Religulous

I agree with Bill Maher, whose movie coined the term in today's blog title. In the name of religion, our countrymen have been fouling the public arena with narrow-minded nonsense that appeals to our worst mob instincts and runs counter to social progress.

Let's put aside the impact of creationists on science education in the public schools and eight years of no progress on curing and treating critical diseases because of the religionists' lock on government policy regarding stem cell research. Oh, yeah, and that 1500 year history of antipathy and wars between Christianity and Islam that yielded such enormous human suffering and political conflict that still burns to this day. And how stalemate in Mideast foreign policy is a result of being held hostage by religious extremists on all sides.

We don't need to be reminded of all that. We can just turn to this week's NY Times for the latest news.......

A Bronx NY state senator/Pentecostal minister whose anti gay marriage views are offset, in his mind, because "some of his best friends are...." These would-be protectors of the public morals need to be mindful of the dangers of inheriting the wind.....

The long-sought health care reform so badly needed by tens of millions risks being scuttled by a small minority of religious anti-abortion activists who want no federal dollars in the plan being spent to finance this legitimate medical procedure.

The Saturday and Sunday pulpits now dominated by talk of what they are against and what they will deny to others rather than the causes of social justice, tolerance, and humility---virtues taught us by William Sloane Coffin, Martin Luther King, and other religious leaders I admired.

Our political system is in thrall to these folks, and so ironic, isn't it, that the nation which virtually invented the notion of separation of church and state should be so tied up in knots by proponents of Scripture.