Burman: Why faith and politics can be a toxic brew
So what should we make of this week's fevered skirmishes in the millennial struggle of Good versus Evil, Religion versus Politics? As a species, spanning the centuries, did Homo sapiens march one step forward in recent days, or one step backwards? Well, let's see.
In one corner, the burning this week of Muslim holy books in a pile of garbage by U.S. soldiers at the Bagram NATO military base in Afghanistan turned violent. There were deaths and injuries as hundreds of Afghans protested the incident. U.S. leaders quickly apologized for what it termed a “mistake” but the uproar recalled the turmoil in 2010 when a Florida pastor threatened to burn the Qur'an live on television.
In the other corner, in that comic opera formally known as the Republican presidential race, this week's themes were like a throwback to the 1950s era of the TV series, Father Knows Best. In spite of Americans' overwhelming concern for economic issues, the Republican campaign trail was all abuzz about the “evils” of free birth control, the “dangers” of pre-natal testing and, of course, the horrors of abortion and gay rights.
Rick Santorum, the latest Republican front-runner and a devout Catholic who is revealing himself to be the most extreme presidential contender since Barry Goldwater in 1964, flipped the U.S. Constitution on its head by arguing that “divine law” should take precedence in public policy. He also accused President Barack Obama of secretly promoting a “phony ideology . . . not a theology based on the Bible.” For his part, Mitt Romney on Tuesday tried to top Santorum by suggesting Obama has “fought against religion” and has sought to substitute a “secular” agenda for one grounded in faith.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1136374--burman-why-faith-and-politics-are-a-toxic-brew
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