By Peter Hannaford on 5.3.05 @ 12:04AM
Secularist intolerance could get its comeuppance.
Last weekend the Church of the Conspiracy Theorists (also known
as "secular humanists") had a conclave in New York City. They reveled in the
rants that get their adrenaline pumping. The rants were aimed at
what they call "The Religious Right." In their jargon, this term
applies to professed Christians who vote Republican.
As in all efforts to demonize one's opponents, they treat this
"Religious Right" as if it were a monolithic, hierarchical
organization. To wit, one Ralph White of the Open Center, said,
"The religious right now has an unprecedented influence on American
politics and policy. It is incumbent on all of us to
understand...its aims, methods, beliefs, theology and psychology."
This was said with a straight face, as if a group of Christian
denominational leaders met every Monday morning to coordinate their
"aims, methods, beliefs, theology and psychology," then went
forward to issue instructions to their congregations.
Not to be outdone, Bob Edgar, who heads the left-wing National
Council of Churches (and was once a member of Congress), intoned,
"This may be the darkest time in our history." One CCT speaker,
Joan Bokaer, of TheocracyWatch.org, railed against the Federal
Communications Commission's efforts to curb indecency on
television, a problem with which large numbers of American parents
grapple every week. Comparing the FCC to the Taliban, Ms. Bokaer
carried her illogical analogy to its logical conclusion: "Indecency
police are a major part of a theocratic state."
Perhaps these secularist orators had all been inspired by former
Vice President Al Gore, who earlier last week gave a speech
against the Republican efforts in the Senate to end filibusters of
judicial nominees. In the type of rhetoric for which he is famous,
Gore said these efforts were evidence of an "aggressive new strain
of right-wing religious zealotry."
Amidst all of this frothing-at-the-mouth intolerance, one man
spoke out. He was Chip Berlet of the human rights group, Political
Research Associates. He had not forgotten his Christian tenets. He
said, "I am uncomfortable when I hear people of sincere religious
faith described as religious political extremists."
About a thousand miles to the west of last weekend's secular
fiesta, the Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is
fighting two cases against secularist intolerance. Both have to do
with permitting teachers to include in their science classes
references to an "intelligent design" theory of the creation of the
universe, alongside Darwin's theory of evolution. While the two
theories are not necessarily incompatible, secular humanists think
they are. The American Civil Liberties Union, true to form, last
year filed suit against a Pennsylvania school district that decided
to include both theories in its science classes. The Thomas More
Law Center is defending the school district.
Now, it is turning the tables and threatening to sue the Gull
Lake Community School District of Lansing, to permit two teachers
to include the intelligent design theory in their classes.
Actually, they had been doing so for two years until recently when
the school superintendent ordered them to stop, perhaps worried
that the ACLU might sue the district. Now the superintendent has a
new worry: a public interest law firm on the other side,
threatening suit over academic freedom and the students' right to
learn about two theories of the creation of the universe.
Note to the ACLU and other secularists: If the universe was
created from a "Big Bang" of accumulated cosmic dust, where did the
cosmic dust come from? Who put it there?
topics:
Television, Law
