An inconveniently rude truth

[lwcon]

Great to see the indispensable Glenn Greenwald tackling the topic of Bush's disturbing faith in his faith.

The Most Powerful Man in the World said this about his global agenda:

It's more of a theological perspective. I do believe there is an Almighty, and I believe a gift of that Almighty to all is freedom. And I will tell you that is a principle that no one can convince me that doesn't exist."

Glenn's response:

This has been the great unexamined issue of the Bush presidency -- the extent to which Bush's unwavering commitment to Middle East militarism is, as Bush himself has made clear, rooted in theological and religious convictions, not in pragmatic or geopolitical concerns.

Of course, in little dens of blasphemy like my obscure outpost on the Internet, this theme isn't "unexamined," but in the mainstream it certainly is one of the many large elephants in the room.

For your edification and delight, as an old teacher used to say before launching into something people didn't want to hear, here's the comment I posted on Salon:

To these eyes, this is the defining challenge of our age: to break the taboo on criticizing religion.

In this supposedly modern era, ancient superstitions hold a troubling power, as evidenced by...

• Bush's "Crusade" (his term) in the Middle East, and the Religious Right machine that installed him in the White House
• The intractability of both sides in the Arab/Israeli crisis
• Islamist terrorism around the world, including the Iraqi Civil War started by our Christianist president
• Domestic Christianist terrorism, such as abortion-clinic bombings
• Institutionalized child rape by Catholic priests
• The "I'm a believer" kabuki dance every major political candidate is caught up in, at the expense of rallying around once-cherished values like reason and the separation of church and state
  

Yes, it's gauche to criticize faith. And desperately, desperately necessary.

Criticizing faith and its excesses is not the same as demonizing its practitioners. Superstition and shared myth are pretty much fundamental to humankind. One can hate the sin of religiosity and still love the sinner.

However, in an age of mass communications and weapons of mass destruction, we need to be willing to admit when religion isn't all bake sales and Kumbaya.

Ultimately, the suspension of reason and criticism creates grave risks to society, as does the suspension of checks and balances in a democracy.

As long as there's a blank check for those who let hokum trump logic, we're in for a world of hurt. This is probably the most inconvenient truth of all, and odds are not in favor of our species being willing to accept it.

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[unpossibles]

1. K&R!! n/t

[melody]

2. A man who said once that he and his father liked to talk about "pussy" isn't a fundie

It's just part of the facade ... the ongoing Mascarade Politique.

[lwcon]

3. I don't see any reason to doubt Bush's claims of faith

He credits it for curing his substance abuse, and religiosity has been berry, berry good to him.

Instead, I doubt the wisdom of catering to Bush's faith (faith-based programs, faith-based war, faith-based urgings by pastors to vote for him), and making that aspect of his and everyone else's politics beyond reproach.

Now, is he living his life via the teachings of Jesus? Not hardly, but how many "people of faith" do?

___

Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"

[lwcon]

6. Two big businesses in the south:

1. Fundie churches
2. Strip clubs

You don't think there's any overlap in clientèle?

___

Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"

[Uncle Joe]

4. The thing that gets me about the Jewish/Christian/Muslim religions

are their beliefs that God created everything, and yet so much of these religion's focus is centered on dividing what they believe God created. When Bush said "your either with us or against us", this was just the most blatant verbalization of what I keep hearing from them.

I believe we need a new global myth that takes in to account Earth as the Garden of Eden, maybe then, we'll treat it with more respect.

[Uncle Joe]

5. My typo should have been

"you're either with us or against us".

[lwcon]

7. Seems to me that...

... religion is mostly about tribal identity. Sometimes in a benign way (unless you're the unfortunate outsider or heretic in their midst), sometimes much less so.

It's pretty hard, at least for the big three monotheistic religions, not to be Manichean -- dividing the world into the holy and the infidels, even if they don't use as strident a word as the latter.

___

Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"