While you were out…
Okay, courtesy of MacHall Comics, I’ve found my new favorite Christian Fundie quote from this article on Yahoo News…
“‘We’ve been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture,’ [said Mummert].”
And, “If we continue to indoctrinate our young people with non-religious principles, we’re headed for an internal destruction of this society.”
I think that speaks volumes about the relative opinion these people hold for science and education in general, to which I respond, “put your kid in Sunday School if you want them to learn about god, and leave him the hell out of the secular classroom. Not everyone follows your beliefs, not everyone wants to follow your beliefs, and this country, like it and believe it or not, was founded in part on the concept that people don’t have to follow your beliefs.”
However, to represent the other side, and re-establish my faith in the belief that not all religious people are stuck-up, pompous, exclusionary bigots, there’s a quote in the same article from a local clergyman, Warren Esbach who said, “I’m opposed to any group who wants to establish a theocracy. I come from a church who fled Germany in the 18th century for religious freedom.”
Unfortunately, it seems to me that the religious fanatics who can’t stand the thought of someone believing, acting, or living in a way that conflicts with their beliefs are coming into more and more power in the government, and aren’t backing down from the opinion that all other views except theirs are invalid, pointless, destructive to society, and harmful to the status of America as some sort of sacred holy beacon of light to the rest of the world (no seriously, listen to these people when they talk, they really do project this kind of attitude… it’s very hostile). I worry sometimes that this country is being turned slowly but surely into a Christian theocracy while the rest of the country either watches American Idol or gapes in impotent horror at the unraveling of our freedom to do as we wish in the privacy of our own homes. These people want to regulate cable television, sattelite radio, and the internet (I apologize, but I forgot the link to the article, and Mac Hall, where I originally saw it, is presently down because their servers are shuffling around California). They want to give tax money to churches (but not just any church, mind you… certain faiths are excluded from Bush’s initiatives… I can only imagine why…), make it illegal to let someone in a persistant vegitative state to be taken off their life support and feeding tube (I have been and am trying very hard to stay out of this whole media circus surrounding the very private and personal case of Terry Schiavo, and my thoughts on the matter have already been echoed in better words by other writers [for that last one, you may need to click here if you're reading this a few weeks past the posting date] anyway), illegal to have an abortion, even if the mother is at risk, and illegal for two people who love each other but happen to be the same gender to get married and have the same rights as any other couple in the country. These people frighten me, because I’m not one of their rank, and they’re in charge of all three branches of the federal government right now, which pretty much negates the concept of checks and balances to keep radical idiocy from taking over the country.
I’m going to bed now. Good morning.