Saturday, June 16, 2007

FUNDAMENTALISM, Part 2





OK, things quieted down after 1925 as far as Fundamentalism is concerned. We got into a DEPRESSION and then WWII - so we were pretty busy as a nation.

When did Fundamentalism raise its ugly head again, well in the 60s? And why you ask- because secondary education in the South and Midwest improved dramatically and that was due to, of all things, the Russian SPUTNIK. Yes, the Ruskis beat us into space and that made us look retarded.

The federal government in 1963 demanded better science education in our secondary schools and a much better science text book was introduced and yes, it had the subject of evolution in it this time.

The Fundamentalists attacked but were driven back by the Supreme Court in 1968 which allowed the subject of evolution to be taught in public schools. They turned to demanding equal time in the class room for creationism but in 1987 the Supreme Court ruled that creationism is a religious doctrine and not a science.

And now we have INTELLIGENT DESIGN as another way to stick God into our science courses. The few legal challenges that I am aware of followed the trend of still calling ID as another form of creationism and therefore a religious doctrine and therefore not to be allowed into our school science curriculums.

The election of the current George Bush pushed Fundamentalists into the forefront as king makers when actually Al Gore won the popular vote. The false perception that Americans are fundamentalists and vote for people of like mind continues to this day.

There is no question President Bush has a religious agenda and is trying to turn our nation into a Christian nation (his idea of Christianity) even if he has to circumvent or even defy our Constitution and unfortunately, we are allowing him to do just that.

I noticed in a debate among Democratic presidential contenders that all of them swore how important religion and God is in their lives and how their faith has helped them throughout their lives – gag! Whatever happened to religion being a personal matter?

The presidential aspirants, both Democrats and Republicans have failed to notice that Americans are sick and tired of fundamentalists and want religion OUT of their government. Did you happen to notice how many so called religious Republicans are being prosecuted for breaking the law or at least committing SINFUL acts? I think even the fundamentalists cannot support such stinking hypocrisy anymore.

History shows us that religion and science have coexisted together very well and in fact, continue to do so. Christian theology is quite flexible when it comes to new scientific findings; it has to be to remain relevant at least to the people with normal reasoning power.

Therefore, I continue to be puzzled by the seeming power of a minority, extremist Christian sect, especially political power or is this all an illusion propagated by a clever illusionist like Carl Rove.

More to follow…




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