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.