, and that too, is something I learned from my Grandfather, He was a Navy retiree. I could tell you about the time we were working on installing a new floor in the home of a lady who was a Jehovah's Witness, back when those “easy to install” tongue-and-groove wood floors were new and gimmicky...and we accidentally taught the lady's new young African Gray Parrot to curse...but that is another (and very funny) story.

All that said, It's not my place to judge what anyone does or say anything about it at all. That's another aspect of the conservatism that I was taught...Mind Your Own Business. Don't judge others, it is not on you to police the Universe. One of the customers my Grandpa had in his landscaping/lawn care/odd jobs business in the late 1980's and early 1990's was a gay man who was dying of AIDS. We didn't care that he was gay, we cared that his grass got cut, his snow got plowed and the check his Mama sent us every month cleared the bank.

Now, all that said, I want you to look at the picture posted at the beginning of this article and I want you to think about it. The person claims to be Catholic; When I was first learning about the Word as a young boy in the Baptist school I always got told to check everything! Check everything that somebody says against the Bible, against facts, against history, and against their own conduct.

Why? Because that is how you don't fall for Deceivers and Ear-tickling False Prophets.

In any church that I ever attended, a person who pulled up with their vehicle all decked out with flags and profanity and a homophobic slur would either have been asked, or more often outright told, to leave. I was always taught that when you go to a church (or for that matter, a Mosque or a Temple or indeed any religious house of worship or holy place) it's not Your House. Conduct oneself with reverence and sobriety, step softly, be serious (Somewhat of an exemption on that one for Praise and Worship in Evangelical and Pentecostal churches I've attended a time or two, but it usually holds.) One simply does not show up to Church acting like that, dressing like that, or for that matter driving a vehicle that says such things painted on the side. It's not all about you, when you're there, you know? As I was taught, such things present a bad witness for Christ. As a Baptist, I was taught to avoid even the appearance of evil. Even though I'm not a Baptist or even anything more than the most Agnostic sort of Christian, that is still what I was taught and it's ingrained in me.

Or, to put it another way; As my Grandpa Thompson also used to say “Some things are not done in the better places.”

Didn't matter where it was, it was a very bad idea to argue with him if he said that. My Grandpa didn't have time or tolerance for bullshit, and his background demanded he not suffer fools gladly. As far as I'm concerned, the rest of us shouldn't, either.

It should go without saying, that a Christian person shouldn't put stuff like that on their car. Just as the Church is not Your house it's not Your Earth either. You as a Believer represent Jesus to the eyes of the unbelievers, act accordingly.

...And maybe it's just me, but "Stronger Together" and "United We Stand" seem to be pretty Biblical concepts, just as a rule.