Damn Straight!

"religion is the reason our political discourse is so scandalously stupid in this country. "

Thanks to Tasha for passing this onto me. A supremely well written piece from the Huffington Post about all the things that should be said, but can't be said by any politician in this country. Specifically a look at Obama and how is caught in this mess.

For those who don't want to read the whole thing, here's the good stuff (in my opinion):

"Like every candidate, Obama must appeal to millions of voters who believe that without religion, most of us would spend our days raping and killing our neighbors and stealing their pornography. Examples of well-behaved and comparatively atheistic societies like Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark--which surpass us in terrestrial virtues like education, health, public generosity, per capita aid to the developing world, and low rates of violent crime and infant mortality--are of no interest to our electorate whatsoever...

...Despite all that he does not and cannot say, Obama's candidacy is genuinely thrilling: his heart is clearly in the right place; he is an order of magnitude more intelligent than the current occupant of the Oval Office; and he still stands a decent chance of becoming the next President of the United States. His election in November really would be a triumph of hope.

But Obama's candidacy is also depressing, for it demonstrates that even a person of the greatest candor and eloquence must still claim to believe the unbelievable in order to have a political career in this country. We may be ready for the audacity of hope. Will we ever be ready for the audacity of reason?"

Grr...

I don't care what people believe in their personal lives or teach to their children. It's their prerogative. But it pisses me off that crap like this is really possible, and that elected officials encourage it. People are really going to make it legal to teach things that don't even begin to resemble science as though it is tried and true science.

I wonder how the declaration that extreme wealth (amongst other things) is one of the new deadly sins will further distance people from the Catholic church... especially non-Catholic Christians with their strong Protestant work ethic and belief in the wealth doctrine.

It's weird that in many ways, the Catholic church, oft viewed to be the most traditional of all the Christian faiths is un-fundamental enough to be willing to keep up to date with changing times in such a way as to actually address issues of today.

Even though I think they're still behind the times in a lot of ways (hell-O birth control a sin? really??) the Catholic leadership seems to take to heart the idea that religious teachings are meant to help people cope with their environments* .

Can you imagine if Leviticus was written today? Instead of telling us to burn down our homes when we find a certain type of mold it would be telling us to vaccinate our kids, but not demand antibiotics from the pediatrician when the kid has a virus... But even more fun than that- instead of various cleanliness laws it would forbid the driving of Hummers and mandate the driving of Hybrids.

So, back to the point I started with (sort of) do you think rich Catholics are going to give up their fortunes and middle-class soccer-mom catholics their SUVs, or just seek absolution? I'm guessing the latter...

(*Sorry T, did I just plagiarize your Flickr rant with that phrase? I think I might have...too bad)

I think the Goal of every Gomer

Is to be loved completely and completely loved.

I completely love Gomers myself. I might have to pony up the $11.95 to see this stuff. Although, I'd have to find a way to get to Kentucky first. And who wants to do that?