Ted Haggard's Scary Voodoo

Evangelical Reverend Ted Haggard said on CNN today that Jews, Muslims and Christians don’t, in fact, worship the same God. According to Haggard, “different spiritual entities” exist and are worshipped by the three religions.

Different spiritual entities?

What new kind of gobbledygook is that?

Does he mean there are several Gods vying for control of the universe? Does he mean that ‘ghosts’ exist out there in the ether, masquerading as Gods, and the Jews and Muslims have been fooled into mistaking them for the real God?

Or does he mean that each religion has a different conception of God that is antithetical to the others? (And that his, of course, is the correct conception?) If so, he demonstrates the sadly arrogant, divisive, tyrannical and dangerous bigotry of fundamentalism.

To admit that all religions are an imperfect attempt at approximating the true nature of reality would rob Haggard of his power--the power to be self-righteous, to be exclusive and to tell people how to live their lives with absolute authority. Thus, fundamentalism reveals itself as an extreme, fantasy-based tool to control people by stoking their fears.

Lunatics like Haggard are certainly frightening people, but not because what they believe bears any resemblance to the truth. They are scary because they are so sure and self-righteous that one has to wonder how far they will go to uphold and enforce their superstitions. We already know how far some Muslims will go.

As recent history has made clear, Christian fundamentalists want to live in a nation where their beliefs are codified into law because their interpretation of the Bible is more important to them than the principles our country was founded upon. Indeed, as the comments of Haggard and others imply, fundamentalism goes against democracy, pluralism and liberty.

It doesn’t get much scarier than that.

Fundamentalism Is Worse Than Atheism

A recent op-ed in the New York Times by Slavoj Zizek (Defenders of the Faith, 3-12-06), suggests that Europe’s Muslims are indebted to Europe’s atheists for providing an atmosphere of tolerance.

"For centuries, we have been told that without religion we are no more than egotistic animals fighting for our share, our only morality that of a pack of wolves; only religion, it is said, can elevate us to a higher spiritual level. Today, when religion is emerging as the wellspring of murderous violence around the world, assurances that Christian or Muslim or Hindu fundamentalists are only abusing and perverting the noble spiritual messages of their creeds ring increasingly hollow. What about restoring the dignity of atheism, one of Europe's greatest legacies and perhaps our only chance for peace?"

Some critics point out that atheism itself is a belief, and thus contains the same seeds of intolerance as religion. But these critics fail to consider the actual nature of atheism. Atheism is not an affirmative belief. It denies the existence of God. It does not affirm the existence of anything else. As such, it has no sacred text, creed nor rhetoric to give absolute guidance when it comes to living our lives. Atheists may or may not have strong affirmative beliefs about the true nature of the universe, but the one thing they agree on is that there is no God. So it is impossible to see in atheism--a singular denial--the seeds of intolerant affirmation. In other words, if an atheist happens to want to exterminate some other group of people, it is not because atheism explicitly or implicitly tells him to.

A related criticism of Zizek is that religion is one of many belief systems that have, in the past, led to sanctioned violence, murder and destruction. Critics cite Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Josef Stalin as non-religious examples. But beneath these seemingly disparate maniacs lies a single, solitary thread. Zizek’s piece concerns fundamentalists, whose belief in a particular religious text is absolute. And wherever one finds mass murder, crimes against humanity or genocide, one also finds fundamentalism. Not religious fundamentalism, per se, but an absolute believe in a doctrine, usually codified, like the racial purity tenets of the Third Reich or the anti-intellectual dogma of the Khmer Rouge. Fundamentalism requires a blind faith in doctrine, usually combined with a trust in the authorities administering that doctrine.

Religious fundamentalism is a subset of a more general fundamentalism, which arrogantly claims: “I know the absolute truth, and all else is false.”

The absolute conviction that a single theological claim is false (atheism) is substantially different, and radically less dangerous, than the absolute conviction that a set of claims are true (fundamentalism).

I'm not an atheist, but atheists don't trouble me. Atheism, in itself, lacks the substance necessary to lead to violence. But of its nature, fundamentalism contains the seeds of division, hatred and intolerance. Sadly, we have witnessed them blossoming time and again.

Gay Adoption Bigots versus Science

The recent push by several states to ban adoptions by gay couples has nothing to do with children's health and everything to do with religious superstition and intolerance.

Opponents claim the ideal environment for a child includes a mother and a father. Which might be both true and completely irrelevant. Millions of children are successfully raised in America by single parents. Ideal homes, schools, communities and governments are exceedingly rare. And no credible nor substantial evidence exists that single parents have any better or worse track record than same-sex couples when it comes to raising children.

So those who oppose same-sex adoptions can't credibly claim that they fear for the happiness of children, otherwise they would be just as passionately opposed to single-parent families.

Their opposition is really against homosexuality itself. They are terrified that children of same-sex couples might grow up to be tolerant of gays, or worse, gay themselves. The fact that few gay adoption opponents will actually acknowledge this truth indicates they are actively trying to hide their bigotry and intolerance for fear of seeming ugly and hurting their cause.

Their fears are justified. Homophobia is an ugly form of bigotry, and virtually every credible scientific study suggests that at least a large percentage of gays are born that way. In other words, if there is an active Creator of the Universe, it seems to have made some people gay.

But crazy fundamentalists, who believe in the lunacy of sacred texts, don't want to accept the findings of science because those findings might shatter their fragile, warped view of things. Fanatics would rather be intolerant bigots. What a shame that their notion of divinity is so small and brittle, rather than expansive, inclusive, accepting and tolerant.

Abortion - The Real Question

The recent attempt to outlaw abortion in South Dakota has prompted much media speculation about the long-term outlook for Roe v. Wade. But with all the questions about the future, a more pertinent question is not being asked by media pundits.

When interviewing abortion abolitionists, journalists ought to ask:

Why should your religious superstitions outweigh a woman's right to control her pregnancy in the first trimester?

It would be fascinating to hear the responses. Of course, anyone who thinks abortion is wrong won't be forced to have one...

Boehner and Matthews - Softball

Here's an email I sent to Chris Matthews of MSNBC's Hardball yesterday...

Dear Chris,

Are you kidding me? Your ads scream that you will ask the tough questions and cut through the spin. But could you possibly suck up to Senator Boehner any more than you did today? What tough questions? All you did was flatter him. And yet he has been accused of being another Corporate gift pig, another country-club big shot who will neither reform the Republican party nor preside in any different manner than Tom Delay. His party is under seige, his presumptive leader, President Bush, is a national disaster, and all you can do is laugh and make liberal jokes. You're becoming a joke. I expect more from so-called journalists. Our liberties are under attack, our military is mired in a lie-based war, our Vice President outed a CIA operative, and the best you can do is probe whether the tax-cut policy is still a big winner for the GOP. Wanna ask a real question? Ask Boehner why his religious superstitions should trump a woman's right to control the first three months of her pregnancy. Ask why the American public should trust the Republicans after five years of constant lies. At least Wolf Blizter hasn't yet turned his show into a conservative mouthpiece. I'm starting to think you have. Shame on you.

Fanatic Pizza, with Extra Intolerance

Christian Fanatics continue pushing Theocracy-Lite, this time in Florida and Missouri.

In Florida, Dominos Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan is building an all-Catholic town called Ave Maria where things like contraception will be discouraged and adult bookstores banned. After a firestorm of protest from civil rights groups and others, Monaghan's associates were compelled to clarify.

In a 3/3/06 interview with the AP, Ave Maria developer Paul Marinelli stated, "We're just trying to create an environment where children will be safe on the streets, where they can ride their bikes and play ball in the park. We're truly just trying to create a town with traditional values."

So...are children elsewhere unable to play in the streets? Are kids no longer allowed to play ball in the parks? Of course not. The key phrase is traditional values, fundamentalist code for the more honest statement, "We want to create an enclave of bigotry and intolerance where we can enforce religious superstitions on our community without interference from those with modern beliefs."

What could be more un-American than trying to operate outside the law? Well...

Missouri legislators are considering a Hurray, Christianity! resolution that describes their version of the role Christianity played in our nation's founding and seeks to protect the right of the majority to express their faith.

Of course, this isn't about protecting their faith, which is well protected by the Constitution. This is about pandering to Fundamentalists for votes, and for promoting religion through the legislature. The resolution is not a law, but a governmental statement whose approval would be, by its very nature, divisive, alienating and discriminatory.

Read it for yourself at:

http://www.house.mo.gov/bills061/biltxt/intro/HCR0013I.htm

It all gets back to Fundamentalism. When people believe that an ancient book is somehow the actual, infallible word of the Creator of the universe, their reason is no longer functioning properly...like the men who flew planes into the World Trade Center. Blind belief leads to tyranny. And folks in Florida and Missouri are doing a great job of proving the point.