I am not a member of the Religious Right. I don't believe in prayer in
schools. I believe in separation of church and state. I believe in
religious tolerance, even for evangelical Christians
I absolutely concur.
As for bringing religion to office, I think the percentage of people who
believe in God in this country is at least 80%.
I've seen surveys that showed the same thing. But that 80% covers a lot of territory from those who attend daily services to those who believe in some cosmic force that created the universe and then departed to parts unknown. It also includes those who look for messages in chicken blood and goat entrails and those who just say they believe in god because of the social stigma of admitting they don't. It's hard to know how many people believe what.
The ones I have a hard time with are the ones who have really nutty
beliefs
When I was a freshman in college in 1960, my roommate was Methodist and was dating a Presbyterian. They seemed a great couple but they broke it off because they didn't want a mixed marriage. I had been raised Catholic and in my world, people were either Catholic, Protestant, or Jew. A mixed marriage was when there was intermarriage between two of the three. It's all a matter of perspective. Later I began to consider Catholics and Protestants both Christians, as opposed to Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, etc. Now I just think in terms of fundamentalists and others. Again, it's a matter of perspective.
Religious people often think of their beliefs as the true voice of god and the beliefs of (some) others as "nutty." But superstition is superstition.
Anointing oneself with holy oil may be more widely accepted than reading tea leaves or sticking pins in dolls, but it's still a manifestation of superstition. Surely you can understand that superstition in people who hold high public office is off-putting to many people. Particularly when many who share that particular superstition are frequently seen trying to foist it on the rest of us. Forget off-putting. Downright spooky.
Ashcroft was an assistant attorney general, so if he has a practice of
letting his religious beliefs affect his legal obligations, that should
come out in the hearings.
I really wish Dubya had picked someone less controversial for that important Cabinet post, but I'm willing to watch the hearings and see what he has to say.
Karen |
