Posted inDeath/Rebirth Politics

Religious zealots run amok in Terri Schiavo case

Anyone following the Terri Schiavo situation with an open, rational, compassionate mind can see that religious zealots are some of the most immoral people on earth. Who else but Congressional religious zealots would subpoena a woman in a persistent vegetative state to come “testify” (as if she could) on Capitol Hill? And now it appears that the same zealots are rushing through half-baked emergency legislation that would overturn longstanding principles about how end-of-life medical care decisions are made. This is happening while other religious zealots are trying to break into the hospice where Schiavo is being cared for, trying to…
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Posted inPolitics Religions

Reason unites, faith divides

Religious believers tend to assume that if more people had faith, the world would be so much better. Actually, it would be worse. For faith divides and reason unites. If our goal is a peaceful, harmonious, productive, safe world, reason will get us closer to what we want and faith will take us further away. This is the central theme of Sam Harris’ excellent book, “The End of Faith,” which I’ve written about before. His opening chapter is called “Reason in Exile.” It’s a devastatingly accurate critique of faith-based religions. In other words, all religions. For a “religion” founded on…
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Posted inBooks Christianity/Jesus Politics

“God’s Politics” a timely book

The author of “God’s Politics,” Jim Wallis, was on the Daily Show recently. I don’t often recommend a book before I’ve read it (or, in this case, even seen it), but I am now. Wallis struck me as intelligent, devout, caring, and open-minded. His cause is freeing religious involvement in politics from right-wing Republican confines. Wallis called himself an evangelical Christian. He considers that the entire Bible, not just selected smatterings from here and there, should be the foundation for how a Christian melds religion and politics. He said that Jesus spoke about caring for the poor much more often…
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Posted inGod Politics

Lincoln, Bush, and God’s will

After I wrote my previous “Prayer is irreverent” post I came across a wonderful passage written by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, a meditation on the divine will. It begins like this: The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party. Contrast these elevated and subtle sentiments with…
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Posted inPolitics Science

Religious values have no place in politics

“I won’t curse in your church if you won’t pray in the polling place.” This saying, freshly coined by yours truly, never will be as well-known as a similarly phrased pithy epigram. But I wish it would. For the problem of people peeing in pools pales in comparison to the problem of religious believers polluting politics by voting on the basis of faith-based values. U.S. News & World Report conservative columnist John Leo argues just the opposite in his November 29 piece, “Don’t discount moral views.” Per usual, much of his column makes little sense. But the last part of…
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