"When God is on your side...almost anything is permissable."

[BurtWorm]

From "The Morning After," a reaction to the election by Earl Doherty, editor of Age of Reason and author of The Jesus Puzzle:

http://pages.ca.inter.net/~oblio/AgeOfReason.htm


Ironically, the religious right traditionally claims the high moral ground; it is their justification for seeking to impose their agenda on the nation. And yet, it is precisely they who are capable of resorting to the most dishonorable and unscrupulous tactics to further their success. When you are convinced that you hold a monopoly on "truth" anything goes; the end justifies the means. The blatant misrepresentation of John Kerry's war record by the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was initially tacitly endorsed by the Bush campaign, but even they had to distance themselves from it when it became exposed for the fraud that it was. Even at that, the Republicans followed it up at their convention with a shameful disrespect of the Kerry record, this on behalf of a man who had avoided wartime service altogether and may not even have fulfilled the duties of his stay-at-home substitute. This was only a part of the vicious trashing of Kerry the Republicans indulged in, despite the fact that the Democrats at their own convention had taken the high road and avoided objectionable extremes of criticism against their opponent.

Such tactics are far from unusual and nothing if not true to character. Many of us know the story behind the film soon to be released called "Heart of the Beholder." It tells of the campaign by a Christian Right group in St. Louis during the 1980s which drove a video store out of business and ruined the family running it because they refused to remove from stock what the religious organization considered objectionable films, including The Last Temptation of Christ. That campaign involved the acquiring of knowledge about sexual indiscretions on the part of a local District Attorney, whom the group proceeded to blackmail into harassing and bringing false charges against the owners of the store. Books could be filled (and have been) detailing the underhanded and fraudulent tactics of creationists to pull the wool over the eyes of a gullible public and insinuate their religious doctrines into the science classrooms of the nation. School boards and hospital boards have been infiltrated by fundamentalists bent on imposing their own agendas and moral codes, and even when thwarted, they keep coming back. When God and truth are on your side (the hallmark of all fanaticism), there is no giving up and almost anything is permissible.

There is no shortage of horror stories that can be told about the activities of zealot Christian groups. With that kind of force in society, compromise and accommodation is difficult if not impossible. The gap between religion and rationality has become too great. Paradoxically, the country responsible for the greatest scientific progress and technological innovation in world history is also becoming the most intellectually regressive of all the developed nations. The country with the longest standing constitution, and one of the most enlightened, is in the process of dismantling key principles of that foundation. The world's proudest democracy is threatening to halt the advance of human rights and freedoms. In a world moving increasingly toward scientific and rational understanding of ourselves and our universe, the majority of its citizens are turning their backs on the future and championing a primitive past. Our Age of Reason is becoming an ever more elusive goal.

[UL_Approved]

1. The true nature of the beast

These people are nothing but a bunch of thugs and thieves. They are as dangerous as any terrorists. The American Taliban is a group of religious perverts who shout out harsh, hateful rhetoric, promote violence, and endorse and pursue crime in any form that will benefit their ends. These people are terrorists, and should be treated as such. With their takeover of the White House, this is a dangerous time in America. They need to be exposed and brought down for the sake of the world.

[meow2u3]

6. They're not the only ones

We have terrorists running this freakin' country into the ground--and taking the whole world with it!!!

[UL_Approved]

7. That's who I am talking about

Bush, DeLay, O'Reilly, Graham, Dobson, Robertson, etc. Nothing but a bunch of terrorists.

[orpupilofnature57]

2. Just ask king David, Justification can only bring you so far,ahead

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

3. Sadly true, reason is being smashed to bits

whackaloon religious types are everywhere. They've wedged themselves into positions of influence by hook and by crook - doing whatever they can to push their anti-intellectualist garbage on the rest of us through forcing change in public policy.
WE NEED TO TAX THESE CRETINS.

[lil-petunia]

4. Tax, then jail. teaching creationism is child abuse.

[BurtWorm]

5. kick